Top Seeds Hit The Practice Courts In Dubai
Watch as Angelique Kerber, Dominika Cibulkova, Karolina Pliskova, Garbiñe Muguruza and the top seeds at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships take to the practice courts.
Watch as Angelique Kerber, Dominika Cibulkova, Karolina Pliskova, Garbiñe Muguruza and the top seeds at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships take to the practice courts.
Dubai Duty Free Ambassador Caroline Wozniacki and No.4 seed Agnieszka Radwanska posed for a quick snap at the Dubai Player Party.
Colm McLoughlin, CEO and Executive Vice Chairman of Dubai Duty Free, and wife Breeda grabbed a photo with brand ambassadors Wozniacki and Zhang Shuai.
The glamorous player party at the Gardens at Jumeirah Creekside Hotel showcased the best of Emirati hospitality.
Zhang even tried on an Emirati dress for the occasion!
But some of the night’s biggest attractions were the majestic falcons that Dubai is famous for.
Americans Lauren Davis and Abigail Spears didn’t look too confident with them…
…but Spears got the hang of it eventually!
Olympic champion Monica Puig looked totally relaxed with the majestic bird…
…as did Radwanska!
The 2012 Dubai champion has clearly had experience holding falcons here before.
Dubai Duty Free has been an ambassador for women’s tennis in the Middle East since 2004, and they pulled out all the stops for one of the WTA calendar’s favorite events.
Martina Hingis even made a couple of friends during the party…
…along with Dubai Duty Free Ambassador Wozniacki!
There was fun, dancing, magic and more at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships Player Party!
TOKYO, Japan – World No.107 Aliaksandra Sasnovich caused the first major shock of this year’s Toray Pan Pacific Open, knocking out No.3 seed Karolina Pliskova in straight sets.
Watch live action from Tokyo this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
Less than a fortnight after contesting the US Open final, Pliskova was brought down to earth with a bump, slipping to a 6-4, 6-2 defeat in little over an hour.
“I was expecting now to be going to Wuhan for the next tournament because I know Karolina is a really good player and I didn’t expect to win today,” Sasnovich said. “But you know it’s life and it’s tennis, the ball is round!”
Sasnovich’s reward for her maiden Top 10 win is a meeting with home favorite Naomi Osaka in the quarterfinals.
“I have a lot of emotion. It was my first win over a Top 10 player, I’m really happy with it and looking forward to the next round,” she added.
Joining her there will be fellow qualifier Magda Linette, who saved two match points to defeat Yulia Putintseva, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.
More to follow…
Get to know rising Belgian star Elise Mertens in an interview at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
Elina Svitolina takes on Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second round of the Toray Pan Pacific Open.
DUBAI, UAE – Fresh from shocking Kristina Mladenovic at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, Wang Qiang confessed that WTA World No. 6 Agnieszka Radwanska is her current tennis idol.
“Now Radwanska is my idol,” she admitted in her post-match press conference. “Yes, I really like she play tennis.”
Wang was speaking to the media after brushing aside the Frenchwoman in the third round, 6-1, 6-4, and she wondered whether her opponent’s heroics yesterday against Karolina Pliskova had taken their toll.
Another upset!
Wang moves past @KiKiMladenovic 6-1, 6-4 in @DDFTennis Round of 16! pic.twitter.com/Sku0NhnLmw
— WTA (@WTA) February 22, 2017
“I saw her play last night and she play really well against Pliskova,” said Wang. “Yes, today first set she miss so much, and I think she’s a little bit tired of last night, yes.”
Wang will now play either Anastasija Sevastova or Peng Shuai in the quarterfinals.
“I’m feeling much more comfortable in my skin, how I am, and how to work,” Kerber said in the latest WTA Insider Podcast. “It’s because of the experience; I now know how to deal with the pressure, with things I have to do off-court.”
Kerber got to celebrate her No.1 breakthrough alongside her US Open victory, taking part in a pair of photoshoots with each trophy commemorating her dual achievements.
“This gives me a lot of confidence to dress up, come out, speaking, working, being how I am! It took a little while to get there, but it was great work getting there.”
The first of two women to qualify for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global – alongside 22-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams – Kerber kicks off her Asian Swing as the top seed at the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open. The World No.1 has played Wuhan since its inaugural event in 2014, reaching the semiifnals last year.
Kerber leads the field with 54 match wins this year, and will be in search of her fourth title of the season. Taking home three titles thus far, two have been on the game’s biggest stages at the Australian Open and US Open, while the third came at home at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart.
Success at the Grand Slams and consistency elsewhere is what helped Kerber end Serena’s 186 straight weeks at No.1; the first German No.1 since Stefanie Graf – and the first lefty since WTA Finals Tournament Ambassador Monica Seles – Kerber has reached the quarterfinals or better in six of her last seven tournaments, finishing runner-up at Wimbledon, the Western & Southern Open, and the Olympic tennis event (earning no ranking points at the latter).
Now that she’s earned the No.1 ranking, the question becomes how long Kerber can keep it. Williams announced her withdrawal from Wuhan and Beijing, meaning her rival needs to earn 1500 points to assure herself of the Year-End No.1.
“My motivation is still really high, especially after this title in New York. I will still try to improve my game because I know I could still improve my serve and a few other things in my game. It’s what I plan to do in the next in the next few weeks and in my pre-season for next year. There are still a few things where I know I can be better, and that gives me confidence too, to know I can still play better, more aggressively, or move better.
With a total of 900 points awarded to the winner at Wuhan and another 1,000 next week in Beijing, she could go a long way towards accomplishing that goal before even heading to Singapore – potentially locking down the Year-End No.1 ranking with a good two weeks on Chinese soil.
“Angie won’t stop wanting to get better,” said Torben Beltz, Kerber’s longtime coach who reunited with her just before her rise towards the top of the game last spring. “She doesn’t just want to practice for an hour and that’s it’ she wants to get better, and even have some input in the practice. She wants to get better, hit harder; these are things she wants to do, and we’ll work on that together.”
Kerber would join a select group of 11 women to have finished the year as No.1, and become the 12th to do so. Serena has earned the distinction five times (2002, 2009, 2013-2015), the third-most in WTA history behind Graf at eight (1987-1990, 1993-1996), and Martina Navratilova at seven (1978-1979, 1982-1986). Kerber would be the first woman not named Serena to finish the year No.1 since Victoria Azarenka, who ended her only season as leader of the pack in 2012.
It’s already been a year to remember for Angelique Kerber, but it’s not over yet, and the sky seems to remain the limit for the new No.1.
“Of course, I’m playing the best tennis of my career, but I’m still trying to be better and better,” Kerber said. “That’s what motivates me during my practices and matches. I still hope to play my best tennis over the next few months.”
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.
DUBAI, UAE – 17-year-old Catherine Bellis earned the biggest win of her career over Agnieszka Radwanska, ousting the No.4 seed in three sets to reach the quarterfinals at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.
“It’s one of the best feelings in my life, for sure,” Bellis enthused in her post-match press conference. “I’m really happy about the outcome tonight. I work so hard for it and I think my work is paying off.
“I’m definitely playing some of my best tennis right now.”
The American teenager is the youngest player in the Dubai draw – and the youngest member of the WTA Top 100. Bellis made a name for herself last season, backing up a run to the Bank of the West Classic quarterfinals with a third-round appearance at the US Open and a title at the Hawaii Open WTA 125K event.
First Top 10 Win!
17 year old @CiciBellis99 knocks out 2012 champ Radwanska 6-4, 2-6, 6-2! #DDFTennis pic.twitter.com/ggGOaQUEDO
— WTA (@WTA) February 22, 2017
A slow start to the 2017 season saw her miss the Australian swing with a hip injury and fall in qualifying at the Qatar Total Open, but the 17-year-old is back with a vengeance after her first Top 10 victory over Radwanska.
Bellis imposed her big-hitting game early on, leaving Radwanska with few answers to the American’s heavy pace. Her confidence only grew after shaking off an early Radwanska break opportunity, drawing the 2012 champion into making more unforced errors than her normally neat and tidy game would allow. Bellis grabbed the lone break a few games later for a 4-3 lead before taking the opening set.
But the teenager couldn’t keep up the high level as Radwanska changed tactics in the second set, coming up more frequently and taking time away from Bellis. She was rewarded with an early break, and four unforced errors in a row from the American gave Radwanska a 4-1 lead before going on to level the match with a second break of serve.
“I think in the second set she started playing a little bit better,” Bellis reflected. “I went off a little bit. I think I was going for a little bit too much.
“I just told myself stay calm and go back to my game and what I was doing in the first set.”
“I really can't believe it! This is the biggest win of my life!” ? @CiciBellis99 #DDFTennis pic.twitter.com/fM5a9jKZmv
— WTA (@WTA) February 22, 2017
Bellis did just that and, after trading breaks with Radwanska at the start of the set, she reeled off the last four games in a row with a flurry of winners to clinch the biggest victory of her career after just under two hours.
“I have had kind of a dream couple of months since I have turned pro, but obviously it’s not always going to be always happy-go-lucky, but I have been really lucky so far,” Bellis said.
“I’m really just enjoying it more just thinking about how much fun I’m having and what an experience it’s been for me so far.”
With the victory, Bellis is projected to rise into the WTA Top 60, and can move into the Top 50 if she advances to the semifinals. She’ll take on the winner between Kateryna Bondarenko and Caroline Wozniacki for a spot in her career first WTA Premier-level semifinals.
An interview with Karolina Pliskova after her third round win at the BNP Paribas Open.
Angelique Kerber talks through her win in the quarterfinals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.