Tennis News

HONG KONG, SAR – Caroline Wozniacki overcame a plucky Zheng Saisai in straight sets to reach the second round of the Prudential Hong Kong Open.

The No.5 seed suffered a slow start to the match, being broken by the Chinese 22-year-old in her opening game but she bounced back quickly, recovering the deficit immediately. From then on, she wasted no time in securing the first set 6-1.

Zheng returned with renewed vigour in the second set, holding serve for the first time in the match before pushing Wozniacki to the brink in the following game, squandering five break points in a marathon that lasted for over 11 minutes.

The Dane soon went up two breaks to the good but, serving for the match and 40-0 up, Zheng pulled off a stunning comeback to half the deficit before holding to put Wozniacki under pressure. The Chinese 22-year-old went 0-30 up in Wozniacki’s next service game but the former World No.1 rallied to claim victory with her sixth match point.

She was joined in the next round by current World No.1 Angelique Kerber, who overcame Maria Sakkari, 6-4, 6-4. The German skipped into a 2-0 lead in the first set and though the Greek youngster broke back, she retook the advantage and successfully closed out the first set.

Kerber then moved 5-2 ahead in the second set and though Sakkari enjoyed a moderate recovery, breaking back once, the US Open winner closed out a routine victory.

Defending champion Jelena Jankovic also cruised through to the next round by defeating Samantha Crawford, 6-3, 6-1. Breaking in the first and last games of the first set, the Serbian went behind early in the second set but rattled off six straight games to book her place in the next round.

Meanwhile, Sam Stosur crashed out of the tournament at the hands of Japanese youngster Nao Hibino. Having broken in the first game of the match, the Australian surrendered her advantage immediately. Hibino broke once more to go 4-2 up and closed out the set.

Stosur was not at the top of her game and went a break down in the second. Though she later drew level, she immediately slipped behind once more. She fought until the end, saving four match points in the final game, but the World No.84 was able to hold her never to claim a famous scalp.

Johanna Konta kept up her pursuit of a spot at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global by defeating fellow Brit Naomi Broady at a canter, 6-2, 6-2.

Heather Watson squeezed into the next round thanks to a narrow victory over Marina Erakovic. The Brit got the pivotal break in the penultimate game of the first set and though she went 4-1 behind in the second, she mounted a comeback, sealing the win in a tie-break.

Elsewhere, Kristina Mladenovic beat Dalila Jakupovic, 7-6(6), 6-1, Caroline Garcia sailed through, 6-3, 6-0, against Tereza Martincova, Bethanie Mattek-Sands defeated Basak Eraydin, 6-1, 6-2, and Wang Qiang defeated Zhang Ling, 6-2, 6-2.

LINZ, Austria – Madison Keys weathered a mid-match storm to win Wednesday’s first-round match against Camila Giorgi at the Generali Ladies Linz and move one step closer to qualifying for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.

By reaching the semifinals last week in Beijing, Keys put herself in the driving seat to claim one of the three remaining places in Singapore. However, with all her qualification rivals in action this week – and less than 100 points separating her from ninth-placed Dominika Cibulkova – work still needs to be done.

Against Giorgi she kept her end up, reeling off the final four games of the match to run out a 6-3, 6-4 winner. “Definitely feels good to get a win. Camila’s always a tough person to play – she really goes for her shots and hits a lot of winners out there. I feel really happy to get through to the second round,” Keys, who faces Misaki Doi next, said.

“I think I got a little bit passive and started letting her dictate the points a little, so I knew I had to step up and go out and play my game because she wasn’t going to give it to me.

With 280 points on offer to the champion, Keys’ hopes could lay in the balance even if she goes deep into the draw this week. Despite the high stakes, the American is cutting a characteristically relaxed figure in Linz, where the conditions are perfectly suited to her big game. 

“It’s definitely a lot faster here, but it’s a good court and I definitely like playing on fast courts so I’m happy to be here,” she added.

LINZ, Austria – Forty-seven minutes was all it took for Madison Keys to swat aside Misaki Doi and book a place in the quarterfinals of the Generali Ladies Linz.

Keys received a last-minute wildcard into the tournament and has made the most of her opportunity. After seeing off Camila Giorgi in the first round, Keys was even more clinical against Doi, reeling off the final 10 games of the match to triumph, 6-2, 6-0.

This was the American’s 45th victory of a highly impressive campaign that has seen her reach the second week of all four majors and break into the Top 10. The next milestone could be looming: a place at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.

She already stands on the cusp of qualification following a semifinal run at the China Open, and a similar showing in Linz, where she takes on Océane Dodin next, will all but guarantee her place.

Also looking to secure a spot in Singapore are Garbiñe Muguruza and Dominika Cibulkova, who were equally impressive in Thursday’s final two matches. Muguruza needed barely an hour to overpower Monica Niculescu, 6-1, 6-1, while Cibulkova swept aside Annika Beck, 6-1, 6-3.

“It was a fun match – it was actually tough, but fun – because it’s a different sort of opponent and I had to be really concentrated and calm, which I did,” Muguruza said. “I’m really happy with today – she’s such a different player, she can make you feel very uncomfortable so I just went for my shots.

“I knew how she was going to play against me, so I was just playing my game and I think it worked very well.” 

Reigning champion Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova also advanced, although she was made to work slightly harder, recovering from a slow start to defeat Kirsten Flipkens, 6-4, 7-6(2).

Having trailed 4-1 in the opening set, a run of four straight games helped Pavlyuchenkova turned the match around and book a quarterfinal showdown with Cibulkova.

The defending champion @NastiaPav reaches the quarterfinal #generli #WTALinz #power pic.twitter.com/nzi3IuI1n5

— WTA Linz (@WTALinz) October 13, 2016