Kasatkina Clears Bencic Hurdle In St. Petersburg
No.8 seed Daria Kasatkina dispatched burgeoning rival Belinda Bencic in straight sets to advance at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
No.8 seed Daria Kasatkina dispatched burgeoning rival Belinda Bencic in straight sets to advance at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
Simona Halep and Martina Hingis paid a visit to the Faberge Museum ahead of the St Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
No.8 seed Timea Bacsinszky overcame a wobbly start against Sílvia Soler-Espinosa to advance to the second round of Roland Garros, where she’s set to clash with a resurging Eugenie Bouchard.
Today’s SAP Stat Of The Day shows how Kristina Mladenovic was able to capitalize on her chances in her quarterfinal win at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
PARIS, France – No.15 seed Madison Keys unlocked a spot in the round of 16 for the first time at the French Open, surviving a tense opening set to dispatch Monica Puig, 7-6(3), 6-3.
Keys reached the third round one year ago, but has hit new heights on what she previously deemed her least favorite surface, having made the final at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia two weeks ago.
Taking on Puig, the WTA’s top-ranked Puerto Rican, Keys was made to battle through much of the opening set, including a titanic tenth game that featured eight deuces and forced Puig to save three set points on her own serve. Following up that momentum by breaking serve in the next game, Puig couldn’t sustain and Keys raced through the ensuing tie-break from a 1-3 deficit.
The youngsters exhanged breaks to start the second, but Keys ultimately proved too strong, breaking one last time to seal the win in one hour and 37 minutes. Keys finished with an impressively positive differential despite her attacking game, hitting 30 winners to 29 unforced errors, while Puig managed 17 winners of her own, but was undone by 28 errors.
Up next for Keys is Kiki Bertens, who satisfied her country’s Olympic eligibility requirement by reaching the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament by dismissing No.29 seed Daria Kasatkina, 6-2, 3-6, 10-8. Kasatkina saved five match points on her own serve and served for the match twice herself before the Dutch powerhouse advanced in a grueling two hours and 48 minutes.
More to come…
Carla Suárez Navarro, the 2016 champion, has withdrawn from next week’s Qatar Total Open in Doha. World No.8 Svetlana Kuznetsova has also pulled out with a minor abdominal injury.
Suárez Navarro has suffered an injury to her right shoulder and this is the third time it has forced her out of a tournament this year. She also said in January that it had disrupted her preparations for the Australian Open, where she fell in the second round.
Kuznetsova, the two-times runner-up, misses out with what has been described as a minor abdominal strain. The World No.8 said in a statement: “I am sad to announce that I am not able to participate in the Qatar Total Open this year. I recently sustained a minor abdominal injury.
“My doctors have advised me to rest so I can be prepared to get back on the court as soon as possible. Doha puts on an amazing event and I apologize to all the fans that I won’t be joining this year, but I look forward to coming back next year. I extend my best wishes to the organziers.”
An interview with Dominika Cibulkova before her opening round match at the Qatar Total Open.
Anastasija Sevastova had Monday’s shot of the day at the Qatar Total Open.
An interview with Karolina Pliskova before her opening round match at the Qatar Total Open.
WTA World No.3 Karolina Pliskova is looking forward to getting her Qatar Total Open challenge underway against Caroline Garcia on Wednesday despite the ever constant threat of rain looming large over the tournament.
Persistent showers wiped out almost the entire day of first round action on Tuesday and the tournament now has a backlog of matches to make up with Pliskova scheduled last on centre court on Wednesday.
With her match being pushed back, Pliskova admits it will be to her advantage to have more rest and preparation time than her first round opponent, who now has to play twice in a day having beaten Madison Brengle.
“I just had my practices today, which was important for me,” said Pliskova on Tuesday. “I was trying to start early so I can hit on the court and get little bit used to it because we were playing indoors. It was a little bit different. I think even if they don’t finish today, they still have to play this match tomorrow. So that would definitely be an advantage for me if they play two matches in a day.
“Obviously the weather can change so fast. In Czech is minus 10, so with me this weather is fine. Just the rain is not good for tennis, so hopefully it can get better and we can finish all the matches on time.”
Pliskova’s second-round opponent has decided not to take part in the Fed Cup this year, a tournament the Czech is passionate about. But for Pliskova, the decision is not one that bothers her.
“It’s tough always to decide if to play or not. We played this time, we played home, which was much easier for me, you know, to play. So we didn’t have to travel anywhere far. But still I came here pretty late.
“I don’t think it’s a bad idea that she didn’t play. Sometimes it can help you, but sometimes, like I said, it’s difficult to put it in the schedule because there’s a lot of tournaments. It’s not always easy in the week of Fed Cup. You can have lot of matches, tough matches. I think both decisions are fine. There is always something positive about it. But I think this week, what I’ve played has been good. I had two wins. But maybe it’s also good to prepare for the tournament like she did.”