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Errani & Kalashnikova Gunning For Title

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – On Wednesday afternoon Sara Errani and Oksana Kalashnikova claimed the latest upset of their fledgling partnership, ousting Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka in the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open.

Watch highlights, interviews and more video from Indian Wells right here on wtatennis.com!

Playing only their third match together, Errani and Kalashnikova took a while to find their feet against the No.4 seeds, dropping a one-sided opening set. However, their turned the match on its head in spectacular fashion to take the second set and then outplay the Czechs in the decisive match tie-break.

Errani and Kalashnikova’s 3-6, 6-3, 10-5 victory means that only one of the eight seeded teams – No.3 seeds Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova – has made it through to the semifinals in Indian Wells.

Meeting them for a place in the final will be Julia Goerges and Karolina Pliskova, 6-4, 6-3 winners over Vania King and Alla Kudryavtseva.

In the previous round, King and Kudryavtseva sent shockwaves through the draw by knocking out top seeds Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza, and against Goerges and Pliskova they carried on from where they left off, surging into a 4-1 lead.

This proved to be a false dawn, though, as Goerges and Pliskova pegged back then overhauled them to make it through to the last four of a WTA event together for just the second time.

On the other side of the draw, Babos and Shvedova will take on the all-American team of Bethanie Mattek-Sands and CoCo Vandeweghe. 

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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MIAMI, FL, USA – Top seed Angelique Kerber recovered from breaks in both sets against big-hitting American Shelby Rogers to advance, 6-4, 7-5, and reach the fourth round of the Miami Open.

“It was a good match,” she said in her post-match press conference. “I was trying to feel my game again. I was moving good, but it was not so easy because she didn’t play badly. I was trying to stay positive and play my tennis.”

Kerber was playing her first match since her late-night victory against Duan Ying-Ying, and suffered a slow start to Rogers, who reached the French Open quarterfinals last spring and began 2017 with a win over Simona Halep at the Australian Open.

The German reclaimed World No.1 from Serena Williams at the start of the fortnight in Florida, and showed some of why the two-time Grand Slam champion has been so tough to beat in the last year, rolling through six of the next seven games from a break down to take the opening set.

“It’s always good to have close sets, especially when you win them at the end because they give you confidence that you can go out in your next match knowing you can win close matches because you’ve just done it a day ago. I’m looking forward to the next match.”

Rogers kept fighting, however, and fought off multiple break points in the fifth game to engineer another service break. Much like the first set, Kerber took control from there, winning five of the final six games to seal the hometown favorite in just under 90 minutes.

“If you win the match, you’re always happy about your performance. In the second set, she was 4-2 up and we’d played a long game. That was important because she was playing well, but I was staying positive and believing in my chances. I think that was the key to the match.”

In all, Kerber struck 17 winners to only 22 unforced errors; Rogers took far more risks throughout, her 34 winners were ultimately undone by 51 unforced errors.

Up next for top seed is Japanese qualifier Risa Ozaki. Ozaki was already enjoying her best-ever result at a Premier Mandatory tournament when she broke new ground on Sunday, besting Kerber’s countrywoman Julia Goerges, 7-6(5), 6-3. 

“I’ve never played against her, but I saw a little bit on TV because she played Julia today. I think she’s playing good here, coming from qualies, so she has a lot of matches and confidence.

“She has nothing to lose, so it’ll be another good match.”

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