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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

SYDNEY, Australia – Former champion Agnieszka Radwanska eased past qualifier Duan Ying-Ying and into the semifinals of the Apia International Sydney on Wednesday evening.

At last week’s Shenzhen Open, Radwanska saved three match points to defeat Duan in a tougher-than-expected season opener. This time around it was a far more straightforward outing, the No.2 seed completing a 6-3, 6-2 victory in an hour and 20 minutes.

“Sometimes you play people two or three weeks in a row, like Caroline and I had last year in Asia, but I’m definitely more happy with this performance than in Shenzhen,” Radwanska said in her on-court interview. “It’s another semifinal here, so I’m very happy with that.

“I was warming up at 4pm and it was still very hot, so I was a little bit lucky to play this evening. I was watching the first match here and it was unbelievably hot – the guys were playing amazingly.”

Despite the more hospitable conditions, both players made heavy weather of holding onto their serve early on. But after a succession of breaks, Radwanska finally put some daylight between the two, opening up a 5-3 lead before calmly serving out the set.

Unlike in Shenzhen, there was to be no Duan comeback, Radwanska rattling off the first four games of the second set to ease her way into the last four.

Radwanska lifted the title in 2012, and standing between her and a return to the final is marathon woman Barbora Strycova. Earlier in the day, Strycova withstood the worst of the midday sun to win an epic encounter against Caroline Wozniacki. “Like I said, she was playing unbelievable tennis and she’s really on fire. Last year she also played amazing tennis. I’m just expecting a good match and we’ll see how it goes tomorrow.”

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Twitter Reaction: Kerber Claims US Open

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

After the world was done holding its breath throughout a tense final, the tweets came pouring in for US Open champion Angelique Kerber and finalist Karolina Pliskova.

Check out some of the best tweets, right here on wtatennis.com!

First up, here from the woman herself, who took time from her various post-win duties to post this celebratory message:

 Some of Germany’s biggest sports stars at home and abroad took to Twitter to celebrate Kerber’s achievement, including NBA star Dirk Nowitzki, F1 pilot Nico Rosberg and a whole host of World Cup winning soccer players.

Of course, the WTA’s stars and legends were also tuned in to the final, and they had plenty of words for both of the finalists after the match.

Here are the best messages from Kerber and Pliskova’s WTA peers:

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WTA Shot Of The Month: Radwanska

WTA Shot Of The Month: Radwanska

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

February was packed with plenty of amazing shots – we narrowed it down to the five best.

In the end it was Agnieszka Radwanska who, in a match full of highlights against Roberta Vinci at the Qatar Total Open, played one of those shots to rule them all in the quarterfinals. As Radwanska makes her way to net, you know something magical is about to happen; sure enough, the Pole taps a volley from behind the back to put an exclamation point on an already-entertaining rally in Doha – taking home this month’s top votes.

Click here to watch all of February’s finalists.

Final Results for February’s WTA Shot Of The Month

1. Agnieszka Radwanska (84%)
2. Jelena Jankovic (6%)
3. Elina Svitolina (4%)
4. Garbiñe Muguruza (3%)
5. Belinda Bencic (3%)

 Agnieszka Radwanska

2016 WTA Shot of the Month Winners

January: Caroline Wozniacki

How it works:

Five shots are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com 

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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

SYDNEY, Australia – Timea Babos and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova hit through top seeds Sania Mirza and Barbora Strycova, 6-4, 6-4, to win their first title as a pair at the Apia International Sydney.

Babos and Pavlyuchenkova were playing just their second event together, playing just once at the end of last season in Moscow. Babos ended her seven-month partnership with Yaroslava Shvedova after the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.

“I think at least we found a good balance on this,” Babos said after the match. “It was definitely a great week. We beat some really good teams, the best teams, the last two, three rounds.

“To start like this, our partnership together is important and promising.”

Pavlyuchenkova, by contrast, had opted to focus on singles for most of 2016, though the former Singapore alternate is more than capable on the doubles court.

“It’s amazing, because Timea, she’s more experienced in doubles,” said the Russian. “She has a lot more titles and done great in the Grand Slams, as well.

“I’m really happy, because it’s also nice to win a title in doubles. I feel like we had also been playing really good together.”

Mirza teamed up with Strycova last summer, and the duo were playing their first event of 2017 together after the former No.1 paired with Bethanie Mattek-Sands to win the Brisbane International, passing the top spot to her good friend after 91 weeks leading the WTA rankings. 

The first set came down to just one break of serve, whereas the second featured four.

“We just went out there and tried to do our game, tried to dictate and play how we always played before and tried, like Timea said, to enjoy and not put too much pressure,” added Pavlyuchenkova.

Babos and Pavlyuchenkova raced out to a 3-0 double break lead in the second set, and though Mirza and Strycova twice clawed the deficit down to one, the unseeded team emerged victorious after one hour and 14 minutes of play. For the fast-rising Hungarian youngster, it was her second title in Sydney.

“This was actually my first year when I played singles here,” said Babos. “Last year I only played doubles. It’s a great tournament. In general, Australia [is] one of my favorite countries if not the favorite. So I really enjoy being here. It’s great atmosphere.”

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Makarova & Vesnina Qualify For Singapore

Makarova & Vesnina Qualify For Singapore

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Elena Vesnina, Ekaterina Makarova

SINGAPORE – The Russian team of Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina has qualified for this year’s BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.

Makarova and Vesnina are set to make their third appearance as a team at the WTA Finals in Singapore. The pair reached the final on their debut appearance in 2013, and fell in the opening round in 2014. The Russians also qualified for the year-end event in 2015, but had to withdraw due to an injury to Makarova.

“Congratulations to Ekaterina and Elena on qualifying for the BNP Paribas Finals Singapore presented by SC Global,” said WTA CEO Steve Simon. “This team is a favorite in any tournament, and we are thrilled to welcome them back to Singapore.”

Makarova and Vesnina began their partnership in 2012 and together have won seven titles, including two Grand Slams at 2013 Roland Garros and 2014 US Open. This year the Russian duo began the year as a team at the Mutua Madrid Open in April, where they reached the semifinals. The pair continued their success by clinching back-to-back titles at the Rogers Cup in Montréal and the Gold Medal at the Rio Olympics. In addition, they reached two finals at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome and Roland Garros. As a result, they have earned the third slot in the doubles field at the WTA Finals Singapore.

“It’s definitely very exciting to qualify for the WTA Finals in Singapore,” said Vesnina. “It was our goal when we started playing, started winning matches and started winning good tournaments, we knew that we wanted to be there. We were there two years ago and we really liked it. Last year, unfortunately, we couldn’t go because of the injury. It’s an amazing tournament – we have some great memories from there and we’re really looking forward to being there.”

“The WTA Finals is such a great tournament – and for our first year when we came out on the court, it was a full stadium for doubles,” added Makarova. “It was so fun to play out there and the fans are so excited and supportive. The whole organization and the country, it’s nice to be there.”

The current Road to Singapore Leaderboard as follows (as of September 12, 2016):

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