Eugenie Bouchard Gets A Birthday Fiesta In Acapulco
Watch Eugenie Bouchard celebrate her 23rd birthday at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel!
Watch Eugenie Bouchard celebrate her 23rd birthday at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel!
PRAGUE, Czech Republic – Lucie Safarova saw off Fed Cup teammate Karolina Pliskova in two tight sets on Friday to reach the final of the J&T Banka Prague Open.
Watch live action from Prague & Rabat this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
After taking a tight opening set, No.2 seed Safarova came from a break down in the second to complete a 6-4, 7-6(4) victory.
In the final she will face Samantha Stosur, after she profited from the last-minute withdrawal of top seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.
More to follow…
No.1 seed Mirjana Lucic-Baroni picked up right where she left off after Australia, battling past Belinda Bencic in straight sets to move into the second round at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel.
Kristina Mladenovic has Friday’s shot of the day at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel.
An interview with Lesia Tsurenko after advancing to the final at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel.
Ashleigh Barty takes on Han Xinyun in the semifinals of the Alya WTA Malaysian Open.
ACAPULCO, Mexico – 27-year-old Lesia Tsurenko captured her third WTA title at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel after a commanding victory over Kristina Mladenovic, 6-1, 7-5.
“I’m really happy to start the season like this: I had the semifinal in Hobart International and now this title here in Acapulco,” Tsurenko said after the match.
“It’s three of three now, it’s a 100% result for me and this makes me very happy,” she added, referencing her perfect success rate in WTA finals. “I’m very happy with this result, and to win the title here it’s just amazing.”
The No.2 seeded Mladenovic, who was seeking her second title in five weeks, found herself outhit from the start on Saturday night. The Ukrainian’s strong play from the baseline didn’t allow Mladenovic to find her rhythm; she was broken twice by Tsurenko and found herself down 4-0 after just 15 minutes, and was only able to hit 3 winners in the opening set.
.@LTsurenko thanks the @AbiertoTelcel fans for the great support ? #AMT2017 pic.twitter.com/h6lpwtuf4u
— WTA (@WTA) March 5, 2017
But it was far from smooth sailing after that, with eight consecutive breaks of serve starting out the second set.
It was Mladenovic who gritted out the crucial hold first and established a late foothold at 4-5, but Tsurenko stayed mentally strong to earn her own first hold of the set straight after. She broke once more and took the match with a strong service game for her first Acapulco title.
“It was a very difficult match, I felt very comfortable in the first set but in the second I felt quite nervous,” Tsurenko explained, decked out in the traditional Acapulco winner’s blue sombrero.
“She played better, and I think I was realizing that I could get the title and that was making me nervous. She really pushed me to play my best tennis because she was attacking a lot. I was just focusing on myself and doing everything that I can. I’m really happy to win.”
Love the Sombrero!
Congrats @LTsurenko, lift that @AbiertoTelcel trophy ? pic.twitter.com/JEGRbw7xAW
— WTA (@WTA) March 5, 2017
“I just want to congratulate Lesia,” Mladenovic said, delighting the Acapulco crowd by giving her runner-up speech in Spanish. “You’ve played great today and all week, and especially with these tough conditions. Congrats on the title and on the rest of the season.
“Acapulco is a very special place for me because three years ago was the first time I played the tournament, and I won the title in doubles.
“This year is just the second time I’ve played here and I’ve reached the singles final!”
Annika Beck battled back from a set down to oust Eugenie Bouchard from the BNP Paribas Open and book a second-round clash with Kristina Mladenovic.
INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – Kristina Mladenovic is happy to have found a new doubles partner in the highly experienced Russian grand slam champion, Svetlana Kuznetsova.
It was something of a shock when Mladenovic announced that she and Caroline Garcia were putting an end to their doubles ambitions for the foreseeable future.
Mladenovic and Kuznetsova got their partnership off to the best of starts at the BNP Paribas Open, defeating Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Kveta Peschke 6-4, 6-1. They next face Andrea Hlavackova and Peng Shuai in the second round.
Svetlana and Kiki all happy and such.
They're moving on here in the desert. ?? pic.twitter.com/n6fxTc30EA— Christopher Levy (@tennis_shots) March 9, 2017
The French pairing of Mladenovic and Garcia enjoyed no shortage of doubles success, winning the French Open in 2016 as well as being runners-up at the US Open later in the same year.
INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – Reigning French Open champion Garbiñe Muguruza came through a tense finish against Kirsten Flipkens, 6-2, 6-3, in her opening round match at the BNP Paribas Open. Up next for the No.7 seed is 17-year-old Kayla Day, who stunned Australian Open semifinalist Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in three sets.
“I think it was a difficult match,” she said during her post-match press conference. “I think she’s very talented and she can hit some critical shots and she can be tricky. I’m happy because it was not a first, easy match, like a first round. I don’t know. It was a big win for me, actually.”
Muguruza had split her first four meetings with the 2013 Wimbledon semifinalist, losing both of their meetings on grass. But hardcourts have proved more fertile ground for the Spaniard, who won her third straight match against her rival on concrete after 90 minutes on court.
.@GarbiMuguruza makes a flying start against Flipkens! #BNPPO17 pic.twitter.com/6H7n5UdXfv
— WTA (@WTA) March 10, 2017
“I think grass is a very tricky surface; you never know what’s gonna happen,” the 2015 Wimbledon runner-up said during her on-court interview. “I just played my game; sometimes she plays better, sometimes I do – that’s what tennis is! – but I played better today.”
Racing out to a set and 5-0 lead, things got more complicated from there as Flipkens forced her way into the second set. Ultimately, Muguruza broke through for the sixth and final time in the match, striking 24 winners to 28 unforced errors, and came to the net an impressive 33 times – winning 21 of those points.
.@GarbiMuguruza at her very best! #BNPPO17 pic.twitter.com/qLGNiLERle
— WTA (@WTA) March 10, 2017
“It’s always difficult to close out your first match. She’s a very talented player, unbelievable, with a very different game. I got nervous!”
Muguruza is making her fifth appearance in Indian Wells, and hopes to make the quarterfinals; her previous result came on her 2013 debut, when she reached the fourth round as a qualifier.
.@GarbiMuguruza picks up 10th win of 2017!
Downs Flipkens 6-2, 6-3! #BNPPO17 pic.twitter.com/sEqGkQHwFk
— WTA (@WTA) March 10, 2017
“I never know my expectations for the tournament. I believe every time I play the tournament I see myself holding a trophy, for sure. I want to believe I’m one of these women that can win the tournament.
“After that, I could lose in third round. I just want to go out there, my next match, and try to play well, try to do my game.”
What a win for the 17 year old!!@kaylaeday upsets Lucic-Baroni 6-4, 5-7, 7-5! #BNPPO17 pic.twitter.com/HQWlw3JoxY
— WTA (@WTA) March 10, 2017
Standing between her and a second round of 16 run is Day, the American teenager who survived No.32 seed Lucic-Baroni, 6-4, 5-7, 7-5.
“This means a lot to me,” Day told press. “I was really grateful to get offered this wildcard into the tournament, and it really means a lot that I can be able to see that I can play with some of the best players in the world.”
Lucic-Baroni retired from her last tournament due to a GI illness, but nonetheless served for the match in the final set.
“It was a really close match throughout the entire match. I think I started to really believe I could win at 6-5 in the third. It was still a really tough game, because I was a little bit tight to close it out. But my serve had been giving her a lot of problems, so I knew if I stuck to my game it might work out.”
Day turned heads last summer when she took home her first Grand Slam title at the US Open girl’s singles event, and withstood the Croat’s firepower to win the final four games of the match and book a meeting with Muguruza.
“She’s such a great player. I’m really excited to go out there and play her, one of the greatest in the game right now, so it should be really fun and a great experience for me.”