Hometown Glory For Garcia, Mladenovic
Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic cap a near-perfect clay court season by winning their first Grand Slam women’s doubles crown in front of their home crowd in three dramatic sets.
Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic cap a near-perfect clay court season by winning their first Grand Slam women’s doubles crown in front of their home crowd in three dramatic sets.
Alison Riske takes on Camila Giorgi in the semifinals of the Shenzhen Open.
With the French Open officially in the books, how do the rankings stand as the tour heads into the third major tournament of the season?
Defending champion Serena Williams remains No.1 for a 174th straight week, a streak that began all the way back on February 18th, 2013, after reaching the final of the Qatar Total Open.
Garbiñe Muguruza is not too far behind at her career-high ranking of No.2, trailing the 21-time Grand Slam champion by 1564 points thanks to her maiden major title at Roland Garros, where she defeated Serena in the final.
Muguruza became the first Spanish woman ranked inside the Top 2 since Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in December 1996; Sanchez-Vicario is also the first and most recent Spanish woman to be ranked No.1 back in 1995.
Ahead of the grass court season, Wimbledon finalists Serena and Muguruza have the greatest number of points to defend, with 2000 and 1356, respectively. World No.3 Agnieszka Radwanska fell to Muguruza in last year’s semifinal and is defending 1195 points, having also made the semifinals of Nottingham and the final of Eastbourne, where she lost to Belinda Bencic.
Bencic is making her return from a lower back injury, one which precluded her from nearly all of the clay court season. The Swiss star reached the fourth round of Wimbledon and the final of the Ricoh Open, and is defending 920 points.
Who made the biggest leaps during the clay court season?
|
PLAYER |
4/4/2016 |
6/6/2016 |
CHANGE |
|
BERTENS, KIKI (NED) |
96 |
27 |
+69 |
|
CHIRICO, LOUISA (USA) |
126 |
74 |
+52 |
|
ROGERS, SHELBY (USA) |
108 |
60 |
+48 |
|
BUYUKAKCAY, CAGLA (TUR) |
120 |
77 |
+43 |
|
CIRSTEA, SORANA (ROU) |
135 |
98 |
+37 |
By reaching the second week of the French Open, Bertens rocketed up into Olympic contention, as did quarterfinalist Tsvetana Pironkova, who now has a chance to qualify for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Yulia Putintseva made her career-best ranking and Top 35 debut by reaching the last eight in Paris, pushing Serena to three sets. Venus Williams also made her return to the Top 10 on the back of her best French Open result since 2010, reaching the fourth round.
Click here to check out the full WTA rankings as of June 6, 2016!
Karolina Pliskova talks through her semifinal win over Elina Svitolina at the Brisbane International.
It’s time to vote for May’s WTA Player of the Month!
Have a look at the nominees and cast your vote before Thursday at 11:59pm ET! The winner will be announced Friday, June 10.
May 2016 WTA Player Of The Month Finalists
Garbiñe Muguruza: Muguruza not only held off history by halting Serena Williams’ quest for a 22nd Grand Slam title, but the Spaniard made a little history of her own. The first French Open champion from Spain since 1998, Muguruza rose up to a career-high ranking of No.2, becoming the first Spanish woman to be ranked that high since December of 1996. Playing pitch-perfect tennis throughout the fortnight, Muguruza dropped the first set of her first round against Anna Karolina Schmiedlova and never looked back, winning 14 straight sets en route to the title – including wins over 2009 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, and 2010 finalist Samantha Stosur.
Serena Williams: The new No.1 on the Road to Singapore leaderboard acquitted herself well in just her fifth tournament of 2016, reaching a fourth final at the French Open following a title run at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. Serena fought valiently through a thrilling three-set quarterfinal against Yulia Putintseva, and saved four championship points against Mugurua before ultimately bowing out in straight sets.
Simona Halep: Halep’s rise began back in 2013, when she earned a wildcard to the Mutua Madrid Open; the Romanian came full circle just three years later by winning her second Premier Mandatory title of her career, defeating Stosur and Dominika Cibulkova in the final. Halep returned to the Top 5 thanks to that win and went on to reach the fourth round of the French Open for the second time in three years.
2016 Winners
January: Angelique Kerber
February: Carla Suárez Navarro
March: Victoria Azarenka
April: Angelique Kerber
How it works:
Finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com
Karolina Pliskova had Saturday’s shot of the day at the Brisbane International.
An interview with Karolina Pliskova after she announced her withdrawal from the Apia International Sydney.
Caroline Wozniacki talks through her performance in her victory in the first round of the Apia International Sydney.
Eugenie Bouchard stopped by Sydney’s most famous beach ahead of the Apia International Sydney. Watch her spend time with the Bondi Beach lifeguards right here!
Daria Kasatkina takes on Angelique Kerber in the second round of the Apia International Sydney.