Doha: Dominika Cibulkova Interview
An interview with Dominika Cibulkova before her opening round match at the Qatar Total Open.
An interview with Dominika Cibulkova before her opening round match at the Qatar Total Open.
Highlights from first-round action at the Western & Southern Open.
Anastasija Sevastova had Monday’s shot of the day at the Qatar Total Open.
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia/KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan – The St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy and the Taiwan Open are new additions to the WTA Calendar, the former headlined by top seed Belinda Bencic and former No.1s Ana Ivanovic and Caroline Wozniacki, while Venus Williams leads the field in the latter.
Bencic is coming off of her first career fourth round appearance at the Australian Open, and with few points to defend until the grass court season, the young Swiss Miss will be aiming to make the Top 10 debut that narrowly eluded her at the end of 2015.
Granted a first round bye, Bencic will face stiff opposition from the get-go, as she plays the winner of the first round encounter between Annika Beck – who also reached the fourth round in Melbourne, falling to eventual champion Angelique Kerber, or Lucie Hradecka. The high seed in her quarter is hometown favorite and No.5 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who has played well in Russia, having reach the final of the last two Kremlin Cup tournaments – winning in 2014.
A potential semifinal opponent for Bencic is No.3 seed Caroline Wozniacki, who took a late wildcard in the hopes of kick-starting her 2016 after a surprising first round loss in Australia. Things might not get much easier for the Dane, however, as she could face former Top 10 player Dominika Cibulkova in the second round. No.7 seed Kristina Mladenovic, currently playing Fed Cup in Marseille, is her projected quarterfinal opponent, should she get past either 2013 Wimbledon semifinalist Kirsten Flipkens or rising Russian Daria Kasatkina – who made a second straight Grand Slam third round in Melbourne.
No.2 seed Roberta Vinci and No.4 seed Ana Ivanovic flank the bottom half of the draw – Ivanovic could play another one of the young Russians, Margarita Gasparyan, in the second round – Gasparyan fell to World No.1 in the fourth round of the Australian Open – and is slated to face No.8 seed and Hobart International champion Alizé Cornet in the quarters. Vinci opens against either Jelena Ostapenko or Yanina Wickmayer, and could play No.6 seed Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in the last eight; Schmiedlova had an impressive summer swing in which she made her first career Premier quarterfinal at the Western & Southern Open as a qualifer.
Over in Taiwan, the elder of the Williams sisters has no first round bye in this 32-player draw, and opens against local wildcard Lee Pei-Chi. In an interesting quarters that features names to watch like Donna Vekic and Anastasija Sevastova – a former No.36 who made her return to tennis following a brief retirement at the start of 2015 – Williams could face fellow American and No.8 seed Alison Riske in the quarterfinals. No.3 seed Yulia Putintseva is also coming off a solid run at the Australian Open – beating Wozniacki en route to the third round – and is Williams’ projected semifinal opponent. The two played a rousing first round at Wimbledon last year, with the five-time champion coming out on top, 7-6(5), 6-4.
On the bottom half of the draw is the talented Japanesewoman, Misaki Doi, who held a match point against Kerber to start the Australian Open. Doi will open against Kristyna Pliskova, who hit a record number of aces in Melbourne, and could play No.7 seed and countrywoman Kurumi Nara in the quarterfinals.
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.”
Qualifier Lauren Davis’s run at the Qatar Total Open continued as she beat sixth seed Elena Vesnina in straight sets to reach the quarterfinals.
Karolina Pliskova swatted aside Caroline Garcia 7-5, 6-4 to secure her place in the quarterfinals of the Qatar Total Open.
DOHA, Qatar – Caroline Wozniacki won her second match of the day in emphatic style, overcoming Olympic Gold medalist Monica Puig, 6-1, 6-2, to reach the final of the Qatar Total Open.
“It sounds amazing, but also makes me feel a little old!” she said during her on-court interview, when reminded of her last appearance in the Doha final, back in 2011.
“It’s been a great week, really tough conditions with all the waiting, but I managed to keep focus and play some of my best tennis out there.”
Too good from @CaroWozniacki! ? #Qatar_Total_Open pic.twitter.com/WLxzClmCjN
— WTA (@WTA) February 17, 2017
The former World No.1 was the last of field to advance into the semifinals after finishing off Lauren Davis, 7-5, 6-1, while Puig kicked off play on Friday by defeating Daria Kasatkina in a one-set shootout.
Still rolling from her win over Davis, Wozniacki started the quicker of the two despite the late start, roaring out to a 5-1 lead in the first set and never looking back, hitting 12 winners to just four unforced errors and converting five of seven break point opportunities to advance after an hour and 10 minutes.
What a rally! ?
Defense to offense from @CaroWozniacki! ?? #Qatar_Total_Open pic.twitter.com/bzVehSiT0L
— WTA (@WTA) February 17, 2017
Up next for the two-time US Open finalist is Karolina Pliskova, the No.2 seed and last year’s runner-up in Flushing. Wozniacki’s never lost to the Czech powerhouse, but their last meeting came in 2014, before Pliskova became a Top 10 player.
“She’s playing really well, serving really well. It’s going to be a great final and I’m excited for it.”
.@CaroWozniacki bests Puig 6-1, 6-2!
Sets @QatarTennis Final vs @KaPliskova! pic.twitter.com/vyJIToTMoV
— WTA (@WTA) February 17, 2017
Standing between both of them would be the unpredictable forecast, which forced both of them into playing multiple matches on Friday. Wozniacki was cautiously optimistic of starting Saturday’s championship match on time.
“I don’t want to jinx anything, so let’s just hope there’ll be good weather. I’m just excited to be on the court, and if I have to wait a little bit, I’m used to it by now and I’m feeling good!”
Karolina Pliskova takes on Zhang Shuai in the quarterfinals of the Qatar Total Open.