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Yonex Hosts WTA Stars In Melbourne

Yonex Hosts WTA Stars In Melbourne

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MELBOURNE, Australia – What do Ana Ivanovic, Angelique Kerber, and Daria Gavrilova have in common? They all play with Yonex racquets, and all three were present for a special gathering hosted by popular sports brand to celebrate the career of former ATP No.1 Lleyton Hewitt ahead of the Australian Open.

Joined by fellow ATP players in Stan Wawrinka and Borna Coric, Ivanovic, Kerber and Gavrilova were on hand to speak about their goals for the upcoming season, and handicapped their chances at the first major tournament in Melbourne.

Check out some of the best images from the event:

Angelique Kerber, Ana Ivanovic

Ana Ivanovic

Daria Gavrilova

All images courtesy of Yonex Tennis.

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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

CHARLESTON, SC, USA – In the first all-teen WTA final since 2009, Daria Kasatkina knocked out former junior colleague Jelena Ostapenko, 6-3, 6-1, to win her first WTA title at the Volvo Car Open.

“It’s very difficult to describe my feeling now,” she said in her post-victory press conference. “I feel I’m just sleeping and everything is not real. I’m so happy. Really.”

Kasatkina and Ostapenko took back-to-back Grand Slam titles back in 2014, the Russian winning the girls’ French Open while the Latvian swept the junior Wimbledon Championships, and the two have been on a collision course since making their WTA debuts the following year.

Ostapenko was in her third career final after finishing runner-up at the Tournoi de Québec in 2015 and the Qatar Total Open in 2016, and won their only previous tour-level meeting last year at the Aegon International in Eastbourne.

But Kasatkina proved far more at home on clay after earning wins over Olympic champion Monica Puig, good friend Daria Gavrilova, No.10 seed Irina-Camelia Begu, and clay court specialist Laura Siegemund en route to her first final.

“Yesterday evening and all night I couldn’t sleep. I woke up during the whole night like two or three times. I was so nervous, you cannot imagine. I was feeling like, I want to just go on the court and everything, let’s finish, play. I cannot feeling this anymore. But now it was worth it.”

The pair exchanged early breaks to start the match; Ostapenko won a long sixth game to level the opening set only to see Kasatkina run away with the contest from there, losing just one more game in the 66-minute match.

“I was ready to be on the court five, six hours. Because it’s a final, I have to be ready for everything, but I’m happy that I finished it in, let’s say, an easy way. So I am very happy and proud of myself.

“When I won the last ball, everything like closed and I just feel like I’m dreaming.” 

Playing clean, consistent tennis, Kasatkina struck just six winners to the Latvian’s 25, but also only seven unforced errors to Ostapenko’s 38, and converted five of seven break point chances over two sets.

“Today, the tactic was to be a little bit more defensive, go back, spin, slice the ball because it’s clay, and she’s playing really aggressive. Usually she beats aggressive players because she likes this type of game, everything. So we decided that I have to go back and make her tired. It was a good tactic, I think.”

“I was playing good all the days this week,” Ostapenko said after the match. “I beat some great players, but today was really not my day, and I just didn’t feel the ball that well. I was missing too much, and because she was defending during the whole match. It was just probably not my day.

“I think I got a bit more consistent on clay, and I think I improved my serve and I’m moving better, but I still have a lot of things to work on. I think it’s pretty good because now I can climb in the ranking.”

The Russian will move back into the Top 30 after the win as she aims to return to Roland Garros as a seed for the second straight year, while Ostapenko returns to the Top 50 following her impressive week and wins over former No.1 Caroline Wozniacki and Australian Open semifinalist Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.

Kasatkina joins an illustrious list of former champions, including Stefanie Graf, Martina Navratilova, Martina Hingis, and Venus Williams. None of that had quite sunk in with the 19-year-old so soon after the match.

“I need to prepare for these things. It never happened to me before. So little bit makeup for the pictures!” she said when asked about a post-victory portrait.

“I don’t realize it yet, so I’m just enjoying it every moment, every second. And really, when I was on the court after the last point, I just wanted the moment to stop because it was one of the best moments in my life.”

Earlier in the day, World No.1 Bethanie Mattek-Sands took her third title of the year, and second with partner Lucie Safarova, overcoming a tough test from BNP Paribas Open finalists Lucie Hradecka and Katerina Siniakova, 6-1, 4-6, 10-7.

All photos courtesy of the Volvo Car Open.

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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

The WTA’s Top 9 stayed the same after a week of action on the green clay of Charleston, where Daria Kasatkina took home her maiden title at the Volvo Car Open, and in Monterrey where Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova powered to a fourth Abierto GNP Seguros title.

The only major change in the Top 10 is the return of Madison Keys, who knocked out Venus Williams and leapfrogged Caroline Wozniacki to rise from No.11 to No.10.

Wozniacki was a win away from returning to the Top 10 for the first time since September 2015, but she was denied the chance by an inspired Jelena Ostapenko in the Charleston quarterfinals.

Here are the biggest ranking movers this week after Charleston and Monterrey:

Jelena Ostapenko +16 (No.66 to No.50): 19-year-old Ostapenko reached the third final of her career – and her first final on clay – at the Volvo Car Open this week. She took down a pair of seeds along the way, knocking out No.5 Caroline Wozniacki and No.11 Mirjana Lucic-Baroni. As a result, she’s earned herself a spot back inside the WTA’s Top 50.

Daria Kasatkina +13 (No.42 to No.29): Not only did 19-year-old Kasatkina reach her first WTA singles final in Charleston, but she also went all the way and took home her maiden WTA after a commanding win over Ostapenko. Her impressive performance sends her rocketing up the rankings, landing inside the Top 30 at No.29.

Shelby Rogers +3 (No.52 to No.49): It was an emotional week for Charleston native Rogers. She entered her home tournament with just one main draw win under her belt and admitted to struggling in front of her home crowd. But all that changed this week, where she put together an inspiring run to the quarterfinals, posting back-to-back wins over top seed Madison Keys and Naomi Osaka along the way. She lands at No.49, just one spot removed from her career-high of No.48.

Carla Suárez Navarro +2 (No.25 to No.23): After spending the last few years inside the WTA’s Top 20, Suárez Navarro’s ranking took a hit when a shoulder injury forced her off the tennis courts at the start of 2017. The Spaniard missed the Australian and Middle Eastern swings, and found herself outside the Top 20 for the first time since 2013. She turned it all around in Monterrey, halting her slide down the rankings with an impressive run to the semifinals.

Click here to check out the updated WTA rankings as of April 10.

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Williams & Sharapova Open Round 3 Action

Williams & Sharapova Open Round 3 Action

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova remain on a collision course for a quarterfinal date at this year’s Australian Open. But they’ve still got some work to do before they get there. We preview their Day 5 tilts, as well as some other enticing Friday matchups, here.

Friday, Day 5
Third Round

[1] Serena Williams (USA #1) vs. Daria Kasatkina (RUS # 69)
Head-to-head: First meeting
Key Stat: Kasatkina was just two years old when Serena Williams won her first major.

Russia’s Daria Kasatkina is quickly making a name for herself as a future star on the WTA tour. Just two weeks ago she defeated Venus Williams in Auckland, and the 2014 French Open junior champion has now reached the third round at both Grand Slams she’s played in her career. But on Friday when she faces top-seeded Serena Williams, she’ll encounter the biggest challenge in women’s tennis. Williams, who has erased all doubts about the state of her health by breezing through her first two matches in Melbourne, is hungry to make more Grand Slam magic and very much aware of the potential of Kasatkina. “I don’t think it’s going to be easy,” Williams said of their impending battle. “Any time someone is beating Venus they are more than likely playing really good. So I definitely will be ready for that.”

Pick: Williams in two

[5] Maria Sharapova (RUS #5) vs. Lauren Davis (USA # 103)
Head-to-head: First meeting
Key Stat: Sharapova is going for her 600th career win. 

Like Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova also came to Melbourne with doubts about her health and match fitness swirling. But the five-time major champion has dropped seven games in two matches and looks to be in mid-season form ahead of her third-round showdown with hard-charging American Lauren Davis. Sharapova has never faced the Ohio native before, but at this stage of the tournament the fifth seed is more concerned about dictating with her power strokes than the opponent on the other side of the net. “I don’t think it matters [who I face],” she told reporters after her straight-sets victory over Aliaksandra Sasnovich on Wednesday. “I think my focus has to be on myself and on my game. Just improving and getting better.”

Pick: Sharapova in two

[4] Agnieszka Radwanska (POL #4) vs. Monica Puig (PUR # 52)
Head-to-head: First meeting
Key Stat: Red-hot Radwanska has won 24 of her last 28 matches.

After an impressive takedown of surging Canadian Eugenie Bouchard in the second round things don’t promise to get any easier for No.4-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska. Her next opponent, 22-year-old Puerto Rican Monica Puig, has won 10 of her last 11 matches and is into the third round of a major for the first time since 2013. After surviving a 31-ace onslaught from Kristyna Pliskova in the second round, Puig has stockpiled a pile of the belief that comes with saving five match points and gutting out an improbable win at a major. “I think it’s just about believing that you can come out of a moment like that, that at any moment you can get a second wind and come out of it,” Puig said after her marathon win on Wednesday.

Pick: Radwanska in two

[28] Kristina Mladenovic (FRA # 30) vs. Daria Gavrilova (AUS # 39)
Head-to-head: First meeting
Key Stat: Gavrilova has four Top 10 wins since last March.

They have never met at the tour-level but that does not mean that France’s Kristina Mladenovic and Australia’s Daria Gavrilova don’t have history. They met in the Roland Garros Girls’ Singles final in 2009, and it was Mladenovic who got the win. “We played juniors a lot,” Gavrilova explains. “I actually lost to her at the French Open, I don’t know, ages ago. I was 15. It was in the finals. We have known each other since we were about 12.” Nearly seven years on, both players appear to be on the cusp of big-time stardom. Mladenovic reached her first major quarterfinal at last year’s US Open, while Gavrilova, who exudes fire and infectious enthusiasm for the game, has risen from outside the Top 200 to No.39 in the world in just over a year’s time.

Pick: Gavrilova in three

Around the Grounds: Belinda Bencic will look to advance to the round of 16 in Melbourne for the first time, but she’ll have to get past one of the tournament’s inspirational figures in Kateryna Bondarenko to get there. Bondarenko, who left the tour in 2012 to give birth to a child and didn’t return until 2014, is looking like she never missed a beat… Quietly, No.10-seeded Carla Suárez Navarro is working her way through the draw. The 2009 Australian Open quarterfinalist will face 19-year-old Russian Elizaveta Kulichkova for a spot in the second week… A finalist at last year’s US Open, Italy’s Roberta Vinci is alive and well in Melbourne. She’ll bid to reach the round of 16 in Melbourne for the first time against Anna-Lena Friedsam of Germany.

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The World Reacts To Puig’s Historic Win

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

When Monica Puig clinched the gold medal for Puerto Rico at the Olympic tennis event, her historic win was felt around the world. Even her social media rallying cry, #PicaPower, became a worldwide trending topic after she took the first set and for hours afterwards.

Here’s the best moments from Twitter as the world celebrated the Puerto Rican’s incredible victory.

First up, here’s how they lived the final moments of the match in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico, Puig’s birthplace.

Puig even got a personal congratulations from Alejandro Javier García Padilla, the governor of Puerto Rico.

 The party wasn’t contained to the island, though, as dozens of Puerto Rican celebs around the world – everyone from Ricky Martin to Lin-Manuel Mirana – and superstar athletes like baseball star Yasiel Puig, weighed in on the history-making achievement.

Lin-Manuel Miranda, writer of the Broadway hit ‘Hamilton,’ even live-tweeted the final moments.

Her big win also moved the tennis world, as Puig’s peers on the WTA and beyond took to Twitter to send the 21-year-old their congratulations.

Here’s what the players and legends had to say:

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Around The Grounds At The Australian Open

Around The Grounds At The Australian Open

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970
Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka were joined by four colorful characters at the Australian Open Kids Tennis Day – as well as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka were joined by four colorful characters at the Australian Open Kids Tennis Day – as well as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Eugenie Bouchard’s loyal fans, the “Genie Army,” were out in full force in sunny Melbourne.

Eugenie Bouchard’s loyal fans, the “Genie Army,” were out in full force in sunny Melbourne.

Australian player Daria Gavrilova thrilled Aussie fans with her spirited performance at her home slam. The 21-year-old made the Round of 16, her best result ever at a slam.

Australian player Daria Gavrilova thrilled Aussie fans with her spirited performance at her home slam. The 21-year-old made the Round of 16, her best result ever at a slam.

Down the road from Melbourne Park, Johanna Konta stands under the distinctive clocks of Flinders Street Station. Konta made British tennis history by becoming the first woman in 33 years to reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open.

Down the road from Melbourne Park, Johanna Konta stands under the distinctive clocks of Flinders Street Station. Konta made British tennis history by becoming the first woman in 33 years to reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open.

Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley presents Maria Sharapova with a cake commemorating a major milestone: she reached 600 career singles wins after her victory in the third round.

Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley presents Maria Sharapova with a cake commemorating a major milestone: she reached 600 career singles wins after her victory in the third round.

Australian Open quarterfinalist Angelique Kerber makes a young fan happy at Autograph Island.

Australian Open quarterfinalist Angelique Kerber makes a young fan happy at Autograph Island.

Naomi Osaka wants to be the very best, like no one ever was. The 18-year-old Japanese – pictured here meeting the penguins at Melbourne Aquarium – made the third round at the Australian Open.

Naomi Osaka wants to be the very best, like no one ever was. The 18-year-old Japanese – pictured here meeting the penguins at Melbourne Aquarium – made the third round at the Australian Open.

Serena Williams signs autographs after her Round of 16 win. The World No.1 has yet to drop a set in her Australian Open title defense.

Serena Williams signs autographs after her Round of 16 win. The World No.1 has yet to drop a set in her Australian Open title defense.

Annika Beck dealt the No.11 seed Timea Bacsinszky a second-round upset, and doled out many autographs at the Australian Open Autograph Island.

Annika Beck dealt the No.11 seed Timea Bacsinszky a second-round upset, and doled out many autographs at the Australian Open Autograph Island.

World No.113 Zheng Shuai was contemplating retiring after the Australian Open – until she upset the No.2 seed Simona Halep in the first round. Zheng – pictured here with coach Liu Shuo at the Chinese Museum – is now in her first ever Grand Slam quarterfinal.

World No.113 Zheng Shuai was contemplating retiring after the Australian Open – until she upset the No.2 seed Simona Halep in the first round. Zheng – pictured here with coach Liu Shuo at the Chinese Museum – is now in her first ever Grand Slam quarterfinal.

Two-time champion Victoria Azarenka signs a camera lens after her victory – can the undefeated No.14 seed make it three Grand Slams in Melbourne?

Two-time champion Victoria Azarenka signs a camera lens after her victory – can the undefeated No.14 seed make it three Grand Slams in Melbourne?

Daria Kasatkina, who made the third round in Melbourne, tries on a bit of Aussie spirit – and a cork hat – at the Australia Pop Up Shop.

Daria Kasatkina, who made the third round in Melbourne, tries on a bit of Aussie spirit – and a cork hat – at the Australia Pop Up Shop.

Carla Suárez Navarro is always calm – whether she’s on court or holding a freshwater crocodile. A quarterfinalist here in Melbourne, she’s looking to move into the final four for the first time in her career.

Carla Suárez Navarro is always calm – whether she’s on court or holding a freshwater crocodile. A quarterfinalist here in Melbourne, she’s looking to move into the final four for the first time in her career.

Garbiñe Muguruza during her post-match interview. The World No.3 made the third round of the Australian Open.

Garbiñe Muguruza during her post-match interview. The World No.3 made the third round of the Australian Open.

The spotlight is on World No.4 Agnieszka Radwanska, behind the scenes at her ESPN Player Montage. The reigning WTA Finals champion is seeking to make the Australian Open her first Grand Slam title.

The spotlight is on World No.4 Agnieszka Radwanska, behind the scenes at her ESPN Player Montage. The reigning WTA Finals champion is seeking to make the Australian Open her first Grand Slam title.

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