Traditional Fare and Tunes Captivate in Colombia
The players at the Claro Open Colsanitas enjoyed traditional Colombian cuisine and tunes from the band JOLIE at the annual players’ party.
The players at the Claro Open Colsanitas enjoyed traditional Colombian cuisine and tunes from the band JOLIE at the annual players’ party.
The 2016 Wimbledon draw is out. For the full draw click here.
Serena Williams faces familiar foes: World No.1 and defending champion Serena Williams leads the top half of the draw, which will get underway on Tuesday. On the whole the top half of the draw features a tougher selection of seeds compared to the bottom half of the draw, with No.3 Agnieszka Radwanska, Petra Kvitova, and Belinda Bencic, and Timea Bacsinszky, as well as two dangerous lower seeds in CoCo Vandeweghe and Kristina Mladenovic. Throw in an unseeded Caroline Wozniacki, who opens against No.13 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, and it’s clear the top half is prime for some upsets.
As for Serena, she’ll likely see a slew of familiar opponents in the first week. She opens against a qualifier in the first round – she is 17-0 against qualifiers and lucky losers at the Slams – and then plays either Christina McHale or Daniela Hantuchova. Serena has played McHale twice in the last three months, and the younger American has played her tough.
Heather Watson, who was two points away from beating Serena here last year, or Kristina Mladenovic, who gave her a tough test last month at the French Open, could be looming in the third round, with Mladenovic being the more dangerous of the two. Get through that and she could be looking at a Round of 16 tussle with Kuznetsova, Sloane Stephens, or Wozniacki.
The upshot: These are not opponents Serena will be unfamiliar with or underestimate in the slightest. It might just be the draw she needs to stay focused in and charged up for the fortnight and she tries to chase down that record-tying 22nd major title.
Garbiñe Muguruza primed for another deep run: Aside from the tough task of playing the always dangerous and grass-loving Camila Giorgi in the first round, this is a good draw for the French Open champion. The earliest seed she could face is No.28 Lucie Safarova, who still trying to find her form, then either Samantha Stosur or Elina Svitolina, neither of whom are comfortable on grass.
Muguruza’s potential seeded quarterfinal opponents: Venus Williams, Carla Suárez Navarro, Jelena Jankovic, or Daria Kasatkina. That’s a very good look for the semifinals if Muguruza can manage Giorgi.
Agnieszka Radwanska put to the test: The second quarter of the draw is a tight one, packed with in-form lower-ranked players, and top players with question marks. Radwanska could face Mallorca Open champion Caroline Garcia, in a rematch of their second round match at the French Open. Her fourth round opponent could be one of Dominika Cibulkova, who defeated her today to reach the Aegon International final, Johanna Konta, who is also in the midst of a deep run in Eastbourne, or a dangerous non-seeded player like Monica Puig, Daria Gavrilova, or Eugenie Bouchard.
Also in Radwanska’s quarter is two-time champion Petra Kvitova, who opens against one of the toughest unseeded players in Sorana Cirstea. Birmingham finalist Barbora Strycova, Belinda Bencic, and Andrea Petkovic also loom. All that with the prospect of Serena in the semifinals. Not an easy task for Aga.
Angelique Kerber and Simona Halep lead an open third quarter: Who will make it out of the wide open third quarter? Halep didn’t play any grass court lead up events, with the Romanian withdrawing from Birmingham due to a left achilles injury. Kerber reached the quarterfinals of that very event, but lost a tough three-setter to Carla Suárez Navarro after an impact schedule saw her complete two matches in one day. With question marks swirling around the top seeds in this section, look for No.9 seed Madison Keys or No.15 seed Karolina Pliskova to take advantage.
First round matches to watch: The bottom half of the draw will play on Monday and the top half on Tuesday. Here are the matches we’re already highlighting:
Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. Caroline Wozniacki
Petra Kvitova vs. Sorana Cirstea
Garbiñe Muguruza vs. Camila Giorgi
Belinda Bencic vs. Tsvetana Pironkova
Laura Siegemund vs. Madison Keys
Karolina Pliskova vs. Yanina Wickmayer
Sabine Lisicki vs. Shelby Rogers
Lucie Safarova vs. Bethanie Mattek-Sands
Kiki Bertens vs. Jelena Ostapenko
Johanna Konta vs. Monica Puig
CoCo Vandeweghe vs. Kateryna Bondarenko
Dominika Cibulkova vs. Mirjana Lucic-Baroni
Nicole Gibbs vs. Kirsten Flipkens
Closing Thoughts:
– A Tale of Two Careers: In 2011, it was Laura Robson who defeated a then-unknown Angelique Kerber in the first round of Wimbledon. Five years on and the two face off again and Robson is attempting to reignite her injury-plagued career against the reigning Australian Open champion.
– Hot or Cold: Players who soared in Paris who might sputter in London? French Open semifinalist Kiki Bertens is a beast on clay but has only won one match ever at Wimbledon. Similarly, Stosur has always been a threat on clay but has still never made it past the third round at Wimbledon. French Open quarterfinalist Shelby Rogers has never won a main draw match at a grass tournament.
– Most vulnerable top seeds: No.6 seed Roberta Vinci and No.7 seed Belinda Bencic. Vinci opens against a solid grass player in Alison Riske and the Italian is mired in a slump. Since February she has not won three matches at a single tournament and is on a three-match losing streak. As for Bencic, she’s still on her way back from a lower back injury that ruled her out of the clay season and picked up a thigh injury in Birmingham. She’s a top-notch player on grass, but has a tricky opening opponent in Pironkova.
– Seeds going into Wimlbedon cold: Here’s who has not played a grass court match this year: Serena Williams, Simona Halep, Venus Williams, Sloane Stephens, and Kiki Bertens.
Listen to more Wimbledon thoughts in the latest episode of the WTA Insider Podcast, featuring Sport360.com’s Reem Abulleil:
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.
LONDON, England – British No.1 Johanna Konta took a lengthy rain delay in her stride to overcome Monica Puig and advance to the second round of Wimbledon for the first time in her career.
Displaying the poise that has characterized her rapid rise up the tennis ladder, Konta emerged onto a gloomy No.1 Court to close out a 6-1 7-5 victory.
Konta, who led 6-1, 2-1 when rain brought Tuesday’s play to a premature conclusion, was then forced to kick her heels for a further five hours as the wait for the skies to clear continued. When they did, the No.17 seed left her best tennis in the changing rooms as Puig pocketed the first three games.
Ranked No.36 and a semifinalist last week in Eastbourne, Puig represented as tricky an opening round opponent as Konta could have drawn. The Briton, however, was in no mood to extend her stay on court any longer than strictly necessary, reasserting herself in the baseline exchanges and drawing level when Puig sent a forehand long.
A few games later the Puerto Rican was serving to stay in the match. Sensing her moment, Konta went after her returns with added gusto, launching one beyond her sprawling opponent to close out a memorable victory.
“I’ve worked my whole life, since I was eight years old, on becoming the best tennis player I could be,” Konta said “In that sense, I’ve been doing this for 17 years, so it didn’t exactly happen from one day to the next.
“I am very, very grateful for the experiences that I’ve had in quite a condensed, short period of time. I think that I am very grateful for that, enjoying that very much. Then again, also, the previous year where I had lost in the first round here, I had played some very, very good players. I always say I’m a firm believer in accumulating experiences. I’m most certain that if I hadn’t had those experiences, I wouldn’t have been able to deal with the example of today or the last few days.”
In the second round, Konta, who is the first British woman to be seeded at Wimbledon since Jo Durie in 1984, will now face former finalist Eugenie Bouchard.
With this week’s WTA rankings used to determine the French Open entry list, former champion Francesca Schiavone headlines the week’s biggest movers and shakers.
The 2016 Aces For Humanity campaign was launched by USANA and the WTA at the BNP Paribas Open and continued in Eastbourne at the Aegon International, where every ace hit by a WTA player at Premier-level events translates into a donation to the USANA True Health Foundation, whose mission is to provide the most critical human necessities to those who are suffering or in need around the world.
For every ace hit by any player the WTA donates $5, and for every ace hit by a USANA Brand Ambassador, it’s $10.
USANA Brand Ambassadors Eugenie Bouchard, Samantha Stosur, Kristina Mladenovic, Madison Keys, Monica Puig, Sloane Stephens, Zheng Saisai, Alizé Cornet and Caroline Wozniacki hit 58 of the 315 aces at Eastbourne – raising a grand total of $1,865 throughout the week. Mladenovic hit the most with 23 aces.
Read more about the campaign here and see below to find out who’s hit the most aces so far!
#AcesForHumanity Fan Giveaway
It’s simple: before each WTA Premier tournament guess how many total aces will be hit.
Next up is the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford. Last year there was a total of 156 aces hit. It’s now your turn, take your best guess of how many will be hit this year.
How To Enter:
• Follow @WTA and @USANAFoundation on Twitter and before each WTA Premier tournament tweet the number of aces you predict will be hit during the whole tournament (Singles, Main Draw)
• Include the hashtag #AcesForHumanity
• Eastbourne deadline is July 19 at 11:59pm ET
• The winner will be announced June 25th
Aces For Humanity is a joint WTA and USANA initiative that benefits the USANA True Health Foundation, which provides critical human necessities to those in suffering or in need around the globe.
For full rules on how to enter, click here.
Hometown Heroes Hingis & Bencic Hold Court In Biel/Bienne
Children attending the Ladies Open Biel Bienne over the weekend got to get a glimpse of two of their country’s biggest WTA stars, as Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic and Martina Hingis participated in the tournament’s Kids’ Day festivities, organized by Swiss Tennis.
Check out all the best photos of Bencic and Hingis on Biel/Bienne Kids Day right here!
A Peak Behind The Scenes In Bogota
Meanwhile in Bogota, a group of kids from the Colombian children’s charity ICBF got a special treat on Kids’ Day at the Claro Open Colsanitas. They were invited to a tour of the grounds and practice courts, as well as getting the chance to meet some of the areas’ biggest tennis stars.
See more photos from their behind-the-scenes tour right here!
WTA Charities is the WTA’s global philanthropic organization dedicated to making a positive impact across the globe. Our mission is to be a social responsibility vehicle built on the WTA’s values to empower and provide for a better future. We’re dedicated to combining, strengthening and enhancing the community and charitable efforts of the WTA through its members (players, alumnae and tournaments), along with our partners.
Click here to see more WTA Charities activities!
World No.1 Serena Williams got to celebrate reaching the third round of Wimbledon with a little help from a fan, who traded a taco t-shirt for the top seed’s cracked racquet.
No. 1 seed Peng Shuai and No.2 seed Wang Qiang advanced in straight sets and will square off for the title at the Biyuan Cup Zhangzhou.
Top seed Serena Williams moved one step closer to defending her title after battling past Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to reach her tenth Wimbledon semifinal.
STUTTGART, Germany – World No.4 Dominika Cibulkova has withdrawn from the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix due to a wrist injury.
Seeded No.3 at the tour’s first Premier tournament on European red clay, Cibulkova injured her wrist last week during practice ahead of Slovakia’s weekend tie against the Netherlands.
Cibulkova was forced to withdraw from the tie and, despite a first-round bye in Stuttgart, was unable to heal in time for Stuttgart.
As a result of Cibulkova’s withdrawal and in accordance with WTA rules, No.5 seed Garbiñe Muguruza, who was set to play her first-round match against countrywoman Carla Suárez Navarro, moves into Cibulkova’s vacated spot in the draw and now has a first-round bye.
A qualifier or lucky loser will take Muguruza’s vacated spot and will play Suárez Navarro. The rest of the draw remains unchanged.
.@PorscheTennis Revised draw @PorscheTennis. pic.twitter.com/71vHUsKaRz
— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) April 24, 2017