Brisbane: Azarenka vs Vinci
Victoria Azarenka takes on Roberta Vinci in the quarterfinals of the Brisbane International.
Victoria Azarenka takes on Roberta Vinci in the quarterfinals of the Brisbane International.
The Shenzhen Open takes a look back at Agnieszka Radwanska, Petra Kvitova and Eugenie Bouchard’s first matches of the 2016 season – watch highlights and interviews from the WTA stars here.
Watch Belinda Bencic, Andrea Petkovic, Kristina Mladenovic and more WTA stars glammed up for a night out in Acapulco at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel Player Party!
Kristina Mladenovic has Wednesday’s shot of the day at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel.
An interview with Samantha Stosur after her win in the second round of the Apia International Sydney.
CoCo Vandeweghe shows off her impressive Olympic pin collection and gives a sneak peek into the Village dining hall in episode 2 of CoCo’s Olympic Video Blog.
ATLANTA, GA, USA – Venus Williams and Eugenie Bouchard will play an exhibition match at the BB&T Atlanta Open, an ATP 250 event, which takes place on hard court in Atlantic Station on July 22-30. The two players will take to the court in the women’s exhibition evening session on Stadium Court on Sunday, July 23.
“Atlanta has such a rich sports and tennis tradition and it’s been over 10 years since I’ve had a chance to play a match there,” said Williams. “I’m looking forward to hopefully playing in front of a big crowd that is also an enthusiastic tennis audience.”
Williams and Bouchard have played twice before with the head-to-head currently tied at 1-1. The American won their first meeting on hard court at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo in 2013 while the Canadian took victory in their most recent encounter, at the Volvo Car Open on clay at Charleston in 2014. Both matches were extended to three sets.
“It’s exciting having the great American champion Venus Williams make her first trip to Atlanta in almost 15 years. She’s an inspiration to tennis fans and players around the world,” said Tournament Director Eddie Gonzalez. “Genie Bouchard is the perfect opponent for Venus, and Atlanta tennis fans will enjoy the professional brand of women’s tennis.”
Tennis legend @Venuseswilliams to play @geniebouchard in exo at #BBTAtlantaOpen!
More: https://t.co/RgRLcMIjNT
?️ https://t.co/nf1e7dae07 pic.twitter.com/XB9DwwjPhh— BB&T Atlanta Open (@BBTatlantaopen) March 6, 2017
FLORIANOPOLIS, Brazil – No.3 seed Monica Puig powered into the Brasil Tennis Cup semifinals after a commanding win over 18-year-old Naomi Osaka, 6-3, 6-4.
Watch live action from Florianopolis this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
Osaka came out swinging from the first point, displaying all the signs of her giant-killing form that has seen her reaching the third round at back to back Grand Slams this year.
“She started off very strong,” Puig said. “I just tried to keep myself there in the match the whole time. I served really well and played well on the long points, too.”
Osaka opened the match by breaking Puig’s serve, but the Puerto Rican has been in strong form all week long and was able to grab the break right back. Puig broke once more for a 3-1 lead, which she backed up with her strong service games to take the opening set. She earned another break in the first game of the second, and closed out the match after an hour and fifteen minutes.
After the match, the Puerto Rican had nothing but praise for her young opponent.
“Obviously, Osaka is super young, and I think she has an incredible potential,” Puig said after the match. “She’s a player who has many strong weapons and a great game. Of course, she’s only 18 years old, so you need to give her more time, because if she stays playing like this she’ll go very, very far.”
Puig is set to face the No.2 seeded Irina-Camelia Begu for a spot in the Brasil Tennis Cup final. The Romanian came through against No.7 seed Nao Hibino 6-2, 6-4.
“I played with Puig earlier this year in Charleston,” Begu said. “That was a really tough match, really close third set. I know it’s going to be a difficult match, but it’s the semifinals of a WTA event – I’m expecting that.”
Begu is one of two Romanians into the semifinals along with Ana Bogdan, who’s set to compete against the No.6 seed Timea Babos in the next round. Much like Puig expressed yesterday, Begu has her own reasons for feeling right at home in Florianopolis.
“Romanians are Latin, so we are very similar,” she said. “We feel good here in Brazil, we feel like home and that’s probably why we play so good here.”
Semis baby! ?? #UnoAUno pic.twitter.com/CiRAdEBoWZ
— Monica Puig (@MonicaAce93) August 3, 2016
It’s time to vote for February’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, March 10.
February 2017 WTA Player Of The Month Finalists
Kristina Mladenovic: The Frenchwoman’s star reached its highest peaks yet in February, kicking off the month with her maiden WTA title at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy. Mladenovic ended February in another final, finishining runner-up at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel. In between, she scored her first Top 5 win of the season against Karolina Pliskova at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
Karolina Pliskova: Speaking of Pliskova, the Czech powerhouse continued her winning ways, becoming the first woman to win multiple titles in 2017 at the Qatar Total Open, where she battled past Dominika Cibulkova and Carolina Pliskova and won four matches in three days.
Elina Svitolina: Svitolina built up an impressive, unbeaten, 13-match winning streak in February, winning her fifth and sixth WTA titles at the Taiwan Open and in Dubai to take home the biggest trophy of her career. The Ukrainian, 22, scored back-to-back wins over former WTA World No.1 Angelique Kerber and Caroline Wozniacki to break into the Top 10.
2017 Winners
January: Serena Williams
How it works:
Finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com
There have been several classic finals over 28 editions of the BNP Paribas Open. Dan Lucas looks back at three of the very best.