Tennis News

NÜRNBERG, Germany – No.3 seed Annika Beck made a confident start to her NÜRNBERGER VERSICHERUNGSCUP challenge, defeating Teliana Pereira in their rain-affected first-round encounter on Monday.

It has been a difficult clay court season for Beck, who arrived in southern Germany on the back of first-round exits in Rabat, Madrid and Rome. However, spurred on by a partisan crowd, she came raring out of the traps before withstanding a late fightback to triumph, 6-0, 6-4.

“I think overall it was a very tough match,” Beck said. “I felt good because it’s kind of my home tournament and I used the atmosphere to help me and at the end I needed this because it was hard and a lot of fighting.”

Having breezed through the opening set, Beck’s progress was halted temporarily by an hour-long rain delay. “It’s never easy to have a rain delay in between as you have to be ready all the time. You change, you cool down a bit and just try and stay focused for when you go back on court.”

Also clearing the opening hurdle was Beck’s fellow German and No.7 seed Anna-Lena Friedsam. Constant drizzle ensured conditions were far from ideal throughout the match, but Friedsam maintained her focus to run out a 6-3, 6-4 winner over Johanna Larsson.

“I played really well today. It was not easy conditions with the rain and the cold but I managed it really well,” Friedsam said. “I tried to focus on my strengths and put her under pressure.

“It’s not nice to play in this rain and cold, but I tried not to think about it, focus on my plan and this worked really well today.”

Dampening the home crowd’s spirits somewhat were defeats for Katharina Hobgarski and Tatjana Maria.

Playing her first WTA main draw match, wildcard Hobgarski received a baptism of fire, losing 6-0, 6-3  to Varvara Lepchenko, while Maria lost to fellow qualifier Kiki Bertens 6-1, 7-6(0).

SINGAPORE – Dominika Cibulkova is staying optimistic. Even though she has lost her first two matches at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, she still has a slim chance of qualifying for the semifinals.

That’s if she can beat Simona Halep in straight sets – and that’s always going to be tough to do.

“I have to see it in a good way,” she said after her 6-1, 6-4 loss to Madison Keys. “If I see it in a bad way that I lost two matches then I will be really down.

“It’s a big challenge for me. [It’s my] first time playing here…I want to give 100 per cent on the court. Knowing this, that I can still go into semifinals, I will…be as positive as I can and to win my match against Halep.”

Cibulkova will need to be quick off the mark against the Romanian – and she struggled to do that against Keys.

“I tried,” she recalled. “In the second set I tried to change something. Even my coach came. He helped me with the strategy a little bit. [We] tried to change, but it was still not enough. Maybe I needed a little bit more time. It was too late when I started to get into the match the right way where I wanted.”

Cibulkova did not have the best start to her match against Keys when she forgot to walk out with her ball kid and had to go back for her.

“I was just waving to the people around and forgot!” she admitted. “I didn’t see the ball kid. And then from my box they tell me, like, ‘You forgot the ball kid.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, no way.’ So I went for her bag and I took her bag, so it was nice.”

She is, of course, enjoying the opportunity of competing in Singapore, but there is a hint of disappointment in her reflection on her matches so far – losing to Keys after having lost to Angelique Kerber

“I’m happy I’m experiencing this for the first time,” she explained. “It is different. You feel like, ‘Okay, this is only eight top players in the world,’ and you want to try to play your best tennis. Of course it’s different because you can lose two matches and now the situation – I can win the third one and still can go on [to the semifinals].

“So it’s [a] very new experience for me. I’m happy to be here and to see and to live it, but I’m hoping to win a match. I will do everything to win a match this year.”

PARIS, France – No.15 seed Madison Keys unlocked a spot in the round of 16 for the first time at the French Open, surviving a tense opening set to dispatch Monica Puig, 7-6(3), 6-3.

Keys reached the third round one year ago, but has hit new heights on what she previously deemed her least favorite surface, having made the final at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia two weeks ago.

Taking on Puig, the WTA’s top-ranked Puerto Rican, Keys was made to battle through much of the opening set, including a titanic tenth game that featured eight deuces and forced Puig to save three set points on her own serve. Following up that momentum by breaking serve in the next game, Puig couldn’t sustain and Keys raced through the ensuing tie-break from a 1-3 deficit.

The youngsters exhanged breaks to start the second, but Keys ultimately proved too strong, breaking one last time to seal the win in one hour and 37 minutes. Keys finished with an impressively positive differential despite her attacking game, hitting 30 winners to 29 unforced errors, while Puig managed 17 winners of her own, but was undone by 28 errors.

Up next for Keys is Kiki Bertens, who satisfied her country’s Olympic eligibility requirement by reaching the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament by dismissing No.29 seed Daria Kasatkina, 6-2, 3-6, 10-8. Kasatkina saved five match points on her own serve and served for the match twice herself before the Dutch powerhouse advanced in a grueling two hours and 48 minutes. 

More to come…

SINGAPORE – No.2 seeds and defending champions Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza won their first match as a pair since splitting in August, defeating Chan Yung-Jan and Chan Hao-Ching, 7-6(10), 7-5, to reach the semifinals at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global and help keep Mirza’s hopes of finishing 2016 at World No.1 alive.

Watch interviews and highlights from Singapore on the WTA Facebook page!

“It’s great to be back in Singapore,” Mirza said during their on-court interview. “It’s also great to be back with Martina, and it’s good to get that win.”

The team formerly known as “Santina” started the season as the team to beat, riding a 41-match winning streak into the Middle East Swing and winning their third straight Grand Slam title at the Australian Open. Splitting in August, Hingis and Mirza vowed to defend their WTA Finals crown at year’s end, and the two were true to their word come Friday afternoon.

“Our bond is what made us so strong, to win those tough points in the past,” Hingis said. “No matter how you play, or what’s happening on the court, you have to work through the tough moments and get the momentum going. It’s been two months since we were last on court together, and it was great to be back out there with Sania.”

Across the net were the Chan sisters, who came to Singapore having won their third title of the season at the Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open; a formidable team in their own right, they were the last team to beat Hingis and Mirza before they began their aforementioned winning streak, the longest since Jana Novotna and Helena Sukova’s 44 in 1990.

Vintage rally from #SanTina! ? #WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/8sokm9Oc1e

— WTA (@WTA) October 28, 2016

The Chans pushed the No.2 seeds into a tense first set tie-break, one that saw each team engineer three set points before the defending champions converted to take the opening set in just over an hour.

“They’re a really tough team and we’ve played them a bunch of times,” Mirza said. “But it was so important to win that first set. The momentum was in our favor after that, but it so tough and we had to stay mentally tough. I’m glad we got through.”

Edging ahead an early break in the second, Santina appeared on course for a straightforward victory before the No.6 seeds roared back from a 2-4 deficit, winning three games in a row to get within one game of a match tie-break.

Big forehand from World No.1 @MirzaSania ?#WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/HjokXZ6VHK

— WTA (@WTA) October 28, 2016

Undaunted, Hingis and Mirza won the last three games to advance into their second straight semifinal in Singapore. Awaiting them in the final four will be either Olympic Gold medalists and No.4 seeds, Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina, or 2012 WTA Finals runner-ups Andrea Hlavackova or Lucie Hradecka.

Battle For Year-End No.1 Continues

Friday’s win keeps Mirza in the hunt to retain her No.1 ranking through the end of the season,

Mirza is up against top seeds Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic along with No.3 seed Bethanie Mattek-Sands, all of whom have a change to take the top spot. 

The French must go one round better than Mirza, while Mattek-Sands will have to win the title to unseat the Indian star.

Garcia/Mladenovic and Mattek-Sands (with partner Lucie Safarova) all advanced into the semifinals on Thursday.

.@mhingis & @MirzaSania chat with @AndrewKrasny after a big win!#WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/pMCYT75drB

— WTA (@WTA) October 28, 2016