Tennis News

STRASBOURG, France – On the eve of Roland Garros, French star and No.4 Kristina Mladenovic earned her first WTA main draw win on red clay on Sunday – and not a moment too soon – against American Madison Brengle, surviving a topsy turvy tussle, 6-4, 2-6, 7-5, in the first round of the Internationaux de Strasbourg.

Mladenovic enjoyed an impressive streak through the clay court season in doubles with partner Caroline Garcia; together the pair won three titles and won 15 straight matches (including Fed Cup). At the same time, the 23-year-old went 0-3 in Stuttgart, Madrid, and Rome, and was a game away from elimination against Brengle, who led 5-4 in the final set.

“It wasn’t exactly the easiest match!” she said after the match.

Steadying her nerve, the 2015 US Open quarterfinalist ran off the last three games to reach the second round, where she will play another American in Alison Riske.

“The conditions were difficult with the wind and the match was swinging back and forth. It’s also cold on the court and difficult to get comfortable.

“At 0-30 down with her two points from victory, I knew I had to change the match and dig deep. I needed a cool head and was pleased I could turn that score round to my favour and get the win.”

Riske had typically earned her best results on faster courts, but faced few problems against French qualifier Alizé Lim, winning, 6-0, 7-5.

The biggest upset of the day occurred when No.9 seed Alizé Cornet lost to another qualifier, former World No.56 Alla Kudryavtseva, 1-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Coming off of back-to-back doubles semifinals in Charleston and Madrid, Kudryatvseva was playing her first WTA singles main draw of the season, and bounced back from losing the opening set to dispatch Cornet in an hour and 45 minutes.

Hsieh Su-Wei was the third top doubles talent to emerge victorious on Sunday, taking out qualifier Xu Yi-Fan, 6-3, 6-1, while Swiss qualifier Jil Tiechman upset Kurumi Nara, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1.

Alla Kudryavtseva @AllaK11 heureuse après sa victoire contre @alizecornet #IS2016 pic.twitter.com/Hjoq4DE7qh

— WTA Strasbourg (@WTA_Strasbourg) May 15, 2016

THE WINNERS

Serena Williams emerged victorious in the first all-American final since 2012 – the first on red clay since 2002 – defeating countrywoman Madison Keys, 7-6(5), 6-3, to snap a nine-month title drought and win the Internazionali BNL d’Italia for the fourth time in her illustrious career.

Missing the Mutua Madrid Open due to illness, Williams was playing her first red clay event of the season; the win in Rome sets her up in good stead to defend her French Open title as she attempts to win her fourth crown there, as well.

“I have tried to defend there once, twice, three times before. Didn’t quite work so well. But this year is different. I’m going to definitely go in there and I feel more calm and I don’t feel stress to, like, have to win. You know, I feel like I just am happy to be out here.”

Read the full story and watch highlights here

Co-No.1s Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza find themselves in pole position to complete the Santina Slam at the French Open with a 6-1, 6-7(5), 10-3 win over Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina to capture the Internazionali BNL d’Italia title – their first title since February and their first ever on red clay.

Heading into the French Open on a four-match winning streak, Santina next look to complete a box set of Grand Slam titles – a Santina Slam – that began at Wimbledon over Makarova and Vesnina, and took them through victories at the US Open and Australian Open in January.

Read the full story here.

GAME, SET, MATCH: WTA Insider

Game: Serena back on top.

It’s slightly misleading to imply Serena has been in a nine-month slump. Heading into the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, Serena had not won a title since Cincinnati last August, but she also had not played much. So you can understand why the World No.1 politely bristled when it was implied she had been a three-quarter drought.

“I mean, I have played, let’s see, US Open, Australian, Miami, Indian Wells,” she told reporters after beating Madison Keys to win her first title of the season. “So it’s only four tournaments. So it’s not like I was playing every week.

“So that’s kind of how I look at it. But it feels great to win a title, especially on clay.”

A week ago the French Open was looming and the conventional wisdom was it was a wide open field. No one had dominated the clay season — Simona Halep, Angelique Kerber, Timea Bacsinszky, Lucie Safarova, and Sloane Stephens had won the biggest titles — and Serena had yet to step on the red clay.

A week later and Serena has reasserted herself as the favorite to defend her title in Paris. Her trophy-run in Rome wasn’t particularly memorable aside from the first All-American final in Rome since 1970, but she rarely looked pressured or stressed throughout the week, as she racked up wins over Anna-Lena Friedsam, Christina McHale, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Irina-Camelia Begu, and Keys. Her win over Kuznetsova was her best performance since Australia, and all in all, we saw a very relaxed Serena in The Eternal City.

“I think my patience was really great,” Serena said when asked to assess her week. “I wasn’t stressed out. I wasn’t rushing too much. Basically more than anything I was able to do what I practiced, and I think that’s what really helped me out.”

Set: The Santina Slam is on.

Rome was all about the World No.1s getting back to the winners’ circle. For Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza, the most dominant duo of 2015 ended their two-month title drought by beating Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova. Playing on their least favorite surface, Mirza and Hingis rolled through the draw, only seeing a supertiebreaker in the final.

The reigning Wimbledon, US Open, and Australian Open champions, Hingis and Mirza head to Paris with a sense of relief with a red clay title in hand, something they didn’t do last year. If they can win in Paris, they’ll hold all four majors and complete the non-calendar Grand Slam.

Match: Madison Keys unlocked.

Keys is 21-years-old. That’s a fact so many seem to forget when assessing her future in the sport. Already she’s won a big title on grass in Eastbourne, made the semifinals of the Australian Open, and now the biggest final of her career. And it came on slow, wet, European clay. Keys is as surprised as anyone. But she shouldn’t be.

It’s taken time for Keys to truly believe her big game could translate onto clay. She’s always joked that half her mind is already on grass when the clay season begins. It may not be a fun surface for her — she has to play much more disciplined tennis and not go for the audacious winners that shorten rallies on quicker surfaces — but it’s a good surface for her. Two of her three finals have now come on clay, with the first coming on green clay two years in Charleston.

In Rome she ran through a draw filled with top-notch clay court players: Andrea Petkovic, Petra Kvitova, Timea Babos, Barbora Strycova, and Garbiñe Muguruza. But what made this week feel different was her attitude. Keys’ focus throughout the week was superb. When she fell behind on her serve or let break point chances slide, she trudged on. That hasn’t always been the case in the past.

Keys has the quality to make a very deep run in Paris. She’s also still learning how to maximize her game on clay and could crash out in the first round. But Rome was a huge step forward for her and the mentality she showed all week could be the building blocks for a big season going forward. Remember this week.

RANKING MOVERS:
Notable singles ranking movers for the week of May 16, 2016.

Madison Keys (USA) – +7 (No.24 to 17): 21 year old Madison Keys returns to within one spot of her career-high ranking following an impressive week in Rome; losing a hard-fought final to World No.1 Serena Williams, Keys reached her first Premier 5 final, defeating Petra Kvitova and Garbiñe Muguruza en route.

Irina-Camelia Begu (ROU) – +7 (No.35 to 28): Begu has waved the Romanian flag well during a solid clay court season that saw her back up her quarterfinal run at the Mutua Madrid Open by reaching the semifinals in Rome. Also losing to Williams, Begu thrashed Victoria Azarenka and Daria Kasatkina to reach the final four.

Misaki Doi (JPN) – +7 (No.45 to 38): Doi earned a career-high ranking after reaching the last eight in Rome. Her spring started strong with a title run at the WTA 125K series event in San Antonio, and wins over Lucie Safarova and Johanna Konta will make her a dangerous floater in Paris.

UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS

Internationaux de Strasbourg
Strasbourg, France
International | $226,750 | Clay, Outdoor
Sunday, May 15 – Saturday, May 21

NÜRNBERGER VERSICHERUNGSCUP
Nürnberg, Germany
International | $226,750 | Clay, Outdoor
Sunday, May 15 – Saturday, May 21

Roland Garros
Paris, France
Grand Slam | – | Clay Outdoor
Sunday, May 22 – Sunday, June 5

TOP 20 PLAYER SCHEDULES
1. Serena Williams- Roland Garros
2. Agnieszka Radwanska – Roland Garros
3. Angelique Kerber –  Roland Garros
4. Garbiñe Muguruza – Roland Garros
5. Victoria Azarenka – Roland Garros
6. Simona Halep – Roland Garros
7. Roberta Vinci – Nürnberg, Roland Garros
8. Belinda Bencic – Roland Garros
9. Timea Bacsinszky – Roland Garros
10. Flavia Pennetta
11. Venus Williams – Roland Garros
12. Petra Kvitova – Roland Garros
13. Lucie Safarova – Roland Garros
14. Carla Suárez Navarro – Roland Garros
15. Svetlana Kuznetsova – Roland Garros
16. Ana Ivanovic – Roland Garros
17. Madison Keys – Roland Garros
18. Sara Errani – Strasbourg, Roland Garros
19. Karolina Pliskova – Roland Garros
20. Elina Svitolina – Roland Garros

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
Best wishes to those celebrating birthdays this week:

Louisa Chirico (USA) – May 16, 1996
Johanna Konta (GBR) – May 17, 1991
Heather Watson (GBR) – May 19, 1992
Lucie Hradecka (CZE) – May 21, 1985
Varvara Lepchenko (USA) – May 21, 1986

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).

HOBART, Australia – Belgian qualifier Elise Mertens pulled off the latest upset in a surprising week at the Hobart International, stunning top seed Kiki Bertens, 6-2, 7-5 to reach the semifinals.

“I didn’t expect to win, but in tennis anything can happen,” she said in her post-match press conference. “Today was my day; I played at a good level. In the end I was a bit nervous playing against Kiki, but I’m happy I won.

“I’m pleased with my level. I think I’m playing pretty well and I hope I can hold onto this into the next tournaments.”

Bertens had looked in solid form on Wednesday to advance into the last eight, but struggled from the outset against Mertens, losing serve all four times in the opening set.

The 2016 French Open semifinalist steadied herself in the second, breaking in the seventh game and earning a pair of set points at 5-3, but the qualifier saved both and rode the momentum into an 80-minute win.

“It was tough today,” Bertens said. “Elise started really well; credit to her, I think she played a great match. I was searching for rhythm. Of course, I’m disappointed today, but what can I do?

“Before the match, I was trying to play aggressively, and I don’t think I did that well enough today.”

Mertens’ extended stay in Hobart meant she was unable to attend Australian Open qualifying, but a semifinal run seems to have made up for that disappointment.

“I’m happy to be in Hobart and I’m 100% behind my decision. I’m happy to be here and I’m giving everything I have. Kiki’s a great player, so it was a tough match. In the end, I got it done.”

Up next for Mertens is fellow qualifier Jana Fett, who ousted lucky loser Veronica Cepede Royg, 6-1, 6-4.