Tennis News

Capturing the Indian Wells-Miami “Sunshine Double” is no easy feat, but Victoria Azarenka and Bethanie Mattek-Sands made it look easy in March, taking home both titles at the BNP Paribas Open and Miami Open in singles and doubles (with CoCo Vandeweghe and Lucie Safarova), respectively. Who else made waves in the midst of the Sunshine Swing?

Azarenka’s Spring Surge

The former No.1 started 2016 ranked outside the Top 20, but Azarenka was on a mission from first ball at Indian Wells, roaring to her biggest career title and first Premier Mandatory crown since 2012.

After double bageling Magdalena Rybarikova in the last eight, she survived a topsy-turvy semifinal encounter with future US Open finalist Karolina Pliskova before stunning then-World No.1 Serena Williams, who was playing her first final in the California desert since 2001.

Azarenka says her forehand return has improved, can hit more angles, winners from that side. Other game tweaks: pic.twitter.com/k2z4vkokuV

— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) March 16, 2016

“I believe I’m a stronger, faster, and a smarter player,” she told WTA Insider after the final. “I find ways to win when some other things don’t work. I’ve improved my serve a lot. I’m mentally way happier, and I have people with whom I see no limitations.”

The win brought her back into the Top 10 for the first time in nearly two years, and put her in position for the elusive Sunshine Double.

Azarenka Strikes Two In Miami

Azarenka was even more emphatic in Miami, winning her third title of the season without dropping a set in sunny Florida.

The most impressive match came against eventual Roland Garros champion Garbiñe Muguruza, whom the Belarusian narrowly eliminated in a pair of tie-breaks. Azarenka went on to avenge her Australian Open defeat to Angelique Kerber in the semifinals and dismiss surprise finalist Svetlana Kuznetsova in straight sets.

Champagne taste and caviar dreams for @vika7 @MiamiOpen. pic.twitter.com/fCH9do3e2J

— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) April 2, 2016

Back in the Top 5, she appeared on course to challenge for even bigger titles as the tour turned to clay.

“It’s been a really long month and to be able to contain this determination and that intensity throughout all the matches is definitely not an easy task,” she told WTA Insider. “The last couple of days especially has been a lot of expectations and pressure from the outside to complete the Sunshine Double.

“I’m very proud that I kept myself present, kept myself really focused and focused on the job before anything else.”

Mattek-Sands Serves Double Trouble

While Azarenka dominated a compelling month of singles, Mattek-Sands was cleaning things up in doubles with two different partners across Indian Wells and Miami.

First partnering up with CoCo Vandeweghe, the Americans upset No.2 seeds Chan Yung-Jan and Chan Hao-Ching and No.3 seeds Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova en route to the final, where they narrowly outlasted Julia Goerges and Karolina Pliskova, 6-4, 4-6, 10-6.

Women's doubles champs Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova have a special message for their fans. #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/ZibcZlUNTN

— Miami Open (@MiamiOpen) April 3, 2016

Moving to Miami, Mattek-Sands reunited with former partner Lucie Safarova (with whom she’d captured the Australian Open and French Open last year), and ran the table to win the tournament without dropping a set, defeating Babos and Shvedova in the final.

The second half of the Sunshine Double proved ample foreshadowing for Mattek-Sands, who went on to win the US Open with Safarova and ride an 18-match winning streak into the final of the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.

Elsewhere…

A trio of veterans struck gold through the post-Aussie Indoor and Middle East Swing, with Roberta Vinci, Carla Suárez Navarro, and Sara Errani taking home titles in St. Petersburg, Doha, and Dubai, respectively. Vinci’s run in Russia helped her become the oldest Top 10 debutante in WTA history, while runner-up Belinda Bencic became the youngest since 2009 to make her Top 10 debut. Suárez Navarro earned the biggest title of her career, outlasting the charge of young hotshot Jelena Ostapenko, while Errani won a battle of veterans by knocking out Barbora Strycova in Dubai.

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.

Santina On Defense: Reigning Co-No.1s Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza captured their first major title together nearly 52 weeks ago at this very tournament, cementing their status as the sport’s top team and foreshadowing an impressive 41-match winning streak that took them to two more majors and the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global title.

The pair has since seen their period of uninterrupted dominance come to a close – at least for the time being – with back-to-back final defeats to French Connection Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic, who went on to win their home Slam at Roland Garros. Looking to complete the Non-Calendar Year Grand Slam, Hingis and Mirza were stunned by Czech youngsters Barbora Krejcikova and Katarina Siniakova in straight sets in the third round.

Still, it has been another amazing year for Santina, who became the first players to qualify for Singapore in singles or doubles, having already won five titles in the first six months of the season. Top seeds at the All England Club, they play their first match against a pair of Germans, Anna-Lena Friedsam and Laura Siegemund, but face threatening opposition in their half of the draw, including No.13 seeds Vania King and Alla Kudryavtseva, who knocked them out early at the Miami Open. King won the Wimbledon doubles crown back in 2010 with Yaroslava Shvedova – who is seeded No.5 with Timea Babos in the Santina quarter – and together with Kudryavtseva reached their first final of 2016 at the Aegon Classic. 

Their semifinal opponents could be No.3 seeds Chan Hao-Ching and Chan Yun-Jan – the last team to defeat Santina before their winning streak began last summer – or No.7 seeds Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova, who were the team to beat early last year with a pair of major victories at the Australian Open and French Open. The grass court certainly favors Mirza’s power and Hingis’ quick hands, and the team should be feeling a boost at the Grand Slam that started their meteoric rise.

French Across The Channel: Taking a winning streak through much of the clay court swing, Garcia and Mladenovic won three straight titles at the Volvo Car Open, Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, and Mutua Madrid Open – defeating Hingis and Mirza at the latter two finals.

Battling through a quartet of talented Russians in the semis and finals, the French women won an emotional three-setter over former champions Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina to earn their first major title in women’s doubles.

The pair haven’t played since Paris, but both have proven capable of translating their games to the grass, with Garcia winning her first title on the surface in Mallorca two weeks ago, and Mladenovic having previously reached a pair of Wimbledon finals, winning mixed doubles with Daniel Nestor in 2013 and finishing runner-up in women’s doubles with Timea Babos in 2014.

Seeded second, Garcia and Mladenovic open against qualifiers Demi Schuurs and Renata Voracova, and could face the power of No.8 seeds Julia Goerges and Karolina Pliskova or the guile of No.12 seeds Margarita Gasparyan and Monica Niculescu in the quarterfinals.

Russians, Reunited: Looming for the Frenchwomen in the semifinals could be No.4 seeds Makarova and Vesnina, who spent nearly a year apart due to injuries to the former, but have hardly skipped a beat since coming back together in Madrid. Celebrating the four-year anniversary of their first tournament together, Makarova and Vesnina roared into the semifinals, and nearly toppled Hingis and Mirza in the finals of Rome a week later.

Narrowly losing to Garcia and Mladenovic at Roland Garros, the Russians have to like their chances of replicating their run to last year’s Wimbledon final, where they led Santina 5-2 in the final set. Their first round will be against British wildcards Jocelyn Rae and Anna Smith, with Australian Open finalists and No.6 seeds Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka their projected quarterfinal opponents.

Venus Williams and Serena Williams are unseeded in the Russian’s quarter; a meeting in the last eight would mark a rematch of their US Open encounter back in 2014, which Makarova and Vesnina won in straight sets en route to the title. The Americans played their first major tournament since that loss at this year’s French Open, where they fell in the third round to Kiki Bertens and Johanna Larsson.

Unseeded & Looming: Darija Jurak and Anastasia Rodionova may be the most dangerous floaters in the Wimbledon draw. The veterans and Mylan World TeamTennis stalwarts won the Aegon International last week in Eastbourne, defeating not only Hingis and Mirza, but also the Chan sisters to take the title in a match tie-break.

“It was a great performance, all the way from the first round,” Rodionova said after the final. “I think we gelled as a team from the beginning, and that’s what got us to the title.

“I’m very happy with the way we’re playing right now; it’s a great way to go into a Slam.”

Jurak and Rodionova will have to keep up their giant-killing game from the first round at Wimbledon, taking on No.9 seeds and Australian Open semifinalists Xu Yi-Fan and Zheng Saisai, with No.5 seeds Babos and Shvedova also looming in their section before they could earn a rematch with Hingis and Mirza in the quarters.

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.