Tennis News

Romanian captain Ille Nastase will play no further part in this weekend’s Fed Cup action as two days worth of controversy surrounding him came to a head during the team’s World Group II Play-off against Great Britain on Saturday.

In the second set of the rubber between Johanna Konta and Sorana Cirstea, Nastase verbally abused both Konta and Great Britain’s captain Anne Keothavong, before launching into a tirade against both the umpire and referee as a result of being warned for his conduct.

He was then removed from the court, and later the arena, entering in a row with the assembled press corps as he departed. After being suspended for 25 minutes, the match was later resumed, with Monica Niculescu acting as Romania’s captain.

“Romanian Captain Ille Nastase was removed from the court during the second rubber of the Fed Cup tie between Romania and Great Britain in Constanta,” the ITF said in a statement. “Mr. Nastase was asked to leave the court by ITF Referee Andreas Egli for unsportsmanlike conduct, having already received two official warnings. Mr. Nastase was also removed from the grounds due to his serious misconduct. His accreditation was removed and he will play no further part in this tie. The ITF has launched an investigation into this matter as well as previous comments made by Mr. Nastase throughout the week.”

On Friday, Nastase was reported as having made a racist remark about the recent announcement of Serena Williams’ pregnancy, and also made suggestive comments towards Keothavong while involving himself in a dispute with a member of the press.

ITF president Dave Haggerty added Saturday: ‘This is unacceptable behavior by a Fed Cup captain. No player, official, member of the media or fan should have to endure any kind of abuse, and Mr. Nastase will rightly play no further part in this tie. A formal investigation is already underway and any decision or sanction will be made by the ITF’s Adjudication Panel. We are unable to comment further on an ongoing investigation.”

After play resumed, Konta won the last five games to defeat Cirstea, 6-2, 6-3 and square the tie at 1-1. Simona Halep defeated Heather Watson, 6-4, 6-1 in Saturday’s first match.

Elsewhere in the World Group II Play-offs after Saturday’s play, Italy leads Australia and Australia leads Serbia, 2-0, while the tie between Kazakhstan and Canada is also level at 1-1.

BIRMINGHAM, England – Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova began her grass court campaign in style by brushing aside Lucie Safarova in the first round of the Aegon Classic Birmingham.

Watch live action from Birmingham and Mallorca this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

With another gloomy forecast predicted, Kvitova will have been pleased to get on and off court in such a timely manner, wrapping up a 6-3, 6-2 win in just over an hour.

“I think the schedule was perfect today for me. Definitely. I think we played good match today. We finished before the rain obviously. But I think that it really doesn’t matter. I’m just happy I won,” Kvitova said.

Historically, Safarova’s name has been a welcome sight on the draw sheet for Kvitova, the latter winning all eight of their encounters. Among the more recent of these came en route to the second of Kvitova’s titles at the All England Club, in 2014, and she produced a similar level of tennis in Birmingham.

Having lost early at Roland Garros, the Czech has had plenty of time to acclimatize her game to the unique challenges presented by the brief grass court season.

“I practiced three or four times on the grass here. And I practiced twice indoors before today’s match,” she said. “I think with the timing everything was fine. It’s pretty fast and bouncing very low. So I was glad that we played some kind of short rallies today as well. But most of the time, it’s about the one-two shots in the rallies.”

#AegonClassic Shot of the Day time as @Petra_Kvitova blasts a huge forehand winner! #powerhttps://t.co/IuPJIC3KEp

— British Tennis (@BritishTennis) June 14, 2016

She got the ball rolling with one such exchange, a rasping forehand down the line bringing her a break in the second game. An ace down the T saved Safarova from falling a further break behind, but with Kvitova’s own serve on song she never looked in danger of rescuing the set.

The second was even more one-sided, Kvitova posting five games without reply as she cantered towards victory and a second-round meeting with Jelena Ostapenko.   

Also beating the rain was qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova, who defeated Lesia Tsurenko, 6-4, 6-2. 

MALLORCA, Spain – When the 19-year-old Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo takes the court against the No.3 seed Ana Ivanovic for a spot in the Mallorca Open quartefinals, she’ll be facing off against a very familiar opponent.

The two have never played before, at least not in real life, but when it comes to playing as Ivanovic in video games, Sorribes Tormo is an expert.

“It’s such a dream to play Ivanovic,” Sorribes Tormo said. “Back when she won Roland Garros, playing Wii was a big thing, I had the tennis game and I always picked her as my player. In fact, yesterday I was talking to my brother and he reminded me of it.

“Obviously we don’t play video games anymore because we’ve grown up, but she’s a player that I really like.”

Ivanovic and Sorribes Tormo are set to take the stage in Mallorca tomorrow at 7:00 pm local time, and it’ll be the first time the Spaniard plays on the tournament’s sunken center court. She comes into the matchup fresh off a grass court title at the ITF 50K in Essen.

“It’s a huge motivation to play on the center court,” she assured. “I’m in a moment where I’ve been playing very well, with confidence.

“I know that it is a match where I have to try to do my best and focus only on me. I have to forget who is at the other side of the net and do my job.”

Sorribes Tormo made her way to the second round after coming back from 0-3 down against fellow Spaniard Paula Badosa Gibert, 6-3, 7-5, while Ivanovic pushed past Pauline Parmentier 6-4, 6-4.

Modo Winner…?ON! @AnaIvanovic ya está en los cuartos en dobles. Mañana turno para el cuadro individual. pic.twitter.com/40t5JLcS75

— MallorcaOpen (@MallorcaOpen) June 15, 2016

– Via Mallorca Open

MALLORCA, Spain – Jelena Jankovic survived more than one scare at the Mallorca Open, where she found herself battling back from a love set down to advance 0-6, 6-4, 6-3 against Elise Mertens for a spot in the quarterfinals.

Watch live action from Birmingham and Mallorca this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

“It was a very, very tough match,” Jankovic said afterwards. “I played against a young opponent who came through qualies and has done quite well recently. She’s played a lot of matches on grass and so she’s quite confident.”

Playing against the Belgian qualifier for the first time, Jankovic couldn’t find a way to make Mertens uncomfortable as her opponent ripped winner after winner and put the No.2 seed down 0-6 in 28 minutes.

“I was playing everything that she likes, because also I don’t know her game very well,” Jankovic said. “I didn’t know the way she plays or her style. I’ve just seen a little bit of her match yesterday, and she played very differently against me which was a surprise for me.”

The former No.1 found her rhythm in the second and third set. Although Mertens broke to start the second set, Jankovic quickly replied in kind and did a bit of problem-solving to expose the weaknesses in the 20-year-old’s game. From then on, it seemed almost inevitable as Jankovic grabbed the next two sets to complete her comeback.

Despite her dominating performance in the last half of the match, Jankovic herself never seemed comfortable on the grass throughout the match. Despite winning a title in Birmingham in 2007, grass has never been the Serb’s favored surface, evidence by her many slips and tumbles today.

“It’s not easy, on this surface,” Jankovic said. “I can play well on grass, but I just think it’s more mental for me than anything else. Maybe I just put it into my head that I don’t like the surface. Because I fell a few times, I became scared to move freely.

“I was scared to move and was a little bit tentative. On other surfaces I move without thinking and hit my shots, but here, once I fell down I became so scared. But that happens to everyone, and I just have to fight and keep playing.”

Jankovic will need to find her nerve on this surface again in her quarterfinal with Sorana Cirstea, who moved past Daniela Hantuchova 6-3, 6-4.

“I think on grass, the most important thing is mentality, because everything goes so quick,” Cirstea said. “If your mind is off for a few seconds, straightaway they can break you. One break can mean one set.

“Here it’s so important to stay focused every single point, it takes more energy. Even if the matches are shorter, it’s a lot on the mental side.”

Also moving on are Mariana Duque-Mariño, who dealt a huge upset to grass-court stalwart Sabine Lisicki, toppling her 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. No.8 seed Eugenie Bouchard also tumbled out, falling to Anastasija Sevastova 6-3, 6-3.