Tennis News

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia – Former World No.9 Andrea Petkovic had a whirlwind start to her week at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy, but is thoroughly enjoying her first visit to Russia’s cultural capital, into the second round as a qualifier.

“I just came back from Australia on Wednesday, and I had to get a Russian visa from Germany,” she explained before making the main draw. “I got it Friday at 1PM, and didn’t arrive to St. Petersburg before 11PM last night. I couldn’t practice here, so everything was a little fast.”

The German hasn’t dropped a set through four matches, all without new coach Sasha Nensel, who was held up due to visa issues. Traveling with her mother, Petkovic is instead drawing inspiration from seeing Mirjana Lucic-Baroni reach the semifinals of the Australian Open; the pair played doubles in Melbourne, reaching the semifinals.

“I feel like I still have so much more in me, and I think it was important for me to make a new commitment with a new coach to show I still want it. He’s really hard on me, and I haven’t had this before, so it’s a new thing for me. I like it so far, and we’ll see where it takes me.”

The 29-year-old has used the surge of veteran success as primary motivation of late, crediting another doubles partner, good friend and former World No.1 Angelique Kerber as the first to reignite her passion for the game.

“I didn’t know where my place was, but I kept going half-heartedly,” she said of an emotional end to her 2015 season. “When Angie won the Australian Open and started playing so well, I saw what an achievement it was and how happy it made her.

“It’s a different story from when you see Serena winning Slams, because she’s so far away from me. But Angie and I are good friends; we played doubles so many times, and it made me think about how if she can do it, I can do it.”

There would be no better place for Petkovic to start doing it than St. Petersburg, a city that played a prominent part of her childhood.

“One of my favorite authors is Dostoyevsky. I feel like I know the city very well; I’ve just never been here before. When we arrived, my mother saw the river and said, ‘Look at the water, what kind of river is it?’ I answered, ‘That’s the Neva,’ and she was like, ‘How do you know that?’ I said, ‘I read it, I know it!’

“It’s difficult because I came so late and I have to play, but I really hope that I can catch a day or afternoon to see the Hermitage. One day, when I’m done with tennis, I want to come back here as a tourist because this is one of the cities I’ve always wanted to visit. I have a picture of it in my mind, because I’ve never actually seen it!”

Her love for Dostoyevsky runs deep, citing Rodion Raskolnikov – the protagonist to Crime and Punishment – as her “first crush.”

“I always struggle because I really like The Brothers Karamazov but the first book I read of his was Crime and Punishment; I read it several times. I think I like Brothers Karamazov more.”

Her comfort on court in St. Petersburg was particular evident when she brought back some familiar dance moves after beating Begu – perhaps inspired by Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova.

“Their dancing was so professional. I used to do a few dance moves but they had a choreographer! They were so in sync that I’d be a little afraid to be in competition with them.”

Regardless of choreography, Petkovic undoubtedly appears in rhythm ahead of her next match against No.6 seed, defending champion Roberta Vinci.

.@AndreaPetkovic dancing her way into the second round! ? pic.twitter.com/2ePW8Rrsak

— WTA (@WTA) January 31, 2017

All photos courtesy of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy 2017

SINGAPORE – Most of the time, players tend to offer identical analysis of a tournament’s court speed. Clay is slower than hardcourts, which are, in turn, slower than grass and indoor courts. But within that hierarchy lies a maddening gradient of quick clay courts and slow hardcourts that can make it difficult to assess which court will favor a player on any given week.

Speaking at Saturday’s All-Access hour, Agnieszka Radwanska, Simona Halep, Karolina Pliskova, Garbiñe Muguruza, Madison Keys, and Dominika Cibulkova were all asked to give their take on the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global’s Centre Court. The consensus was admittedly hard to gauge.

“I don’t remember last year, but I think it’s so slow,” Muguruza said. “It’s so slow. I think there’s going to be hard matches in that surface.

“But I love the court. It’s such a great show and environment, so we’ll put the effort there.”

Coming from the Generali Ladies Linz, Keys agreed that the court was slower than a player might find at the average indoor, but even that criticism is relative.

“They’re playing a little bit slower than what Linz was playing, but it was actually really nice to be able to go and play an indoor tournament and then come here. It feels pretty similar. The ball stays really low. Definitely a faster court, so I’m not complaining about that.”

Winning Linz to qualify for Singapore, Cibulkova thought it had less to do with speed and more to do with bounce, which will be crucial for the big-hitting Slovak to get her rhythm on Sunday’s first round robin match against Halep.

“I thought the surface would be pretty similar [to Linz], but it’s not. It’s very different. It bounces and it’s a little bit faster.

“So I still have to get used to it. It’s good that it’s at least indoor, that I don’t have to get used to indoor and outdoor.”

Runner-up in 2014, Halep pointed to the slowness of the court as one of the reasons why she liked playing at the WTA Finals, but Pliskova wasn’t sure the court played as slow as her colleagues insisted.

“I definitely wouldn’t say it’s fast, but it could be slower. I’ve played on slower surfaces so I was expecting it’s going to be even slower what I heard from last year from the girls.

“I would say it’s somewhere in the middle. For the serve I think it’s pretty fast, but when you play the rally it’s not that fast.

“Hopefully for the crowd they are going to see some rallies and good shots from the players.”

One would expect Radwanska, the defending champion, to have the definitive answer when it came to court speed. The Pole ultimately seemed as mystified as her peers, but if there’s one thing the shotmaker knows how to do on any surface, it’s improvise:

Q. You were here a couple days ago. One of earliest players here. Have you had a hit on court? Have the conditions changed from last year?
AGNIESZKA RADWANSKA: I think, of course, the surface is very similar [to last year]. It’s the same. I think it’s a bit faster because it’s already been used [this week]. But I don’t think it’s that slow as last year. That’s what I notice.

But, well, it’s always a little bit tough for us to play indoors. I think I just play one indoor tournament in Stuttgart and then here. It’s good to be here a couple days earlier to adjust to the conditions.

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.

ISTANBUL, Turkey – The last first round match of the day ended in an upset as Andreea Mitu sent the No.2 seed Yanina Wickmayer crashing out of the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup, 7-5, 6-4.

Watch live action from Stuttgart & Istanbul this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

Ranked No.113, Mitu doesn’t often play on the center court, but at the Garanti Koza Arena she didn’t allow the setting to intimidate her.

“It was strange for me to play on such a big court,” the Romanian said. “I am not that used to it so it feels different, but I am confident on clay.”

Mitu and Wickmayer stayed locked into a tense first set despite the No.2 seed bringing up two break points early on. It was Mitu that drew first blood at 6-5 to Wickmayer’s mounting frustration. The Romanian was about to serve for the set when the match was temporarily suspended while the roof closed due to rain. The delay did nothing to improve Wickmayer’s mood, and Mitu quickly took the first set.

Despite finding her composure to start off the second set, Wickmayer was broken twice in the third game and soon found herself facing match points with Mitu serving up 5-3. The Belgian was able to fight them off and stay alive in the match, but the Romanian took the match at her second opportunity to move into the second round.

“It was a good match, even though I never played her before and I struggled at the beginning,” Mitu said after the victory. “My forehand was not working that well, I made a lot of unforced errors so I need to improve that for my next match.”

Mitu moves on to play a familiar opponent: Swiss player Stefanie Voegele, who advanced 6-2, 7-5 over Turkish wildcard Ipek Soylu.

“I know Stefanie pretty well, we practiced together the other day,” Mitu said. “I expect I tough one!”

No.4 seed Kirsten Flipkens overcame a spirited start from Donna Vekic, fighting through exhaustion to make her way into the second round, 7-6(5), 6-4.

“It was a tough one,” Flipkens said afterward. “After Fed Cup it´s very hard because it takes a lot of energy playing for the team. Even though it´s Wednesday I am still pretty tired but I am very happy that I pulled it off.”

Flipkens goes on to play Kateryna Kozlova in the next round. The Ukrainian advanced past Alexandra Dulgheru in a tight three sets, emerging victorious 6-7(6), 7-6(3), 6-1.

Also into the second round are Greek qualifier Maria Sakkari, who backed up her upset of top seed Anna-Karolina Schmiedlova with a win over Hsieh Su-Wei 6-3, 6-4, and No.5 seed Danka Kovinic.