This Week: Indian Wells
Preview the action at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, the year’s first Premier Mandatory event where 1000 ranking points are at stake for the winner.
Preview the action at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, the year’s first Premier Mandatory event where 1000 ranking points are at stake for the winner.
PARIS, France – Just as Sania Mirza begins her quest for the “Santina Slam” alongside fellow Co-No.1 Martina Hingis at the French Open, the most influential woman in Indian tennis will be featured in a profile as part of the Sports Insider series on Eurosport.
“Sports Insider: Sania Mirza Superstar” is a 24-minute long documentary following Mirza through the first half of the 2016 season, playing at the Miami Open and Mutua Madrid Open with Hingis, and returning home to India. The short film will premiere on Eurosport Friday, May 20th at 11:00 AM CET, just before the French Open Draw Ceremony.
“To dream of becoming a professional tennis player, being a girl from that side of the world, we were fighting one billion odds, because it had never happened before!” Mirza says in a teaser.
Check out the teaser and stills from the documentary here on wtatennis.com!
Photos courtesy of Eurosport.
Having A Blast At Acapulco Kids Day
Mexico’s Giuliana Olmos joined forces with WTA Charities and a handful of ATP players at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel to give underprivileged kids in Acapulco the experience of a lifetime at the 24th edition of AMT Kids Day by Nickelodeon.
AMT Kids Day hosted hundreds of children from the Teleton Center of Childhood Rehabilitation as well as Guerrero’s DIF, an organization that works with family developments in the area.
Olmos and the players were recognized by the tournament as “Agents of Change” for making a difference by being a positive example for the youth.
Click here for more photos from AMT Kids Day!
Autism Awareness In Kuala Lumpur
In the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, players took a break from their preparations for the Alya WTA Malaysian Open to visit Pusat Permata Kurnia, a learning centre for autistic children aged 4-7 and where the motto reads: ‘Autism Is Not A Tragedy, Ignorance Is.’
Australian buddies Casey Dellacqua and Ashleigh Barty, who teamed up in the doubles draw, were joined by wildcard Zheng Saisai and Malaysian player Theiviya Selvarajoo at the learning centre.
Click here to see more of the Permata Kurnia visit!
WTA Charities is the WTA’s global philanthropic organization dedicated to making a positive impact across the globe. Our mission is to be a social responsibility vehicle built on the WTA’s values to empower and provide for a better future. We’re dedicated to combining, strengthening and enhancing the community and charitable efforts of the WTA through its members (players, alumnae and tournaments), along with our partners.
Click here to see more WTA Charities activities!
PARIS, France – The French Open draw is out. We have questions.
Who will challenge Serena in the top half?
At first blush, the top half of the draw is far more loaded than the bottom half. In-form players such as Rabat champion Timea Bacsinszky, Madrid finalist Dominika Cibulkova, and Rome runner-up Madison Keys were drawn here. Also lurking are Victoria Azarenka (more on her below), Angelique Kerber, Carla Suárez Navarro, Ana Ivanovic, and Venus Williams – all quality players who nevertheless come into Paris under a cloud of question marks.
The result is a draw that is set up well for Serena. She opens against Magdalena Rybarikova, who has not played a tour match since losing 6-0, 6-0 to Azarenka in the Indian Wells quarterfinals. She’s projected to face No.26 seed Kristina Mladenovic in the third round. But the most dangerous opponent that could make it through there may be unseeded Timea Babos, who can be a tough out if she has her big serve going.
From there she could face either Elina Svitolina, a quarterfinalist last year, or Ana Ivanovic, 2008 champion and 2015 semifinalist. Both are quality clay players who have not been able to find much form on the surface this season. Ivanovic has not one back-to-back matches at a tournament since February. Despite getting coaching advice from four-time French Open champion Justine Henin, Svitolina has won just one match on red clay this year.
Serena’s biggest tests start in the quarterfinals, where she could play No.22 seed Cibulkova. The Slovakian is the in-form seed of that section, which includes Suárez Navarro, a struggling Andrea Petkovic, and Azarenka (no really, more on Vika below).
From there, a potential semifinal looms against Bacsinszky, who has a tricky draw, or Kerber, who has made the quarterfinals just once in Paris. Keys could play the spoiler as well, though she has a potential second round match against Daria Gavrilova, who has posted a very strong clay season.
All in all, this isn’t a bad path for Serena to get back to the final and earn a shot at an Open Era record-tying 22nd major title. She’ll also try and successfully defend a French Open title for the first time.
“I think now it’s different because I want to win more than I think most people ever, but also I think it’s different now because I don’t have anything to prove,” Serena said, when asked about the pressure of defending a title. “It’s just a different feeling.
“Whereas five, ten years ago, oh, I’m defending and I feel that pressure. Now it’s like I’m defending, I’m in Paris, it’s cool, and I’m having the time of my life. I’m just happy to be here.”
Can Azarenka bounce back?
The woman of the first quarter of the season has been quiet on clay. She’s won four matches, two of which came in Fed Cup, but a lower back injury in Madrid has halted any further progress. After losing in the opening round of Rome to Irina-Camelia Begu, Azarenka took a much-needed mental break to visit family in Belarus.
“For me it was more mental to just get away and get myself, you know, focused again and motivated again,” Azarenka said. “I went home, spent time with the family. For me, it’s always the best recharge.”
Azarenka said her standout-start to the season, which saw her win the Sunshine Double in Indian Wells and Miami, took its toll. “I didn’t really have to have much time after Miami with the Fed Cup and everything,” she said. “I felt that I wanted to get into training and have as many weeks possible on the clay.
“It caught up to me a little bit, and it’s okay. It is what it is. I feel ready to play here. I don’t feel that there is ever an ideal preparation that, you know, if you win the tournament it’s guaranteed you’re going to play well at another tournament. I think it’s just important how you take each day, and I think I gave myself enough time to prepare here.”
Azarenka says she is able to practice pain-free now, which is the best news of the last few weeks. A quarterfinal against Serena looms, but she’ll have to get out of a section that includes a potential fourth round match against either Suárez Navarro or Cibulkova.
Clay has never been her best surface and Azarenka knows it. But if she can get a few clean early wins under her belt – she opens against Karin Knapp – the confidence could start to flow. And few players are as good as Azarenka in riding a wave of confidence.
“I believe that clay is the most challenging just because of the specific movement that you have to adapt on the clay, the sliding that I don’t use on the hard courts where I’m able to go with one shot from defense to offense,” she said.
“Here it’s always a little bit more challenging, so it’s a learning experience for me how to do that. Definitely adapt the game a little bit to still make those transitions, but it’s more difficult to do than one, two shots.
“It takes patience.”
Can Kerber and Bacsinszky survive the second quarter?
The second quarter of the draw will see some must-see matches right out of the gate. No.3 seed Kerber and No.8 seed Bacsinszky are the favorites to make it out but Kerber in particular will need to overperform to do it. She opens against Nuremburg finalist Kiki Bertens, before a possible second round against the big-hitting, streaky, but thoroughly talented big-match player in Camila Giorgi. Looming in the third round is No.29 Daria Kasatkina, who won the junior title here two years ago. That’s a tough series of potential opponents to start your tournament. And that’s before a fourth round that could see her face up against Keys, Gavrilova, Konta, or Goerges.
Kerber withdrew from Nürnberg due to a shoulder injury. She received treatment at home and says she can serve virtually pain free now. But with heavy, cold conditions expected in the first week, the risk of the pain returning is real. And Kerber has to serve well to make any headway on clay. But Kerber insists she has her rhythm back after taking a frustrating loss to Eugenie Bouchard in her first match in Rome.
“After Rome I [had] like three days off where I am really not thinking about tennis,” Kerber said. “I was completely trying to, you know, go for great dinner, to the cinema, something like this. Just going out of the tennis thing.
“And then I start to practicing again, also with my treatments and everything. So, yeah, right now I have my feeling back. The courts here are really good I’m looking forward to have few more days, few more practice before my first round. But the rhythm is back,” she said with a smile.
As for Bacsinszky, the Swiss star was dealt the trickiest draw of any top seed. A semifinalist here year who comes into Paris having won 14 of her last 17 tour-level matches, she could face landmine after landmine just to get to the quarterfinals. She opens against a qualifier, and then would face either Stuttgart finalist Laura Siegemund or Eugenie Bouchard. The third round could see a fun slice-and-dice match-up against Monica Niculescu, with a potential fourth round match against No.9 seed Venus Williams or No.23 seed Jelena Jankovic.
Can Halep and Muguruza make good on their favorable draws?
No.4 seed Garbiñe Muguruza and No.6 seed Simona Halep were the biggest winners on draw day. With so many in-form players landing in the top half, Muguruza and Halep have a good look at the semifinals if they can manage the pressure. That’s a showdown many would love to see.
A two-time quarterfinalist at Roland Garros, Muguruza comes into Paris with just one semifinal under her belt this season. That semifinal came a week ago in Rome, when she ran up against an unwavering Keys. But while the end results have not been there, the quality of her play has steadily improved and she’s been on a steady upward trajectory since February.
She opens against Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, who is on an 11-match losing streak in tour-level matches. She could face Rome quarterfinalist Christina McHale in the second round and the first seed she could face is No.27 Ekaterina Makarova, who she beat 6-1, 6-0 in Rome. The fourth will likely feature either No.13 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova – no easy task for sure – or No.24 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Her possible seeded quarterfinalists: Roberta Vinci, who struggles on clay, Petra Kvitova, who can struggle on any given day, Karolina Pliskova, who is playing on her worst surface, or a surging Irina Camelia Begu, who beat her in Madrid. All very doable for a woman who finds a way to play her best in Paris.
“For sure, it’s better to come back to a tournament where you have great memories and results,” Muguruza said. “It’s so bad to go to a tournament where you can’t play. There are some of them where, okay, it’s impossible here.
“Here at Roland Garros, it’s special for Spanish people. I think for everyone, but Roland Garros in Spain is like everything. So, for sure it’s great. It’s like a second home here.”
As for Halep, she is the clear winner of the draw sweepstakes. The 2014 finalist can’t complain about a draw that lands her in No.2 seed Agnieszka Radwanska’s quarter. A quick review of our pre-tournament Clay Court Power Rankings puts Halep at No.2 and Radwanska at No.20 for good reason.
Halep opens against Japan’s Nao Hibino and her first two matches should be fairly straightforward – playing either Zarina Diyas or Carina Witthoeft in the second round. The first seed she could face is No.32 Jelena Ostapenko, with a potentially injured Samantha Stosur (Stosur withdrew from Strasbourg with a left wrist injury) or last year’s finalist Lucie Safarova, who is still chasing her 2015 form. Make it that far and her quarterfinal opponent is a difficult one to project, as Radwanska, Barbora Strycova, Sloane Stephens, and Sara Errani will all duke it out in that section.
This is as good a draw as a sixth-seed could hope for. Now to see if Halep can seize the opportunity.
“Today when I practiced I felt very heavy the ball,” Halep said, when asked about adjusting to the cold, heavy conditions in Paris. “I was practicing with Carla and the coach, he said it’s different than Madrid. I said, I want to go back to Madrid, because there I felt very well the game. Here I feel it well, but I still need couple of days just to feel it like 100%.
“But I always liked these courts. They are a little bit faster and I can play my game, to be more aggressive, and also to open the court better.”
Who will emerge as this year’s surprise?
Last year it was Bacsinszky and Ivanovic making surprising runs to the semifinals, with Safarova doing them one better by making the final. Who will be this year’s spoilers?
We’ve already highlighted No.22 seed Cibulkova as a potential spoiler. Keys could also make a run out of that tough second quarter, where a potential fourth round against Kerber could happen. With their contrasting styles, those two have always played tough matches.
Gavrilova is another name to keep an eye out, as she could be the one that ends Keys’ tournament early. If she comes through that potential second round match she could barrel into her second Round of 16 appearance of the season at the Slams; if the draw breaks open, she could well go two steps further.
Then there’s No.25 seed Begu, who is arguably having the best clay season of anyone. She made the quarterfinals in Charleston and Madrid before reaching her best career result in Rome, where she lost to Serena in the semifinals. She’s floating in the bottom half of the draw in Muguruza’s quarter.
Finally: Yes, it feels odd to call the No.2 seed a potential surprise, but will this be the year that Radwanska makes a move in Paris? Granted, her lead-up results make it hard to believe. Radwanska has been more open this year in talking about her struggles on clay and her decision to skip Rome was almost a concession on the surface. But she’s made two quarterfinals here in 2009 and 2010 and her draw isn’t a bad one, though No.30 seed Strycova may have something to say about that.
Radwanska isn’t just below the radar in Paris. She’s subterranean. But she comes into Paris rested and without expectation or pressure. To be frank, no one expects her to do much here. Even a quarterfinal run would be a big step forward for the Pole. And that boost of confidence could have repercussions when the tour moves onto her beloved grass.
Listen to more thoughts on the French Open draw in the latest episode of the WTA Insider Podcast:
Photos courtesy of Getty Images.
Johanna Konta enjoyed a different kind of serving as she sampled some of the food on offer at Taste of Tennis.
Santina vs. History: Co-No.1s Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza lead the field in the Roland Garros women’s doubles draw, which was released on Sunday. The reigning Wimbledon, US Open, and Australian Open champions arrive in Paris hoping to become the first team to clinch a Non-Calendar Year Grand Slam since the Williams Sisters at this very tournament in 2010. Riding a 41-match winning streak through the Qatar Total Open, Hingis and Mirza suffered a minor slump at Indian Wells and Miami, and broke their three-month title drought at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. Defeating Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina in a match tie-break, the pair captured their first trophy on red clay, after finishing second to French Connection Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix and the Mutua Madrid Open.
Santina wouldn’t have to play the French stars – or the recently reunited Williamses – until the final, with No.3 seeds Chan Hao-Ching and Chan Yung-Jan, No.6 seeds and Australian Open finalists Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka, and No.7 seeds Makarova and Vesnina falling into their half of the draw. Opening against Daria Kasatkina – one half of the team that ended their winning streak in Doha – and Alexandra Panova, Hingis and Mirza will likely be relieved by their draw, one that gives them time to play into form in time for a projected Melbourne rematch against Hlavackova and Hradecka in the last eight.
The Swiss Miss already won a Calendar Year Grand Slam in doubles, back in 1998 with Mirjana Lucic-Baroni and Jana Novotna; if she and Mirza can maintain the kind of consistency that took them through the clay court season, the team to beat will be heavy favorites to cement their legendary status in Paris.
Hometown Glory: Garcia and Mladenovic were the story of the spring, winning three titles, 15 straight matches and, most impressively, two wins over Hingis and Mirza in finals. Kicking off their campaign at the start of the year to prepare for the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, the French youngsters had already reached two finals in Sydney and Dubai before the tour turned to clay. Defeating reigning French Open champions Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova to win their first title at the Volvo Car Open, they backed up their green clay succes with titles in Stuttgart and Madrid, only for their streak to end at the hands of Hlavackova and Hradecka in the quarterfinals of Rome.
Despite their surge, Garcia and Mladenovic are seeded outside the Top 4 at No.5, and are projected to play Mattek-Sands and Safarova by the quarterfinals. The latter looked strong in their first tournament of the season, winning the Miami Open to help Mattek-Sands clinch the Sunshine Double, but only played one match on red clay, losing in the opening round of Rome to Slovenian doubles specialists Andreja Klepac and Katarina Srebotnik in straight sets.
Garcia had previously admitted to the struggle of living up to national expectations, but a triumphant Fed Cup weekend at home may have freed up the pair, who both reached the semifinals at the Internationaux de Strasbourg – Garcia ultimately won the title over Lucic-Baroni. The duo play their first round against Annika Beck and Yanina Wickmayer, with No.12 seeds Lara Arruabarrena and 2012 champion Sara Errani the highest-ranked team in their section. All but unstoppable once they’ve gotten on a roll, Garcia and Mladenovic could have the greatest chance to end Hingis and Mirza’s hopes of a Santina Slam, but whether or not they can shine under the spotlight will be crucial to shifting the narrative in their favor.
Sister, Sister: Four teams of sisters make up the French Open draw, none more high-profile than Venus Williams and her sister, World No.1 Serena. For all the talk about their historic singles success, their stunning 13-0 record in Grand Slam doubles finals – and three Olympic gold medals – is an equally impressive aspect of their combined resume. Playing their first major tournament since 2014, Venus and Serena lost their only warm-up match at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia (also to Klepac and Srebotnik), and won their last Grand Slam tournament at the 2012 Wimbledon championships – a pre-cursor to their most recent Olympic gold in London.
The Americans nonetheless have a history of blitzing even the most intimidating of doubles draws, and thus cannot be discounted in a quarter that includes both Garcia and Mladenovic, and Mattek-Sands and Safarova. Opening against dynamic duo Jelena Ostapenko and Yulia Putintseva, the top singles seed’s decision to play doubles could either help or hinder her in her march towards tying Steffi Graf’s 22 Grand Slam titles, but the younger Williams has played some of her best singles when she’s winning with her sister.
The Chans have been dangerous foes in the last 12 months, and were the last team to defeat Hingis and Mirza before the start of their epic winning streak. Winning back-to-back titles at home in Kaohsiung and Doha, their best result of the clay court season was a run to the quarterfinals in Madrid, where they failed to convert two match points against Vania King and Alla Kudryavtseva – who are seeded No.15 and could play No.4 seeds Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova in the third round.
Landing in a tough section of the draw that features clay courters and No.13 seeds Anabel Medina Garrigues and Arantxa Parra Santonja, Makarova and Vesnina and the powerhouse pair of No.10 seeds Julia Goerges and Karolina Pliskova, the sisters will have to hit the ground running from their first round against Ukrainians Kateryna Bondarenko and Olga Savchuk.
Olympic Watch: With the Olympic cut-off fast approaching, Roland Garros is the last chance players and teams can earn points towards an Olympic-eligible ranking. More than half of the 64 teams in the draw are mono-country, including five of the Top 8 seeds. Makarova and Vesnina reunited just in time once the former was physically able to balance singles with doubles, and the former French and US Open champions celebrated their four-year anniversary by reaching the semifinals of Madrid and the final in Rome. Currently ranked No.9 in doubles, Vesnina could guarantee her addition to the Olumpic team with a strong result over the next two weeks, and will play their first round against former doubles No.1 Samantha Stosur and Zhang Shuai. Other all-Russian teams in the draw include Kasatkina and Panova, and Margarita Gasparyan and Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Andrea Petkovic began the season playing with eventual Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber, but the former 2014 semifinalist at Roland Garros will pair instead with Sabine Lisicki in Paris. They could be the second round opponents of No.9 seeds and top Chinese team, Xu Yi-Fan and Zheng Saisai, who reached the final four at the Australian Open back in January. Petkovic’s countrywoman Laura Siegemund burst into the tennis consciousness at the start of the clay court season when she reached the Stuttgart singles final as a qualifier, but the German veteran is an accomplished doubles player with three WTA titles to her name; she has entered the draw with Anna-Lena Friedsam.
Photos courtesy of Getty Images.
The boldest decision of Agnieszka Radwanska’s life was one with which many people will sympathise. It came when she was 19 years old -and decided to leave her parents’ house for a home of her own.
“The toughest decision in my life was moving out from home,” she revealed in an exclusive WTA interview. Looking back, she believes it was a great choice, which helped her to learn to become more independent.
“When I moved out I started a new life and made my own decisions in my own home,” she added.
Radwanska’s reflections mark the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day – ‘Be Bold For Change’.
The WTA World No.6, who celebrated her 28th birthday on Monday, is on a run of six consecutive WTA Top 10 year-end finishes. She soared up the rankings after turning pro in 2005 and enjoyed success at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global in 2015. In addition, she was a finalist at Wimbledon in 2012 and has accumulated 20 WTA singles titles.
International Women’s Day falls on March 8 every year, and celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.
PARIS, France – Cagla Buyukakcay continued her historic clay court season at the biggest stage of the surface, defeating Aliaksandra Sasnovich 5-7, 7-6, 6-2 to become the first Turkish woman in the Open Era to win a match at a Grand Slam.
Just her presence at the 2016 French Open was historic enough: Buyukakcay joined Ipek Solyu this week as the first two Turkish women to appear in a Grand Slam. Buyukakcay battled through qualifying to book her spot in the main draw.
She let slip a pair of early break chances to go down a set to Sasnovich, who was also looking for her first match win at Roland Garros. The pair traded for breaks of serve in the second to stay toe to toe and send the set into a tiebreak, where Buyukakcay rattled off five straight games to force a decider. She won five straight games to close out the match and add another historic win to her repertoire.
Earlier in the clay season, the No.83-ranked qualifier rewrote the Turkish tennis history books in front of her home country at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup. She became the first from her country to reach a WTA semifinal, final and capture a title, as well as the first to break into the Top 100.
“I wanted to cry after the match, because it’s very important for Turkish tennis. I will be in the Top 100, which will be the first time for Turkish tennis. Probably, I will also be in the main draw at Wimbledon for the first time in my career – and also in Turkish history. So that’s why I was so emotional at the end,” Buyukakcay said after the final in Istanbul.
More to come…
Wednesday was Media Day at the BNP Paribas Open, and all the top seeds were on hand for a medley of interviews. How many WTA players can you spot in this photo?
Agnieszka Radwanska took to the rooftop at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden for a series of video interviews.
Dominika Cibulkova is ready for her close up…
…while all eyes are on Angelique Kerber, who is set to return to World No.1 after Indian Wells.
Simona Halep is thrilled to be back on the tennis court after being on the sidelines with an injury.
Inside the media center, No.3 seed Karolina Pliskova answered questions from the media during All-Access Hour.
No.7 seed Garbiñe Muguruza comes to Indian Wells hoping to put an Achilles injury behind her.
No.5 seed Dominika Cibulkova was all smiles during All-Access Hour.
Radwanska, a runner up here in 2014, is hoping to do one better and claim her 21st WTA title at Indian Wells.
No.8 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova made back-to-back finals at Indian Wells in 2007 and 2008.
The Russian kept the press room in stitches with her trademark dry wit.
2015 champion Halep is thrilled to be back in Indian Wells after a left knee injury kept her away from tour for almost a month.
“I tried not to think that much about tennis,” Halep said. “I tried to be different but it’s not easy. I am addicted a little bit to this sport. When I don’t have competition, it’s tough to live.”
The most in-demand player by far was No.2 seed Kerber, who earlier this week found out she’d return to WTA World No.1 at the end of the tournament.
“I’ve been there already, but at the end, of course it feels good to reach the spot again,” Kerber said. “But for me I came here to really focus not on becoming No.1 or the ranking.”
The two-time semifinalist is looking to snap a four-match losing streak in the California desert, having lost her opening match here the last three years.
PARIS, France – Kiki Bertens caused the first major upset of this year’s French Open by knocking out No.3 seed Angelique Kerber in the first round.
Fresh from a triumphant week in Nürnberg, where she came through qualifying to lift the title, Bertens continued her fine form to defeat Kerber, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.
Earlier this year in Miami, Bertens came within a set of toppling the German only for illness to intervene, but out on Philippe Chatrier there was to be no stopping her. Displaying the confidence of a woman riding the crest of a seven-match winning streak, she withstood the inevitable comeback, wrapping up victory on her third match point when Kerber sent a drop shot looping into the net.
Kerber is the second Australian Open champion in three years to fall at the first hurdle in Paris, following in the unfortunate footsteps of Li Na.
In Nürnberg, Bertens upset Roberta Vinci to notch up her first ever Top 10 win, and her reward for a second is a meeting with either Camila Giorgi or Alizé Lim.
More to follow…