Arruabarrena Dodges Opening Scare In Bogota – Day 1 Roundup
2012 champion Lara Arruabarrena was taken to three sets by a determined Swiss qualifier in her first match at the Claro Open Colsanitas, but turned it around to move on in Bogota.
2012 champion Lara Arruabarrena was taken to three sets by a determined Swiss qualifier in her first match at the Claro Open Colsanitas, but turned it around to move on in Bogota.
LONDON, Great Britain – Queen B has landed on Centre Court.
Beyoncé and Jay-Z were prominently featured in World No.1 Serena Williams’ player box as the top seed attempted to win a record-tying 22nd major title against Australian Open champion and countrywoman to current record holder Stefanie Graf, Angelique Kerber.
The American artist was in London for the United Kingdom leg of her “Formation” tour, performing at Wembley Stadium on July 2-3.
Serena's player box = actual royal box. pic.twitter.com/xs9uJMzYN7
— René Denfeld (@Renestance) July 9, 2016
Serena made a much-publicized cameo in Beyoncé’s “Sorry” music video off the superstar’s latest album, Lemonade.
Top seed Barbora Strycova edged past former junior prodigy Marie Bouzkova in three sets to reach the second round of the Ladies Open Biel Bienne.
Barbora Strycova takes on Julia Goerges in the quarterfinals of the Ladies Open Biel Bienne.
Though she didn’t walk away with a sixth Wimbledon title, Venus Williams nonetheless rocketed up the Road to Singapore leaderboard, moving up almost 40 spots into the Top 20 at No.18.
The former No.1 and 2008 BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global champion turned back the clock at the All England Club, reaching her first Grand Slam semifinal since the 2010 US Open before falling to eventual finalist and reigning Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber.
Elena Vesnina broke new ground over the fortnight, reaching her first career semifinal in singles with wins over doubles partner Ekaterina Makarova and red-hot Dominika Cibulkova, who had upset RTS No.5 and defending WTA Finals champion Agnieszka Radwanska in the round of 16. The Russian has twice qualified for the WTA Finals in doubles – both times with Makarova – reaching the final her debut appearance in 2013. Her Wimbledon run has been a culmination of impressive singles results throughout 2016, moving her up 11 spots from No.23 to No.12.
Surprise quarterfinalists Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Yaroslava Shvedova also made big strides on the Road to Singapore leaderboard; Pavlyuchenkova made her best-ever run at a grass court tournament and up 32 spots to No.34, while Shvedova – she of the 2012 “Golden Set” at Wimbledon against Sara Errani – moved up 40 spots of her own to crack the Top 40 on the leaderboard.
CoCo Vandeweghe capped a solid grass court season by reaching the second week of Wimbledon for the second year in a row, roaring up nine spots to No.27.
The Top 8 on the Road to Singapore leaderboard remained largely unchanged following an exciting week at the All England Club, save for 2014 WTA Finals runner-up Simona Halep reclaiming the No.8 position over Madison Keys, who fell to the Romanian in the fourth round.
RTS Ranking Movers
Yaroslava Shvedova: No.78 to No.38 (+40)
Venus Williams: No.57 to No.18 (+39)
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova: No.66 to No.34 (+32)
Elena Vesnina: No.23 to No.12 (+11)
CoCo Vandeweghe: No.36 to No.27 (+9)
Simona Halep: No.9 to No.8 (+1)
Click here to see the full Road To Singapore leaderboard standings following Wimbledon.
BIEL/BIENNE, Switzerland – Marketa Vondrousova’s fairytale week continued at the Ladies Open Biel Bienne; the qualifier roared back from a first set deficit to surprise countrywoman and top seed Barbora Strycova, 7-6(3), 6-2 and book her first WTA final appearance alongside Estonian youngster Anett Kontaveit. Kontaveit triumphed in a 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 thriller against Aliaksandra Sasnovich earlier in the day.
A week after teenagers Daria Kasatkina and Jelena Ostapenko fought for the Volvo Car Open title, the WTA field continued to serve youth in Biel/Bienne, with 23 as the average age of the semifinalists – and that’s including 31-year-old Strycova.
Defense to offense from Vondrousova!
Back on serve #WTABiel pic.twitter.com/Iq1uDQk3R7
— WTA (@WTA) April 15, 2017
Vondrousova, who reached two Slam semifinals and won two major doubles titles as a junior, was playing her first tour-level semifinal, and that experience showed early as the World No.18 raced out to a 5-2 lead, later holding a set point in the 12th game of the opener.
The teenager gamely saved it behind a booming lefty serve and saved her best tennis for the ensuing tie-break, striking a screaming winner to clinch it.
First set ? Marketa Vondrousova
Saves a set point to surprise Strycova 7-6(3)! #WTABiel pic.twitter.com/7wJHPy2X8i
— WTA (@WTA) April 15, 2017
Strycova struggled to counter her fellow Czech’s aggressive game on the indoor hardcourts as Vondrousova took a 5-2 lead of her own in the second, breaking serve for the fourth and final time to advance into the biggest final of her career.
17 year old qualifier Marketa Vondrousova reaches FIRST #WTA Final!
Stuns Strycova 7-6(3), 6-2 @WTABielBienne! pic.twitter.com/YKFgxhkRIC
— WTA (@WTA) April 15, 2017
In all, the qualifier played a clean match, striking 22 winners to 13 unforced errors; Strycova’s own 13 winners were undone by 20 unforced errors.
Anett Kontaveit and Aliaksandra Sasnovich open @WTABielBienne Semifinals! pic.twitter.com/PAfhqglB2r
— WTA (@WTA) April 15, 2017
Awaiting Vondrousova in the final is another former junior prodigy in Kontaveit, who reached the US Open girl’s singles final back in 2012 and outlasted Sasnovich to start Semifinal Saturday.
“I feel really good, and really happy to be in my first final,” she said after the match.
Back in the Top 100 after reaching the third round of the Miami Open, the unseeded Estonian battled through a high-quality encounter with Sasnovich, who was playing her first WTA semifinal since 2015.
Anett Kontaveit takes a close opening set vs Sasnovich 6-4! #WTABiel pic.twitter.com/KuezLGrvmB
— WTA (@WTA) April 15, 2017
“I was down a break twice in the third set, but I tried to stay in there even though she was playing really well. I was just trying to stay with her do what I always do: fight and not give up.
“Mentally, I toughed it out.”
Hitting 26 winners to the Belarusian’s 29, Kontaveit’s consistency won the day, hitting 17 unforced errors against Sasnovich’s 29, and won four more points (114 to 110) by match’s end, converting her WTA final on her fourth match point after two hours and 24 minutes on court.
Drop shot Anett Kontaveit! ? #WTABiel pic.twitter.com/XzM7w5UjLP
— WTA (@WTA) April 15, 2017
It will be Kontaveit’s first meeting with Vondrousova, and knows to expect another tough match if she hopes to hoist her first WTA trophy.
“She’s had really good wins, and it looks like she’s playing well this week.”
First #WTA Final!
Anett Kontaveit battles past Sasnovich 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 at @WTABielBienne! pic.twitter.com/WkGZC8LdNr
— WTA (@WTA) April 15, 2017
More to come…
Top seed Timea Bacsinszky had a late start thanks to a rainy day in Gstaad, but advanced into the second round in straight sets alongside No.6 seed Johanna Larsson.
Before winning the inaugural Ladies Open Biel Bienne, Hsieh Su-Wei and Monica Niculescu went head-to-head on an egg hunt. Check out who won right here on wtatennis.com!
Senior Writer Courtney Nguyen wraps up a strong fortnight at SW19, which ended with Serena Williams winning her seventh Wimbledon title to tie Stefanie Graf’s Open Era Record of 22 major titles overall. Go inside the press room to hear from Serena herself after her big win on Saturday, and Courtney is joined by two great analysts in former player and current commentator Rennae Stubbs and tennis historian and reporter Steve Flink to discuss Serena’s performance in the final, her growing rivalry with Angelique Kerber, and where No.22 places Serena in the annals of tennis history.
Stubbs on Serena: “I want people to understand how hard it is to do what she’s doing. I think that get taken for granted because she has the serve, the power, physically her presence is so much more imposing than anyone else. People think it comes easily. It doesn’t. The pressure on Serena every single time she wakes up in the morning on match day is to win the match. Any great player will tell you how stressful it is every single day. I know what Steffi went through and one thing Steffi regrets is she didn’t enjoy the victories more. But my response to that is that Steffi wouldn’t have been as great as she was because she wanted more. If you start to enjoy it you think you’ve done your job. You’re satisfied. Serena, just as Steffi was, won’t be satisfied.”
Flink: Looking at the Open Era, Steffi and Martina had much more consistency than what Serena had, and she’s making up for lost time these last four years. If she passes Steffi and even catches or surpasses Margaret Court, then she has a very strong claim at being the best ever. She only had two years earlier in her career at No.1 in the world, now she’s on her way of doing it maybe for four straight years. That was for me the biggest hole in her record until now, not enough years at No.1, not enough consistency. But she’s been so consistent over these last four years that I think she’s going to be able to overcome the deficiencies of the earlier years. There’s going to be a real serious argument about whether Serena, Steffi, or Martina as the best player of the modern era.
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Top seed Simona Halep made her way back to the quarterfinals of the BRD Bucharest Open with a straight sets win over Isabella Shinikova.