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Tennis Descends On Rio

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Some of the biggest stars in women’s tennis – past, present and future – headed to Brazil for the Rio Open this week.

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Notes & Netcords: August 29, 2016

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

WINNERS

Top seed Agnieszka Radwanska survived a late challenge from No.10 seed Elina Svitolina on route to claiming her first Connecticut Open title, 6-1, 7-6(2).

The World No.4 Radwanska took a wildcard into the New Haven event looking for some last-minute tune up ahead of the US Open. She’ll now leave the tournament having claimed the 19th WTA title of her career, and her second title of 2016 after opening the season with a win at Shenzhen.

“Yeah, it’s been a great week for me, great preparation,” Radwanska said. “A couple of great matches. In the semi, in the final. It was a very strong tournament, no easy matches. I was pushing myself 100% from the first round, working hard here.

“I’m just trying to keep it up and play the same level in New York.”

Click here for match recap and highlights.

In the doubles draw, Sania Mirza cemented her place at the top of the doubles ranking. Mirza and temporary partner Monica Niculescu capped off their newly rekindled doubles partnership with their first title together at the Connecticut Open, edging past Kateryna Bondarenko and Chuang Chia-Jung 7-5, 6-4.

“It’s always nice to have the week before a Grand Slam where you’re able to ease up,” Mirza explained in post-match press. “We go to New York and there’s so much happening there. Here you have nice restaurants and even though we’re in the city, you feel quite quiet around here.

“I was actually not planning on completely playing this week. But when Monica asked me, I thought we could obviously win together.”

Click here for match recap.

RANKING MOVERS:
Notable singles ranking movers for the week of August 29, 2016.

Johanna Larsson (SWE), +15 (No.62 to 47): Lucky loser Larsson made the best of her second shot at the Connecticut Open main draw, reaching her first Premier-level semifinal. She also jumps up to No.47, sitting one spot away from equaling her previous career high ranking of No.46.

Kirsten Flipkens (BEL), +12 (No.68 to 56): Another New Haven lucky loser, Flipkens played some of her best tennis to upset Belinda Bencic and Caroline Garcia and inch her way back up toward the Top 50.

Elina Svitolina (UKR), +4 (No.23 to 19): Having reached her career first Premier-level final at New Haven last week, Svitolina jumps up four spots to land back inside the Top 20.

UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS

US Open
New York, USA
Grand Slam | $ TBA | Hard, Outdoor
Monday, August 29 – Sunday, September 11

Dalian Women’s Tennis Open
Dalian, China
125K | $115,000 | Hard, Outdoor
Tuesday, September 6 – Sunday, September 11

Coupe Banque Nationale
Quebec City, Canada
International | $226,750 | Carpet
Monday, September 12 – Sunday, September 18

Japan Women’s Open Tennis
Tokyo, Japan
International | $226,750 | Hard
Monday, September 12 – Sunday, September 18

TOP 20 PLAYER SCHEDULES
1. Serena Williams – US Open
2. Angelique Kerber – US Open
3. Garbiñe Muguruza – US Open
4. Agnieszka Radwanska – US Open
5. Simona Halep – US Open
6. Venus Williams – US Open
7. Victoria Azarenka
8. Roberta Vinci – US Open
9. Madison Keys – US Open
10. Svetlana Kuznetsova – US Open
11. Karolina Pliskova – US Open
12. Carla Suárez Navarro – US Open
13. Dominika Cibulkova – US Open
14. Johanna Konta – US Open
15. Timea Bacsinszky – US Open
16. Petra Kvitova – US Open
17. Samantha Stosur – US Open
18. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova – US Open
19. Elina Svitolina – US Open
20. Elena Vesnina – US Open

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
Best wishes to those celebrating birthdays this week:

Margarita Gasparyan (RUS) – September 1, 1994
Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP) – September 3, 1988

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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MIAMI, FL, USA – No.7 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova overcame a slow start and an inspired Taylor Townsend to beat the American qualifier, 6-4, 6-2, joining No.10 seed Johanna Konta, who beat Pauline Parmentier, 6-4, 6-0 in the fourth round of the Miami Open.

Townsend has long been a talented prospect, having won the 2013 Australian Open junior title and finishing runner-up to Belinda Bencic at that year’s Wimbledon Championships. Qualifying for the main draw and upsetting Roberta Vinci in her previous match, the American looked on course for another upset as she took the first break from Kuznetsova in the opening set.

“I’d never played her before, but still, to face her it’s a bit different,” she told WTA Insider after the match. “It took me time to adjust to her game. I got broken right away, and I was serving against the sun, so it was a little bit difficult.”

But Kuznetsova is in good form herself, reaching the final at last week’s BNP Paribas Open; relaxed and focused, the Russian took four straight games to reclaim the break and the opening set from Townsend, who put up quite a fight in the final game before dropping serve.

“She plays good tennis, different than other girls. I took time to adjust, changed my strategy, and in the end it worked pretty well. But she’s very talented.”

The 2006 champion and 2016 finalist raced ahead to start the second and never looked back, despite some impressive variety from the 20-year-old.

Up next for Kuznetsova is either former No.1 Venus Williams or qualifier Patricia Maria Tig, who stunned No.22 seed and Top 20 debutante Kristina Mladenovic in the preceding round.

“It’s a great match-up, and it’s great to play Venus again, one more time. We’re both having great results, so I’m looking forward to that match.”

Earlier in the day, Konta worked through a tense opening set to roll through against Parmentier.

“I’m happy to have come through that,” Konta said after the match. “Although the scoreline doesn’t show it in the second set, I still had to work hard within every single point. I really tried hard not to take my foot off the gas and stay focused on what I wanted to achieve.”

The Frenchwoman has displayed impresisve tennis of late, and nearly beat World No.1 Angelique Kerber in Indian Wells.

“She’s been very strong with her forehand, and her serve is actually quite a big weapon, as well. I was quite happy with how I could neutralize it and look towards having good variety on my returns. I also made it difficult for her to find her spots on the forehand; I didn’t give her too many opportunities to set up, because when she does, she can be very tough to play.”

With 19 winners to just five unforced errors to advance, it was night and day for the British No.1 on Sunday after her tough opening round win over Aliaksandra Sasnovich, which went deep into a third set.

“The bonus of getting through any match is having the opportunity to play again. I have another opportunity to get better and to perform well.

“Those stats obviously look better on paper, and that’s good to hear. There’s other moving factors in a match, but I was still very happy I was able to stick with my plan and not divert from that in any way.

“Each match puts forward different challenges, so it’s hard to compare and decide which has been my best performance. My first round was very good, for example, because I could get through a difficult situation. Today was a cleaner match, so in that sense, it was also a good performance.”

Standing between Konta and a second straight quarterfinal in Miami will be the winner of No.8 seed Madison Keys and Lara Arruabarrena.

“I played Madison in Beijing last year. I think I played Lara once before, but not for many years. We all know Madison has a big game, so if I end up playing her, I’ll be expecting to play someone with a lot of weight of shot. I haven’t watched Lara play too much, but she’s been around a while and won a title at the end of last year. She’s a tough player, so either way it’ll be a tough match.”

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US Open First Round Begins

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

WTA Insider | The final Grand Slam of 2016 is already underway; stay tuned for more on the first edition of the US Open’s WTA Insider Live Blog.

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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MIAMI, FL, USA – No.3 seed Simona Halep barreled into the fourth round of the Miami Open, conquering Estonian qualifier Anett Kontaveit, 6-3, 6-0.

“I think I played my best match of the year,” Halep told WTA Insider after the match. “I was confident, and knew what I had to do: push and make her run. I hit some winners, which was very good for me. I was moving well, so I think everything went pretty well for me tonight.”

The Romanian has been plagued by knee issues throughout the 2017 season, forced to pull out of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy and the Middle East Swing to heal the injury.

Coming into Miami, the former French Open finalist had yet to win back-to-back matches this year, but struck down that stat in decisive fashion on Sunday night, rolling past Kontaveit in 55 minutes.

“I felt good when I came to site, and was sure that it was going to come together because I work every day. At one point, it has to come.

“I felt the best that I have this year. I can move without pain or anything, and I’m confident, which is the most important thing.”

Kontaveit is a talented youngster in her own right, a former junior Slam finalist who knocked out No.32 seed Ekaterina Makarova en route to the third round, but had no answers to her opponent’s unstoppable form, her 17 winnes undone by 24 errors in total.

“My first match here was close,” she said of her opener against Naomi Osaka. “I had some trouble in the first match. After that, I saw that I could resist and stay strong. Today, everything was flowing. I didn’t plan anything, and I won’t plan anything else. I just want to go there and give my best.”

Incredibly aggressive under the lights, Halep struck 19 winners to just 13 unforced errors and broke serve five times to book a round of 16 match-up with 2011 US Open champion Samantha Stosur.

“It’s going to be a tough match, for sure. I know how I have to play, because she’s very dangerous. Her forehand is strong, and so is her serve. I’m here to do my job, and to try to win because that’s what I want.

“Nothing special. I just expect a tough one and I’ll go there to fight.”

Halep and Stosur last played at Roland Garros 10 months ago, when the Aussie won on a wet and rainy day in Paris, locking up their head-to-head at four wins apiece.

The former World No.2 has won their last four hardcourt matches, though two of those three required a third set. But Halep might have a secret weapon.

“Something is waiting for me already, a Nutella crepe. I’ve eaten one every day, and maybe that’s why I’m winning!”

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Ivanovic Squashes Retirement Talk

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

NEW YORK, NY, USA – Earlier today, No.26 seed Ana Ivanovic was stunned in straight sets by Czech player Denisa Allertova 7-6(4), 6-1 in her opening match at the US Open.

It was Ivanovic’s fourth first-round loss in a row in a season marked by early exits and a drop in ranking.

After a fantastic couple of seasons in 2014 and 2015 – which saw Ivanovic get back into the Top 10 following a spate of injuries and return to the French Open semifinals – the former No.1 is down to No.31, and the last semifinal she’s reached came in February at St. Petersburg.

Following the latest in a string of disappointing results, Ivanovic was asked directly in her post-match press conference if she had any plans to retire.

Here’s what she answered:

“No, not at all. I just need to really see why is this happening, you know. Because, I mean, I had struggles throughout my career; I had some tough times. This is not the first time I’m going through this.

“It just hurts because I know what I invested.”

Earlier in the week, Ivanovic told WTA Insider of her frustrating 2016 season and what she considers one of her lowest moments: losing in straight sets to qualifier Ekaterina Alexandrova in the first round of Wimbledon after weeks of putting in hard work at the gym and on the courts.

“I’ve really felt, always, that if you put the hard work in, it will give results,” she told the WTA Insider Podcast. “But now, I feel like I’ve been putting in so much hard work in, but the results just haven’t been coming in the matches.

“It’s always a process, but also a Catch-22. Because, to win matches you need confidence, but to get confidence you need to win matches. So that’s a little bit where I’m at.”

Despite the disappointments she’s suffered this year, Ivanovic embraces the tough moments and bad luck, viewing them as just another facet in her long career.

Another Ivanovic trait? Finding her way back.

“I really haven’t been lucky in my career,” Ivanovic said. “I always felt like I had to go through hard work, and I had to do it all myself.

“And in a way, I’m proud of it. Because I know that I actually deserve whatever I’ve achieved. Because everything was a product of hard work, nothing was just given to me.”

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