St. Petersburg: Venus Williams' Practice Session
Watch Venus Williams’ practice session on Day 3 of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
Watch Venus Williams’ practice session on Day 3 of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
The Australian Open started and ended with Serena Williams, who not only won her seventh Australian Open title and returned to World No.1, but also won her 23rd Grand Slam title – breaking the Open Era record she’d heretofore shared with Stefanie Graf.
“It’s such a great feeling to have 23,” she said after defeating sister Venus Williams in the final. “It really feels great. I’ve been chasing it for a really long time. It feels like a really long time. When it got on my radar, I knew I had an opportunity to get there, and I’m here. I’m here.
“It’s a great feeling. No better place to do it than Melbourne.”
After tying Graf at Wimbledon, No.23 certainly got on her radar and was in imperious form Down Under, winning the title without losing a set through seven matches.
“My first Grand Slam started here, and getting to 23 here, but playing Venus, it’s stuff that legends are made of. I couldn’t have written a better story.
“I just feel like it was the right moment. Everything kind of happened. It hasn’t quite set in yet, but it’s really good.”
The legend lives on for Serena, and it certainly helped her earn her the mantle of January’s WTA Player of the Month!
Final Results for January’s WTA Player Of The Month
1. Serena Williams (46%)
2. Venus Williams (42%)
3. Johanna Konta (8%)
4. Karolina Pliskova (4%)
2016 WTA Player of the Month Winners
January: Angelique Kerber
February: Carla Suárez Navarro
March: Victoria Azarenka
April: Angelique Kerber
May: Garbiñe Muguruza
June: Serena Williams
July: Simona Halep
August: Monica Puig
September: Petra Kvitova
October: Dominika Cibulkova
How it works:
Finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com
Simona Halep was forced to withdraw from her St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy quarterfinal with Natalia Vikhlyantseva, citing a recurrance of the left knee pain suffered in Australia.
Kristina Mladenovic had Saturday’s shot of the day at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
Peng Shuai talks through her win over Lucie Safarova in the semifinals of the Taiwan Open.
An interview with Yulia Putintseva after her loss in the final of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
Elina Svitolina had Sunday’s shot of the day at the Taiwan Open.
MOSCOW, Russia – Ekaterina Makarova is looking forward to Russia’s Fed Cup tie against Chinese Taipei this weekend for a very special reason.
It’s hosted at the Druzhba Sport Complex, in Moscow – the venue in her hometown where she first began playing tennis herself.
“It’s in the stadium where I grew up,” she told the official Fed Cup site. “I was practicing for 12 years there – I took my first steps in tennis in that stadium so it’s a special place.”
Makarova, 28, is the senior player in a young Russia squad; this will be her eighth appearance in the competition. It is an experience she enjoys.
“I love to play for a team, for Russia,” she added.
The World No.39 comes into the tie after losing to good friend and doubles partner Elena Vesnina 6-3 6-1 in the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy round of 32. The pair were the 2016 doubles champions at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
They were seeded third in this year’s Australian Open doubles competition, but were knocked out in the quarterfinals by Andrea Hlavackova and Peng Shuai, 7-5 7-6.
In the singles competition, Makarova boasted a stunning win against Dominika Cibulkova in the third round, coming through 6-2 6-7 6-3, before falling at the hands of Johanna Konta, 6-1 6-4.
WTA Insider | Keep up with all the momentum swings of a thrilling 2017 season with the help of the Heat Index, ranking the top performers from each leg of the year.
The dust has settled after a breakneck first day of Fed Cup World Group action, with Garbiñe Muguruza, Karolina Pliskova, Kristina Mladenovic and Timea Bacsinszky among the day’s winners.
Here’s how the World Group ties stand after the end of today’s action:
Czech Republic 1 – 1 Spain
Spain faced a huge challenge in their first round match going up against the Czech Republic at home in Ostrava. The defending champions haven’t lost a tie since 2013, and haven’t lost at home in even longer with their last home defeat coming in 2009.
Spain’s No.1 Muguruza set out to break that streak though, defeating Barbora Strycova 6-0, 3-6, 6-1 to silence the home crowd.
“I think I started really, really good, playing a great level,” Muguruza told FedCup.com afterwards. “I think Barbora started a bit slow, but then in the second set she came playing amazing.
“I was expecting a very tough match, I knew the 6-0 was a little bit strange.”
Spain captain Conchita Martinez told press earlier that a win in the opening match was crucial against the imperious Czech team, and Muguruza took the message to heart.
“I definitely felt a lot of pressure in this match. I mean, I’m the one on the team and I just had to go for my matches. That’s what I’m trying, to just give my best to the team.”
Spain’s lead was short-lived as Karolina Pliskova overpowered Lara Arruabarrena 6-4, 7-5 to level the tie.
Switzerland 1 – 1 France
In Geneva, Timea Bacsinszky and Kristina Mladenovic notched a win apiece to leave things between Switzerland and France.
Bacsinszky gritted out a hard-fought win over Alizé Cornet 7-5, 6-4 to put the home side ahead in the tie.
“The whole match was pretty tight and I think we were both just playing amazing tennis,” Bacsinszky told FedCup.com after her victory. “We’re both big fighters so you know you’re going to get some interesting points when we’re playing a match against each other.
“I don’t have such a good win average against Alizé, so I’m really proud of how I managed to be more aggressive.”
In the second rubber, good friends Kristina Mladenovic and Belinda Bencic faced off. The Frenchwoman, fresh off her first WTA singles title at the St Petersburg Ladies Trophy last week, continued with her great form and emerged victorious, 6-3, 6-4 to rescue a point for her side.
Belarus 1 – 1 Netherlands
Last year, it was Victoria Azarenka’s monumental effort in singles that took Belarus into the World Group, but even without the two-time Grand Slam champion they proved they could compete among the big names as they held the Netherlands to one win apiece.
Entering the tie decidedly as the underdogs, the hosts stunned the Dutch team with Aliaksandra Sasnovich defeating Michaela Krajicek 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the opening rubber.
They were one point away from a stunning 2-0 lead, with 18-year-old Aryna Sabalenka holding match point against World No.24 Kiki Bertens, but the Dutch player came back from the brink to win 6=3, 7-6(6), 6-4 and level the tie.
“I remember my first singles [in Fed Cup] and I was like crying before and throwing up because I was so nervous and she was not,” Bertens told FedCup.com afterwards. “For [Sabalenka] it was really good that she could just go out there and swing and go for her shots. If she can play like this again she will make it very difficult for a lot of players.”
USA – Germany (In Progress)
More to follow…