Roland Garros: Muguruza vs Rogers
Garbiñe Muguruza takes on Shelby Rogers in the quarterfinals of Roland Garros.
Garbiñe Muguruza takes on Shelby Rogers in the quarterfinals of Roland Garros.
Just before her 20th birthday, Belinda Bencic scores her first WTA main draw win of the season, ousting Tsvetana Pironkova to advance in Indian Wells.
No.4 seed Garbiñe Muguruza served her way into her first French Open final, ousting 2010 finalist Samantha Stosur in straight sets.
Venus Williams says it’s superb but strange to be thought of as a trailblazer – and names the legendary Billie Jean King as the woman who inspires her.
In an interview with Forbes, she says: “It’s surreal [to be considered a leader] – but at the same time, it’s extremely motivating to know that people are watching and that it’s improving their work and their lives – so it’s symbiosis.”
The Australian Open runner-up was talking about her dual careers in tennis and in business – and suggested that there are plenty of parallels.
“Absolutely sports prepares you to set goals, to fail and to win in a way that you don’t know when you are doing it,” she said. “Business and athletics really marry each other. I can only see similarities.”
Of course she was asked about her rivalry with sister Serena – and that history-making final in Melbourne in January.
“When we play against each other each other, there can only be one winner,” she pointed out. “When I see her do something great, I want to do better.”
Karolina Pliskova and Johanna Konta enjoyed strong starts at the Aegon Open Nottingham, winning their first rounds to begin the grass court season.
NOTTINGHAM, Great Britain – No.3 seed Caroline Wozniacki was forced to skip the clay court season due to a right ankle injury, but enjoyed a winning return just as the grass court season began at the Aegon Open Nottingham, dispatching Cagla Buyukakcay, 7-5, 6-3, in the first round.
Buyukakcay made her share of history in Wozniacki’s absence, becoming the first Turkish woman to win a WTA title at her home tournament of Istanbul, debut inside the Top 100, and win a Grand Slam main draw match at the French Open. Twice falling behind a break of serve, she broke straight back each time, including when Wozniacki first attempted to serve for the opening set.
The former No.1 made no mistake on her second attempt, however, holding to love to edge ahead after 52 minutes. Racing out to a 5-1 lead, the Dane appeared to have the match under control when Buyukakcay made one last surge, reducing the deficit to just one break. Returning for a spot in the second round, Wozniacki broke serve one last time behind a fearsome volley to book a meeting with Anett Kontaveit, who upended American Lauren Davis, 6-3, 6-1, on Monday.
More to come…
BIRMINGHAM, Great Britain & MALLORCA, Spain – The official draw ceremonies for the Aegon Classic Birmingham and the Mallorca Open took place Saturday morning, and the stacked fields produced some exciting early matchups as some of the top players look to take their first steps on grass courts.
Click here to view the full Birmingham draw! | Click here to view the full Mallorca draw!
This year’s top seed at Birmingham is Agnieszka Radwanska. Last year, she skipped Birmingham in favor of Nottingham, but the Pole’s game loves the grass courts, and it was at this stage last year that Radwanska found her form and reignited a flagging season.
Radwanska has a tough road ahead if she looking to score her second title of 2016 at the Edgbaston Priory Club. Awaiting her in the first round is CoCo Vandeweghe, a big-serving American whose powerful game just clicks together on grass each season. Vandeweghe comes in to the matchup with plenty of matches under her belt too, having reached the final at the Ricoh Open.
If she gets past Vandeweghe, the top seed will face a qualifier in the second round, then potentially Caroline Wozniacki or Petra Kvitova in the quarterfinals, two players against whom she’s got a steep losing head-to-head record. She could run into last year’s finalist Karolina Pliskova – who’s into the final in Nottingham this week – in a potential semifinal matchup.
And of course, potentially awaiting in the final is the No.2 seed and defending Birmingham champion, Angelique Kerber.
The German’s road to the final is similarly treacherous: if she gets past Peng Shuai in the first round, Kerber’s potentially up against dangerous youngster Daria Gavrilova and her penchant for knocking out Top 10 players on the big stage. Possible quarterfinal opponents include Carla Suárez Navarro and Andrea Petkovic, while a matchup with Simona Halep could come in the semifinals.
The host country is well represented at the Aegon Classic Birmingham, with four Brits in the main draw: Heather Watson, Johanna Konta, Tara Moore and Naomi Broady.
Although all eyes are on Johanna Konta, the World No.18 who keeps climbing up the ranks, it’s been Moore whose recent performance has left an impression. She’s fresh off an appearance in the quarterfinals of the Aegon Open Nottingham, and has been drawn against Konta in the first round.
Possible Birmingham Quarterfinals:
Radwanska vs Kvitova
Bencic vs Ka. Pliskova
Keys vs Halep
Suárez Navarro vs Kerber
Notable early round matches:
Radwanska vs Vandeweghe (round 1)
Konta vs Moore (round 1)
Safarova vs Halep (round 1)
Wozniacki vs Kvitova (round 2)
Petkovic vs Suárez Navarro (round 2)
Gavrilova vs Kerber (round 2)
In Mallorca, reigning French Open champion and top seed Garbiñe Muguruza is back in action in her home country at the inaugural Mallorca Open. She’s joined by the likes of Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic, Eugenie Bourchard, and Kristina Mladenovic as they seek to become the International-level event’s first champion.
Muguruza won’t get a moment to rest once she steps onto the court to play her first grass court match of the year, though, because in the first round awaits the seemingly indefatigable Kristen Flipkens. The Belgian amassed an impressive winning streak of 19-3 on clay, but fell in the first round at the Ricoh Open.
Should Muguruza advance past Flipkens, she sets up a possible quarterfinal clash Laura Siegemund, and her semifinal opponents could include Ana Ivanovic and Caroline Garcia.
Mallorca’s No.2 seed is former World No.1 Jelena Jankovic, whose road to the final is loaded with possible landmines. Right out of the gates she’s set to face Ana Konjuh, last year’s Nottingham winner, and if she advances to the second round she gets Francesca Schiavone. Her potential quarterfinal opponents are Yulia Putintseva, Daniela Hantuchova and Yaroslava Shvedova, and in the semifinals she could play 2014 Wimbledon finalist Bouchard or Sabine Lisicki.
Possible Mallorca quarterfinals
Muguruza vs Siegemund
Ivanovic vs Garcia
Bouchard vs Mladenovic
Putintseva vs Jankovic
Notable early round matches
Muguruza vs Flipkens (round 1)
Lisicki vs Mladenovic (round 1)
Schiavone vs Jankovic (round 2)
Click here to learn how you can follow all the action right here on wtatennis.com.
EASTBOURNE, England – Dominika Cibulkova capped off a fantastic week on the English seaside by winning her career-first grass court title at the Aegon International Eastbourne, blasting past Nottingham champion Karolina Pliskova 7-5, 6-3.
Watch live action from Eastbourne this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
Cibulkova, who was forced to miss much of the 2015 season after undergoing Achilles surgery, seems to have firmly put her injury woes behind her. The resurgent Slovak was into her fourth final of the year at Eastbourne – including a run to the title in April at the Katowice Open. In fact, she’s tied only with Serena Williams for most finals appearances so far this year.
Things started off a little complicated for the 2014 Australian Open finalist as she went down a break right away. However, the swirling seaside winds wreaked havoc on Pliskova’s normally imperious service games, restoring parity and making for a topsy-turvy first set that saw them trade breaks three times. Cibulkova finally came away with the fourth and decisive break in the final game to take the first set 7-5.
With both players more acclimated to the conditions, the second set was more tightly drawn until Cibulkova clinched the break off a blistering backhand passing shot for a 3-1 lead. She tamped down a late surge from Pliskova to hold serve in a marathon 11-minute game to bring herself to 5-2 and within striking distance of the title.
Watching the ball sail long, Cibulkova could hardly contain her emotions after winning her second WTA title of the year.
POME!
First grass court title for Dominika @Cibulkova!? #AegonInternational https://t.co/US4Bnd6Qlo
— WTA (@WTA) June 25, 2016
“It’s very hard to describe, this has been my best week on grass and it just feels – it just happened and I can’t believe it,” Cibulkova said. “I was playing really well today but the conditions were really hard for me and my opponent. It was a great week for me.
“This is my second time here and I’m gonna come back many more years.”
Despite missing out on the Eastbourne title, Pliskova — who earlier this month won the title at the Aegon Open Nottingham and captured the doubles title at the Aegon Classic Birmingham — can’t complain about her grass court preparations.
“I’m really happy with the way I played this year on grass, with Wimbledon coming so I hope to have better results there,” she said after the match. “I have at least one title and now a final so it’s not that bad.”
With the win, Cibulkova is projected to grab a coveted Top 8 spot on the Road To Singapore Leaderboard, jumping from No.12 to No.7 after Monday’s rankings. She will now be ranked No.18, back into the WTA Top 20 for the first time in almost two years.
Congrats Dominika @Cibulkova!
Lift that #AegonInternational trophy ? https://t.co/aSeg4Wfdh8
— WTA (@WTA) June 25, 2016
LONDON, Great Britain – The 2016 WTA Pre-Wimbledon Party presented by Dubai Duty Free was all about elegance and extravagant outfits and although it was obvious that the WTA stars invested a lot of thought and energy into looking special, some players took things up a notch with attention-grabbing designs that are bound to make history when it comes to fashion at tennis red carpet events. Among them was Heather Watson, who left nothing to chance when it comes to British weather, making sure to have on hand an umbrella matching her dress, so that an unexpected rain wouldn’t ruin her glamorous look.
Our contributor Marija Zivlak of Women’s Tennis Blog got in touch with Brett Mettler, Creative Director at Mettler London and the designer behind Watson’s intriguing olive green latex look.
Dress: @brettmettler ??
Shoes: @SOPHIAWEBSTER
Hair: @alessiomatta ??
Makeup: @Lisa_Benefit ?
Car: @JaguarUK ? pic.twitter.com/VQs4ore2DU— Heather Watson (@HeatherWatson92) June 24, 2016
For the second year in a row you are designing Heather’s WTA Pre-Wimbledon Party dress. How did you two start working together?
I was invited to a party by my brother-in-law Dom Inglot (member of the British Davis Cup team) and I met Heather there. We started chatting and hit it off immediately! She is such a playful and friendly person and we started having fun, talking about style, outfits etc. Inevitably the conversation came around to how we might be able to do something fun and exciting for one of her public appearances and with the 2015 Pre-Wimbledon Party on the horizon, we decided to focus on that.
Can you tell us something about the creative process behind the 2016 WTA Pre-Wimbledon Party dress design?
With the 2015 blue and pink chiffon dress, Heather wanted something playful, light and with a lot of movement to it. That was the starting point for the concept. This year’s dress, she wanted something really different. She wanted something a little more risqué and edgy but still very playful.
A lot of my own experience lies in using latex in a high fashion way, trying to bring it to a different audience through light and fun colors, cuts and formats. It seemed a great overlap for us to explore, so I started coming up with some latex concepts and we worked through a few iterations to make sure that it was something Heather could get excited about.
Are there some elements of the outfit that are Heather’s input?
Absolutely. As with anything I do for clients, I wanted the dress to reflect her personality and accentuate her best assets. Heather is such a complete package in terms of beauty; it is quite a tricky thing to know where to start from! But last year’s dress really let her legs do their thing because they are so lean and long and so we knew that this year, we would do the same. Sophia Webster’s shoes are so sensational that we wanted to give them their room to shine as well.
Heather was also keen to make sure that we changed the color palette, but of course it had to work with her striking skin tone. We felt the olive color really did that well. Finally, Heather really wanted something that drew attention to her back and shoulders, so the design features around those areas were there to draw attention.
Whose idea was to include an umbrella in the look?
That was all Heather! It was genius! She knew the color the dress would be, so she found an umbrella that obviously went with the whole get up, but it perfectly captured her playful character. She had been getting fed up with rain delays over the previous week or so, and it was raining on the day, so instead of letting it get her down, she decided to have fun with it.
I think it was the perfect accessory and I think everyone at the Party really got into it. To be honest, I wish it had been my idea!
Did you expect that the outfit would turn out to be one of the biggest fashion hits at the WTA Pre-Wimbledon Party?
You never really know to be honest. You always hope, but we knew that this year, going out in latex was always going to be a point of conversation. It was either going to push the envelope, or push the envelope too far. I think we got it just right: unique and cheeky, but playful and elegant. I am glad that it got such huge and positive interest and of course I need to thank Heather for being such a wonderful character and model and also for being bold enough to go for the concept.
You completed postgraduate studies at London College of Fashion. How have you become a Latex Specialist?
My BA in Fashion Womenswear was at Central St. Martins and my final collection there in 2011 included latex. I got into latex before them, around 2008, through some friends who modelled in it. I thought it was such a striking material but one that by and large had a poor reputation with very few designers exploring all its possibilities. I also wanted to really see how latex could be incorporated with non-latex materials to create more exciting outfits and looks.
Since 2008 I have worked with some of the biggest names in latex and took that to my stints at Alexander McQueen and Gareth Pugh, and I am really excited generally to see how else I can bring it to a new audience. It really does makes you feel sexy though, so I recommend everyone have at least one signature latex piece in their closet: that pair of leggings or jacket that sets a look off!
Have you and Heather already discussed some looks for future red carpet appearances?
Of course, but you will have to wait for the next red or purple carpet to see what we’ve cooked up!
– Photos courtesy of Getty Images
Johanna Konta reflects on her performance at the Miami Open.