Tennis News

STUTTGART, Germany – 2015 US Open finalist Roberta Vinci served out a tense first round encounter with former Top 10 player Ekaterina Makarova on Wednesday, dispatching the Russian, 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-4.

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Vinci and Makarova had played five times before, with the latter winning their most recent encounter at last year’s Australian Open, but it was Vinci who took the early initiative following three straight service breaks to start the match, racing out to a 5-2 lead in the first set tie-break and converting her first set point shortly thereafter.

“It was a tough match; Makarova is a great player, a difficult player with the left hand,” Vinci said after the match.

The second set featured six service breaks as Makarova recovered from losing serve to start to take a 5-3 lead in the hopes of leveling the match, ultimately breaking the No.6 seed to even out the contest.

“The court is fast, and I was a set and 3-1 with a lot of chances to go 4-2, but I lost the second set. The beginning of the third, I stayed focused, didn’t think about the second set, played aggressively because the court is fast, and it’s not easy to defend.”

Undaunted, Vinci promptly took an early lead in the decider and never looked back, clinching the win on her ifrst match point. In all, the match was quite high-quality affair, with each woman hitting over 40 winners and just around 30 unforced errors; the Italian veteran provided the cleaner hitting of the two with 44 winners to 31 unforced while Makarova struck 40 winners and 33 errors of her own.

Vinci also struck six aces to her unseeded opponent, who couldn’t find any aces in her arsenal on Wednesday, striking three double faults instead.

Cheeky cross-court backhand winner from @Roberta_Vinci! #PTGP https://t.co/93BoP5nmUg

— WTA (@WTA) April 20, 2016

“I’m happy because I played two bad matches in Fed Cup, so now here it’s nice to come and win this match.”

Vinci next plays 2011 champion Julia Goerges; the ASB Classic finalist outfoxed Alizé Cornet, 6-4, 6-0, to reach the second round in one hour and 16 minutes.

Karolina Pliskova won a more topsy-turvy firts round on Court 1; playing last year’s French Open finalist Lucie Safarovs, Pliskova edged past her countrywoman, 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-5, in well over two and a half hours.

The big-serving Czech dynamo snuck off with an opening set of 12 straight service holds, and held off a late surge from Safarova, who won her first set of 2016 and recovered from a 5-3 deficit in the final set.

In the last match of the day session, Andrea Petkovic outsteadied Kristina Mladenovic to win a fourth straight encounter agains the French youngster, 6-2, 6-4. Completing the round of 16 line-up, Petkovic will next take on top seed Agnieszka Radwanska.

First set ? @JuliaGoerges

Wins the opening set vs Cornet 6-4! #PTGP https://t.co/9HvNtA26Hi

— WTA (@WTA) April 20, 2016

ISTANBUL, Turkey – Cagla Buyukakcay kept alive hopes of a Turkish champion at this year’s TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup with a comfortable second-round win over Sorana Cirstea.

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Prior to this year Buyukakcay had never won a match in eight appearances at her home event, but after dispatching Cirstea, 6-4, 6-2, she has now registered two in three days.

“Yes it´s my best result in my country. I am very excited,” Buyukakcay said. “I think that at the beginning it´s tough, your people want you to play well, you feel the pressure. I handled it well in my first match here, and today I was focused on what I had to do well and not on the result.”

A flying start saw Buyukakcay rattle off four unanswered games, and despite surrendering one of these breaks she hung on to take the set. She made a similarly bright start to the second, breaking in the opening game when a Cirstea backhand found the top of the tape.

Cirstea had her chances to get back in the match, yet was left to rue a succession of spurned break opportunities, as Buyukakcay closed out the match to the delight of her compatriots in the crowd.

“I wanted to play well from the start and I think I managed to do it for the entire match,” Buyukakcay added. “I think that the difference was my mental approach and also because I feel well physically. I am also more experienced now, I have played the tournament for eight years now, and that has helped me to play better.”

Meeting Buyukakcay for a place in the semifinals will be No.6 seed Nao Hibino, a 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 winner over qualifier Reka-Luca Jani.

“I’ve nothing to lose tomorrow against Hibino. She is a great player, Top 100, and I am enjoying how I am playing and want to focus on tomorrow and play well.”

Meanwhile, in the top half there were wins for Anastasija Sevastova and Kateryna Kozlova. Sevastova began Thursday’s play by ousting No.8 seed Johanna Larsson, 6-4, 6-3.

“It was a very tough match but a very high-quality clay court tennis match,” Sevastova said. “It was very close and only decided on a few points. It’s a good start of the clay season for me and I’m looking forward to my next match and will try to do my best.”

Kozlova was equally impressive in dispatching No.4 seed Kirsten Flipkens, 6-3, 6-4. “It was not an easy match because Kirsten doesn´t give you any rhythm so that was difficult. But the key for me was to stay calm. I am very happy to reach my win because it´s my first quarterfinal on clay. I feel good and hope to continue to do well,” Kozlova said.

MIAMI, FL, USA — Taken to the brink for the second time in this matchup, No.3 seed Simona Halep again emerged victorious over rising Japanese teenager Naomi Osaka in the second round of the Miami Open on Friday, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.

“It’s really important that I could win this match today,” Halep said, after the match, referencing her struggles with a knee injury to begin 2017. “I think it was very, very difficult to play against her in the first match here at the tournament, but I’m really happy. I had no pain, I stayed there two hours, fighting, running all over the place… so it’s great.”

There was little to separate the two players for the duration of their nearly two-hour encounter, which included two rain delays, but Halep improved to 2-0 against Osaka after defeating her in the third round of the French Open last year.

With the teenager Osaka known for her blistering serve, it was Halep who cruised behind her delivery in the first set, dropping a total of three points.

While Osaka almost kept pace at the line for the duration, she blinked in the pivotal ninth game, falling behind 0-40 only to see Halep take the game on her third break point and serve out the set to love.

.@Simona_Halep wraps up the first set 6-4! #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/EF64odeBBj

— WTA (@WTA) March 24, 2017

After Osaka held serve to begin the second set, a brief shower forced the players off court, but upon resumption, Oskaka cranked up the heat on serve and off the ground.

After breaking in the first game out of the delay, Osaka stretched her run to 12 of the next 15 points played after the break to take a two break lead at 4-0. 

“I lost my serve after the rain and I was a little bit too upset,” Halep said. “She was very strong there, and I think I did my best third set this year. I think I played my best tennis. I didn’t expect her to play that good in the wind. She’s hitting the balls pretty hard and she adjusted well today. Her game is strong and she likes…to hit, and the wind was moving the ball a lot. From my side, I didn’t have pretty good timing to hit. She did very well.”

Halep steadied herself in the fifth game, using some all-court tennis to earn back one break and hold in her next game, but the undaunted Osaka held at love and broke to 30 to send the match into a decider.

.@Simona_Halep cancels out one of the breaks! #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/rwoP1u0L2v

— WTA (@WTA) March 24, 2017

Halep, who stroked 11 winners in the opening set, saw her stat line nearly reversed in the second, as she hit just four winners to balance 11 unforced errors.

A lengthy third game of the decider, which went to deuce five times, seemed to be the turning point for Halep early as the No. 3 seed broke the Osaka serve to move in front, 2-1. However, Osaka rallied back to knot the set at 3-3 with a break of her own, only to surrender serve at love in the next game to put Halep back in front.

After a second, lengthier delay due to weather, Halep hardly missed a beat, holding serving and breaking Osaka on her second opportunity to close out the match.

“I changed everything that I did before,” Halep said about her rain delay thoughts. “I said I had to be fired up from the first point, even if I did a double fault. I just wanted to stay there and fight for every ball.”

.@Simona_Halep moves into @MiamiOpen Third round!

Battles past Osaka 6-4, 2-6, 6-3! pic.twitter.com/Wdp0FR7p34

— WTA (@WTA) March 24, 2017

The Romanian advances to play the winner of the match between No. 32 seed Ekaterina Makarova and Anett Kontaveit.

STUTTGART, Germany – No.5 seed Petra Kvitova is into her first WTA semifinal of the year at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix after overcoming a mid-match surge from Garbiñe Muguruza to advance 6-1, 3-6, 6-0.

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Kvitova grabbed the early break at 3-1 and roared ahead to a commanding lead. The combination of Kvitova’s tricky lefty serve and her powerful groundstrokes leaving Muguruza struggling to find her timing against the Czech, who broke once more to allow Muguruza just one game in the opening set. 

Muguruza changed tactics heading into the second set, playing more aggressively and taking away the pace from Kvitova’s heavy shots. A huge hold at 2-1 did wonders for Muguruza’s confidence as well, when she saw a healthy lead be wiped away but still fought off a break point to hold serve. Muguruza broke Kvitova’s serve for the first time at 4-2, winning the last four of five games to take the second set.

Despite all of the momentum swinging to the Spaniard’s favor, Kvitova – a two-time Grand Slam champion – drew from her long experience with three-set matches. She dominated in the final set, settling into the same strategy she used in the first set and keeping Muguruza back on her heels as the Spaniard’s errors – and double faults – piled up. A seventh double fault from Muguruza on match point sealed the match for Kvitova, sending the Czech into the semifinals.

“I think it’s very tough because I wasn’t playing bad, you know,” Muguruza said of the final set shutout. “I was running and trying to fight for every point but she was coming with great shots.

“And then, I was like, I’m playing good and it’s like 3-0, 4-0, 5-0. So, I know with this kind of players, with Petra if she’s playing good, she hits everything.”

Kvitova did the most damage on her serve – she hit six aces and no double faults, and only faced one break point all match long. She also kept her high-risk game in check, hitting a total of 29 winners and 21 unforced errors to the Spaniard’s 17 and 25.

Kvitova is set to face Angelique Kerber in the semifinals; the German eased past Carla Suárez Navarro 6-2, 6-4 in the day’s first quarterfinal.

“I lost to her in Singapore, unfortunately. I know how dangerous she is,” Kvitova said of the matchup. “She is playing a good game right now as well, but I’m in the semifinal now, I have three matches. I think that can help me with the feeling of the balls and everything. Lefties will be different for sure but I’m used to it.”