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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MELBOURNE, Australia – When Serena Williams defeated Venus Williams in the final of the Australian Open, her historic victory was felt around the world. She clinched a record-breaking 23rd Grand Slam and returned to the WTA World No.1 ranking.

Here’s the best moments from Twitter as the world reacted to the 28th edition of Williams vs Williams – and Serena’ monumental victory.

It was a final nobody expected to see again – but a final that delighted the world.

Legends wished them luck…

…and the new generation felt like they were back in their childhoods.

After all the talk, it was time to play. Some people looked on with admiration and envy.

And some people had problems deciding who to cheer for.

Serena took the first set…

Everyone was enjoying the quality of tennis on display…

…and it wasn’t too long before Serena made history.

It was her sister, the runner-up, who paid the most touching tribute.

And the champion repaid the compliment.

The congratulations poured in for both champions after the historic moment of victory…

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News | WTA Tennis English

News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

January was defined by four breakthrough players who brought some impressive performances on and off the court. Which one soared the highest?

Have a look at the nominees for January’s Breakthrough of the Month and cast your vote before Thursday at 11:59pm ET! The winner will be announced Friday, February 3.

January 2017 WTA Breakthrough of the Month Finalists:


Katerina Siniakova: Siniakova started the season at the Shenzhen Open, where she won her first title with wins over Simona Halep and Johanna Konta before knocking out 2016 finalist Alison Riske in the championship match. The win brought the Czech youngster to a career-high ranking of No.37.

Elise Mertens: Mertens made her Top 100 debut after winning the Hobart International the week before the Australian Open. Though she missed the deadline for Melbourne qualifying, the powerful Belgian blew through the draw, roaring through qualifying to defeat top seed Kiki Bertens and Monica Niculescu in the final.

Lauren Davis: Another player to take home their maiden WTA title was young American Lauren Davis, who started the year at the ASB Classic. Unseeded in Auckland, Davis beat four seeds to the title, including Bertens, Barbora Strycova, Jelena Ostapenko, and Ana Konjuh.

CoCo Vandeweghe: Vandeweghe made her major breakthrough at the Australian Open, getting back-to-back wins over two of 2016’s three Grand Slam champions in World No.1 Angelique Kerber and Garbiñe Muguruza. Making her first Grand Slam semifinal, the American pushed eventual finalist Venus Williams to three tough sets.

BTOM Jan


2016 Winners:

January: Zhang Shuai
February: Jelena Ostapenko

March: Nicole Gibbs

April: Cagla Buyukakcay

May: Kiki Bertens

June: Elena Vesnina

July: Kristina Kucova

August: Karolina Pliskova

September: Naomi Osaka

October: Peng Shuai

How it works:

Finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com

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Kerber Quells Konta’s Olympic Quest

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – No.2 seed Angelique Kerber ended Johanna Konta’s debut run at the Olympic tennis event after an emphatic straight sets win, 6-1, 6-2, to advance to the semifinals.

Kerber, who is bidding to become the first German woman to medal at the Olympics since Steffi Graf in 1992, was in fine form against Konta, dropping just three games in the hour-long match.

Coming off a marathon encounter against Svetlana Kuznetsova, Konta was likely thankful for yesterday’s washout giving her an extra day to recover. But despite the additional rest, Britain’s No.1 never really seemed in the match, striking 43 unforced errors to Kerber’s 11 and hitting just 18 winners against Kerber’s 7.

Kerber broke Konta’s serve in a marathon opening game that set the tone for the rest of the match; Konta struck two double faults to gift the German an early lead and despite putting up a battle she couldn’t match Kerber’s dogged defense stroke for stroke.

The World No.2 settled into the match quickly and broke twice more to win the last four straight games of the opening set. Though Konta showed her grit by getting her first break in Kerber’s opening service game, the German didn’t allow her to relish in the lead for long and immediately broke back. The Australian Open champion broke twice more and eased into the semifinals after just over an hour.

Watching in the stands was Madison Keys, Kerber’s opponent in the next round. The German owns a 4-1 lead in the pair’s head to head, including a win in their last encounter earlier this year in Miami.

More to come…

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Ivanovic Into Oz Open Third Round

Ivanovic Into Oz Open Third Round

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MELBOURNE, Australia – Former No.1 Ana Ivanovic had to deal with a half hour break when a spectator took a spill on Rod Laver Arena, but the Serb maintained her focus to close out Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova, 6-3, 6-3.

Sevastova first made waves in 2011 when she reached the round of 16 at the Australian Open, but a brief retirement took her out of the game for nearly two years before she came back last January. Coming through three rounds of main draw qualifying, the 25-year-old played Ivanovic tough over two sets, but was ultimately undone by unforced errors – 27 to Ivanovic’s 17.

Ivanovic, by contrast, played a much cleaner match, breaking serve four times and winning 83% of her first serves.

“I enjoy playing here so much; this is one of my favorite courts in the world,” Ivanovic said during her on-court interview. “It’s always good to be back.”

The No.20 seed has looked solid through her first two matches, a major improvement over her last appearance in Melbourne, when a broken toe hampered her through an opening round loss.

“I tried to work on my fitness during the off-season; that needed improvements after last season. I hired a new fitness coach, so it’s been really great. We did a lot of prevention work for injuries, and fitness and on-court work.

“It’s a work in progress.”

Up next for Ivanovic is the winner of the second round match between No.15 seed Madison Keys and Yaroslava Shvedova, the latter of whom pushed her to three sets at last year’s French Open.

“Every match is tough and we’ve seen that throughout the week. Every opponent is tough and there have been a lot of tricky first round matches.

“But I’m really thrilled be to be through and you guys are amazing, so excited about your tennis, so keep it up!

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