St. Petersburg: Yulia Putintseva Interview
An interview with Yulia Putintseva after her loss in the final of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
An interview with Yulia Putintseva after her loss in the final of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
WTA Insider | In the latest WTA Insider Live Blog, relive Svetlana Kuznetsova’s thrilling win over Karolina Pliskova in three grueling sets.
Elina Svitolina had Sunday’s shot of the day at the Taiwan Open.
SINGAPORE – Out of the 16 semifinal scenarios that could have come to fore in the Red Group, only one involved No.7 seed Dominika Cibulkova reaching the semifinals of the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global in her debut appearance. By knocking out No.3 seed Simona Halep, 6-3, 7-6(5), she did all she could do to make that lone scenario happen on Thursday, outlasting the Romanian and playing her best tennis of the week to keep herself in semifinal contention.
With Angelique Kerber’s straight-set win over Madison Keys, Cibulkova advances into her first Singapore semifinal after a statement victory from the Slovak.
Read how the match unfolded in the WTA Insider Live Blog.
– Cibulkova shows off her refined mental toughness.
The second set was crucial for both women. Win it, and remain in contention for the semifinals; lose it, and book your first ticket home.
Cibulkova admitted she very nearly did that before taking the court on Thursday.
“I was like, ‘Okay if I lose today, tomorrow we fly for holidays.’ So we booked…well, no, we didn’t book the flight, but it was like, ‘Okay, if I lose today we fly tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. to holidays.’
“So I just give everything into this match today. I knew it could be possibly the last. All the circumstances made me play really well today.”
Perhaps the mind game helped her stay focused through the tensest set of the week, but even that is a symptom of a successful tenure with a sports psychologist, whom she began working with last year.
“I was playing such good rallies, and then somehow she’d put the ball back again. There were few situations I was like, ‘Okay, I want to leave the court. This is unreal.’
“That’s what made me so strong, the mental toughness, that I knew I cannot lose even one point. I had to just think about what I want to do on the next point. That’s what made me win the second set. It was extremely tough mentally and physically, but tennis-wise, it was such a high level.”
Out of challenges is @Cibulkova, as she didn't realize that. What drama! #WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/QuEF6CDaEp
— WTA (@WTA) October 27, 2016
Out of challenges late in the second set, Cibulkova refused to be rattled, and gamely won the last three points of the second set’s sudden death.
“The pressure of me winning in two sets, that’s what made me like, ‘Okay, breathe and just forget it.’ Because I saw the ball was in. I think I have a good eye. I knew it was in.
“Maybe in a different match, different time, it would make me go crazy and I could lose two, three points likes this and the set would be over. I knew I cannot do this right now. I just had to refocus. This is what I’m talking about, the mental strength I had today.”
– Halep ends the season how she started.
Injuries and illness plagued the start of Simona Halep’s 2016, to the point where she hardly thought it possible to return to Singapore in the spring. Sporting a left knee strapping against Cibulkova, there were some clear movement issues for most of the match, which, while it made her fight all the more impressive, it kept her from taking the aggressive stance necessary to take the second set.
“I think she saw that backhand is not very strong because of the leg,” Halep said in press. “It was not easy for me to push.”
Not wanting to talk too much about the injury, Halep heads into the off-season with plenty of positives: another Premier Mandatory title at the Mutua Madrid Open, a return to the Top 3 after dropping as low as No.7, all under the umbrella of a successful tenure with coach Darren Cahill.
“You're doing a hell of a job!” @Darren_Cahill tells @Simona_Halep! #WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/imCRrVkiu4
— WTA (@WTA) October 27, 2016
“This tournament was a bonus for me. At the middle of the year I said that I cannot qualify because I was very far after four months, tough four months.
“But once I qualified I say that it’s a bonus, and I have just to give everything I have. I didn’t have enough to qualify in the semis, but it was a good experience again, third year in a row, so it’s a good thing.”
Heading back to Romania to visit her newborn niece, Halep plans to revamp her pre-season with a trip to Australia with Cahill.
“The plan is to go to Australia in December. Before he is coming to Romania, so we will mix. I wanted to change something and get used to that time, weather before Shenzhen and before Australia.”
“Danke, Domi!” – @AngeliqueKerber, probably. pic.twitter.com/b8hM69GUr1
— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) October 27, 2016
– Core team key to Cibulkova’s success.
A tennis player is often only as good as his or her team, and Cibulkova has spent years bonding with hers, headed by longtime fiance – now husband – Michal Navara.
“He’s really important. He’s there for me. Sometimes when there are tough, tough times he can make me see the other side. You know, he always says, ‘Okay, the life is not that bad, you know.’
“He can make me sometimes be more relaxed. Even if I lose a match, he can make me see different things. That’s what really helps me. There are so many things that he’s helping me with, but this is one of them.
“He’s really one of the biggest positive energy in our team.”
.@Cibulkova with her #WTAFinals Kids Fan Club! pic.twitter.com/EGx9IaSbQw
— WTA Finals Singapore (@WTAFinalsSG) October 27, 2016
Accenting her team this week in Singapore is the addition of both parents – Cibulkova typically travels with just one or the other to any given tournament – and it’s clear the Slovak’s passion and determination is genetic.
“My father, after my win today, he jumped down and again the security took him away. He’s a little bit emotional. You can see me on the court. I get emotions. Maybe probably it’s from him I get these emotions.
“Do you remember Stanford when he jumped down on the court? Yeah, today he didn’t get on the court but he jumped down from the stands.
“Mostly I’m looking in my box. My coach, they are more calm. But I’m happy my parents are here with me and they can see me playing a great tennis at the WTA Finals in Singapore. When I was starting playing tennis it was never, never in our dreams to be here.”
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…
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RABAT, Morocco – Top seed Timea Bacsinszky righted a mid-match wobble to advance to her second WTA quarterfinal of the year at the GP SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem.
Bacsinszky was facing her first big test of the tournament against 22-year-old Kateryna Kozlova, an opponent who took her to three sets in their last encounter at Nottingham.
“This was a tough one for sure,” Bacsinszky said in her post match interview. “Kozlova is playing better and better every week, so this was a tough match.”
The rapidly rising Kozlova might be ranked No.117 but she sits at No.75 on the Road To Singapore Leaderboard due to her impressive results this year. In St. Petersburg she turned heads with her run through qualifying to the quarterfinals – beating Laura Siegemund and Elena Vesnina along the way – and last week she notched a semifinals appearance in Istanbul.
Bacsinszky drew first blood early on, breaking Kozlova’s in the first game of the match and again to go up to a 4-1 lead. The Swiss’ heavy high-bouncing forehands kept Kozlova back on her heels and out of position. Kozlova broke Bacsinszky’s serve to start mounting a comeback in the final games of the set, but the top seed quickly broke right back close out the set.
Kozlova found her pace in the second set, and put together the play that has impressed throughout the year. She overpowered Bacsinszky from the baseline and took the set to level the match. But the Swiss player put the mid-match dip behind her and won the deciding set after two hours and twenty minutes.
“She raised her level in the second set,” Bacsinszky said. “She was pushing more against me and had me more on defense. It was hard to hit winners against her.
“But I found my way to change things in the third set and in the end I was lucky enough to win the last point.”
Bacsinszky’s opponent in the quarterfinal is Johanna Larsson, who knocked out Teliana Pereira 6-4, 6-4.
Elsewhere, New Zealand qualifier Marina Erakovic had a bittersweet entry to the quarterfinals – she was up 6-4 against the No.7 seed Lesia Tsurenko when the Ukrainian was forced to retire due to pain in her right thigh from an injury sustained during fitness training.
“It’s always tough when you win like that,” Erakovic said afterwards. “You never want to see your opponent injured – I feel sorry for Lesia and hope she’s okay.
“But, you know, good for me. I’ve got through five matches here, which is great. I’m gradually playing better and better each match which is what you want.”
She sets up a quarterfinal clash against Aleksandra Krunic next round, who earlier ousted the No.2 seed Ekaterina Makarova, 6-2, 6-2 in the day’s biggest upset.
“I’ve never played her before but I know her,” Erakovic said. “It’s another challenge, another match, another chance to compete and keep improving my game. That’s what I’m thinking about.”
“Here in Rabat every day is a nice day – the sun is always shining, so tomorrow should be a good day.”
Throwback all the way to the very first Madrid champion: Dinara Safina won the inaugural Madrid Open in 2009, beating Caroline Wozniacki in the final.
Madrid is known for its innovations: the venue that hosts the event, La Caja Mágica (The Magic Box), which was also unveiled in 2009, has an unprecedented three courts with roofs.
In 2010, Aravane Rezai made headlines with her fairytale run to the Madrid title.
Rezai upset former No.1 Justine Henin in the first round, then powered past the likes of Andrea Petkovic, Jelena Jankovic and Lucie Safarova before beating Venus Williams in the final.
2011 was a banner year for Kvitova: at Madrid she lifted what was by then her third title of the year, and her first ever Premier Mandatory.
Kvitova would go on close out the 2011 season as the champion of Wimbledon and the WTA Finals.
Serena Williams won Madrid’s first – and so far, only – staging on blue clay in 2012.
In 2013 she became the first person to defend her Madrid title, and was joined by a special furry friend for the trophy ceremony.
Actually, the World No.1 was joined by several new friends!
Maria Sharapova won the Madrid title in 2014, one step on her road back from injury. A few weeks later she went on to win her second Roland Garros title.
2014 was an emotional year for the Russians in Madrid. Dinara Safina (left) – who presented the trophy to Sharapova – announced her official retirement from tennis at the Mutua Madrid Open.
Petra Kvitova won her second Madrid title in 2015 – can she defend her title and become Madrid’s first three-time champion?