Gavrilova Wipes The Court With Vekic
Daria Gavrilova was so keen to get back on court after Monday night’s rain delay that she joined the ball kids attempts to dry the court.
Daria Gavrilova was so keen to get back on court after Monday night’s rain delay that she joined the ball kids attempts to dry the court.
Johanna Konta takes on Daria Gavrilova in the second round of the Apia International Sydney.
Daria Kasatkina earned her first win over a reigning World No.1 on Tuesday, easing past top seed Angelique Kerber at the Apia International Sydney.
STANFORD, CA, USA – 17-year-old Catherine Bellis thrilled the Northern California crowd in her first round against No.6 seed Jelena Ostapenko; the American ousted the Latvian youngster, 6-4, 6-4 at the Bank of the West Classic.
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“In the end, I was just a little bit more consistent than she was,” she said in her on-court interview. “I just tried to make as many balls as I could – especially in that last game. It was a little tight; I had a couple of heart attacks, but it’s all good!”
Bellis burst onto the scene back in 2014, when at 15 years of age, she stunned Dominika Cibulkova in the first round of the US Open to become the youngest woman to win a main draw match there in nearly a decade. Two years on, the potential still burned bright from the young American, who twice recovered from early deficits to survive the surging Ostapenko, who struggled on serve with nine double faults in the 72 minute match.
Injured in doubles on Monday, Bellis admitted to Andrew Krasny she considered pulling out of the tournament before the match took place.
“I didn’t even know if I was going to play tonight because yesterday I got hit with an overhead in the eye. I was crying so hard and wasn’t even able to see. So to even come out today meant so much to me.”
Improving to 3-2 against Top 50 opposition, Bellis will play the winner of the second night match in Stanford between qualifiers Sachia Vickery and Elitsa Kostova.
Her win over Ostapenko was the first Stadium Court match to last only two sets as Julia Boserup, Magda Linette, and Alison Riske each needed a decider to capture their first round wins. Another American wildcard who reached the third round of Wimbledon in her Grand Slam debut, Boserup dispatched rising star Naomi Osaka, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, while Linette recovered from a one-set deficit to defeat Kristyna Pliskova, 2-6, 6-2, 7-5. Riske pulled off the most dramatic win of all against Varvara Lepchenko, clinching victory in a third set tie-break, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(4).
More to come…
STANFORD, CA, USA – Former World No.1 Venus Williams treated the Bank of the West Classic to a topsy-turvy three-setter against Magda Linette, but the top seed found her way against the Pole when it counted, emerging victorious, 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-2, to reach the quarterfinals.
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Playing at the very tournament where she made her WTA debut back in 1994 – and playing as the No.1 seed at a WTA Premier level event for the first time since 2004 (Toray Pan Pacific Open) – Venus assumed the role of the favorite to emphatic effect to start the match, racing through the opening set without dropping serve and edging ahead an ostensibly decisive break to start the second.
Two games from elimination, Linette was coming off just her first WTA main draw win since reaching the quarterfinals of the Katowice Open, but nonetheless turned the tides against the illustrious American, breaking back to force a tie-break.
Venus had lost just one tie-break all year, and though she fell behind 6-2 two in Wednesday night’s sudden death, the five-time Wimbledon winner appeared poised to close out the match fairly quickly as she saved four set points in a row. But Linette held firm to level the match after a second set that lasted just over an hour.
The Pole had one last comeback in her late in the final set; after losing the first four games on the bounce, she nabbed one of the breaks back to put pressure on the Venus serve in the seventh game, one that had proven crucial in the second set. But with sister Serena in the stands, Venus made no mistake the second time around, and eased into the quarterfinals in two hours and 17 minutes.
Up next for the top seed is either qualifier Sachia Vickery or wildcard Catherine Bellis, who caused the upset of the tournament by taking out No.6 seed Jelena Ostapenko in the first round.
More to come…
BRISBANE, Australia – Victoria Azarenka continued her relentless march towards a second Brisbane International title with a quick-fire quarterfinal win over Roberta Vinci on Thursday night.
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Having dropped just seven games across the opening two rounds, Azarenka put No.8 seed Vinci to the sword in similarly ruthless fashion, running out a 6-1, 6-2 winner.
Azarenka set her stall out on the opening point, arrowing a backhand return into the corner. The break swiftly followed and while she was unable to hold onto this for long, she was soon ahead once more thanks to a fizzing double-handed winner.
Twenty minutes later she swatted another backhand away to take the set. In the second, it was the forehand that came to the fore, a brilliant stretching passing shot and a crisp down-the-line winner creating the vital breakthrough in the sixth game.
“I’m pretty pleased with tonight,” Azarenka said. “Thank you for the full crowd – you guys make me play much better, that’s for sure!
“I feel like I was really focused from the beginning and I knew she wasn’t going to give anything away so I had to take control and really dictate the play. I’m glad I stayed strong and focused in the difficult situations and really fought for every point.”
Meeting Azarenka in the last four will be the tournament’s surprise package, Samantha Crawford, who earlier in the day defeated Andrea Petkovic, 6-3, 6-0.
“Nobody gets into the semifinals without playing well so I’ll need to rise to this challenge – it’s a new experience – but I’m just happy to be back in the semifinals and doing something I love,” Azarenka, the 2009 champion, added when asked about meeting Crawford for the first time.
On the other side of the draw, No.4 seed Angelique Kerber continued to play herself into form ahead of the Australian Open with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. While Carla Suárez Navarro came through a topsy-turvy encounter with Varvara Lepchenko, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.
Carla Suárez Navarro takes on Varvara Lepchenko in the quarterfinals of the Brisbane International.
Samantha Crawford has Thursday’s shot of the day at the Brisbane International.
Simona Halep was able to win the longer rallies in her 7-6(2) 6-3 victory over Madison Keys to win the title at the Rogers Cup in Montréal.
SAP Tennis Analytics tracks how successful players are on varying rally lengths. During Sunday’s final, Halep won 62% of the rallies that were longer than six shots.
After a tight first set, Halep took control of the second by winning more of the medium-length rallies. After winning just 46% of the 3-6 shot rallies in the first set, Halep won 65% of those points in the second set.
Overall, Halep won 56% of the rallies that were greater than three shots throughout the match.
Rally length is included in the “Rally hit to” tracking on the SAP Coaches View. That particular data shows where each shot during a rally lands on the opponent’s side of the court. The display differentiates between forehands and backhands, and can be filtered by a particular score or to only show winners, unforced errors, service returns, the last shot of a rally or the third shot (first rally ball hit by the server).
For the Rogers Cup final, this data set also shows that Halep not only was winning the longer points, but she was also looking to keep the ball away from the Keys forehand. Halep directed 57% of her shots toward the Keys backhand, and for good reason. During the match, 13 of the 17 winners Keys hit came from her forehand.
The SAP Coaches View combines scoring information direct from the chair umpire with tracking data from HawkEye to allow for an in depth look at five different aspects of a match. Each tracking option can be filtered to narrow the focus to specific situations within a match, such as break points. This information is available directly to coaches in real-time during a match on their SAP tablet and also available to them online after matches.
On Sunday, Halep’s success on the longer points in the match allowed her to win her third trophy in 2016.
CoCo Vandeweghe discusses the importance of listening to different voices – from parents to various coaches – throughout her career during a press conference at the Australian Open.