St. Petersburg: Kasatkina Interview
An interview with Daria Kasatkina after her quarterfinal win at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
An interview with Daria Kasatkina after her quarterfinal win at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
Highlights from semifinals action at the Western & Southern Open.
CINCINNATI, OH, USA – Karolina Pliskova isn’t one to do things halfway. That’s not how she plays her tennis and it’s not how she’s gone about her career. The 24-year-old Czech blitzed the field at the Western & Southern Open last week, capping off a dominant run with a 6-3, 6-1 win over No. Angelique Kerber in the final to win the biggest title of her career. And she’s not done yet.
Pliskova’s 2016 season has not matched the consistency of her breakout 2015, which saw her soar from outside the Top 20 to a career-high of No.7. She finished last season by making the final at the Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai, finishing the season having played the most matches of anyone on the WTA tour.
Yet despite that consistency, Pliskova was not satisfied. She lost two tough three-set finals to Kerber at big Premier events in Eastbourne and Stanford. She consistently made the business end of tour events but couldn’t make it into the second week at the majors. Talking to Pliskova throughout last year, it was clear she was pleased with her season but something was missing.
The thing that was missing was a big title or signature win. Pliskova crossed both off the list in Cincinnati. She came into the tournament having never beaten a Top 5 player at a tour event. She proceeded to beat two, losing just four games each to Garbiñe Muguruza in the semifinal and Kerber in the final. With much of the discussion ahead of Sunday’s final concerning Kerber’s quest for No.1, few were paying attention to Pliskova, who was on fire all week.
“There is – I would say 99% of the players – I can beat all of them if I play good tennis. But it’s not always [that I play well],” Pliskova said after beating Muguruza 6-1, 6-3 on Saturday. “But with this victory, even it was a little bit easier than I was expecting, I believe I can win a big tournaments and even Slams later in my life.”
Pliskova got better and better with each match she played in Cincinnati. She skipped the Olympic tennis event in order to focus on her tennis, using the two weeks off as a heavy training block that has left her fitter and more focused.
“Definitely this tournament gave me a lot of confidence,” Pliskova said. “I beat the last three rounds very dangerous and very good players. I feel very good now, especially on the hard court. I have enough matches. That’s what counts before US Open.”
WTA Insider sat down with Pliskova after her big win.
WTA Insider: How does it feel to win the biggest title of your career?
Pliskova: I mean, it feels amazing. I’ve played a few big finals so far and lost them – two of them, actually, were to Angie. So I’m really happy to take this third one, especially here in Cincinnati at such a big tournament.
WTA Insider: When you arrived, obviously you’ve played here before, but you have to had known that these conditions suit you.
Pliskova: I knew it, and I played some good tennis last year as well. Unfortunately, I didn’t get as far as this year, but I’m really happy that my tennis here was good. I’ve played some good matches against top players, which always counts – especially for the next tournaments, as well. These conditions, I knew they were going to suit me, and I’m really happy I took the title this year.
WTA Insider: A year ago, you’re losing these sorts of matches to Kerber, both on grass and hardcourt. This year you turned it around in a really straightforward way. How different is the Karolina Pliskova of 2016 compared to 2015?
Pliskova: Definitely I have some new experience in these finals, especially against her. It was always close, very close, and I could have beaten her either of those times. It wasn’t just about her; I knew if I played good tennis, the kind I played this week, that I could beat her. It happened today because I was aggressive enough and serving well. It happened.
WTA Insider: You said earlier this week that people have said your season hasn’t been as great as last year, but you’ve thought this year was better. Why do you think that?
Pliskova: Last year was totally different than this year. This year, I’ve had some ups and downs while last year was more solid, and I didn’t lose early at too many tournaments. It was different, but this year I’ve played bigger tournaments and bigger matches. I won a few, lost a few, and this one is just the biggest of my career so far.
I’m just happy that it happened this year, because so many people were saying this year has been so bad, and, ‘You have been playing so bad,’ and everything like this. So I’m just happy even for those people, that they can see I can still win something.
WTA Insider: In one way, yes, last year was very consistent, but this year you reached bigger peaks and highs. The way you play tennis, one might think you prefer this season a little more, where you go for the big shots, and it’s not so much about consistency.
Pliskova: Definitely, it’s not my style just to defend. I’m really happy with this title because always – well, not always – I lost in finals, and this shows I can still play good tennis in a final. I definitely prefer this.
WTA Insider: We’re heading to New York in a couple of weeks; what is your relationship with New York? Do you like it? Is it too much? How do you feel about it?
Pliskova: After this week, I’m not going to think about New York yet, but obviously it’s the last Grand Slam of the season, and I just want to play the type of tennis I played this week here, there. It doesn’t matter if I win or lose, but as long as I stick to the game plan I had here, I believe I can have good results, even there.
WTA Insider: How different do you find the conditions there compared to Cincinnati?
Pliskova: The balls are different; that’s what I remember. They fly more here. Last year, I didn’t play much there; it was really terrible for me, there. Definitely, it can only be better this year. I’d like to gain. But I think the conditions everywhere here are pretty hot and humid, so it’s going to fly a lot. It can be similar to here.
WTA Insider: When we talked earlier in the week, I assumed you’d taken those weeks off from Rio to relax and rest. That wasn’t what you did; you hit the practice courts and the gym a lot harder. Obviously it’s paid off, but does that change how you see things moving forward, that you want to take more of these breaks to prepare for the bigger tournaments?
Pliskova: To be honest, I got a lot of ugly messages because I withdrew from Rio. A lot of people in Czech didn’t take it the right way, the way I took it. But now I’m really happy the way it paid off; I wasn’t just on the beach somewhere, I was practicing. I’m happy it paid off and how it helped me prepare for here and this tournament.
WTA Insider: How do you plan to celebrate in Cincinnati?
Pliskova: Definitely, some good dinner, and I have three guys with me, so we’re going to have a small party.
WTA Insider: Like a steakhouse? That’s probably where they’d want to go.
Pliskova: Probably, but we have to go somewhere where they have beer, because they love that.
WTA Insider: When you’re a week away from a tournament, and here you played very deep and played a good number of matches. Do you take time to enjoy New York? Or do you get back on the court right away?
Pliskova: I’m going to have one or two days off for sure; maybe I’ll do some fitness stuff just to stay fit and stay still in the game. I’m withdrawing from New Haven, so I’m just going to get ready for New York the way I did for this tournament.
Listen to more from Pliskova in the latest episode of the WTA Insider Podcast:
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova thanks her fans after winning the Abierto GNP Seguros.
SINGAPORE – World No.1 Serena Williams and No.2 Angelique Kerber have secured the first two singles qualifications for this year’s BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
“Congratulations to Serena and Angelique on once again qualifying for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global,” said WTA CEO Steve Simon. “These two athletes are incredible ambassadors for the sport and we look forward to them showcasing their best tennis in Singapore this October. Serena continues to break records and add to her already extraordinary career, while Angie is having the best year of her career so far and has firmly established herself as one of the brightest stars of the tour. They are both fan-favorites and their passion and energy on court will be sure to electrify the Sports Hub.”
Williams has amassed an impressive 29-6 record at the year-end finale, winning five singles titles from seven appearances at the WTA Finals. The 34-year-old has claimed the Billie Jean King Trophy on each of her most recent four outings, including three successive victories from 2012 to 2014. This year will mark Williams’ 10th career appearance at the tournament.
“I’m very proud and excited to qualify for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals in Singapore,” said Serena. “I have great memories of winning the title in Singapore in 2014 and being supported by so many fans. I can’t wait to be back in Singapore later this year to hopefully win my sixth Billie Jean King Trophy.”
The World No.1 has spent the majority of the season on top of the Road to Singapore Leaderboard, claiming her 70th and 71st career singles titles by winning the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome and successfully defending her Wimbledon crown. In addition, she reached a further three singles finals at the Australian Open, Roland Garros and BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, bringing her win-loss record so far this season to 33-5. Her triumph at the All England Club was especially poignant, with her seventh Wimbledon title equaling Stefanie Graf’s Open Era record of 22 Grand Slam singles titles. Her results this season have seen Williams extend her reign as the WTA’s World No.1 player, having now held the top spot for 307 weeks over the course of her career, sitting behind only Graf (377) and Martina Navratilova (332).
Fresh off her runner-up at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, Kerber has secured her fourth appearance at the WTA Finals. Her first two appearances at the event were in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2012 and 2013 – highlighted by her win over then-No.4 Agnieszka Radwanska – followed by last year’s showing in Singapore, where she beat eventual runner-up Petra Kvitova in the round-robin stage.
This year Kerber will be bidding to advance to the semifinals for the first time, after being only one set away from doing so in 2015.
Twenty-eight-year-old Kerber has enjoyed her best season yet, compiling a 47-14 record, and reaching a career-high ranking of No.2 after clinching her maiden Grand Slam title at the Australian Open. She also defended her title in front of a home crowd at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart for her ninth career singles crown. In addition, the German reached four more finals so far this season: her second Grand Slam final at Wimbledon (falling to Williams in a re-match of the Australian Open final), a silver medal at the Rio Olympics, the Brisbane International, and Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.
“I’m so happy to have qualified for the WTA Finals Singapore for the fourth time,” said Kerber. “It is one of the most important events of the year and we all fight to qualify in the Top 8. I have great memories from my other experiences at the tournament and I hope to play some great matches and win the title.”
CHARLESTON, SC, USA – In the first all-teen WTA final since 2009, Daria Kasatkina knocked out former junior colleague Jelena Ostapenko, 6-3, 6-1, to win her first WTA title at the Volvo Car Open.
“It’s very difficult to describe my feeling now,” she said in her post-victory press conference. “I feel I’m just sleeping and everything is not real. I’m so happy. Really.”
Kasatkina and Ostapenko took back-to-back Grand Slam titles back in 2014, the Russian winning the girls’ French Open while the Latvian swept the junior Wimbledon Championships, and the two have been on a collision course since making their WTA debuts the following year.
Ostapenko was in her third career final after finishing runner-up at the Tournoi de Québec in 2015 and the Qatar Total Open in 2016, and won their only previous tour-level meeting last year at the Aegon International in Eastbourne.
But Kasatkina proved far more at home on clay after earning wins over Olympic champion Monica Puig, good friend Daria Gavrilova, No.10 seed Irina-Camelia Begu, and clay court specialist Laura Siegemund en route to her first final.
“Yesterday evening and all night I couldn’t sleep. I woke up during the whole night like two or three times. I was so nervous, you cannot imagine. I was feeling like, I want to just go on the court and everything, let’s finish, play. I cannot feeling this anymore. But now it was worth it.”
.@DKasatkina turns defense into attack! #VolvoCarOpen pic.twitter.com/f1CRBWoXoG
— WTA (@WTA) April 9, 2017
The pair exchanged early breaks to start the match; Ostapenko won a long sixth game to level the opening set only to see Kasatkina run away with the contest from there, losing just one more game in the 66-minute match.
“I was ready to be on the court five, six hours. Because it’s a final, I have to be ready for everything, but I’m happy that I finished it in, let’s say, an easy way. So I am very happy and proud of myself.
“When I won the last ball, everything like closed and I just feel like I’m dreaming.”
Playing clean, consistent tennis, Kasatkina struck just six winners to the Latvian’s 25, but also only seven unforced errors to Ostapenko’s 38, and converted five of seven break point chances over two sets.
“Today, the tactic was to be a little bit more defensive, go back, spin, slice the ball because it’s clay, and she’s playing really aggressive. Usually she beats aggressive players because she likes this type of game, everything. So we decided that I have to go back and make her tired. It was a good tactic, I think.”
“I was playing good all the days this week,” Ostapenko said after the match. “I beat some great players, but today was really not my day, and I just didn’t feel the ball that well. I was missing too much, and because she was defending during the whole match. It was just probably not my day.
“I think I got a bit more consistent on clay, and I think I improved my serve and I’m moving better, but I still have a lot of things to work on. I think it’s pretty good because now I can climb in the ranking.”
First #WTA Title!@DKasatkina races past Ostapenko 6-3, 6-1 to win @VolvoCarOpen! pic.twitter.com/yYmKy299Qp
— WTA (@WTA) April 9, 2017
The Russian will move back into the Top 30 after the win as she aims to return to Roland Garros as a seed for the second straight year, while Ostapenko returns to the Top 50 following her impressive week and wins over former No.1 Caroline Wozniacki and Australian Open semifinalist Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.
Kasatkina joins an illustrious list of former champions, including Stefanie Graf, Martina Navratilova, Martina Hingis, and Venus Williams. None of that had quite sunk in with the 19-year-old so soon after the match.
“I need to prepare for these things. It never happened to me before. So little bit makeup for the pictures!” she said when asked about a post-victory portrait.
“I don’t realize it yet, so I’m just enjoying it every moment, every second. And really, when I was on the court after the last point, I just wanted the moment to stop because it was one of the best moments in my life.”
.@DKasatkina fights back the tears during champion's speech #VolvoCarOpen pic.twitter.com/g5SW68mjMD
— WTA (@WTA) April 9, 2017
Earlier in the day, World No.1 Bethanie Mattek-Sands took her third title of the year, and second with partner Lucie Safarova, overcoming a tough test from BNP Paribas Open finalists Lucie Hradecka and Katerina Siniakova, 6-1, 4-6, 10-7.
All photos courtesy of the Volvo Car Open.
The WTA’s Top 9 stayed the same after a week of action on the green clay of Charleston, where Daria Kasatkina took home her maiden title at the Volvo Car Open, and in Monterrey where Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova powered to a fourth Abierto GNP Seguros title.
The only major change in the Top 10 is the return of Madison Keys, who knocked out Venus Williams and leapfrogged Caroline Wozniacki to rise from No.11 to No.10.
Wozniacki was a win away from returning to the Top 10 for the first time since September 2015, but she was denied the chance by an inspired Jelena Ostapenko in the Charleston quarterfinals.
Here are the biggest ranking movers this week after Charleston and Monterrey:
Jelena Ostapenko +16 (No.66 to No.50): 19-year-old Ostapenko reached the third final of her career – and her first final on clay – at the Volvo Car Open this week. She took down a pair of seeds along the way, knocking out No.5 Caroline Wozniacki and No.11 Mirjana Lucic-Baroni. As a result, she’s earned herself a spot back inside the WTA’s Top 50.
Daria Kasatkina +13 (No.42 to No.29): Not only did 19-year-old Kasatkina reach her first WTA singles final in Charleston, but she also went all the way and took home her maiden WTA after a commanding win over Ostapenko. Her impressive performance sends her rocketing up the rankings, landing inside the Top 30 at No.29.
Shelby Rogers +3 (No.52 to No.49): It was an emotional week for Charleston native Rogers. She entered her home tournament with just one main draw win under her belt and admitted to struggling in front of her home crowd. But all that changed this week, where she put together an inspiring run to the quarterfinals, posting back-to-back wins over top seed Madison Keys and Naomi Osaka along the way. She lands at No.49, just one spot removed from her career-high of No.48.
Carla Suárez Navarro +2 (No.25 to No.23): After spending the last few years inside the WTA’s Top 20, Suárez Navarro’s ranking took a hit when a shoulder injury forced her off the tennis courts at the start of 2017. The Spaniard missed the Australian and Middle Eastern swings, and found herself outside the Top 20 for the first time since 2013. She turned it all around in Monterrey, halting her slide down the rankings with an impressive run to the semifinals.
Click here to check out the updated WTA rankings as of April 10.
NEW HAVEN, CT, USA – No.2 seed Roberta Vinci made her way to the quarterfinals of the Connecticut Open for the first time after a 6-2, 6-2 win over Ana Konjuh.
Watch live action from New Haven this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
“It was not an easy match,” Vinci admitted afterwards. “It’s always tough, the first round for me. She played well, but the court is so fast. I played consistent and tried to stay focused every point.”
Eighteen-year-old Konjuh was making her New Haven debut after coming through three rounds of qualifying, and she came out swinging against the No.2 seed. She brought up two break points right away against the Italian’s serve, unleashing her powerful groundstrokes to yank Vinci from line to line.
The Italian held on, though, and took advantage of a loose service game – including two double faults – to get the first break to love at 4-2. She rattled off another two games and took the opening set. The second set unfolded in the same pattern as the first, with Vinci grabbing two late breaks to take the match after just under an hour.
With the win Vinci advanced to the New Haven quarterfinal and notched her ever best result at New Haven, having reached just two second round appearances in 2011 and 2015.
“I love to play here in New Haven, I have great memories here from last year,” she said. “And now I’m in quarterfinals, for the first time, so I’m so happy. I will try my best for tomorrow.”
Vinci is set to play Johanna Larson in the next round for a spot in the semifinals.
Also in action today was lucky loser Kirsten Flipkens, who upset the higher-ranked Caroline Garcia, 7-6(3), 7-5.
Her reward? A quarterfinal clash with top seed Agnieszka Radwanska.
“She’s a great player, she’s very talented,” Flipkens said. “I’ve already had some matches against her in the past.
“I just hope that I can go out there and do my best and have a good match, no matter what the result.”
The players at the Claro Open Colsanitas enjoyed traditional Colombian cuisine and tunes from the band JOLIE at the annual players’ party.