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Radwanska Books Beijing Final Against Konta

Radwanska Books Beijing Final Against Konta

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

BEIJING China – No.3 seed Agnieszka Radwanska returned to the final of the China Open for the third time in her career after edging past Elina Svitolina in straight sets.

Watch live action from Beijing on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

Svitolina took advantage of Radwanska’s sluggish start to push her early in the first set, but the Pole survived to advance 7-6(3), 6-3 in an hour and forty minutes.

“Well, definitely a bit too slow start for me,” Radwanska assessed. “Suddenly it was 3-5. As we know, this is a score you can definitely come back. Serve was not really the key of that match, either my serve or her.”

“I was just very glad I could come back in that first set. I think it was very important. I just played a great tiebreaker, so that helped me a lot for sure in that match.”

Both Svitolina and Radwanska advanced to their semifinal match without dropping a set in Beijing, but after trading breaks to start, it was the Ukrainian who struck first. She stepped into a Radwanska lob and hammered it cross court, earning a break in fifth game which she built up into a 5-3 lead.

Radwanska was left to play catch-up, using every trick in her arsenal to stay within touching distance before finally breaking back and leveling the match. The Pole dominated in the tiebreaker, flying out to a 5-0 lead before eventually claiming the set.

She shot to a double break lead in the final set, and saved a pair of break points to keep her nose ahead. She broke once again in the final game of the match to claim another straight sets victory in Beijing.

Radwanska books a clash against Top 10 debutante Johanna Konta for a shot at her second China Open title.

“Just very, very happy to be in the third final here in Beijing,” Radwanska said. “Well, is a great event. As we know, everybody is playing here. It’s always good to be in the final that all the top players were here.”

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News | WTA Tennis English

News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MONETERREY, Mexico – As a part of the WTA Charities initiative, Americans Ashley Weinhold and Caitlin Whoriskey spent Tuesday morning in Monterrey with a group of athletes that are part of the Special Needs Athletes Association of Nuevo Leon, alongside Mexican businessman Carlos Bremer.

Weinhold and Whoriskey helped the athletes paste small scraps of tissue paper on a banner filling the Abierto GNP Seguros logo with bright colors, and the morning ended with everyone enjoying some tasty tacos.

“I want to congratulate the organizers of this event, it has continuously been gaining strength every year,” Bremer said about the WTA event. “I think everyone should support these big events that come to Monterrey and to Mexico.”

Catch a glimpse of the visit and the finished product, courtesy of Abierto GNP Seguros:

Monterrey WTA Charities

Monterrey WTA Charities

Monterrey WTA Charities

Monterrey WTA Charities

Monterrey WTA Charities

Monterrey WTA Charities

WTA Charities is the WTA’s global philanthropic organization dedicated to making a positive impact across the globe. Our mission is to be a social responsibility vehicle built on the WTA’s values to empower and provide for a better future. We’re dedicated to combining, strengthening and enhancing the community and charitable efforts of the WTA through its members (players, alumnae and tournaments), along with our partners.

Click here to see more WTA Charities activities!

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Babos & Shvedova First Into Final

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MIAMI, FL, USA – No.4 seeds Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova secured their place in the Miami Open doubles final with a hard-fought win over Margarita Gasparyan and Monica Niculescu on Friday.

Gasparyan and Niculescu have been the tournament’s surprise package, knocking out a number of more seasoned teams, including top seeds and defending champions Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza. However, Babos and Shvedova were determined not to add their names to the list of upsets, digging deep to close out a 7-5, 4-6, 10-8 victory in an hour and 41 minutes.

“It was a tough match because the girls played well – they’ve proved through this two weeks that they’re a very good team – and it was not easy,” Shvedova said. “The conditions were windy and Monica has a special style of playing, so we needed to be patient and keep working hard.”

The outcome of a see-saw encounter remained in the balance until the very last, Gasparyan and Niculescu rallying from 8-5 down in the match tie-break to come within two points of victory. “It’s our style, we were down in both sets and then almost in the super tie-break, too,” Babos added.

“But we enjoy playing with each other – on my part, for sure! – and this makes it a lot easier to fight for every point and as it shows in doubles anything can happen. Basically they didn’t do any mistakes but we were fighting and coming back, taking it point by point and in the end we got the tie-break.”

Having lifted the Tashkent title in their first outing together two and a half years ago, Babos and Shvedova reunited for Indian Wells, where they proceeded to make the semifinals before being edged out by Bethanie Mattek-Sands and CoCo Vandeweghe.

Sunday’s final at Crandon Park presents a shot at – partial – revenge, after Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova prevailed, 6-2, 6-1, in their clash against Zheng Saisai and Xu Yi-Fan.

“It was a great match, we knew we had to play well, but I love the night match atmosphere – a lot of fans stayed after the men’s match – and it’s great because we really had a lot of fan support and they were cheering for some great tennis,” Mattek-Sands said.

The result means that Mattek-Sands remains on course to become just the third player to win Indian Wells and Miami in the same year with different partners; Natasha Zvereva triumphed alongside Lindsay Davenport at Indian Wells and Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario at Miami, in 1997, before Martina Hingis repeated the feat two years later, teaming up with Anna Kournikova at Indian Wells and Jana Novotna at Miami.

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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

BIEL/BIENNE, Switzerland – Kristyna Pliskova continued her steady climb up the rankings as she scored the first big upset of the Ladies Open Biel Bienne, knocking out No.4 seed Roberta Vinci, 6-4, 6-4 to advance into the second round.

“I’m happy I’m back indoors, because my serve works even better here than outside,” she said after the match. “I think this match was pretty solid from my side; I faced just one break point, which is kind of good. She’s not in her best form, so that helped me get it done in two sets.”

Pliskova recovered from a set down to defeat Vinci at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships just two months ago, but was far more decisive on Monday, striking 10 aces and getting a crucial break in each set to seal the win in one hour and 13 minutes.

“I learned a lot from our match in Dubai, and even more from the time before I’d played her and I’d lost like 6-1, 6-1 five years ago. I knew her slice is brilliant. She proved that again, but I learned a lot from both matches.”

Up next for Pliskova is either Donna Vekic or Sorana Cirstea; with her quick serve and fearsome groundstrokes, the unseeded Czech youngster will certainly be one to watch in the indoor courts of Biel/Bienne this week.

“The court is kind of different from others, but so far I like it.”

Earlier in the day, Elise Mertens caused another upset by defeating No.8 seed Monica Niculescu, 6-2, 6-2. The first winner in the tournament’s history was Germany’s Mona Barthel, who ousted Jana Cepelova, 6-3, 6-4.

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7 Things: Sunshine Reflections

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen | As Victoria Azarenka and Bethanie Mattek-Sands bask in a Sunshine Sweep, one last look back on Miami as the tour turns to clay.

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