Google Play App Download

Tennis News

From around the world

Begu Triumphs In Florianopolis Final

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

FLORIANOPOLIS, Brazil – Irina-Camelia Begu produced a stirring fightback to defeat Timea Babos and win the Brasil Tennis Cup on Friday.

After looking out of sorts in the first set, Begu dragged herself back into the contest to halt Babos’ charge in the second. A break in the ninth game saw her take the match the distance and despite falling 2-0 behind in the decider she rallied once more to win, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.

“During the match I didn’t start really well – I was a little bit tense and focusing too much on the negative rather than the positive things I was doing. Then I realized I had to make the most of the situation, if the forehand wasn’t working I needed to use the backhand more,” Begu said. “I think it was more mental because I really wanted to win the title.”

The result secures Begu the third title of her career, reaffirming a love affair with the country which played such a crucial role in her comeback from a serious shoulder injury.

“This country is really special for me. In 2014, I was around 130, 140 [in the rankings], I don’t really remember, and I started with the small tournaments, then Florianopolis and Rio,” Begu said. “Being here for five weeks I got to see that the people are really nice, the food is great, too. I was also doing well, winning some of the tournaments, the $25Ks, so it was a nice comeback for me. If I have the chance I will come back again!”

Victory also provides the perfect send-off ahead of the Romanian’s trip up the coast to Rio where she will compete in her second Olympics, beginning her challenge against Nao Hibino. Babos, whose four-year wait to add to her solitary WTA title continues, meanwhile has a day to lick her wounds before a first-round meeting against Petra Kvitova.

“It was a difficult final emotionally, especially as I felt I had it in my hands, then only at the end I realize I’ve lost,” Babos said afterwards. “Of course I was playing against a very good player – she was fighting all the way – but I thought that I was playing better and I had many, many, many opportunities, so obviously I’m sad to lose this final.”

Source link

Duan Triumphs In Nanchang

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

NANCHANG, China – Duan Ying-Ying capped a winning week at the Jiangxi Open with a 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 upset over No.6 seed Vania King to win her first-ever WTA trophy.

Watch live action from Nanchang this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

Playing in the biggest final of her career, Duan recovered from a slow start against the two-time Grand Slam doubles champion, who spent the first eight months of 2015 off the court due to a back injury, to strike gold at home in a two-hour epic.

“I’m very happy to win my first ever WTA singles title, especially with my low back injury and the hot weather here,” Duan said after the match.

“Vania played really well in the first set. My coach gave me some advice during the second set. He asked me to improve my speed a bit and I did so. It worked.”

Down a set and a break, Duan immediately broke back and saved another six break points in her next three service games to put her in position to take a lead of her own and level the match.

“I didn’t expect so many fans to come today. I was really glad to have them cheer for me; their support helped me get through.”

The final set proved decisive for Duan, who broke serve to start and never looked back, serving out her first title to love.

“Winning this title boosted my confidence a lot. I hope to keep up the form and play well at US Open. It’s a really well-organized event this year. I hope to come back next year.

“I might go to see a movie tonight to celebrate!”

In the doubles final, unseeded Chinese pair Liang Chen and Lu Jing-Jing won tense battle against Japanese duo and No.2 seeds Shuko Aoyama and Makoto Ninomiya, 3-6, 7-6(2), 13-11.

Source link

News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

BIEL/BIENNE, Switzerland – Marketa Vondrousova’s fairytale week continued at the Ladies Open Biel Bienne; the qualifier roared back from a first set deficit to surprise countrywoman and top seed Barbora Strycova, 7-6(3), 6-2 and book her first WTA final appearance alongside Estonian youngster Anett Kontaveit. Kontaveit triumphed in a 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 thriller against Aliaksandra Sasnovich earlier in the day.

A week after teenagers Daria Kasatkina and Jelena Ostapenko fought for the Volvo Car Open title, the WTA field continued to serve youth in Biel/Bienne, with 23 as the average age of the semifinalists – and that’s including 31-year-old Strycova.

Vondrousova, who reached two Slam semifinals and won two major doubles titles as a junior, was playing her first tour-level semifinal, and that experience showed early as the World No.18 raced out to a 5-2 lead, later holding a set point in the 12th game of the opener.

The teenager gamely saved it behind a booming lefty serve and saved her best tennis for the ensuing tie-break, striking a screaming winner to clinch it.

Strycova struggled to counter her fellow Czech’s aggressive game on the indoor hardcourts as Vondrousova took a 5-2 lead of her own in the second, breaking serve for the fourth and final time to advance into the biggest final of her career.

In all, the qualifier played a clean match, striking 22 winners to 13 unforced errors; Strycova’s own 13 winners were undone by 20 unforced errors.

Awaiting Vondrousova in the final is another former junior prodigy in Kontaveit, who reached the US Open girl’s singles final back in 2012 and outlasted Sasnovich to start Semifinal Saturday.

“I feel really good, and really happy to be in my first final,” she said after the match.

Back in the Top 100 after reaching the third round of the Miami Open, the unseeded Estonian battled through a high-quality encounter with Sasnovich, who was playing her first WTA semifinal since 2015.

“I was down a break twice in the third set, but I tried to stay in there even though she was playing really well. I was just trying to stay with her do what I always do: fight and not give up.

“Mentally, I toughed it out.”

Hitting 26 winners to the Belarusian’s 29, Kontaveit’s consistency won the day, hitting 17 unforced errors against Sasnovich’s 29, and won four more points (114 to 110) by match’s end, converting her WTA final on her fourth match point after two hours and 24 minutes on court.

It will be Kontaveit’s first meeting with Vondrousova, and knows to expect another tough match if she hopes to hoist her first WTA trophy.

“She’s had really good wins, and it looks like she’s playing well this week.”

More to come…

Source link

Czechs Stun Williams Sisters In Rio

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Czech dynamos Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova played pitch perfect doubles to dispatch reigning Wimbledon winners and three-time Olympic gold medalists Venus Williams and Serena Williams, 6-3, 6-4, in the first round of the Olympic tennis event.

The Williams sisters came to Rio with a perfect 15-0 record in Olympic doubles, having captured three gold medals in Sydney, Beijing, and London. But the top seeds faced stiff opposition in the Czechs, who have won four of the last five Fed Cup titles – including last year’s championship, where Strycova helped win the decisive doubles rubber.

Safarova and Strycova recovered from an early break to win six of the final seven games of the opening set, setting the stage for a titanic second set that saw both teams face massive swings in momentum. The Czechs appeared to clinch the necessary advantage by breaking in an almost endless fifth game, but the sisters immediately struck back, saving another break point to get within two games of a deciding set.

Saving three break points of their own, the unseeded duo broke serve one last time to serve out the biggest upset of the tournament in just over 90 minutes.

For Venus, the loss marks what could be the end of a disappointing Olympic outing – unless she opts to participate in the mixed doubles event – losing in the opening round of both singles and doubles.

With No.2 seed Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic losing their first round on Saturday, the doubles draw is wide open, with a host of talented teams capable of grabbing a medal in Rio. Americans Bethanie Mattek-Sands and CoCo Vandeweghe dropped just two games in their first round against Anabel Medina Garrigues and Arantxa Parra Santonja, 6-1, 6-1. Chinese duo Xu Yi-Fan and Zeng Saisai were equally emphatic against the Kichenok twins from Ukraine, defeating Nadiia and Lyudmyla, 6-0, 6-3.

Former No.1s Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci made their long-awaited reunion at the Olympic tennis event, dispatching Germans Andrea Petkovic and Angelique Kerber, 6-2, 6-2.

Source link

Serena Survives Cornet Challenge

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – World No.1 Serena Williams saved a pair of set points to defeat an always-dangerous Alizé Cornet, 7-6(5), 6-2, to reach the third round of the Olympic tennis event.

“It was really big for me just to win that first set,” Serena said after the match. “Or else I’d probably still be out there fighting.”

Ranked just inside the Top 50 after an up and down season rife with injury concerns, Cornet still had reason to be confident heading into her second round clash with the 22-time Grand Slam champion, having won their last three meetings in 2014 – including an epic third round thriller on the lawns of Wimbledon. Recovering from a double break down in the first set, the Frenchwoman moved her illustrious opponent about the court, drawing uncomfortable errors with the help of her signature drop shot.

“We’ve had so many tough matches in the past, so I couldn’t let the elements get into my head. I hadn’t played great against Alizé in the past – I don’t know how many matches! – so I thought how I at least wanted to get a win.”

Suddenly, Serena found herself serving to stay in a set she’d been on track to win, and faced a pair of set points back-to-back at 15-40. It was then that the Serena serve kicked into high gear, helping her save both set points and ultimately escape with the opening set unscathed – though not without a tense tie-break to decide the contest.

The second set saw the American take fuller ascendency, and though she failed to serve out the match on her first opportunity, she duly broke back in the next game to clinch the encounter in just under two hours.

Up next for the top seed is rising Ukrainian star and No.15 seed Elina Svitolina, who has been working with Serena’s own former rival and recent International Tennis Hall of Fame Inductee, Justine Henin.

“It’ll be fun for me. Elina is such a great person; she’s really young and does really well. We’ve had some really tough matches too, but it’ll be a good match.

“I hope I win, but she’s such a great girl and I’m always rooting for her.”

Source link

Kerber Passes Stosur Test In Rio

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Reigning Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber continued on course for her first medal at the Olympic tennis event, winning a topsy-turvy 6-0, 7-5 match over No.13 seed Samantha Stosur.

In the midst of a career-best year, the World No.2 aims to add some Olympic hardware to a season that has already seen her triumph in Melbourne and finish runner-up at Wimbledon. Playing a former US Open champion in Stosur, Kerber won a deceptively competitive first set – one that featured a combined 14 break point chances – without losing a game.

The second set proved a far tenser affair; Kerber served for the match at 5-4 but double faulted on her first opportunity to seal victory. Emboldened by the lifeline, Stosur triumphed in a long game that she hoped could trigger a deciding set. But Kerber was undaunted, and keeping her side of the stat sheet clean – 14 unforced errors to 37 from Stosur – the German broke serve once more and clinched her spot in the last eight after 90 minutes on court.

Maintaining a postitive winner to unforced error differential, Kerber hit 19 winners to book a quarterfinal clash with No.10 seed Johanna Konta.

Konta was down a set and a break to No.8 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, and had to withstand a late surge from the Russian in the final set before sealing a 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 victory in three hours and nine minutes.

Kerber and Konta have played just once before, earlier this year in the semifinals of the Australian Open; Kerber won in straight sets.

Source link