Tennis News

MELBOURNE, Australia – When the top half of the 2016 Australian Open women’s singles draw gets rolling on Monday in Melbourne, fans won’t be left wanting for star power. Four Top 6 seeds will take the court, led by six-time champion Serena Williams and 2008 champion Maria Sharapova. Here’s a rundown of key matches to see.

Monday, Day 1
First Round

[1] Serena Williams (USA #1) vs. Camila Giorgi (ITA # 36)
Head-to-head: Williams leads 2-0
Key Stat: Williams has won 8 of 14 major titles since Patrick Mouratoglou became her coach.

Four words can neatly summarize Serena Williams’ mood as she prepares her Australian Open title defense. “I don’t look back,” says Williams, who is ready, willing and able to kick off her 2016 with a continuation of a march to history that was temporarily halted in New York last season. But her first challenge, against the highest-ranked unseeded player in the draw, promises to be a tricky one.
Italy’s Camila Giorgi pushed Williams to a tie-break during Fed Cup action last season, and she’ll hope to take advantage of the 34-year-old’s lack of match play- Williams pulled out of Hopman Cup with knee inflammation but says she’s injury-free in Melbourne – to gain an early upper hand. But Williams knows a thing or two about overcoming challenges early in Slams. She holds a 60-1 lifetime record in first rounds at majors, and has never lost one in Australia.

Pick: Williams in three

[25] Samantha Stosur (AUS #27) vs. [Q] Kristyna Pliskova (CZE # 114)
Head-to-head: First meeting
Key Stat: Stosur has never been past the round of 16 at Melbourne.

One of the most beloved Aussie athletes in recent history has yet to find her mojo at the Happy Slam, but hope springs eternal as former US Open champion Sam Stosur prepares to make her 14th career appearance in Melbourne. Though she’s only made the second week twice (and not since 2010), the experienced Stosur knows that if she plays her tennis she’ll have an opportunity to rack up a win over the talented yet unheralded Pliskova. “I want to handle myself well, play well, do the things that I need to be doing, put myself in good positions hopefully to win many matches,” Stosur said. “If I can do all that and play to my ability, then I’ll be happy.” Pliskova, the identical twin of No.9 seed Karolina Pliskova, has mustered a 5-9 lifetime record at majors, and has not appeared in the main draw of the Australian Open since 2013.

Pick: Stosur in three

[4] Agnieszka Radwanska (POL #4) vs. Christina McHale (USA # 65)
Head-to-head: Radwanska leads, 3-0
Key Stat: Radwanska has dropped only seven games in three matches versus McHale.

Many pundits are predicting a big year for Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska, and the 26-year-old has already started on the right foot by taking the Shenzhen title without the loss of a set. Radwanska, a semifinalist at Melbourne (2014) and a five-time quarterfinalist here, will face a player that has given her very little trouble in the past. The youthful, talented McHale has been troubled by the Radwanska match-up, and with red-hot Radwanska having won 22 of 26 matches dating back to last year, the challenge of coping with the unorthodox stylings of the crafty Pole promises to be even more difficult for the American.

Pick: Radwanska in two.

[5] Maria Sharapova (RUS #5) vs. Nao Hibino (JPN # 56)
Head-to-head: First meeting
Key Stat: Sharapova has played just seven tour-level matches since Wimbledon 2015.

Can Maria Sharapova shake the rust off in time to get past rapidly-rising Nao Hibino on Monday in Melbourne? The Russian has not played since the Fed Cup final last November, but she is confident that her short, sweet off-season training block and her experience will help get her through the early rounds in Melbourne. “Yes I might be more rusty,” Sharapova told reporters on Saturday, “but I’ve always been someone who treats practice as meaningful and I can take that into matches. I’m ready to go.” In Hibino, Sharapova will face one of the breakout performers of 2015. The 21-year-old won her first WTA title at Tashkent and finished a season inside the Top 100 for the first time.

Pick: Sharapova in two.

More must-see tennis: Eugenie Bouchard will look to continue her fine run of form against the always-dangerous Aleksandra Krunic in the pair’s first-ever meeting. Bouchard reached her first WTA final in well over a year over the weekend in Hobart… Italy’s Roberta Vinci begins her final Grand Slam season with a battle against Austria’s Tamira Paszek. Though Paszek is ranked more than 100 places lower than Vinci, she owns a 2-0 record versus the Italian and has never dropped a set against Vinci… Luksika Kumkhum pulled one of the biggest upsets of the 2014 Australian Open when she upset sixth-seeded Petra Kvitova in the first round. Will lightning strike twice for the Thai qualifier, or will Kvitova get her revenge… France’s Kristina Mladenovic got an exceptionally tough draw this year at Melbourne. Seeded for the first time at the Aussie Open, she drew former finalist Dominika Cibulkova, whom she has lost all five previous encounters against.

Injury kept Risa Ozaki from making her Miami Open debut in 2016, but the Japanese youngster made it count this spring, earning her career-best result at a Premier Mandatory tournament.

Qualifying for the main draw with a win over Julia Boserup, her tournament began with a win over Mutua Madrid Open semifinalist Louisa Chirico, and took a dramatic turn in a second round thriller against No.16 seed Kiki Bertens.

Playing well into the night thanks to rain delays, Ozaki outlasted Bertens in three tough sets to reach the third round. Keeping up that momentum, she pulled off one last upset against Julia Goerges, this time in straight sets.

Those wins earned her the right to battle World No.1 Angelique Kerber in the round of 16, where she ultimately fell in two.

Still, it was a banner week for the the 23-year-old, and looking to build on her new career-high ranking of No.72, Ozaki is your Breakthrough Player of the Month!

Final Results for March’s WTA Breakthrough Performance Of The Month

1. Risa Ozaki (55%)
2. Kayla Day (45%)

2017 Breakthrough Performance Of The Month Winners

January: CoCo Vandeweghe
February: Kristina Mladenovic

How it works:

Finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com

MELBOURNE, Australia – The last time Yulia Putintseva played on Hisense Arena, she pushed Agnieszka Radwanska to the brink in a topsy-turvy three-setter back in 2014; on Monday afternoon she went one better against former No.1 Caroline Wozniacki, recovering from a set and break deficit to defeat the Dane, 1-6, 7-6(3), 6-4.

The Kazakh, a former junior finalist at the 2012 Australian Open, recently turned 21, but hadn’t won a WTA main draw match since last summer, and appeared close to another defeat when she fell behind a set and 4-2 to her more experienced opponent.

Yet, Putintseva displayed impressive resolve to turn the tables in a second set tie-break and weathered a final set surge from Wozniacki to serve out the win in just over three hours.

In her on-court interview, the smiling youngster admitted she was dealing with cramps from early in the third set, and played some impressive mind games to keep calm when it came time to complete the upset.

“I tried to keep my emotions inside, and actually imagine I was losing. It’s easier that way.”

Ending the match with a whopping 42 winners, Putintseva also out-aced Wozniacki, hitting two back-to-back in the middle of the second set tie-break while maintaining an impressive 74% first serve percentage.

For Wozniacki, the loss completes a string of progressively disappointing losses in Melbourne; since reaching the semifinals in 2011 – when she had a match point against Li Na – she has ended her tournament one round worse in each successive year, a pattern that was on her mind as early as last year, when she fell in the second round to Victoria Azarenka.

“I think it’s a curse I’ve gotten here,” she said in 2015. “Hopefully, I’m going to break that next year and start going the other way.”

In the same section of the draw as World No.1 Serena Williams, Putintseva not only takes out one of the American’s closest rivals, but she next plays China’s Han Xinyun, who benefitted from the 6-2, 2-1 retirement of Mariana Duque-Mariño.

Putintseva pulls off upset win on Hisense Arena #ausopen https://t.co/Rq8mh1PKlz

— Australian Open (@AustralianOpen) January 18, 2016

MELBOURNE, Australia – Day 2 at the Australian Open was highlighted by the early exits of No.2 seed Simona Halep and No.8 seed Venus Williams, clearing the way for a surprise semifinalist to come through.

– Victoria Azarenka makes a statement: The No.14 seed picked up where she left off in at the Brisbane International and is remained undefeated for the season after double-bageling Alison Van Uytvanck in the first round. This was beyond domination. This was near perfection. The two played 72 points. Azarenka won 53 of them. Van Uytvanck won 19.

“I don’t think I’m looking for perfection,” Azarenka said. “I’m looking for effort. I’m looking for focus. I like that I was very composed today, from first point to the last point. Like it didn’t matter what the score was, I was there on every point. So that’s what I’m very happy about today.” She’ll play Danka Kovinic in the second round.

– Zhang Shuai finally gets her major win: The Chinese qualifier came into Melbourne 0-14 in Grand Slam main draw matches and she got the toughest draw of any qualifier in No.2 seed Simona Halep. Yet somehow, Zhang made it look easy. She raced to a 4-0 lead and never looked back, winning 6-4, 6-3, to pull off the biggest upset of the first round. Read more about Zhang’s near-retirement, and what this win means to her here.

– Halep suffers a mental drain: The Romanian just couldn’t get the pieces together in time for Melbourne. After injury and illness derailed her training, it always felt like Halep was playing catch-up as the season began. She was noticeably more upbeat after today’s loss than she has been here in Melbourne the last two years, where she lost in the quarterfinals. Halep admitted it was hard to come into the tournament confident.

“I can say that I am a little bit down mentally because I was very sick at home,” she said. “Then I came here with Achilles again. So it’s tough to be positive, 100%, and try everything. But I did. I think I did everything I could today. It was all I could do today. So I am okay, but disappointed, of course.”

“When I played here two years before, and last year I lost in the quarters because I was blocked, I couldn’t manage the situation, the emotions. But today was different. Today I think I was okay. Was only about the game. I played not my best tennis. I played too short. I played too soft. She could do everything with the ball.

“It’s okay. I don’t want to make this match like dramatic. It happened. You know, everyone can lose. Everyone can win. I know that. I have just to take it like it is and go ahead.”

– Konta-mania strikes again: Johanna Konta came into the Australian Open winless but she found her 2015 form quickly, playing a strong match to oust No.8 seed Venus Williams, 6-4, 6-2.

– Venus Williams to drop out of the Top 10: With her first round exit, Venus will drop out of the Top 10 after the Australian Open. She is currently entered into the Taiwan Open, which starts on February 6th. As she did at the 2015 French Open, Venus declined to appear for a press conference after her loss. Under ITF rules she could be fined up to $20,000.

– Misaki Doi’s Slam breakthrough will have to wait: Over the last year, Doi has become one of my favorite players to watch. Her forehand has turned into a real weapon as she’s added a more aggressive stance to her game. Against No.7 seed Angelique Kerber, Doi had match point and at 6-5 in the second set tie-break only to miss a makeable forehand return; Kerber escaped with a 6-7(4), 7-6(6), 6-3 win. Doi lost despite hitting 59 winners — 42 off the forehand side — compared to Kerber’s 35 winners.

It’s a tough pill to swallow for Doi, who has now won the first set off Kerber, Bencic, Svitolina, and Ivanovic in her last four Slams. She lost all four matches.

– Garbiñe Muguruza makes a confident start: The Spaniard showed no signs of the foot injury that’s derailed her season so far, beating Anett Kontaveit 6-0, 6-4. She also caught a break when Kirsten Flipkens pulled off the win over the very dangerous Mirjana Lucic Baroni. Muguruza will play the Belgian in the next round.

– Naomi Osaka’s culture clash: Osaka followed up her strong qualifying run to win her first match at a major, in her Grand Slam debut no less, beating Donna Vekic 6-3, 6-2. She was greeted in the secondary interview room by a standing room only crowd of Japanese and English-speaking reporters and jokingly pleaded to the moderator to only have questions asked in English.

“I’m trying to study Japanese but I get really nervous when I hear it,” the Osaka-born Osaka said. “It’s really fast; sometimes it sounds like they’re rapping, so then I’m just like, ‘Oh my god; I didn’t hear the first part of the question.’ Then I look like an idiot, and I don’t want to look like an idiot.” Watching the 18-year-old try to bridge her two cultural backgrounds will be very interesting.

– Opportunity knocks: With Halep and Venus’s losses, the seeds remaining in the bottom quarter: Karolina Pliskova, Madison Keys, Ana Ivanovic, Ekaterina Makarova, and Sabine Lisicki. Also floating is Alizé Cornet.

– Quote of the Day: Azarenka was asked about the last time she remembers being double-bageled herself. She remembered it vividly.

“I was 11 years old. I was trying to get into Nationals for under 18, but obviously I was too young and I didn’t get in. Somebody retired and they gave me the spot. I was in school writing my essay. My dad came in and said, Hey, you got to go. I said, Where, dad?

“He said, ‘You got a spot. You can go and play.’ I was like, ‘Really?’ He was like, ‘Yeah.’ So I got excited, went to the court, got beat, I cried myself to sleep that day, and that was horrible experience.

“But, you know, I came back to practice the next day, and I don’t think that ever happened to me again. Hard work pays off.”

By The Numbers:

2: Garbiñe Muguruza, Agnieszka Radwanska and Angelique Kerber each with a chance to move as high as No.2 in the WTA Rankings after the Australian Open:
-Muguruza needs SF or better
-Radwanska needs Final or better
-Kerber would need to win title
-If none of the above, then Halep will stay at No.2

4: Four Chinese women have advanced to the second round of the Australian Open – X.Han, Q.Wang, S.Zhang and S.Zheng – the most Chinese women through to the second round of a Slam since 2006 Wimbledon (Li Na, QF; Peng Shuai, 3r; Zheng Jie, 3r; Sun Tiantian, 2r).

12: Through the completion of the first round, 12 of the 32 women’s seeds have been eliminated from the tournament, including two of the Top 8 seeds – No.2 Simona Halep and No.8 Venus Williams. Since the Grand Slams adapted the 32-seed draw at 2001 Wimbledon, the 12 seeds is the most to lose in an opening round.

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.

MELBOURNE, Australia – Monica Puig survived a full-on service onslaught from Kristyna Pliskova, who fired off a record 31 aces in their second-round match before losing 4-6, 7-6(6), 9-7.

“At one point I just had to laugh, during the changeover, because it was so unbelievable,” Puig commented after the win.

Pliskova’s dominant serve is the hallmark of her game, and it was in full strength during the match. Her 31 aces set a new women’s tennis record, breaking Sabine Lisicki’s previous record of 27 aces last year in Birmingham.

But even making tennis history was no consolation for the tough loss.

“I don’t care about that right now,” Pliskova said to press afterwards. “It’s nice, but I wish I could have hit like 20 and won.”

Puig, who made the biggest final of her career last week in Sydney, approached the booming serve by keeping a positive mentality even when the win seemed just out of reach – she saved three match points in a row in the second set tie-break and another two in the third set.

“I think I just tried to stay as positive as possible, even though it was difficult at times,” Puig said. “You know, you get upset: she fires another ace and you’re just like, okay! I just tried to stay relaxed in those important moments.”

“I think it’s just about believing that you can come out of a moment like that, that at any moment you can get a second wind and come out of it.”

Up next for the 22-year-old Puerto Rican is the No.4 seed Agnieszka Radwanska. Radwanska defeated the resurgent Eugenie Bouchard 6-4, 6-2 in the second round (read about the win – here).

The all-time WTA leaderboard for most aces in a single match (WTA main draw-level only):

31 – Kristyna Pliskova
[l. Monica Puig in 2016 Australian Open second round, 4-6, 7-6(6), 9-7]

27 – Sabine Lisicki
[d. Belinda Bencic in 2015 Birmingham second round, 6-1, 7-6(4)]

24 – Serena Williams
[d. Victoria Azarenka in 2012 Wimbledon semifinals, 6-3, 7-6(6)]

24 – Kaia Kanepi
[d. Lucie Safarova in 2008 Tokyo [Japan Open] first round, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4]

23 – Serena Williams
[d. Zheng Jie in 2012 Wimbledon third round, 6-7(5), 6-2, 9-7]