Sydney: Halep Interview
An interview with Simona Halep after her win in the quarterfinals of the Apia International Sydney.
An interview with Simona Halep after her win in the quarterfinals of the Apia International Sydney.
WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen | Relive Elena Vesnina’s BNP Paribas Open win over Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Monica Puig takes on Samantha Stosur in the quarterfinals of the Apia International Sydney.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – With just two days to go until the start of the Olympic tennis event in Rio de Janeiro this weekend, Serena Williams met with the press along with the rest of Team USA at the group’s press conference on Wednesday afternoon.
Serena is the top seed in both women’s singles and doubles (along with older sister Venus Williams) as well as being the reigning gold medalist in both events. All eyes are on the WTA No.1 as she readies for her quest to add another Olympic gold medal to her already impressive haul.
Here are the highlights from Serena’s Team USA press conference.
Serena holds 22 Grand Slam singles titles and has four Olympic gold medals (one in singles, three in doubles). Here’s how she described the unique feeling of winning in both competitions:
“All our lives, us tennis players dream of playing in Grand Slams, winning Grand Slams, having the opportunity to hold that trophy.
“And then there’s the Olympics. Playing the Olympics, it’s totally different. You’re really playing for your country. When I held my first gold medal, it was a feeling that I never expected. I had the opportunity to truly enjoy and appreciate my gold medal probably more than my other trophies.”
And this is what keeps her motivated to keep winning even after earning so many gold medals and Grand Slams titles:
“I love what I do, I do it every day and I enjoy being out on the court. I enjoy competing and right now I just don’t see a time where I say, ‘I don’t want to do it anymore.’
“As long as I’m doing anything – whether I’m playing tennis or doing something else – I always give my maximum effort. That’s just what I bring to the court every day.”
On teaming up again with her older sister Venus for doubles, where they’re vying for a fourth doubles gold medal together:
“We have the opportunity to have someone on tour who completely understands what you’re going through. There are some brothers and sisters on tour. It’s a great experience, it’s a lot of fun. We enjoy it – I don’t think there’s anything out there like it.”
On being back in Brazil for just the second time ever:
“I had so much fun in Sao Paolo a few years ago [for an exhibition match]. It was a great time, and that was my first time here in Brazil.
“I’ve never been to Rio, though. The team actually all just got here today, so we haven’t had too much time to experience it but everything looks really nice and we look forward to spending a long time here, having a long tournament and having wonderful experiences.”
Here’s what she thinks of the much discussed health and safety concerns in Rio:
“I weighed it very heavily. I think everyone here [on Team USA] did as well and we were able to educate ourselves on what to do and how to prepare and how to deal with everything here. If you educate yourself and have preparation, then you can really be ready for anything. And then I think we all had the confidence that we could do it. We’re all prepared. We’re ready.”
She also reflected – kind of – on her historic Wimbledon win a few weeks ago:
“I don’t reflect so much, actually. I usually just move on and focus on the next big event. Especially with Rio being so close, that was my main goal, to make sure I’m ready and prepared to play in the Olympics. The way I see my season hasn’t changed. My season has been, for me, it’s been ok.”
INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – Elena Vesnina has the potential to make it into the singles Top 10, says Svetlana Kuznetsova – the woman she beat in an epic final at the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday.
“Why not? Of course, I mean, she did semis in Wimbledon last year. She won here now. She has to be much more consistent to be in the top 10, but she can make it, for sure,” said the defeated Russian of her compatriot.
.@SvetlanaK27 is moving up a gear! #BNPPO17 pic.twitter.com/QO5bthevKE
— WTA (@WTA) March 19, 2017
Kuznetsova admitted that she had struggled with the daytime conditions, and felt rather frustrated that she had not played as well as she could.
“I didn’t feel comfortable at all today on the court,” said the 31-year-old. “I was trying to do the best I could, you know, but this is the type of day when you don’t play your best tennis and you’ve got to still give your best effort.
“I tried my best and she won because she was more aggressive than I did. I was too passive. That’s it. Too much behind and didn’t serve well, I think it was key points.”
Kuznetsova now moves on to Miami – and is confident that she can recover quickly from the loss to her countrywoman.
“I feel great,” she assured reporters in her post-match press conference. “I didn’t overwork. I think what really is difficult to handle, like, lots of stress. It’s, like, kind of waste you physically a little bit. But the rest matches didn’t get me so much tired. I feel great physically.
“I’m looking forward to have couple days off and hopefully get a good start in Miami.”
1. Will Serena Williams be sharp from the start?
The World No.1 hasn’t played a completed match since her loss to Roberta Vinci at the US Open last September, and was forced to withdraw from Hopman Cup due to knee inflammation. But she’s been practicing at Melbourne Park this week and her camp sounds more than confident that she’ll be ready to go on Monday.
All the same, Serena won’t have the luxury of a couple of soft early rounds to find her rhythm. She’s drawn the highest-ranked unseeded player in the first round, the always dangerous Camila Giorgi. Serena is 2-0 against the flat-hitting Italian, but both matches came on clay, Giorgi’s worst surface. And as we’ve seen in the past, when Giorgi finds her rhythm — while simultaneously taking away her opponent’s — she can tough to beat.
From there, Serena’s path gets no easier. She leads the toughest quarter of the draw, which is anchored on the other side by No.5 seed Maria Sharapova. Also looming in her quarter are Caroline Wozniacki, Belinda Bencic, and Apia International Sydney champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.
In sum, Serena’s path to the final is projected to go through Giorgi, Jelena Ostapenko, Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, Wozniacki, Sharapova, and Radwanska. At her best, she’s the overwhelming favorite. But with no data points to start the season, it’s tough to assess her level until she steps on the court.
2. Is the Australian Open Victoria Azarenka’s to lose?
After a frustrating 2015 season, the former No.1 is the talk of the town. She’s a two-time champion in Melbourne and always plays her best tennis in Australia. Thanks to her dominant run to the Brisbane International title, there’s a lot of buzz on the grounds about Azarenka’s prospects.
In a top heavy draw, Azarenka finds herself in the wide-open bottom half of the draw, along with No.2 Simona Halep, No.3 Garbiñe Muguruza, No.6 Petra Kvitova, No.7 Angelique Kerber, and No.10 Venus Williams. With the injury concerns surrounding Halep, Muguruza, and Kvitova, as well has strong win over Kerber in the Brisbane final, Azarenka is the front-runner to get out of the bottom half. She opens her tournament against Belgium’s Alison Van Uytvanck.
In the event Azarenka faces Serena in the final and gets a chance to avenge her three rough losses to the American last year — all three went three sets and she had match points in Madrid — get ready to see these two stats:
Serena has won her last 15 tournament finals. The last time she lost? 2013 Cincinnati to…Azarenka.
3. Can Maria Sharapova play herself into form?
As with Serena, Sharapova comes into the Australian Open without any matches under her belt. The difference is she has a draw that should get her some straight-forward matches early. Her path to the quarterfinals begins with Nao Hibino and is projected to include Evgeniya Rodina, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and Belinda Bencic (or, if she holds her form, Svetlana Kuznetsova). She’s then projected to play Serena in the quarterfinals in a rematch of last year’s final.
If she were drawn in any other quarter she might have been a solid lock for the semifinals, assuming she’s recovered from her left forearm injury. Instead, with a possible quarterfinal match against Serena looming, we are left to ask: is this the tournament Sharapova snaps her streak against her top ranked nemesis?
Sharapova has not beaten Serena in over a decade, losing their last 17 encounters. But as Sharapova has often said, all she can ask of herself is to keep putting herself in the position to test herself against the game’s best.
4. Can Agnieszka Radwanska avoid an early exit?
Radwanska anchors the bottom quarter of the top half of the draw, and she has a very makable draw to the semifinals except for one thing: She may play a resurging Eugenie Bouchard in the second round. As of this writing, Bouchard is into the final of the Hobart International and has arguably been the most consistent player of the first two weeks of the season; she’s the only woman to make back-to-back quarterfinals to start the season. Meanwhile, Radwanska won the Shenzhen Open without having to play anyone ranked in the Top 90; this could be a massive test for her. Radwanska used a strong finish to 2015 capped by lifting the trophy at the WTA Finals in Singapore and has won 22 of her last 26 matches, all in the Asia-Pacific region.
Radwanska has her work cut out with a strong quarter: Kvitova, Sloane Stephens, Roberta Vinci, Carla Suárez Navarro, Andrea Petkovic, and Sam Stosur.
5. Which young gun will be this year’s breakout star?
The Australian Open has seen breakout star after breakout star in recent years. In 2013, it was Sloane Stephens beating Serena to make her first major semifinal. In 2014, it was Bouchard kicking off a monster year at the majors by making the first of three straight major semifinal in Melbourne. Last year, we saw Madison Keys barrel past Kvitova and Venus Williams to make her first final four at a Grand Slam tournament.
While Stephens, Bouchard, and Keys could all make the second week and score some upsets to repeat their feats, two young names pop out as possible semifinal debutantes. Karolina Pliskova rued her underperformance at the majors last year, but she’s as good a pick as any to get out of Simona Halep’s quarter.
Belinda Bencic is also a solid pick, but she’s been drawn into Serena’s quarter and may have to go through Kuznetsova and Sharapova just to get to the quarterfinals, where Serena could be waiting.
The Favorites:
– Serena Williams: Is she fit enough for seven matches on hard courts? Has she put her US Open disappointment behind her? Can she handle the mounting pressure that will come with each win? There are so many questions swirling around Serena’s Melbourne campaign. But she could silence them quickly with an emphatic win on Monday.
– Victoria Azarenka: She’s going to be asked incessantly about her chances in Melbourne and to preview matches that may not even happen. Azarenka needs to stay focused on each match and go about her fortnight in a workmanlike manner. It will be very tempting to get swept up in all the hype.
– Agnieszka Radwanska: She may need the draw to break her way, but Radwanska seems ready for a run. Don’t look now but she’s won four titles in Asia since the US Open, compiling a 22-4 record since. This is the “Grand Slam of the Asia Pacific”. You do the math.
The Next Best Things:
– Maria Sharapova: Any section other than Serena’s and Sharapova would have a solid shot at the final. If the upsets start raining down early, she could take advantage.
– Angelique Kerber: Don’t be thrown off by her retirement in Sydney due to illness. Kerber will be fine for Melbourne. And if she can exact some revenge on either Azarenka or Muguruza in the quarterfinals, the German very well could make her first Slam final.
Dark Horses:
– Sloane Stephens: The ASB Classic champion looked sharp in Auckland and her straightforward win over Caroline Wozniacki there will be a big confidence booster. This could be the year Stephens pulls together all the elements of her athletic game.
– Carla Suárez Navarro: The Spaniard has a great draw. She’ll play a qualifier in the first two rounds. She’s then projected to play Petkovic (she’s four of their six matches) before getting either Kvitova, who has struggled with illness all month, or Kristina Mladenovic/Dominika Cibulkova. That’s a nice path to the quarterfinals.
– Daria Gavrilova: I’m not ready to crown the young Aussie the 2016 champion, but her first Slam quarterfinal is not out of the question. She loves a big stage and a big crowd, and she’ll surely get one if she plays Kvitova in the second round. Pull off that upset and she’s cleared a nice path to the quarters. That would be a massive result for the 21-year-old.
First week spoilers:
– Camila Giorgi (vs. Serena Williams, first round)
– Daria Kasatkina (vs. Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, first round)
– Alison Riske (vs. Belinda Bencic, first round)
– Eugenie Bouchard (vs. Agnieszka Radwanska, second round)
– Alizé Cornet (vs. Simona Halep, second round)
– Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (vs. Garbiñe Muguruza, second round)
For more analysis on the draw, listen to the newest episode of the WTA Insider Podcast:
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.
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The Australian Open draw is out – where’s your favorite? And who’s got the toughest quarter – Serena Williams, Simona Halep, Garbiñe Muguruza or Agnieszka Radwanska?
MIAMI, FL, USA – It was a personal milestone for Luxembourg’s Mandy Minella on Tuesday, as the 31-year-old won her first-ever main draw match at a Premier Mandatory event, defeating Kristyna Pliskova, 7-6(4), 5-7, 7-5 in the first round at the Miami Open.
“I knew it was going to be a tough match,” she told WTA Insider after the match. “I’ve played her once or twice before, and I knew she serves really well. She goes for her shots, and I struggled to return her first serve. It was a tough match and big battle. I’m really happy I won it in the end.”
Playing in her first-ever main draw in Miami in her fourth career appearance, Minella showed few signs of nerves in the early going. The World No.74 broke Pliskova at her first opportunity in the second game, taking a 3-0 lead at the first change of ends, later extending her lead to 5-2 with a pair of holds without allowing Pliskova a break point chance.
Outrageous way to save match point from @KrisPliskova! ? #MiamiOPen pic.twitter.com/I5Lk2RtPzX
— WTA (@WTA) March 21, 2017
However, the Czech staged a late comeback, breaking Minella as she served for the set and delivering an emphatic love hold to knot the set at 5-5. She held to love once more to force a first-set tiebreak, but Minella proved more effective on return as the tiebreak wore on. Neutralizing the left-hander’s delivery and winning four points on Pliskova’s serve in the tiebreak, Minella secured the 59-minute opener as one final Pliskova backhand went long.
“I’ve been really good physically lately. I’m in good shape and can last for long matches. That’s a good point in my favor. I struggled a little bit today because it was quite hot and there was a lot of running. The balls are quite heavy, so that means there’ll be a lot of rallies. It was definitely tough out there today.”
After managing to win just two points on Minella’s serve to begin the second set, Pliskova secured the break in a sixth game which saw her dig in at deuce to move ahead 4-2. However, Minella hit right back in the next, passing Pliskova twice at the net en route to an emphatic break that got the set back on serve. Neither player had a look at a break point again until the final game of the set, in which Pliskova took advantage of a trio of Minella double faults to square the match at one set all.
.@MandyMinella battles past Kristyna Pliskova 7-6(4), 5-7, 7-5!
Sets @MiamiOpen Second round vs @SvetlanaK27! pic.twitter.com/AQpf69rGBM
— WTA (@WTA) March 21, 2017
Playing a deciding set for the first time in three meetings, the duo traded breaks twice in the final set before Minella secured her third game off the Pliskova serve to put her in position to serve for the match. As the contest hit the two-hour, 30-minute mark, Minella brought up three match points on serve, only to see the Czech storm back and win the next five to level the match at 5-5, courtesy of some brilliant shot-making.
However, Minella kept her cool in the midday sun, breaking for a fourth time in the set and sealing the match on her fourth match point, closing out the two-hour, 38-minute victory as Pliskova’s final backhand return found the net.
“It’s good to start the season in this positive way; it gives you confidence for upcoming tournaments. I think I’m still on a roll, enjoying my tennis. I’m enjoying my matches and the traveling. I think that’s the reason I’ve been playing good, and because I love my sport.”
Minella, who improves to 3-0 lifetime against the left-handed Pliskova, advances to the second round where she’ll face No. 7 seed and BNP Paribas Open runner-up, Svetlana Kuznetsova.
“I think it’ll be really hard because she’s in great shape. She was in the Indian Wells final last week, and so I think she’s going to be ready. I’ll try my best to play as good as I can; I will fight, and will just try to do my best.”
The veteran has enjoyed a strong start to her season, reaching the semifinals of the Taiwan Open, but credits a career turn around by winning her first WTA 125K title in Bol, Croatia.
“Bol was where everything changed for me. I’d had some really miserable results up to that point, and I was about to stop my career at Wimbledon. I think I just relaxed and enjoyed being there. The city was fantastic; they had a nice hotel with a spa, and the sea was quiet. I really enjoyed it there, and it helped me play good enough to win my first title over there. It’ll always be in my memories for a long time.”