WTA Insider Analyzes Reshuffled BNP Paribas Open Draw
WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen | With Serena Williams’ announced withdrawal, what can we expect from a reshuffled draw at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells?
WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen | With Serena Williams’ announced withdrawal, what can we expect from a reshuffled draw at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells?
Kirsten Flipkens takes on CiCi Bellis in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open.
Former World No.7 Belinda Bencic and doubles No.1 Bethanie Mattek-Sands feature among the list of Miami Open main draw wildcards. Check out the full list right here on wtatennis.com!
Elina Svitolina came to the Dubai Duty Free Tennnis Championships on a winning streak from winning her fifth title at the Taiwan Open, and on the cusp of a Top 10 debut.
The young Ukrainian made her first leap into the big time in the desert, scoring back-to-back wins over Angelique Kerber and Caroline Wozniacki to win the biggest title of her career.
“I always try to take one step at a time. It’s very important for me to not rush things, and to stay very positive with myself,” she told WTA Insider in her Champions Corner Interview. “I did a lot of work with all the coaches I’ve had and my new team, so it’s always nice to have different opinions on my game. With Justine as well, it was an amazing year.
“I’m very happy with the way I’m playing now. Of course, there’s so many things that I need to work on, and I’m looking forward to new challenges.”
Svitolina had shown flashes of brilliance in the past, reaching the final of the Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai and earning a pair of wins over World No.1s in 2016 – knocking out Kerber in Beijing and Serena Williams at the Olympic tennis event – but the 22-year-old is really on a roll now, winning 13 straight matches, breaking into the Top 10, and rocketing up to No.2 on the Road to Singapore leaderboard.
“Of course there’s been ups and downs with me, with my game and with my career. There will be more in the future. The only thing I can do is accept this and work hard and go on court, the gym, work even harder and always have this goal in my mind. That’s what drives me. I think I’m very lucky that it’s been going very consistently.”
All that success certainly helped her earn her the mantle of February’s WTA Player of the Month!
Final Results for February’s WTA Player Of The Month
1. Elina Svitolina (63%)
2. Kristina Mladenovic (27%)
3. Karolina Pliskova (10%)
2017 WTA Player of the Month Winners
January: Serena Williams
How it works:
Finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com
Serena Williams, who’s making her 2016 debut at the Hopman Cup in Perth this week, shone at the exhibition event’s player party. Watch her step out right here.
INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – No.3 seed Karolina Pliskova roared back from a set down to dispatch Olympic Gold medalist Monica Puig, 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, to complete the top half’s third round line up at the BNP Paribas Open.
“I’m definitely happy I had my serve today; it was working with me, especially in the third set when I was 0-3 down,” she noted during her on-court interview. “I’m happy with the win. It wasn’t easy; she was playing really well, hitting the balls really fast and deep, making it tough for me to play my game. But I’m happy.
“It was far from what my plan was to play, and how my game should be,” she added to WTA Insider. “I don’t think I deserved to win tonight, but it happened.”
Beautiful backhand winner from @MonicaAce93! #BNPPO17 pic.twitter.com/IHsKnDmWm5
— WTA (@WTA) March 11, 2017
Puig had never taken a set from her Czech rival, but nonetheless began the night session in the sort of form that helped her win the Olympic tennis event in Rio de Janeiro, breaking Pliskova four times to sweep the opening set.
“The whole match was more about her; the one thing on my side was my serve, which is definitely better than hers. The baseline game was off for me and she was hitting so well. I couldn’t play aggressive, or play my game. When I put in a second serve she was being aggressive.
“I wasn’t feeling this bad in a long time!”
Excellent backhand return from @KaPliskova! #BNPPO17 pic.twitter.com/a8N0O8NLDi
— WTA (@WTA) March 11, 2017
Undaunted, the Brisbane International and Qatar Total Open champion dug in her heels from there, earning several service breaks of her own and serving out the second set to level the match.
“I was just waiting for my chances; I know she can miss some shots when things get closer, and that’s what she did. But then I started terrible in the third set; at least it was just one break there.”
The Puerto Rican No.1 took another quick lead to start the decider, racing out to 3-0 as the upset appeared inevitable. But Pliskova fought through a long sixth game to help turn the tide once and for all, winning six of the last seven games to book her spot in the third round.
“First rounds are always tough, especially for the seeds because of the pressure. She’d had a match already, so that helped her. I was also practicing during the day, so the conditions were definitely different. Hopefully I got something from this and I can learn and move on.
“It can’t get any worse than today!”
.@KaPliskova reels off FOUR straight games and takes a 4-3 lead over Puig in the deciding set! #BNPPO17 pic.twitter.com/JVsd9Ljz2e
— WTA (@WTA) March 11, 2017
In all, Pliskova hit 19 winners to 34 unforced errors and converted five of her seven break point opportunities. Puig proved the greater aggressor in the match, but 37 unforced errors canceled out her 32 impressive winners.
“All my practices were good, and nothing was close to this. I surprised myself with how I was playing. She was playing fast, plus the conditions, and I ended up framing so many shots.
“I’d beaten her three times before, but she can play really good tennis. She maybe gave me a few games and that’s why she lost, but otherwise she was playing great.”
Up next for the World No.3 is No.28 seed Irina-Camelia Begu, who defeated American Louisa Chirico, 6-1, 7-5.
“My sister played her in Australia. I know she can hit good shots; her backhand side is really good. I have to be more aggressive and bring more power; today was so bad!”
Comeback complete!@KaPliskova battles past Puig 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 for a spot in @BNPParibasOpen Third round! #BNPPO17 pic.twitter.com/SD6sVy10If
— WTA (@WTA) March 11, 2017
AUCKLAND, New Zealand – While playing some exhibition tennis for the ASB crowd, Venus Williams, Caroline Wozniacki, and Bethanie Mattek-Sands were joined by four members of the All-Blacks, New Zealand’s national rubgy union team, who acted as ballboys and on-court attendants.
Nehe Milner-Skudder, Sam Cane, Joe Moody and Julian Savea did most of the gruntwork during the match, picking up balls and handing off towels, but there was still time for a selfie or two as play unfolded in front of an enthusiastic crowd.
“There’s definitely an art to it,” Milner-Skudder said of ball-boying. “We had a run-through for about half an hour before the girls came out, but we probably needed a lot longer than that.”
Check out some of the best photos from the day, courtesy of www.photosport.nz:
INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – They say a change is as good as a rest and the proverb certainly seems to ring true for Julia Goerges. The 28-year-old is enjoying one of her most successful starts to a season and is continuing to thrive under her coaching team of Michael Geserer and Florian Zitzelsberger, who came on board in the last year.
“I said I wanted to have a change and really get the best out of me in my last years of my career,” she said. “Hopefully I will play for many more years and I just wanted to get a different input and a different voice to hear but also working in a different way with a lot of different philosophies. I’m very happy with the way they are helping me and the way we are working together.”
Goerges, who reached a career high ranking of No.15 in March 2012, suffered a loss of form in 2013 and 2014 and although her results started to improve in 2015 she decided a split with Sascha Nensel, her coach of eight years, was necessary.
“Changing coaches gave me a different view on my job as well, to see things a bit differently,” continued Goerges. “For me as a human being I changed a lot, I’m much more positive in my personal life and this helps me on court. You see it from a different perspective which makes a tough situation sometimes easier because you appreciate what you have in the moment. It’s about being healthy and happy, at the end of the day it’s just a tennis match.”
As well as reaching the third round at Indian Wells, Goerges has recorded semifinal finishes at both Auckland and Budapest in 2017. Her run to the final four in Auckland included a win over world No.19 Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals.
“I always do well in Auckland, I love the place,” said Goerges, who was a finalist there in 2016. “I love the Australian and New Zealand swing in general, the people are so nice and I just feel at home there, even though it’s so far away. There are a lot of Germans and the culture is pretty similar to Germany.”
Later that month Goerges defeated Katerina Siniakova in the first round of the Australian Open before losing to Jelena Jankovic. She was forced to retire during her opening Fed Cup match against CoCo Vandeweghe in Hawaii following a fall where she injured her left knee and also retired in the second round at Acapulco with heat illness.
“I did quite a trip from Budapest to Acapulco and arrived for the first round match six hours before. I still won it but the next day I got hit by my body,” said Goerges.
Goerges has also made the decision to substantially reduce the amount of doubles she plays in 2017. The German enjoyed considerable success on the doubles circuit in 2016, reaching the semifinals of the Australian Open and Wimbledon and qualifying for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global with Karolina Pliskova.
“Kaja [Karolina Pliskova] and me we decided to focus on singles,” explained Goerges. “We did very well last year but it was a lot of matches for both of us, she did even more in singles, so for me I said ‘ok I want to focus on singles as well’, so just playing a few [doubles] events, but a very few.”
Goerges seems happy and content and is evidently pleased with the way her tennis is progressing under Geserer and Zitzelsberger.
“It’s not about a win or a loss it’s about how you develop as a player and that is what I’m feeling is going well,” concluded Goerges. “Things are getting better and better and really coming together like a puzzle.”
An interview with Ekaterina Makarova after her win in the first round of the Brisbane International.
A keen tennis fan as well as an outstanding sports journalist, Dan started working on a freelance basis with the WTA in January 2017 and quickly became a key member of the Editorial team in London.
News of his sudden death was announced by his partner Liz Aubrey on Monday and tributes have been paid on social media for his contributions to both sports and music journalism, his other passion.
It is with the greatest sadness I must tell you that my beloved @DanLucas86 has passed away suddenly. He was the best person in the world. pic.twitter.com/wkb21myghr
— Elizabeth Aubrey (@aubrey_writes) March 13, 2017
Dan Lucas (former Louder Than War editor) RIP – Louder Than War https://t.co/CFzKkWwCGu
— john robb (@johnrobb77) March 13, 2017
From Northampton in the English Midlands, Dan lived in London. He had also worked for the Guardian and Telegraph’s sports departments, and music websites Louder Than War and Drowned In Sound.
Carrie Dunn, a friend and fellow content producer at WTA Networks, said: “I first worked with Dan when we were both part of the team doing live online coverage for the 2014 Paralympics. He was a sports enthusiast in the best way – his love for sport extended across disciplines and his thirst for knowledge (and his innate professionalism) meant that, even when he was encountering a discipline he did not know particularly well, he would throw himself into finding out about it. He was also a music journalist and his love for (and strong opinions about) music was also well documented – his social media feeds are testament to that. He was a good man and a good friend. On a professional level, he was a great writer and a good colleague – reliable, assiduous and someone it was fun to work with.”
Reda Maher, Head of Editorial and Social Media at WTA Networks, said: “We are shocked and dismayed by this sad news, Dan was extremely well liked and highly talented, his zest for life and enthusiasm for his craft impressed all he worked with at the WTA. Dan had a big future as part of our team. We send condolences and our deepest sympathies to Liz and Dan’s family.”