Montréal: WTA Stars Practice
Check out your favorite WTA stars as they prepare for battle at the Rogers Cup.
Check out your favorite WTA stars as they prepare for battle at the Rogers Cup.
MELBOURNE, Australia – Six-time Australian Open champion Serena Williams leads the bottom half of the draw into action on Day Two at Melbourne Park. Dominika Cibulkova and Agnieszka Radwanska are also in action on the last day of Round 1. We preview all the day’s matchups right here at wtatennis.com.
Tuesday, First Round
[2] Serena Williams (USA #2) vs Belinda Bencic (SUI #59)
Head-to-head: Tied at 1-1
Key Stat: 2017 Australian Open marks first Grand Slam where Serena hasn’t been top seed since 2013 Australian Open (No.3)
Belinda Bencic’s reaction to the draw is quite different to how you’d think someone would react when finding out their first-round opponent is six-time champion Serena Williams:
“My first reaction was actually, like, really happy,” Bencic told press ahead of the match. “I’m super-pumped, like excited I get to play on the big court, I guess.
“Yeah, everyone is like, ‘Oh, bad luck with the draw.’ Me, I’m pretty happy and excited about it!”
Bencic has a reason to feel good: back in 2015, she scored the biggest victory of her career over Serena at the Rogers Cup, becoming one of just 3 players to defeat the American that year.
But a lot has changed since in two years, and injury woes have caused the Swiss wunderkind’s ranking to plummet. And Serena – as always – has her eye on making history and reclaiming the No.1 ranking in Melbourne Park.
“All I can do is do my best,” Serena said. “If I can play the way I’ve been practicing, it will be fine. I know she’s been playing well, so it will be good for both of us.”
[3] Agnieszka Radwanska (POL #3) vs Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL #64)
Head-to-head: Radwanska leads 9-3
Key Stat: Pironkova’s last Top 5 win came over Radwanska in 2016 Roland Garros R16
World No.3 Agnieszka Radwanska has many positives to take away from her run to the Apia International Sydney final: before getting thoroughly outclassed in the last match by Johanna Konta, Radwanska hadn’t dropped a set all tournament long and her tricky, deliberate game was flowing freely.
“Of course, losing finals always is disappointing,” Radwanska reflected in pre-tournament press. “But it’s still a good week with great matches against top players.
“I’m very confident. I really hope I can play the same tennis, even the tennis I played in the final. But every tournament is different story, especially in the tough first round.”
After the quick turnaround to Melbourne, Radwanska will bring all of that confidence and preparation against an opponent who has troubled her in the past: Tsvetana Pironkova. The pair have met 12 times previously, with the Bulgarian stunning Radwanska in the fourth round of Roland Garros.
“Pironkova is a very tricky opponent,” she said. “I’m expecting everything from her side. For sure it’s going to be a lot of running. I’m going to really have to work on each point.”
[5] Karolina Pliskova (CZE #6) vs Sara Sorribes Tormo (ESP #106)
Head-to-head: First meeting
Key Stat: Sorribes Tormo is playing just the second Grand Slam main draw match of her career
After her dominant performance at the Brisbane International, where she claimed the first title of her season, Karolina Pliskova took two days off before heading straight to Melbourne.
“I’ve been practicing here since Tuesday. Even yesterday,” the Czech said in pre-tournament press. “But I’ve been feeling good so far. I was even ready for Monday start, but will be ready even for Tuesday.
“That’s what I did in New York, as well. So I just did it here. I don’t know if it’s going to work, but I just want to leave everything in this tournament.”
But despite her red-hot start to 2017, Pliskova wouldn’t be drawn into discussing her Australian Open chances – not even on the eve of the tournament after drawing Sara Sorribes Tormo in the opening round.
“I would definitely not take me as a favorite of this tournament. It’s a big draw,” the Czech said in pre-tournament press. “There is a lot of players. I just take it step by step.”
“I just know my opponent from the first round. I want to pass this one. Then we can talk about the next one.”
Her opponent, Sorribes Tormo, is a 20-year-old Spaniard who might be out of her depths against the big-hitting Czech: this will be the just the second Grand Slam main draw match of her career, and her first match against a Top 10 opponent.
Around the grounds…
Reigning WTA Finals champion Dominika Cibulkova will open against No.90-ranked Denisa Allertova on Day 2. The Slovak reached the final here in 2014, and will hope her 2016 momentum will carry her to a maiden Grand Slam title. Britain’s No.1 Johanna Konta will square off against Kirsten Flipkens – Konta leads the head-to-head 2-1.
The many, many volunteers who keep the Shenzhen Open running smoothly got a treat at the $500,000 event this week – an exclusive autograph session with semifinalist Anna-Lena Friedsam.
An interview with Madison Keys after her win in the third round of the Rogers Cup.
Anastasija Sevastova takes on Kristina Kucova in the second round of the Australian Open.
Victoria Azarenka takes on Samantha Crawford in the semifinals of the Brisbane International.
With eight women left at the Rogers Cup, who has what it takes to reach the semifinals up north?
Jelana Jankovic takes on Julia Goerges in the second round of the Australian Open.
Victoria Azarenka takes on Angelique Kerber in the final at the Brisbane International.
After Thursday’s look back at tennis’ historic return to the Olympics at Seoul in 1988, wtatennis.com’s next stop off on its trip down memory lane is Barcelona…
Barcelona, Spain, 1992
Tennis de la Vall d’Hebron
Red Clay
Now established at the Games once more, Barcelona saw the singles draw expanded to 64 and an even stronger line-up in attendance; in addition to defending champion Steffi Graf, six other members of the Top 10 were present, including home hopes Conchita Martínez and Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario and an American teenager going by the name of Jennifer Capriati.
Staged on the red clay of the Tennis de la Vall d’Hebron to the north of the city, the early stages were devoid of any real surprises, with all four top seeds all making it through to the semifinals.
Here, though, was when the tournament really sparked into life.
Faced with the cauldron of noise that was the Olympic Tennis Stadium, a 16-year-old Capriati had every right to be overawed when she stepped on court to face Barcelona’s favorite daughter, Sánchez-Vicario.
However, the American had not read the script.
The unashamedly partisan crowd, which included King Carlos and Queen Sophia of Spain, were stunned as Capriati put on a regal display of clay court tennis to triumph, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.
Meeting Capriati for the gold medal was Graf. Once again the odds were stacked against the teenager, and once again she beat the house.
Going into the final, Graf had never lost to Capriati, her cool temperament trumping youthful promise on all four of their previous meetings. Yet where the teenager had collapsed under the pressure in the past, in Barcelona she battled tigerishly.
Capriati had nine break points at 2-2 and when she blew them and lost the first set 6-3 she could have wilted in the debilitating heat of the bullring-like Centre Court. Instead she began to hit the ball harder and closer to the lines.
Confronted by this barrage of winners, it was Graf who cracked; she lost her serve in the eighth game of the second set and again at the same stage in the third after Capriati bludgeoned yet another forehand drive down the line.
The American had only to hold her serve to become champion and she did so to 15 to claim the fourth and most important title of her fledgling career.
“It was so emotional,” Capriati said of her feelings as she received her medal. “I had the chills the whole time. I just can’t believe it. All week I watched the other athletes up there and I was with them and I thought, ‘Wow, that would be so cool.'”
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Olympic Memories: Seoul