St. Petersburg: Venus Williams' Practice Session
Watch Venus Williams’ practice session on Day 3 of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
Watch Venus Williams’ practice session on Day 3 of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
The Australian Open started and ended with Serena Williams, who not only won her seventh Australian Open title and returned to World No.1, but also won her 23rd Grand Slam title – breaking the Open Era record she’d heretofore shared with Stefanie Graf.
“It’s such a great feeling to have 23,” she said after defeating sister Venus Williams in the final. “It really feels great. I’ve been chasing it for a really long time. It feels like a really long time. When it got on my radar, I knew I had an opportunity to get there, and I’m here. I’m here.
“It’s a great feeling. No better place to do it than Melbourne.”
After tying Graf at Wimbledon, No.23 certainly got on her radar and was in imperious form Down Under, winning the title without losing a set through seven matches.
“My first Grand Slam started here, and getting to 23 here, but playing Venus, it’s stuff that legends are made of. I couldn’t have written a better story.
“I just feel like it was the right moment. Everything kind of happened. It hasn’t quite set in yet, but it’s really good.”
The legend lives on for Serena, and it certainly helped her earn her the mantle of January’s WTA Player of the Month!
Final Results for January’s WTA Player Of The Month
1. Serena Williams (46%)
2. Venus Williams (42%)
3. Johanna Konta (8%)
4. Karolina Pliskova (4%)
2016 WTA Player of the Month Winners
January: Angelique Kerber
February: Carla Suárez Navarro
March: Victoria Azarenka
April: Angelique Kerber
May: Garbiñe Muguruza
June: Serena Williams
July: Simona Halep
August: Monica Puig
September: Petra Kvitova
October: Dominika Cibulkova
How it works:
Finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com
Simona Halep was forced to withdraw from her St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy quarterfinal with Natalia Vikhlyantseva, citing a recurrance of the left knee pain suffered in Australia.
TOKYO, Japan – Agnieszka Radwanska kickstarted last season’s Asian Swing with a win at the Toray Pan Pacific Open, taking the momentum all the way to Singapore to capture the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
Seeded No.2 in Japan’s Premier event, Radwanska is hoping for a little bit of history repeating in Tokyo. Check out her thoughts on her bid to make a Singapore return in her pre-tournament interview.
Radwanska plays her opening round match on Wednesday night against Barbora Strycova.
Kristina Mladenovic had Saturday’s shot of the day at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
Peng Shuai talks through her win over Lucie Safarova in the semifinals of the Taiwan Open.
An interview with Yulia Putintseva after her loss in the final of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
GUANGZHOU, China – 18-year-old Ana Konjuh romped past Jennifer Brady in straight sets to book a semifinal clash with defending champion Jelena Jankovic at the Guangzhou International Women’s Open.
The Croat opened her quarterfinal match with an emphatic break to love, and served powerfully to hit five aces and win 90 percent of points behind her first serve.
She didn’t face a break point until the final game of the first set, when Brady mounted a late resistance and brought up five chances. But the teen batted away her chances and served out the set. She earned a second break late in the final set to advance to her WTA-level semifinal of the year, 6-4, 7-5.
With the victory, the youngest player left in the tournament will take on the oldest player in the draw, as Konjuh books a semifinal clash with defending champion and WTA veteran Jankovic.
“I know her pretty well and I know she’s a young player who is playing very well in this moment,” Jankovic said. “We player earlier in the year on grass, in Mallorca, and I was able to win that match. But every match is a new match and I just hope I can come out tomorrow and play some good tennis and hopefully I can make it to another final. This is my goal.”
The No.2 seeded Serb faced a tight first set against Sabine Lisicki in her quarterfinal – the German was two points away from taking the first set while Jankovic was serving at 5-4. But Jankovic rallied to take the set in a tiebreak.She took the decisive break late in the second set to advance 7-6(4), 6-4.
“I think it as a good match overall – we were both fighting for every point,” Jankovic said. “That first set was very close, just a few points’ difference. I was able to stay strong and fight hard, and I think that fighting spirit was the difference.”
“I pushed myself a little bit more when the times got really tough out there. I’m very happy I was able to win against Lisicki, because she was playing a very high level tennis.”
Also through to the semifinals are Lesia Tsurenko and Anett Kontaveit. Tsurenko came back from a set done to out the No.5 seed Alison Riske 3-6, 6-4, 6-0, while Kontaveit downed Viktorija Golubic 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.
Elina Svitolina had Sunday’s shot of the day at the Taiwan Open.
Highlights from the second round and quarterfinals action at the Toray Pan Pacific Open.