Highlights: Madison Keys vs Lara Arruabarrena
Highlights from Madison Keys’ matchup with Lara Arruabarrena at the Miami Open.
Highlights from Madison Keys’ matchup with Lara Arruabarrena at the Miami Open.
MOSCOW, Russia – Svetlana Kuznetsova kept up her chances of qualifying for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global by beating Elina Svitolina, 6-1, 6-7(2), 6-4, in Friday’s Kremlin Cup semifinals.
Watch live action from Moscow & Luxembourg this week at WTA Live Powered By TennisTV!
The Russian must win the tournament to overtake WTA Most Improved Player of the Year Johanna Konta and secure a spot in Singapore.
After Svitolina started the match with a routine hold, the Ukrainian squandered three chances to move a break ahead and the Russian never looked back in the first set.
In the second set, however, the World No.15 provided much sterner opposition, breaking to love in the fifth game. Kuznetsova broke back immediately but once again fell behind a break in the very next game, despite saving two break points.
Svitolina tightened up when serving for the set, falling 0-40 behind in flash. She saved all three but succumbed to the pressure on the fourth.
However, she was not left to rue her profligacy and she claimed a highly attritional tie-break convincingly after producing a series of excellent groundstrokes, with Kuznetsova making some untimely unforced errors.
Kuznetsova appeared to be tiring but soon stopped Svitolina’s march. After a lengthy break before the decider, the top seed returned with renewed vigour, sending down a series of vicious shots to break in the opening game.
The 31-year-old saved two break points in the following game to consolidate her advantage but from there she was well on top and Svitolina was unable to get back in the match as Kuznetsova got her WTA-leading 20th three-set match win of 2016.
Kuznetsova has won 20 3-set matches in 2016. She won 17 3-set matches in 2014 and 2015 COMBINED https://t.co/kdPEISJspn
— Kevin Fischer (@Kfish_WTA) October 21, 2016
“I knew what I had to do but in the second set I stopped playing the ‘right’ tennis. I realized what was going on, I understood it was wrong but couldn’t do anything about it. And I had to play three sets,” Kuznetsova said in her post-match press conference.
Kuznetsova will face Daria Gavrilova in the final after she overcame Julia Goerges, 7-5, 6-1. Gavrilova, who was born in Moscow, received plenty of support from the Russian crowd, helping her through a rollercoaster first set and into the first final of her career.
“When I arrived in Hong Kong a few weeks ago, I didn’t expect to be finishing the season so well,” Gavrilova told wtatennis.com. “Playing here in Moscow I’m getting a lot of support – I have a lot of friends and family in the crowd – and even though I’m very tired this helped me come through the difficult moments in the match today.
“In the final I know Sveta will get a lot of support, but this is normal. It has been a great week and I am playing with no pressure so I will go out and play my game and see what happens.”
Venus Williams won a battle of WTA veterans against Svetlana Kuznetsova, wrapping up the Monday night session and snatching the final Miami Open quarterfinal spot.
Tuesday
Quarterfinals
[2] Karolina Pliskova (CZE #3) vs. [26] Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (CRO #29)
Head-to-head: Tied, 3-3
Key Stat: Pliskova and Lucic-Baroni have played three-setters in each of their last three meetings.
Mirjana Lucic-Baroni has already matched her total of Top 10 wins from the previous four seasons by notching three in 2017 and, on Sunday, the 35-year-old will try to make it four when she meets No.2 seed Karolina Pliskova in her first Miami Open quarterfinal.
Pliskova, who is in the Miami quarterfinals for the second time, knows it will be a challenge. She was knocked off by Lucic-Baroni in January, falling 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to the Croatian in the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, and their last three battles have all gone the distance.
“She’s always tough,” Pliskova told WTA Insider on Monday after easing past Barbora Strycova in straight sets. “She has a big game and it was close in Australia.”
The head-to-head points to a toss-up but Pliskova comes in as the favorite based on her ranking and the expectations she has set by becoming one of the most lethal players in the last 52 weeks. Now the No.1 Czech, Pliskova is expected to come through these types of matches and she certainly has the game to do it. But how can she keep her veteran opponent off balance so that her blistering groundstrokes don’t take over the match? It’s a task that has proved difficult for many this season and it will be interesting to see how Pliskova approaches playing Lucic-Baroni from a tactical perspective.
Lucic-Baroni, meanwhile, will approach the challenge of facing Pliskova’s game with no fear. She’s playing some of the best tennis of her life – why shouldn’t the fairytale continue?
“It’s always nice when you beat a top player and then beat them again not too long after, so it’s not a ‘fluke,'” Lucic-Baroni said last week in Miami after defeating No.5-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska for the second time this season. “I know people like to say stupid things sometimes. But I don’t pay attention to that. I know I can play some great tennis and that’s really all I care about doing.”
Pick: Pliskova in three
First #WTA Premier Mandatory Quarterfinal!
Mirjana Lucic-Baroni downs Mattek-Sands at @MiamiOpen! pic.twitter.com/h4SjEMPJj3
— WTA (@WTA) March 27, 2017
[12] Caroline Wozniacki (DEN #14) vs. Lucie Safarova (CZE #36)
Head-to-head: Wozniacki leads, 4-3
Key Stat: Wozniacki’s 21 victories in 2017 place her second on tour.
Caroline Wozniacki is back in the last eight of the Miami Open for the fifth time overall and the first time since 2014, and the Dane faces a former Top 10 player on the rise in Lucie Safarova. The Czech secured her first Top 10 win since 2015 when she defeated World No.4 Dominika Cibulkova on Monday in straight sets. If that doesn’t give you an idea of what type of form the 30-year-old Czech is in, consider this: Safarova’s 16 wins in the first three months of the season are already more than she had in all of 2016. She has yet to drop a set this week and has reached the Miami Open quarterfinals for the first time on her 12th career appearance.
Can the southpaw take it a step further and shut down Wozniacki on Tuesday? It will be a difficult task. Wozniacki has won three of her last four against Safarova and is running hot as she prepares to play her sixth quarterfinal of the season. The match will likely hinge on how well Wozniacki can implement her return tactics against Safarova’s serve. The Czech entered the tournament ranked fourth in percentage of service games won this season, while Wozniacki ranked No.6 in percentage of return games won.
Pick: Wozniacki in three
By the Numbers
4 – Number of wins that Lucic-Baroni notched at Miami from 1998 to 2016. She will try to win her fourth match of the 2017 tournament against Pliskova.
22 – Pliskova took over the WTA lead in wins for 2017 with her 22nd win on Monday.
9 – Number of times that Caroline Wozniacki has reached at least the quarterfinal in her last ten tournaments.
16 – Lucie Safarova’s 16 wins (16-6) in 2017 have already surpassed her win total for all of 2016 (15-18).
SINGAPORE – The BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global draw was completed on Friday night, with top seeds Angelique Kerber and defending champion Angieszka Radwanska headlining the Red and White round robin groups set to begin on Sunday.
Click here to check out the full Insider Draw Analysis.
Senior Writer Courtney Nguyen and WTA Web Editor David Kane reunite after an impressive Asian Swing to break down the two groups, and who has what it takes to pull off a surprise run to the semifinals in the latest WTA Insider Podcast:
Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn or on any podcast app of your choice to ensure you never miss an episode when they go live. Reviews are always helpful, so if you like what you’ve heard so far, leave us one. You can also get new episode alerts by following us on Twitter @WTA_Insider.
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MADRID, Spain – All of the world’s best players have been confirmed to attend the 16th Mutua Madrid Open, which starts on May 6.
With the exception of the injured Petra Kvitova, the field is as strong as it possibly could be according to the WTA rankings – with the returning Maria Sharapova also granted a wildcard along with four other players, to be announced.
To complete the 64-player main draw for the Mutua Madrid Open, eight players will come through the qualifying stages.
Fifth seeded Simona Halep is the reigning champion in a recent roll of honour that has seen Serena Williams triumph twice (2012, 2013) and Sharapova in 2014. The tournament will mark Williams’ return to action, the former champion having struggled with a knee injury since winning the Australian Open.
The @WTA Stars ⭐️ are coming back to Madrid! ☺️. Complete list of players: https://t.co/npBfnToFP5 ?? pic.twitter.com/mYiZUTRz4x
— Mutua Madrid Open (@MutuaMadridOpen) March 28, 2017
Kvitova is also a two-time winner of the event and tournament director Manolo Santana used the announcement as an opportunity to dedicate a few words to the absent champion.
“I would like to send my best wishes and affection to Petra Kvitova, who is unable to play this year for reasons I am sure you are all aware of,” he said. “I have special admiration for Petra’s capacity to overcome adversity and I would love to see her back here fighting for her third title next year.”
The players registered for the Mutua Madrid Open are:
1. Angelique Kerber
2. Serena Williams
3. Karolina Pliskova
4. Dominika Cibulkova
5. Simona Halep
6. Garbiñe Muguruza
7. Svetlana Kuznetsova
8. Agnieszka Radwanska
9. Madison Keys
10. Elina Svitolina
11. Johanna Konta
12. Venus Williams
13. Elena Vesnina
14. Caroline Wozniacki
15. Timea Bacsinszky
16. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
17. Kristina Mladenovic
18. Samantha Stosur
19. Barbora Strycova
20. Kiki Bertens
21. Coco Vandeweghe
22. Caroline Garcia
23. Carla Suárez Navarro
24. Anastasija Sevastova
25. Daria Gavrilova
26. Timea Babos
27. Irina-Camelia Begu
28. Mirjana Lucic-Baroni
29. Roberta Vinci
30. Ana Konjuh
31. Yulia Putintseva
32. Zhang Shuai
33. Lauren Davis
34. Ekaterina Makarova
35. Lucie Safarova
36. Katerina Siniakova
37. Alison Riske
38. Laura Siegemund
39. Monica Puig
40. Lesia Tsurenko
41. Daria Kasatkina
42. Peng Shuai
43. Alizé Cornet
44. Monica Niculescu
45. Christina McHale
46. Julia Goerges
47. Naomi Osaka
48. Yaroslava Shvedova
49. Misaki Doi
50. Kristyna Pliskova
51. Viktorija Golubic
SINGAPORE – No.3 seed Simona Halep kicked off her season-ending campaign with a 6-2, 6-4 win over No.6 seed Madison Keys on Day 1 of the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
Read how the match unfolded in the WTA Insider Live Blog.
– Simona Halep relishes this match-up.
Halep moves to 1-0 in the Red Group after a remarkably clean performance against Keys, a player she knows how to beat. The two played three times this year, all in the second half of the season, and Halep won all three matches, two of which came on hard courts. There’s just something about Halep’s game that continues to puzzle Keys, who has yet to find the sweet spot between minimizing errors by not going for too much and being the first-strike aggressor.
“I think one of her strengths is making you feel like you have to go for more and taking the risk,” Keys said. “I think just going in and knowing she’s going to get the balls back but continuing to play my game is the big thing. I think sometimes she makes me uncomfortable and I back away from playing my game and start going for things in a way that I shouldn’t.”
On paper, Keys should be able to take advantage of Halep’s serve with her forehand return and open up the court with her heavy cross-court shots. But Halep always seems one step ahead of Keys. The Romanian, who is now 6-5 against Top 10 players this year, has a fairly simple game plan against the American: Keep the ball on Keys’ backhand, minimize errors, and, most importantly, run. Even in straight sets, these are physical matches for Halep, but she seems to have unshakable faith in her gameplan and she’s now 5-1 against Keys.
– Positivity the key for Halep.
After taking the first set in 27 minutes — with a big help from Keys, who hit 18 unforced errors in the set — Halep had looks to break early in the second set and did not capitalize. You could see her frustration begin to set in. The clouds began to gather in her head, but she snapped out of it after a great coaching timeout with Darren Cahill at 2-1.
Coach @darren_cahill talks to @simona_halep, encouraging her to keep her level, before closing with a “Sorry, Sorry!” #WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/fnjhI1GEvf
— WTA (@WTA) October 23, 2016
“First game of the second set I had two break points and I missed that forehand very easy,” Halep said. “Yeah, I was a little bit pissed. I called Darren at 2-1. He told me to calm down, so [that’s] everything that I did.
“Then I just stayed more focused. I felt that she’s coming back, she’s playing better and better, so I had to stay for every point there. With Madison it’s always important to play every point and win every point.”
Halep immediately broke in the next game and took control from there. Even after Keys broke back to level to 4-4, Halep again stayed positive and got the break with the shot of the match:
A sensational backhand pass from @Simona_Halep to now serve for the match! #WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/Na7q8vXvfF
— WTA (@WTA) October 23, 2016
– Never underestimate the nerves of a first-timer.
If you successfully qualify for the WTA Finals, chances are you’ve gone through a few years on tour, so going to a new tournament in a new place is a rare experience. For a debutante like Keys, her experience in her first WTA Finals was markedly foreign. And it showed.
“It was obviously a very new feeling for me,” Keys said. “Then once I got on the court I definitely felt the nerves of the occasion.
“Definitely doesn’t feel like any other tournament. I think it’s been a while since I’ve gone to a tournament and it’s all felt new and it was new nerves and new occasion. So that was kind of difficult to deal with. I think at the beginning of the second set I felt like I settled in a little better.”
– Keys will likely need to beat Kerber for a chance to qualify for the semifinals.
Keys finished the match with 41 errors to just 16 winners. In a very telling stat, she hit just one ace in the match. Her return let her down in a big way, as she struggled to put any pressure on Halep’s serve, earning just two break points in the match. The Keys return against the Halep serve should go the way of the American, but her execution tonight was poor.
“I think today a big thing was this court stays really low,” Keys said. “The ball doesn’t bounce up very high. I think for me I was definitely getting caught either too far behind the ball or kind of running into it. I wasn’t timing it super well.”
The loss means her next two matches against Kerber and Cibulkova are virtually must-win matches. While she’s 3-0 against Cibulkova, she’s 1-5 against the World No.1.
– Halep could be the favorite to qualify out of the Red Group.
In a group that includes No.1 Angelique Kerber, Dominika Cibulkova, and Keys, Halep sent a strong message to the field with her steady play tonight. In addition to her performance tonight, Halep already had the best combined record against the Red Group. Going into this match, Halep held a 10-7 head-to-head advantage in the Red Group compared to Kerber (8-13), Cibulkova (7-9) and Keys (5-9).
“It’s not about the pressure,” Halep said, when asked about the effect of getting a win in your first match of group play. “I think it’s about the confidence. [Winning] gives you confidence. If you win you are more positive. When you go to the second one you say that you feel the game. You feel the court. You feel great here. So I can play my best tennis and…give everything without thinking of the score.”
As we reach the business end of the Miami Open, there’s plenty going on – on court and on social media. Lucie Safarova, Sorana Cirstea and more have been posting their pics!
Up to 1000 USANA Executives and Associates were on hand for April 16th’s USANA US Nationals Celebration at the Green Valley Ranch Resort in Henderson, Nevada.
The event was hosted by former NFL player and USANA Associate Jeremy “J” Leman, and among Saturday’s special guests was Sloane Stephens, who had just won her third tournament of 2016 in Charleston, and former doubles No.1 Liezel Huber. Other athletes participating included Susan Francia, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in rowing; Alex Deibold, an Olympic bronze medalist in snowboarding; and Sarah Hendrickson, who is the first female to ever compete in an Olympic ski jumping event.
Stephens, who hit the most aces of her fellow USANA Ambassadors in Charleston, answered questions about her diet and supplement regiment on stage, and signed autographs alongside her fellow athletes, later tweeting about the day’s activities on social media.
Had a blast @ USANA US Nationals Conference. @TeamUSANA #TeamUSANA ? pic.twitter.com/kI79FBZG77
— Sloane Stephens (@SloaneStephens) April 17, 2016
Check out some of the best photos from the event:
All photos courtesy of USANA.