Roland Garros: Serena vs Bertens
Serena Williams takes on Kiki Bertens in the semifinals of Roland Garros.
Serena Williams takes on Kiki Bertens in the semifinals of Roland Garros.
Ricoh Open Final Centre Court, noon
Watch live action from Sunday’s ‘s-Hertogenbosch final on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
[3] Kristina Mladenovic (FRA #32) vs. [6] CoCo Vandeweghe (USA #43)
Head-to-head: Vandeweghe leads 3-0
Final Fact: Vandeweghe has hit 22 aces en route to the final.
Much has been made of American tennis’ new-found love affair with clay. However, many of the country’s contingent on tour still long for the return to the faster surfaces.
Leading this vanguard is CoCo Vandeweghe. A booming serve, a penchant for taking the ball early and a willingness to move up the court make the Californian’s game ideally suited to the hard courts on which she was raised and the grass courts she has grown to love.
The latter is a surface that has brought her much joy, too; in 2014 at ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Vandeweghe came through qualifying to lift her maiden WTA trophy, while at Wimbledon she left a trail of seeds in her wake to reach the 2015 quarterfinals.
On Sunday she returns to the ‘s-Hertogenbosch final, where she will take on Kristina Mladenovic. An accomplished doubles player – she recently won the Roland Garros title with Caroline Garcia and in 2014 reached the Wimbledon final alongside Timea Babos – Mladenovic’s all-court game makes her a danger on grass, as she proved in reaching last year’s Birmingham semifinals.
Mladenovic was impressive in upsetting friend and top seed Belinda Bencic in the semifinals, but will be hard pushed to derail the Vandeweghe juggernaut. Apart from in the second round against Nao Hibino, Vandeweghe is yet to drop serve and has barely looked like dropping a set. The American also has history on her side, having won all three of her previous meetings with Mladenovic, at Dubai, Osaka and in qualifying during her title run at ‘s-Hertogenbosch.
Road To The Final
Kristina Mladenovic
First Round: d. Yaroslava Shvedova, 64 63 (1:32)
Second Round: d. [Q] Natalia Vikhlyantseva, 57 63 64 (2:02)
Quarterfinals: d. [Q] Elise Mertens, 75 63 (1:23)
Semifinals: d. [1] Belinda Bencic, 26 63 64 (2:04)
CoCo Vandeweghe
First Round: d. [WC] Indy de Vroome, 62 64 (1:16)
Second Round: d. Nao Hibino, 62 63 (1:07)
Quarterfinals: d. Evgeniya Rodina, 62 62 (0:59)
Semifinals: d. Madison Brengle, 64 62 (1:12)
BIRMINGHAM, England – Madison Keys got her grass court season up and running with a rollercoaster win over Timea Babos at the Aegon Classic Birmingham.
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After threatening to run away with the contest early on, Keys was left hanging on in the end, eventually closing out a 7-6(3), 6-4 victory in an hour and 26 minutes.
Keys is an accomplished grass court player – she reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals 12 months ago and lifted the Eastbourne title in 2015 – but admitted afterwards that she is still finding her feet. “I think for the most part, I played pretty well. I think I started off really well, and then there’s definitely some bad moments in there,” Keys said.
“First match on grass is always really tough. She’s a really good player on grass, especially serving-wise. So it’s always tough to get a read returning. So overall, I was happy I was able to win, but definitely have some things to work.”
At first, though, Keys could do no wrong, coming out following a lengthy rain delay to win 12 of the first 14 points, cruising into a 5-2 lead. Babos hung doggedly onto the American’s coattails and got her reward in the ninth game, capitalizing on some loose play to break back.
Leading 3-1 in the subsequent tie-break, it was Babos’ turn to suffer a lapse of concentration, looping an inviting mid-court ball into the net. She would not win another point, sending another forehand into the net to surrender the set.
The second set followed a similar pattern, Keys starting and finishing the stronger to book her place in the second round before the rain returned.
“I think grass is one of those surfaces where when you’re playing well, you can play really well and it goes quick. But when you’re playing badly, it amplifies everything,” she added. “I think it’s important when you’re playing well to stay focused and not get ahead of yourself, and when you’re playing badly, slow things down and take a second and try to reassess.”
Also dodging the downpours to record a win was former Wimbledon junior champion Jelena Ostapenko, who saw off Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 7-6(2), 6-1. While in the final round of qualifying, there were wins for Tsvetana Pironkova, Tamira Paszek, Christina McHale and Katerina Siniakova.
MALLORCA, Spain – When the 19-year-old Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo takes the court against the No.3 seed Ana Ivanovic for a spot in the Mallorca Open quartefinals, she’ll be facing off against a very familiar opponent.
The two have never played before, at least not in real life, but when it comes to playing as Ivanovic in video games, Sorribes Tormo is an expert.
“It’s such a dream to play Ivanovic,” Sorribes Tormo said. “Back when she won Roland Garros, playing Wii was a big thing, I had the tennis game and I always picked her as my player. In fact, yesterday I was talking to my brother and he reminded me of it.
“Obviously we don’t play video games anymore because we’ve grown up, but she’s a player that I really like.”
Ivanovic and Sorribes Tormo are set to take the stage in Mallorca tomorrow at 7:00 pm local time, and it’ll be the first time the Spaniard plays on the tournament’s sunken center court. She comes into the matchup fresh off a grass court title at the ITF 50K in Essen.
“It’s a huge motivation to play on the center court,” she assured. “I’m in a moment where I’ve been playing very well, with confidence.
“I know that it is a match where I have to try to do my best and focus only on me. I have to forget who is at the other side of the net and do my job.”
Sorribes Tormo made her way to the second round after coming back from 0-3 down against fellow Spaniard Paula Badosa Gibert, 6-3, 7-5, while Ivanovic pushed past Pauline Parmentier 6-4, 6-4.
Modo Winner…?ON! @AnaIvanovic ya está en los cuartos en dobles. Mañana turno para el cuadro individual. pic.twitter.com/40t5JLcS75
— MallorcaOpen (@MallorcaOpen) June 15, 2016
– Via Mallorca Open
Jelena Ostapenko takes on Petra Kvitova in the second round of the Aegon Classic.
Madison Keys takes on Jelena Ostapenko in the quarterfinals of the Aegon Classic.
CoCo Vandeweghe has Saturday’s shot of the day at the Aegon Classic Birmingham.
An interview with Timea Bacsinszky before her opening round match at the Aegon International.
EASTBOURNE, England – 2013 champion Elena Vesnina got her Aegon International Eastbourne campaign off to a winning start, storming past British No.2 Heather Watson in straight sets for a spot in the second round.
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The Russian needed just over an hour to oust the home favorite 6-2, 6-3, and grab her first grass court win of the season.
“It was really a nice atmosphere on the court because a lot of people came to watch our match,” the Russian said. “It was really tough conditions: windy, smoggy at the end. I’m really happy that I won this difficult match.”
Despite the conditions, Vesnina was in full flight against the Brit in the overcast Eastbourne. After starting out in a deadlock, Vesnina left Watson reeling when she rattled off four games in a row to snap up the first set 6-2. Watson continued to struggle in the second set before giving up a late break to hand Vesnina the match.
Vesnina won 71% of points behind her first serve and not facing a break point in the entire match. She struck 24 winners to 16 unforced errors, compared to Watson’s 13 and 17. Vesnina was especially dominating at the net, winning 12 of her 14 net points.
“I’m really happy to be back in Eastbourne,” Vesnina said after her win. “It’s bringing me some good memories from winning the title here in 2013. Of course, it’s tough to play Heather here in England again with everyone supporting her.”
Nevertheless, the win is a good omen for the Russian: in 2013, Vesnina beat out Watson in the second round on her way to the title.
After ousting the home favorite in commanding fashion, Vesnina will next look to thwart Belinda Bencic’s happy homecoming to Eastbourne. Bencic, the defending champion, kicked her 2015 season into high gear at the Aegon International last year and already has a semifinal appearance at the Ricoh Open under her belt.
Watson wasn’t the only local who took a tumble in the first round. Of the four Brits in the main draw, three lost today as Tara Moore and Naomi Broady were sent crashing out.
Monica Puig played through a thick fog in her 6-1, 6-1 against Broady, and admitted that the blustery conditions were difficult to adjust to.
“Just keeping my focus was the main key, Puig said. “I knew the points weren’t going to be long, so I just had to be very aware of what was going on.
“I’ve never played in a sea mist before. It was really something, it was tough to see the ball!”
Joining Vesnina and Puig in the second round are Eugenie Bouchard, Andrea Petkovic and Ekaterina Makarova.
Whoops! ? Nice to get the win today with some pretty tough conditions as you can probably see! ? On to the next!! ? pic.twitter.com/MaxJlQqcB2
— Monica Puig (@MonicaAce93) June 20, 2016
EASTBOURNE, England – Former champion Agnieszka Radwanska advanced at the Aegon International Eastbourne when Mirjana Lucic-Baroni retired from their second-round encounter on Tuesday.
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Radwanska, who was leading 6-4, 2-1 when Lucic-Baroni retired with gastrointestinal illness, will now face Eugenie Bouchard for a place in the quarterfinals.
“It was still a tough match – she was playing really good tennis – and I’m happy I could get some time on the grass, but we’re all hoping she gets better soon,” Radwanska said.
Since making her debut a decade ago, Radwanska has been an ever-present at Devonshire Park, lifting the title in 2008 and finishing runner-up to Belinda Bencic in 2015. This time she is top seed and following an early exit in Birmingham is in need of time on grass ahead of Wimbledon.
“I really like these courts and I’m always feeling great here – it’s my 10th time here!”
Not every day you buy tickets from @ARadwanska! See Aga in #AegonInternational action at https://t.co/JtHMBtT7rU pic.twitter.com/TNrP3yms0K
— British Tennis (@BritishTennis) 21 June 2016
Her next opponent, Bouchard, is also no stranger to success on grass, reaching the Wimbledon final two years ago. Since then, Bouchard has endured an up and down time on tour, but is eager to rediscover the form that fueled her initial rise up the rankings.
“I’ve had some results that I wasn’t satisfied with, so coming into this week I really kicked myself in the butt,” she said. “I told myself to go after it and not have any regrets.”
There were certainly no regrets against No.15 seed Irina-Camelia Begu, whom Bouchard brushed aside, 6-3, 6-1.
Also springing an upset in the top half were Kristina Mladenovic, who saw off No.4 seed Timea Bacsinszky, 6-1, 7-5, and Kateryna Bondarenko, a 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 winner over No.6 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.