Tennis News

KEY INFORMATION:
Tournament Level: Premier 5
Prize Money: $2,804,000
Draw Size: 48 main draw (16 byes)/48 qualifying
Main Draw Ceremony: Friday, August 12, 5.30pm EDT
Qualifying Dates: Saturday, August 13 – Sunday, August 14 
First Day of Main Draw: Monday, August 15
Singles Final: Sunday, August 21, 2pm EDT
Doubles Final: TBC – Sunday, August 21, 12.15pm EDT on Grandstand

MUST FOLLOW SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS:
@WTA
@WTA_Insider – WTA Insider, Senior Writer Courtney Nguyen
@CinyTennis – official tournament handle
Get involved in conversations with the official hashtags, #CincyTennis and #WTA.

TOURNAMENT NOTES:
· Serena Williams bids to win a third straight Cincinnati title after accepting a late wildcard. She is the only player in the Open Era to win multiple times at the event.
· Since the tournament’s return to the tour in 2004, there have been 11 different winners of the tournament, although Serena is the only returning champion in the field this year. There are a couple of former runner-ups – Simona Halep (2015), Ana Ivanovic (2014) and Angelique Kerber (2012).
· The WTA’s current Top 5-ranked players are all in attendance: Serena, Kerber, Halep, Garbiñe Muguruza and Agnieszka Radwanska.
· Halep arrives on a 10-match winning streak, having won her past two tournaments, in Bucharest and Montréal.
· Lucie Safarova and Andrea Petkovic could both register their 400th career win by reaching the second round and quarterfinals, respectively.
· For the full draw click here.

WILDCARDS:
Serena Williams (USA), Christina McHale (USA), Louisa Chirico (SVK)

WITHDRAWALS:
Sloane Stephens (right foot), Jelena Jankovic (right shoulder)

CINCINNATI, OH, USA – One of the biggest events of the US hardcourt swing begins in full force on Monday. It’s the Western & Southern Open from Cincinnati and we’re previewing Day 1’s enticing match-ups on wtatennis.com.

Monday, First Round

Center Court
Sara Errani (ITA #32) vs. CoCo Vandeweghe (USA #33)
Head-to-head: Errani leads, 1-0
Key Stat: Monday’s winner faces fourth-seeded Garbiñe Muguruza in the second round.

American CoCo Vandeweghe will try to continue the momentum she built during the grass court season when she faces Italy’s Sara Errani on Center Court at the Lindner Family Tennis Center on Monday. It won’t be easy. Vandeweghe has won 12 of her last 15 WTA-level matches, but she has only played two matches since Wimbledon, winning one and losing one at Stanford. Vandeweghe will have to hit the mark early and often to avoid getting dragged into too many protracted rallies against the super-fit World No.24 from Bologna. It was Errani who won the only career meeting between the two at Wimbledon, but that was just over four years ago and the 24-year-old Vandeweghe has evolved since then, particularly after pairing with coach Craig Kardon last season. Errani reached the round of 16 at the Olympics, but she has only managed a 7-9 record against the Top 50 this season.

Pick: Errani in three

Ana Ivanovic (SRB #25) vs. [Q] Donna Vekic (CRO #121)
Head-to-head: Ivanovic leads, 1-0
Key Stat: Ivanovic has won seven of her last nine matches at Cincinnati, losing only to Serena Williams.

It has been a fantastic year on a personal level for former World No.1 Ana Ivanovic, marrying German footballer Bastian Schweinsteiger this July, but in order to make it a fantastic year professionally Ivanovic requires a summer resurgence on the US hard courts. After dropping a three-setter to Carla Suárez Navarro at the Olympics the Serb has now lost three straight and is barely hovering above the .500 mark for the season at 15-14. The 2014 Western & Southern Open runner-up will open up with a winnable contest against 20-year-old Croatian Donna Vekic. Long on promise, the former World No.62 has struggled to string together victories and will make her Cincinnati debut in the midst of a nine-match WTA-level losing streak.

Pick: Ivanovic in two

Grandstand
Caroline Garcia (FRA #30) vs. [Q] Daria Gavrilova (AUS #47)
Head-to-head: Gavrilova leads, 1-0
Key Stat: Garcia recorded her only career Top 5 win at Cincinnati last season.

A pair of highly-touted 22-year-olds will clash for the first time in a WTA main draw – they met five years ago on the ITF Circuit – on Monday in Cincinnati, as Caroline Garcia and Daria Gavrilova are set to lock horns in the second match on Grandstand. Garcia has lost four of six since winning her first career grass court title at Mallorca, but she is back at the scene of her first career Top 5 win, which came last season over Petra Kvitova during a quarterfinal run here at Cincinnati. The Frenchwoman doesn’t lack for talent, but consistency has been a limiting factor ever since she cracked the WTA’s Top 50 a little over two years ago. The same could be said about her opponent of late. Gavrilova’s breakout season came in 2015, and she’s done a solid job of maintaining a Top 50 ranking this season, but she has managed only two quarterfinals in 15 events this campaign.

Pick: Gavrilova in three

By the numbers…
400 – Both Andrea Petkovic and Lucie Safarova have a shot at winning their 400th WTA match at Cincinnati this week.
19 – The age of Jelena Ostapenko, the youngest player in this year’s draw. The Latvian will face Anna Karolina Schmiedlova on Grandstand on Monday.
0 – Spain’s Garbiñe Muguruza is appearing at Cincinnati for the third time but is still searching for her first victory. She will face the winner of Vandeweghe versus Errani after a first-round bye.

In her downtime in Montréal a few weeks ago at the Rogers Cup, Petra Kvitova paid a visit to the WTA Media TV truck to find out a little bit more about the people who broadcast her matches all around the world.

She learned about everything that goes into producing a tennis match, from switching between the eight to 12 cameras per court, keeping match stats, creating slow motion replays, and much more.

“It’s amazing how many cameras there are at the same time on the same court!” Kvitova said. “When I play, sometimes I just see one camera!”

A joint venture between the WTA and Perform Group, WTA Media will produce all main draw singles matches and semifinals and finals of all doubles matches from 2017.

CINCINNATI, OH, USA – And then there were eight! It’s quarterfinal Friday at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. Chris Oddo previews the match-ups for wtatennis.com.

Friday, Quarterfinals

Center Court
[2] Angelique Kerber (GER #2) vs. [9] Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP #12)
Head-to-head: Kerber leads, 4-3

Key Stat: Kerber could ascend to the No.1 ranking with the title in Cincinnati.
Angelique Kerber is focused on the day-in, day-out aspects of being a top WTA pro. The rest of us? We’re curious to see if the German has what it takes to end Serena Williams’ remarkable 183-week reign atop the WTA’s rankings. Kerber could achieve that milestone with a title run, but it’s the furthest thing from her mind at the moment. While we watch the story unfold on Friday when Kerber meets Carla Suárez Navarro for a spot in the semis, the World No.2 will be concentrating on process. “On the court I’m really trying to focus and play my best tennis,” she said on Thursday after defeating Barbora Strycova in straight sets. “And my goal is always to go on court and win the match. Of course I mean it’s a goal to be one day the No.1, but let’s see if it happens, when it happens, whatever. I will not be putting this pressure on myself – I’m just trying to play step by step.” It’s the best way to proceed for Kerber, and so far in Cincinnati she has been able to deflect the pressure and play the type of tennis that got her to this point. Will she be able to continue her rise against the feisty Spaniard who defeated her earlier this summer in Birmingham? Or will Suárez Navarro, already one of three Premier 5 titlists this season, make her own story unfold?

Pick: Suárez Navarro in three

[3] Simona Halep (ROU #4) vs. [5] Agnieszka Radwanska (POL #5)
Head-to-head: Radwanska leads, 5-4

Key Stat: Halep stretched her win streak to 12 with a straight-sets victory over Daria Gavrilova on Wednesday.
Red-hot Simona Halep is loving life in Cincinnati. And why shouldn’t she be? The Romanian is well-rested, suited aptly for the fast-playing conditions at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, and gaining confidence with each successive victory. Halep made it 12 in a row on Thursday when she rolled past Aussie qualifier Daria Gavrilova, and afterwards she cited her legs as the biggest contributor to her recent success. She says her recent training block with Gil Reyes, former trainer of Andre Agassi, has helped her fitness immensely, and she also confirmed that the injuries that sabotaged her play early in the season are behind her. It all adds up to a very formidable Halep, one that is looking more and more like a title contender each day. She’ll have to be formidable on Friday if she is to get by No.5-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska. Radwanska reached her fourth Cincinnati quarterfinal in five years on Thursday by coming from behind to defeat Johanna Konta in three sets. Will Radwanska be able to stop the run of surging Halep in their 10th meeting, or will the Romanian’s scorching form prove too much to handle yet again?

Pick: Halep in three

Grandstand
[7] Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS #10) vs. [15] Karolina Pliskova (CZE #17)
Head-to-head: First meeting

Key Stat: Kuznetsova improved to 15-4 in deciding sets this year with her win third-round win over Timea Bacsinszky.
It has been a fantastic season for 31-year-old Svetlana Kuznetsova. She achieved her first win over a reigning world No.1 since 2009 in Miami when she snapped Serena Williams’ 20-match winning streak at the event. And that’s not even the half of it. Kuznetsova, now the top-ranked Russian and inside the Top 10 for the first time since 2010, has won 30 matches, claimed her 16th career title, and been a threat to go deep in every draw she has played. Occupying the 10th spot in the Road to Singapore standings, the Russian is playing for valuable points in the next months, and she’ll look to continue pushing her momentum forward when she meets 15th-seed Karolina Pliskova for the first time on Friday. The bomb-serving Czech still hasn’t made her mark at the Slams but she has been lethal elsewhere, with four semifinals, two finals and a title to her name this season. Here in Cincinnati, she has yet to drop a set in two matches.

Pick: Kuznetsova in three

[4] Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP #3) vs. [Q] Timea Babos (HUN #41)
Head-to-head: Muguruza leads, 3-0

Key Stat: Their last two battles have gone to three sets.
There is fire in the eyes of Garbiñe Muguruza this week in Cincinnati, and that’s bad news for her competitors. The Spaniard had an understandable dip in level after winning her maiden Grand Slam in Paris this year, but she appears to be very determined to put that behind her as she prepares to ramp up her game ahead of the year’s final major. Muguruza has yet to drop a set in Cincinnati and though she was pushed at times by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on Thursday, she played a very solid match, particularly from the service stripe where she saved six of seven break points and won 31 of 41 first-serve points. On Friday she’ll face one of the tour’s most improved players in 23-year-old Timea Babos. The Hungarian produced an upset on Thursday in defeating eighth-seeded Dominika Cibulkova. It was the Hungarian’s biggest win of the year rankings-wise, but she’s 1-10 against the Top 10 lifetime and 0-3 against Muguruza. She’ll need something magical to push past a resurgent Muguruza on Friday.

Pick: Muguruza in two

By the numbers…
306 – Number of weeks that Serena Williams has held the No. 1 ranking, which is third-most all time behind Martina Navratilova (332) and Steffi Graf (377).ber of consecutive weeks that Serena Williams has held the No. 1 ranking, which is third-most all time behind Martina Navratilova (332) and Steffi Graf (377).
41 – Babos’ position in the world rankings – the lowest of the draw’s eight remaining players.
19-2 – Halep’s record since the start of Roland Garros this year.
7 – Number of seeded players that have advanced to the quarterfinals in Cincinnati.

CINCINNATI, OH, USA – Top seed Angelique Kerber kept her bid for the WTA’s top ranking alive after defeating Simona Halep 6-3, 6-4 to reach the final at the Western & Southern Open.

Watch live action from Cincinnati this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

With back to back titles at Bucharest and Montréal, Halep came into the matchup on the back of a 13-match winning streak, and without ever having lost to Kerber on hardcourts. They’d played six times previously and while Kerber owns one win on clay and one on grass, Halep had won all four of their hardcourt matches, including their last meeting in the semifinals of the Rogers Cup.

The players traded breaks to open the match. Halep was playing fast, going for quick winners but earning loose unforced errors, instead. The conditions didn’t help, either, as the win wreaked havoc on her normally sharp timing.

Another spot of Cincinnati’s rain came down again and suspended play for half an hour with both players on serve and Kerber leading 4-3. Upon resumption, Halep’s woes continued as she was quickly broken. The German rattled off five straight games to take the opening set and carve out a 4-0 lead in the second.

Follow live game-by-game analysis from Cincinnati semifinals day on WTA Insider’s Live Blog.

Calmer now in the second set despite the deficit, Halep began leaning into her backhand and taking control of the points. She rattled off three games in a row to narrow Kerber’s lead to just one break. But the German slammed the door on a Halep comeback, saving break point at 5-3 and outrallying her to draw out two errors from the Romanian.

With the finish line in sight, the match had one final hurdle for the World No.2: Kerber broke her string on match point, but a misplaced lob from Halep drifted wide to give Kerber the win anyways.

.@AngeliqueKerber is ONE win away from becoming World No.1! #CincyTennis https://t.co/ii3DU83AYF

— WTA (@WTA) August 20, 2016

“My strings have never broken! And it just broke during the match, and on match point. I was just hoping the ball would go in because I don’t know what to do with the racquet!”

Although Halep hit more winners than Kerber – 21 to Kerber’s 12 – she also hit a whopping 50 unforced errors against Kerber’s 21. The Romanian also struck five double faults and converted just three of five break points, while Kerber won five out of 15.

With the win, Kerber returns to the final of the Western & Southern Open for the first time since 2012, but there’s an even bigger prize up for grabs than just the Cincy title.

Should Kerber win in tomorrow’s final, the reigning Australian Open champion would overtake Serena Williams as WTA World No.1, snapping the American’s streak at 306 consecutive weeks.

“I think of course I’m playing now some of my best tennis,” Kerber said of the possibility of taking the top spot. “It’s one of the best years in my career. I had a lot of up and downs in the last few years and I had a lot of experience from which I learned.

“I think now I’m showing that I’m really one of the best tennis players.

“It’s still one match away, but it’s still a long match. I will not thinking about this yet. It’s a new opponent, a new day, and after that we will see what happened yeah, it’s not over yet. Still one match to go.”

Only Karolina Pliskova stands between Kerber and the top spot, and the No-17-ranked Czech is up for the challenge.

“I don’t know if she would be a little bit in stress or something, but I would love to have her as a No. 1 after few years. But I’ll do anything for her to not getting there,” Pliskova said.