Australian Open: Svetlana Kuznetsova vs Jamiee Fourlis
Svetlana Kuznetsova takes on Jamiee Fourlis in the second round of the Australian Open.
Svetlana Kuznetsova takes on Jamiee Fourlis in the second round of the Australian Open.
Simona Halep’s BRD Bucharest Open challenge gathered further momentum with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Danka Kovinic on Friday evening.
Carla Suárez Navarro will be away from the competition for a few weeks nursing a right shoulder injury, the Spaniard announced in a Facebook message to her fans.
KEY INFORMATION:
Tournament Level: Premier
Prize Money: $846,000
Draw Size: 28 main draw (4 byes)/16 qualifying
Qualifying Dates: Saturday, July 16 – Sunday, July 17
First Day of Main Draw: Monday, July 18
Singles Final: Sunday, July 24, 2pm PDT
Doubles Final: Sunday, July 24, after singles final
MUST FOLLOW SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS:
@WTA
@WTA_Insider – WTA Insider, Senior Writer Courtney Nguyen
@BOTWClassic – Official handle
Get involved in conversations with the official hashtags, #BOTWClassic and #WTA.
TOURNAMENT NOTES:
· Two-time champion Venus Williams returns to tournament for the 13th time as top seed.
· Dominika Cibulkova, another former winner, is No.2 seed while Johanna Konta is No.3 seed. The 2012 runner-up, CoCo Vandeweghe, Jelena Ostapenko and Alizé Cornet are also in the draw.
· The draw’s highest-ranked player, World No.7 Venus Williams is nearly 20 years older than the lowest-ranked player 16-year-old Maria Mateas.
· Click here to see the draw after it is made on Saturday evening.
WILDCARDS:
CiCi Bellis (USA), Julia Boserup (USA), Maria Mateas (USA), Carol Zhao (USA)
WITHDRAWALS:
Timea Babos (left shoulder), Daria Kasatkina (illness), Mariana Duque-Mariño (gingivoplasty), Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (left abductor), Agnieszka Radwanska (right hand), Lesia Tsurenko (left thigh)
MELBOURNE, Australia – No.2 seed Serena Williams put together some high-quality tennis against Lucie Safarova to make her way to the third round and avoid the upset bug sweeping through the Australian Open on Thursday night.
Even to her own high standards, her 6-3, 6-4 victory in the pair’s rematch of their French Open final was impressive, which explains why Serena didn’t have much patience for anyone finding fault in her performance.
Case in point, here’s an exchange between the six-time Australian Open champion and a reporter at her post-match press conference:
Q. Looked a little bit of a scrappy performance. A few more unforced errors, a few double-faults.
SERENA WILLIAMS: I think that’s a very negative thing to say. Are you serious?
Q. Just my observation.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, you should have been out there. That wasn’t very kind. You should apologize. Do you want to apologize?
Q. I do. I’m sorry.
SERENA WILLIAMS: Thank you very much. That was a great performance. I played well. She’s a former Top 10 player. The last time we played together was in the finals of a Grand Slam.
You know, it’s not an easy match. She’s a really good player. You have to go for more, which obviously makes a few more errors.
So, yeah, I think it was overall a really good match, on both of our ends.
Moral of the story: Don’t tell Serena Williams she played badly. Especially when she played great.
Top seed Simona Halep put on a clay court masterclass against Anastasija Sevastova at the BRD Bucharest to win her second hometown title in three years.
MELBOURNE, Australia – Revenge is the name of the game on Day 5 at the Australian Open: No.7 seed Garbiñe Muguruza is set to face Anastasija Sevastova, who sent her crashing out in the second round of last year’s US Open. Also in action is World No.1 Angelique Kerber, taking on another big-serving Czech, while Svetlana Kuznetsova and Jelena Jankovic are facing off for the 14th time in their careers.
We preview all the day’s biggest matchups right here on wtatennis.com.
Friday, Third Round
[32] Anastasija Sevastova (LAT #33) vs [7] Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP #7)
Head-to-head: Series tied at 1-1
Key Stat: Muguruza (No.3) is the highest ranked player Sevastova has ever defeated
When Anastasija Sevastova had her big breakthrough at last year’s US Open, Garbiñe Muguruza was the first one to find out. Then ranked No.48, the Latvian stunned Muguruza in the second round en route to the quarterfinals, her best showing ever at a Grand Slam.
Though the Spaniard eventually got her revenge at the Toray Pan Pacific Open, seeing Sevastova’s name in her corner of the draw has to sting. But this time she comes into the matchup with building rhythm and a pair of hard-fought victories under her belt.
“Honestly, I think every match is completely different,” Muguruza told press after her straight-sets victory over Samantha Crawford. “For sure it helps [having two matches under my belt].
“But my next round is a tricky match, I look forward for it. It helped me, playing two matches. I’m going to try to use that.”
Jelena Jankovic (SRB #54) vs [8] Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS #10)
Head-to-head: Jankovic leads 8-6
Key Stat: Jankovic holds the longest active streak for consecutive Grand Slam main draw appearances (53)
Svetlana Kuznetsova faces her first big test in this Australian Open in the form of long-time rival Jelena Jankovic. Having dropped a combined four games across her previous two matches, Kuznetsova has eased into the third round and conserved precious energy under the draining Aussie summer sun.
But that joyride will get much tougher against fellow WTA veteran and former World No.1 Jankovic as they square up for the 15th time in their careers. Jankovic holds the edge in their head-to-head record at 8-6, but their last match came in 2015 and with Kuznetsova now back inside the Top 10, the Russian is looking to narrow the gap between them.
“My career has been… too long!” Kuznetsova reflected in an on-court interview. “I’ve only been to Australia like 17 times, each January. I just enjoy the game, I have passion for it and still it’s great.”
[1] Angelique Kerber (GER #1) vs Kristyna Pliskova (CZE #58)
Head-to-head: First meeting
Key Stat: Kerber is bidding to be the first player to defend her Australian Open title since Azarenka in 2012-2013
Angelique Kerber is set to face down the booming Pliskova serve once again, but this time it’s not the one she’s used to seeing. Her third-round opponent is Kristyna Pliskova, twin sister of World No.5 Karolina Pliskova.
Apart from the famously powerful serve that runs in the family, it’ll be a whole different match for Kerber. For one, Kristyna is a lefty (Karolina is right-handed) and, ranked No.58, Kristyna has never reached the same heights that her twin has achieved in her career. Without that giant-killing experience under her belt, it’ll be a tough ask for the Czech to complete the huge upset on Rod Laver Arena.
“I don’t know if it’s weird,” Kerber contemplated the prospect of playing against twins. “I mean, [Karolina] is right and [Kristyna] is left-handed. So this is the difference.
“I know that she has a great serve, as well. So, yeah, will looking forward to play against her.”
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova faced Elina Svitolina in the third round of the Australian Open, looking to pull off an upset.
Venus Williams took on Duan Ying Ying in the third round of the Australian Open.
STANFORD, CA, USA – 17-year-old Catherine Bellis thrilled the Northern California crowd in her first round against No.6 seed Jelena Ostapenko; the American ousted the Latvian youngster, 6-4, 6-4 at the Bank of the West Classic.
Watch live action from Stanford this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
“In the end, I was just a little bit more consistent than she was,” she said in her on-court interview. “I just tried to make as many balls as I could – especially in that last game. It was a little tight; I had a couple of heart attacks, but it’s all good!”
Bellis burst onto the scene back in 2014, when at 15 years of age, she stunned Dominika Cibulkova in the first round of the US Open to become the youngest woman to win a main draw match there in nearly a decade. Two years on, the potential still burned bright from the young American, who twice recovered from early deficits to survive the surging Ostapenko, who struggled on serve with nine double faults in the 72 minute match.
Injured in doubles on Monday, Bellis admitted to Andrew Krasny she considered pulling out of the tournament before the match took place.
“I didn’t even know if I was going to play tonight because yesterday I got hit with an overhead in the eye. I was crying so hard and wasn’t even able to see. So to even come out today meant so much to me.”
Improving to 3-2 against Top 50 opposition, Bellis will play the winner of the second night match in Stanford between qualifiers Sachia Vickery and Elitsa Kostova.
Her win over Ostapenko was the first Stadium Court match to last only two sets as Julia Boserup, Magda Linette, and Alison Riske each needed a decider to capture their first round wins. Another American wildcard who reached the third round of Wimbledon in her Grand Slam debut, Boserup dispatched rising star Naomi Osaka, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, while Linette recovered from a one-set deficit to defeat Kristyna Pliskova, 2-6, 6-2, 7-5. Riske pulled off the most dramatic win of all against Varvara Lepchenko, clinching victory in a third set tie-break, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(4).
More to come…