Tennis News

TAIPEI CITY, Taiwan – No.1 seed Elina Svitolina is through to her first final of 2017 after a comfortable straight sets win over Mandy Minella at the Taiwan Open, 6-3, 6-2.

Svitolina found herself under pressure at the onset, with Minella drawing first blood and breaking Svitolina after a rollercoaster game for a 3-1 lead. But Ukraine’s No.1 didn’t let her keep the lead for very long.

“I was trying to be aggressive on the return, because she has a big serve,” Svitolina said in post-match press. “I wanted to put more pressure on her, and I think this worked really well. She had a good start, but I was fine with it. I was just focusing on my strategy. I stayed quite solid.”

.@ElinaSvitolina races past Minella 6-3, 6-2!

Sets @WTA_Taiwan_Open Final vs Peng Shuai! pic.twitter.com/y33pIzY4EY

— WTA (@WTA) February 4, 2017

The strategy paid off, with Svitolina quickly breaking twice to reel off five straight games and take the set. Minella couldn’t find her way back into the match, surrendering two more breaks to send Svitolina through to the final after just over an hour.

Awaiting in the final will be the resurgent Peng Shuai after the Chinese knocked out birthday girl Lucie Safarova in straight sets.

“She’s ranked No.71 now but I know she was much higher before she was injured,” Svitolina said. “She’s playing really confident, and she’s also in the final in the same situation as me.

“I’m looking to the final with a positive mindset. I’m gonna bring my game to the table and be focused. It’s the last match of the tournament, so you never know what’s gonna happen. I will just try to be 100% and give everything that I have, and hopefully it will be a win.”

Peng, who at 30 years old took home her maiden WTA title late last year in Tianjin, has been making her way back to the top after a long injury layoff. The Chinese player underwent major back surgery in 2015 after the French Open to treat recurring injuries and prolong her career.

“The doctors told me I should think twice before taking this operation and surgery,” Peng said after her victory in Tianjin. “They said no one can make sure that the operation could be successful, 100%. The doctors performed this operation on me and told me there was a 50% possibility I could come back to the court.

“After the surgery, I needed to do a lot of training and practicing. Something I could do in the past, maybe I could not do it today after the surgery. I need to take gradual steps to improve myself after the surgery. I think more important for me is to stay healthy and fit, otherwise I cannot continue my professional career.”

Peng Shuai advances to @WTA_Taiwan_Open Final!

Scores an impressive 6-4, 6-2 win over Safarova! pic.twitter.com/Q9RfpBg5G0

— WTA (@WTA) February 4, 2017

Ranked at a career-high No.14 in 2014, Peng’s ranking dipped as low as No.768 in 2016 before her breakthrough on home soil in Tianjin. Now, less than three months later the Chinese player is back in a WTA final, just her second since her return to the game.

“I didn’t think too much on court, just tried my best to fight for it,” Peng said after her victory over Safarova. “It’s hard to predict how well you can play, either in singles or doubles, I’ll just play match by match. I’m very happy to be able to get into the final.”

MALLORCA, Spain – Daniela Hantuchova received an extra boost of Slovak power at the Mallorca Open, where she grabbed her first main draw win of the year and got the news that she’d been awarded a wildcard into Wimbledon.

Earlier this week a very special cheering squad made the trip to the Mediterranean: 12 Slovakian Miss Universe contestants travelled to Mallorca to enjoy a bit of world class tennis at the inaugural event. The contestants’ first stop on their tour of the Balearic Island? A meet and great with former World No.5 Hantuchova, whose own tennis has flourished on the Spanish grass courts this week.

Earlier in the week, Hantuchova grabbed her first main draw win of the year in the opening round of the Mallorca Open when she defeated Yaroslava Shvedova 6-1, 6-3. In fact, it was her first main draw win since last year’s Istanbul Open, where she defeated Turkish trailblazer Cagla Buyukakcay in the first round.

The Slovak’s spirited Mallorca victory also earned her an even sweeter prize: a main draw wildcard into Wimbledon, and a big career milestone.

This year’s Championships will be Hantuchova’s 60th appearance in the main draw of a Grand Slam, putting her at No.8 in the elite list of players with the most appearances in the Open Era.

Open Era: Grand Slam Main Draw Appearances
71 Amy Frazier
70 Venus Williams
67 Martina Navratilova
64 Conchita Martinez
63 Ai Sugiyama
63 Serena Williams
62 Francesca Schiavone
60 Daniela Hantuchova

Hantuchova made her Grand Slam main draw debut over 15 years ago in the 2001 Australian Open, and she’s been a main draw staple ever since, only missing out on two occurrences (French Open 2008 and 2012).

Here’s a list of all the singles wildcards awarded so far for the 2016 edition of The Championships.

2016 Wimbledon Ladies Singles Wildcards
1. Daniela Hantuchova (SVK)
2. Marina Melnikova (RUS)
3. Tara Moore (GBR)
4. Laura Robson (GBR)
5. Katie Swan (GBR)
6. To be announced
7. To be announced
8. To be announced

No word yet on whether the Slovakian Miss Universe contestants will follow Hantuchova all the way to London.

Click here for a complete list of all the wildcards announced so far at Wimbledon.

Last week, in honor of the Euro 2016 and Copa America kicking off, we asked tennis fans a big question: if WTA players were a national team, who would be in your starting lineup? After one week of voting, the results have been tallied up and we’re ready to unveil the Fan Voted WTA XI.

But first, let’s remind you who we chose for our official WTA starting lineup:

The WTA plays in a classic 4-4-2 formation, which means that along with a goalkeeper, we’re fielding four defenders, four midfielders, and two strikers.

Of course, fans had other ideas for which players would make the best team, so we put it to a vote.

After tallying up the numbers, here’s who made the cut in the Fan Voted WTA XI:

Here’s how it breaks down:

FORWARDS

We chose to play two of the most powerful attack-minded players in the game as our strikers, but it looks like fans wouldn’t take the field without starting the player with one of the best winning percentages in 2016: Victoria Azarenka.

We chose:

· Serena Williams
· Garbiñe Muguruza

The fans voted:

· Garbiñe Muguruza
· Victoria Azarenka

Though Azarenka also garnered a lot of votes as a potential defender, the overwhelming majority of fans voted her as a striker – and we can’t say we disagree.

MIDFIELDERS

Our midfield is packed with skillful and creative players, but fans were torn as to which playmakers they wanted in their Fan Voted WTA XI. In the end, here’s how the voting played out:

We chose:

· Agnieszka Radwanska
· Simona Halep
· Timea Bacsinszky
· Belinda Bencic

The fans voted:

· Simona Halep
· Agnieszka Radwanska
· Kristina Mladenovic
· Svetlana Kuznetsova

Fans voted for a mix of youth and experience by adding Mladenovic and Kuznetsova to the star duo of Radwanska and Halep. Though Halep was also voted as a potential defender, more fans thought she’d be a better fit in the midfield.

DEFENDERS

Our defenders are a rock-solid bunch of the most consistent, defense-minded returners and counter punchers in the game – here’s who made the cut in the Fan Voted WTA XI.

We chose:

· Angelique Kerber
· Victoria Azarenka
· Sara Errani
· Caroline Wozniacki

The fans voted:

· Angelique Kerber
· Dominika Cibulkova
· Sara Errani
· Elina Svitolina

Both back lines seem pretty impenetrable – which one do you think would stand up to the test?

GOALKEEPERS

In our WTA XI, we trusted our goal in the hands of Petra “Cech” Kvitova, but fans had a different player in mind for this position.

We chose:

· Petra Kvitova

The fans voted:

· Andrea Petkovic

Although she also grabbed a lot of votes as a defender, the vast majority of fans thought Petkovic would do a better job in goal. Do you agree with this substitution?

There’s your fan-voted WTA Starting 11! Do you agree with the fan vote or the WTA starting lineup? Which team do you think has a better shot at title-winning glory? Tweet us your thoughts – right here @WTA!

BIRMINGHAM, Great Britain – When Serena Williams was asked about young Madison Keys’ prospects in 2015, the World No.1 did not hesitate.

“I think she can go really, really far; I think that she can be the best in the world. The way she played today, I definitely think she has the potential to be No.1 and win Grand Slams.”

Now, almost a year and a half later, Keys is one step closer to fulfilling Serena’s prediction: by virtue of her win over Carla Suárez Navarro to reach the final of the Aegon Classic Birmingham, Madison Keys will move into the WTA Top 10 on Monday.

Keys’ milestone comes as no surprise for fans who’ve followed her career: she currently sits at No.16 and has been threatening a breakthrough all year long. She’s fresh off of a career-best clay court season that saw her reach her first final on the red clay of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia and make the second week of the French Open, and earlier this year, she made the quarterfinals at the Miami Open. Keys has four Top 20 wins so far this year, too.

Now, Keys adds her name to an elite group of American women who have made their mark on WTA history.

Americans To Debut In WTA Top 10 (Last 25 Years):
Lindsay Davenport (1994)
Chanda Rubin (1996)
Venus Williams (1998)
Serena Williams (1999)
Madison Keys (2016)

There have been 118 different players who have achieved a Top 10 ranking since the WTA Rankings were introduced on November 3, 1975, and 27 of those have been Americans. Keys is the first American to make her Top 10 debut since Serena did so 17 years ago on April 5, 1999.

But that’s not all – with Serena and Venus Williams already there, this will be the first time since September 2005 that there are three Americans in the WTA Top 10. Back then, Davenport was ranked No.2 with Venus and Serena at No.7 and No.9, respectively.