Nanchang: Changing Of The Guard
A mixture of fresh and familiar faces assembled for third edition of the Jiangxi Open. Find out what the players have been up to on and off the court…
A mixture of fresh and familiar faces assembled for third edition of the Jiangxi Open. Find out what the players have been up to on and off the court…
WTA Insider | The Insider team addresses the withdrawal of top seed Serena Williams, the re-ascent of Angelique Kerber to No.1, and the similarly different BNP Paribas Open draw.
July was packed with plenty of amazing shots – we narrowed it down to the five best.
In the end it was Simona Halep who turned thrilling defense into stirring offense on Daria Gavrilova at the Rogers Cup.
Playing her first hardcourt match since the Miami Open, Halep turned around what looked like an unwinnable point against the young Aussie, who was forced to hit one (or two or three) extra shots before finally succumbing to a fast-advancing Halep.
Click here to watch all of July’s finalists.
Final Results for July’s WTA Shot Of The Month
1. Simona Halep (79%)
2. Eugenie Bouchard (9%)
3. Angelique Kerber (6%)
4. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (3%)
5. Johanna Konta (3%)
2016 WTA Shot of the Month Winners
January: Caroline Wozniacki
February: Agnieszka Radwanska
March: Agnieszka Radwanska
April: Monica Niculescu
May: Simona Halep
June: Agnieszka Radwanska
How it works:
Five shots are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com
The lower half of the singles draw will kick into action on Thursday at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Chris Oddo takes a look at the compelling matchups right here at wtatennis.com.
Thursday
First round
Eugenie Bouchard (CAN # 53) vs. Annika Beck (GER # 61)
Head-to-head: Tied, 1-1
Key Stat: Bouchard saved all five break points she faced in her straight sets win over Beck last year at New Haven.
A pair of 23-year-olds with tons of potential will look to kick their 2017 campaigns into high gear on Thursday when Eugenie Bouchard and Annika Beck meet for the third time. Bouchard started the year promisingly by reaching the semifinals at Sydney, but she has not won since falling in a tight three-setter in the third round of the Australian Open to CoCo Vandeweghe. Bouchard has been solid in all of her main draw appearances at Indian Wells, and owns a 6-3 record at this event. Is it time for some of the hard work that Bouchard has done under coach Thomas Hogstedt to pay off this week?
Meanwhile 2017 has been a struggle for Beck, whose ranking peaked at a career-high of 37 last July. She lost her first three matches of the season and only owns one Top 50 win. Beck has only been past the second round once at Indian Wells, and has lost three of her last four here.
Pick: Bouchard in two
Peng Shuai (CHN # 41) vs. Lesia Tsurenko (UKR # 49)
Head-to-head: Peng leads, 1-0
Key Stat: Peng was ranked 768 in the world last year at Indian Wells.
Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko comes into the BNP Paribas Open riding high, having won her third career title last weekend in Acapulco, but she’ll need to stay on guard on Thursday when she faces a tricky qualifier who is a former BNP Paribas Open quarterfinalist with 12 wins to her name. Peng Shuai was ranked well outside of the Top 700 when she visited Indian Wells last season, but this year she’s back inside the Top 50 after a 2016 full of victories on the ITF and WTA circuit. Peng’s story is characterized by determination and fortitude – she has battled through serious back issues to reemerge as a factor on tour. Tsurenko, who enters the main draw with an impressive 9-2 record on the season, is closing in on her peak ranking, just eight spots shy of the career-best No.33 ranking she achieved in 2015.
Pick: Tsurenko in three
Andrea Petkovic (GER #79) vs. Vania King (USA # 91)
Head-to-head: Petkovic leads, 3-0
Key Stat: Petkovic has lost her last four matches at Indian Wells; her last three in three sets.
Andrea Petkovic and Vania King will battle for the right to face Angelique Kerber in the second round, and while it is Petkovic that owns the decided edge in the pair’s head-to-head, King is a Southern California native who will relish the chance to knock off a few big names on home soil. King hasn’t had much traction thus far in 2017, but she does own eight career main draw wins at Indian Wells, including a Top 20 upset over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in 2012.
Working in King’s favor is the fact that Petkovic, even when she has been playing her best tennis, has never been able to figure out the tricky desert conditions at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. The German is 1-5 lifetime here, and has not won a main draw match since she defeated Lucie Safarova in 2011.
It’s been a long time for Petko. Will she be able to find her form against the lesser-ranked King, or will King come through with another big win in the Golden State?
Pick: King in three
Jelena Jankovic (SRB # 51) vs. Irina Falconi (USA # 96)
Head-to-head: Jankovic leads, 1-0
Key Stat: Jankovic has made more main draw appearances than any other player in BNP Paribas Open history.
2010 champion and 2015 BNP Paribas Open runner-up Jelena Jankovic will bid for her 26th main draw win at Indian Wells when she takes on feisty Irina Falconi for the second time and first on a hardcourt.
Jankovic, who lost in the round of 16 last year to eventual semifinalist Agnieszka Radwanska, comes into Thursday’s match on a four-match losing streak. But the Serb is back on her home soil. Falconi may play for the stars and stripes, but Jankovic now owns a home in San Diego and considers herself a California girl. Will a dose of the dreamy desert landscape do Jankovic good, or will it be Falconi who secures the upset and earns the right to face Venus Williams in the second round?
Pick: Jankovic in two
Around the Grounds:
American wildcard Taylor Townsend has won four of five first-round encounters at Indian Wells. She’ll try to make it five of six on Thursday when she faces Polish qualifier Magda Linette (winner faces No.13-seeded Caroline Wozniacki).
Croatia’s Ajla Tomljanovic will continue her comeback at Indian Wells with a first-round battle with Germany’s Julia Goerges. After missing a full year due to a shoulder injury, Tomljanovic made her return at Acapulco last week, where she upset Eugenie Bouchard in her first match.
Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova will battle Spanish qualifier Sara Sorribes Tormo for the right to face Agnieszka Radwanska in the second round. The former World No.8 has never been past the third round in nine previous BNP Paribas Open appearances.
– Photos courtesy of Getty Images
The first round of the Olympics gets underway on Saturday, with several intriguing matches, including 2000 gold medalist Venus Williams’ clash against Kirsten Flipkens.
Andrea Petkovic moves into the second round to face Angelique Kerber at the BNP Paribas Open – catch up with more of Day 2 results right here!
An interview with Johanna Konta before her first round at the Olympic tennis event.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Four-time Olympic gold medalist Serena Williams survived some breezy conditions to ease past unseeded Aussie Daria Gavrilova, 6-4, 6-2, to reach the second round of the Olympic tennis event.
“It felt really good to be out htere today,” Serena said after the match. “It’s been a long time; four years ago I was out here playing the Olympics, so it’s really cool to be here again.”
Serena swept the singles and doubles events four years ago in London, but struggled early on against Gavrilova, who was making her Olympic debut. Racing out to a 5-2 lead in the opening set, Serena found herself pegged back to 5-4 against the combined forces of the Aussie and the dust storm known as a “haboob,” but played her best tennis when it mattered most to put herself a set from victory after 49 minutes.
“Early on it was super windy, and it was a survival of just who could get the ball in; it wasn’t quality tennis because of the strange and tough conditions. But I got through it.”
No sweat from Serena. She’s fired up and breaks Gavrilova to pocket the set 6-4. Patience will be the key to winning on these slow courts.
— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) August 7, 2016
Gavrilova is a former Youth Olympic gold medalist in 2010, and began 2016 with a bang, winning the Hopman Cup alongside countryman Nick Kyrgios and reaching the round of 16 at the Australian Open; the youngster continued to fight in the second set, digging out of a marathon sixth game to keep herself in contention, but ultimately succumbed on her third match point.
Hoping to win her fifth Olympic gold medal – and second in singles – Serena will next play the winner of Johanna Larsson and Alizé Cornet for a spot in the third round. The American will also begin her doubles campaign with sister Venus, who took a heart-breaking loss to Kirsten Flipkens on the first day of play last night.
“We just want to have the chance. Hopefully we can win a couple of matches, and see how it goes. We love playing doubles, period, so every four years, we know we have a chance where we’re guaranteed to get some matches.”
At the start of the weekend, Serena got a shoutout from former United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is currently the Democratic nominee for the 2016 presidental election:
Four gold medals and counting: Today, @SerenaWilliams hits the court in Rio to add to her collection. pic.twitter.com/iOMV0FH38S
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) August 6, 2016
No.2 seed Angelique Kerber was not too far behind her American rival on Sunday, winning the last five games of her first round match against Mariana Duque-Mariño, 6-3, 7-5.
The 2012 Olympic tennis event quarterfinalist was coming off a run to the semifinals at the Rogers Cup, but didn’t have things all her own way against the Colombian, who took a 5-2 lead in the second set – holding a set point on her own serve at 5-3 – before the German came back to book her place in the second round.
Kerber will next play Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard, who sailed past Sloane Stephens, 6-3, 6-3; Bouchard beat Kerber in their most recent encounter at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.
“It's an honor to play for ??. I will give everything to win a medal.”
Kerber on #Rio2016: https://t.co/OTneLotFCe pic.twitter.com/Un61YNfp0t
— WTA (@WTA) August 5, 2016
Petra Kvitova strode purposefully past former World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki and into the third round of the Olympic Games on Monday.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – No.3 seed Garbiñe Muguruza was sent crashing out of the Olympic tennis event in Rio after a decisive 6-1, 6-1 defeat at the hands of Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig.
Competing in her first ever Olympic Games, 22-year-old Puig notched her first ever victory over a Top 5 player against the No.4-ranked Muguruza to claim the biggest win of her career.
“I think it is. I consider it the biggest win of my career because it’s at the Olympics. This happens once every four years,” Puig said, grinning in the mixed zone after the match. “Right now, I’m in the clouds. I can’t even believe it because truly it was incredible.”
Muguruza’s usually aggressive game was lacking its bite, and she couldn’t seem to find her rhythm, getting caught a step or two late to the ball time and time again. The Spaniard struck almost twice as many unforced errors as Puig, 29 to 15. Her powerful serve fired off seven double faults, and she was broken six times throughout the hour-long encounter.
Puig took advantage of Muguruza’s lapse and came out of the gate on fire, breaking in the fourth game to quickly build up a 4-1 lead, which she backed up by breaking again and snapping up the opening set. Puig’s zinging forehand and dogged, line-to-line defense powered her through the next set as she broke Muguruza four more times to reach her first ever Olympic quarterfinals.
“I still have goose bumps,” Puig said of serving for the match and her emotional reaction afterward. “You just go into shock, you are trying to keep it together the whole time because you know in that last game, serving at 4-1 especially to consolidate that break, you’re so close to winning you start getting emotional, there’s no hiding it, you start feeling those butterflies, those nerves.
“So I think it’s all that coming out, you keep it bottled up. It’s like a Coca Cola bottle if you shake it, you shake it, you shake it, it’s going to explode. I just tried to not explode till the right moment and it worked.”
The win is a banner result for Puig, who started out the year ranked No.94. Her newly-found consistency has seen her reach the quarterfinals or better at six events as well as climb all the way to a career-high No.33.
“I know what I want to achieve and I’m letting the world know that Monica Puig is here. It’s my time,” she said. “I’ve always been there, but I’ve never been able to maintain the level. But I’m doing it now and I’m in such a good moment.
“I want the medal, and I’m going to do what it takes to reach this goal… I always seem to play my best when I play for my country.”
Puig is set to play against Germany’s Laura Siegemund in the next round for a spot in the semifinals.
.@MonicaAce93 agradece el apoyo del pueblo de Puerto Rico luego de su victoria hoy en #Rio2016. ????? pic.twitter.com/RLUyH3ofaB
— Comité Olímpico PUR (@ComiteOlimpico) August 9, 2016