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#ThankYouAna: WTA Fans Share Favorite Ivanovic Memories

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Few have engaged tennis fans quite like Ana Ivanovic; the former No.1 and 2008 French Open champion has a combined 4.5 million followers on Facebook and Twitter.

Those fans took to social media to express their gratitude for their favorite player with the hashtag #ThankYouAna. Check out some of the best fan tweets below:

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Twitter Reacts: Muguruza-Mania

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

PARIS, France – The well-wishes keep pouring in for first-time Grand Slam winner Garbiñe Muguruza, who grabbed the Roland Garros title by defeating Serena Williams in straight sets on Saturday.

Social media was all a-twitter for the 22-year-old. First up, a few words from the champion herself:

 From WTA to ATP players to the biggest sports stars of Spain and the world, check out what everyone else had to say about the Spainard’s victory!

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Cibulkova Hosts Youth Q&A As WTA Charities Launches In Brisbane

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

BRISBANE, Australia – Dominika Cibulkova starts the 2017 season at a career-high ranking following her year-end triumph at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. Still, the Slovak found time to assist the efforts of the newly formed WTA Charities before kicking off her campaign at the Brisbane International.

Partnering with the Ronald McDonald House South East Queensland and the Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital, Cibulkova met a group of sick children who came prepared to ask the World No.5 questions about her life and career in Brisbane.

“They were really nice kids, asking good questions,” Cibulkova said after the event. “It was nice to meet them and I’m happy I can do this kind of thing.”

Asked what other sports she played, the former Australian Open finalist talked about the gymnastics she did as a child, but now enjoys skiing when she’s not on the tennis court. She also issued a challenge to Andre Agassi when asked which player she’d like to play.

“It’s cool that kids can get to know us a bit more, and I think they’ll follow tennis more intensely now, because when you know one of the players, you get more involved and more emotional. I think that’s really nice.”

Launched at the start of 2017, the mission of WTA Charities is to be a social responsibility vehicle built on the WTA’s values to empower and provide for a better future. WTA Charities is dedicated to combining, strengthening and enhancing the community and charitable efforts of the WTA through its members (players, alumnae and tournaments), along with its partners.

Cibulkova is the No.2 seed in Brisbane and will play her opening round match against Zhang Shuai.

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Serena Returns To Action In Auckland

Serena Returns To Action In Auckland

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

AUCKLAND, New Zealand – World No.2 Serena Williams is back in action for the first time in five months at the ASB Classic, playing her first ever match in Auckland. She’s not the only big name hitting the court, though, with Venus Williams and Caroline Wozniacki also starting out 2017 in New Zealand.

Click here for the complete Auckland singles and doubles draws.

POSSIBLE QUARTERFINALS:

[1] Serena Williams vs [7] Jelena Ostapenko
[4] Barbora Strycova vs [5] Kiki Bertens
[6] Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs [3] Caroline Wozniacki
[8] Ana Konjuh vs [2] Venus Williams

Serena Williams

‘NEW EXPERIENCES’ KEY FOR SERENA:

It’s been over five months since Serena played a tour-level tennis match, after falling to Karolina Pliskova at the US Open semifinals. She ended her season rehabbing a troublesome shoulder injury that kept her out of the WTA Finals in Singapore.

Now that she’s back in action, No.1 seed Serena admits to relishing new experiences – on and off the court.

“I’ve never been in Auckland and so I’ve never had an opportunity to be first in the world to welcome in this New Year,” she said at a charity event ahead of her opening match.

“This is a new experience for me and the fact that I’m still having new experiences this deep into my career makes me feel really good.”

Serena Williams, Venus Williams

Competing at the ASB Classic for the first time, the newly-engaged Serena will have the chance to collect her first win in Auckland as she opens the day session on Tuesday against France’s Pauline Parmentier for the pair’s first tour-level match.

Later tonight, No.2 seed Venus is set to take on local wildcard Jade Lewis, while No.3 seed Wozniacki will close out the night session against Nicole Gibbs.

– Photos courtesy of Tennis Auckland

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Muguruza Survives Late-Night Thriller Against Kasatkina In Brisbane

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

BRISBANE, Australia – For the second time in as many days, Garbiñe Muguruza came back from the brink to keep her hopes alive at the Brisbane International.

Muguruza entertained a record crowd at the Queensland Tennis Centre on Tuesday night, coming from match point down for to defeat the courageous Daria Kasatkina, 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(7), in one minute shy of three hours.

“What a match! It was terrible, I was suffering until last moment, but I think we were both playing amazing,” Muguruza said in her on-court interview. “The tie break is just a few points where it will be decided. I don’t know how I won but I’m glad I did it.

In a match that ebbed and flowed until the last, Kasatkina came roaring back from 4-1 down in the deciding set only to stumble when she was then presented with the opportunity to serve for it. Muguruza, somehow maintained her composure in the subsequent tie-break, wiping out a match point at 6-7 with a pin-point forehand before eventually making her weary limbs across the finishing line.

The previous evening, the Spaniard had been involved in an equally dramatic contest against home favorite Samantha Stosur. By her own admission, it is an atmosphere she revels in.

“I love to play in this type of court when the crowd is so into the match. I like to make them enjoy and suffer like me!”

In the quarterfinals, Muguruza will face either Svetlana Kuznetsova or Destanee Aiava.

Another seed put through the ringer was Elina Svitolina, who eventually saw off Shelby Rogers, 7-5, 2-6, 7-5.

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Mladenovic Battles Into Den Bosch QFs

Mladenovic Battles Into Den Bosch QFs

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

‘S-HERTOGENBOSCH, Netherlands – No.3 seed Kristina Mladenovic battled through fatigue and a surging Russian qualifier Natalia Vikhlyantseva to reach the quarterfinals at the Ricoh Open, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.

Watch live action from ‘s-Hertogenbosch this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

Mladenovic acknowledged that the quick turnaround from the Roland Garros clay – where on Saturday she won a Grand Slam doubles title with partner Caroline Garcia – to the grass of ‘s-Hertogenbosch was tough on her. In fact, it left her participation in the Ricoh Open up in the air.

“I have to be honest, I’m a bit surprised to be in the quarterfinals here,” Mladenovic admitted. “But I love the tournament, grass is one of my favorite surfaces.

“I was thinking about maybe pulling out, because obviously there is fatigue. I’m a bit tired, but I wanted to commit because I love this tournament and that’s why I keep coming back a couple of years in a row.”

Standing between Mladenovic and the quarterfinals was Russian qualifier Vikhlyantseva, who last round scored an upset to oust Denisa Allertova. Vikhlyantseva played far above her No.254 ranking to take the first set from the Frenchwoman, breaking twice to rattle off the last four consecutive games and take it 7-5.

The Frenchwoman grabbed an early break in the second set to rally to a 5-2 lead. Despite Vikhlyantseva getting one back, Mladenovic closed her out at her next chance, 6-3. In the deciding set, Mladenovic again felt pushback from Vikhlyantseva, staying toe to toe with her all the way to 4-4 before pulling away to take the match and her spot in the quarterfinals.

Mladenovic chalked up her first set stumble in part to the unknown factor of playing a new opponent for the first time, although the only thing she’s thinking about now is a well-deserved break.

“I didn’t know much about her,” she said of the 19-year-old Russian. “She’s very young and seems to be very talented and not easy to play on grass. Not much rallying and she has good serve. But I just had to dig in there.”

“To be honest, I’m very satisfied to be into the quarters tomorrow. I guess I will have a day off to try to recover – I still feel like I’m on clay in Roland Garros!”

2014 champion CoCo Vandeweghe is also through to the quarterfinals of the Ricoh Open. Despite an innocuous-looking scoreline of 6-2, 6-3 over Nao Hibino, Vandeweghe survived a doozy with six break of serve in the first set alone. In the second set, she rattled off six straight games to turn around a 3-0 deficit.

“Today was a very tricky day for me, mentally,” Vandeweghe said afterward. “I wasn’t as focused as I would like to be. But I managed to overcome it today.

“That’s kind of the name of the game, to just keep moving on, keep going through the second round.”

Also through are Belgian qualifier Elise Mertens, who defeated Aleksandra Krunic 6-4, 7-6(3); and Madison Brengle, who edged through in a battle against Dutch favorite Richel Hogenkamp, 7-5, 5-7, 7-5.

CoCo Vandeweghe

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WTA Breakthrough Of The Month: Bertens

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Few were as stunned by Kiki Bertens’ Cinderella run to the semifinals of Roland Garros than Bertens herself. The Dutch star celebrated her almost improbable quarterfinal win over No.8 seed Timea Bacsinszky with a shrug.

“I was like, Can you believe it? Because I cannot. And also my parents were like, No, this is not happening. But, yeah, it is.”

Her run of 12 straight wins – not including a doubles victory over the Williams sisters – began as a qualifier at the NÜRNBERGER VERSICHERUNGSCUP, which she won before reaching the second week of a Grand Slam for just the second time in her career, all but guaranteeing her spot on the Dutch Olympic team at the upcoming Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.

“I think in the preseason I did a lot of work. Like the first three weeks was only physical practices, like two, sometimes three times a day.

“It was a hell really, but I’m really glad we did it. Like with my whole team we were working really hard every day.”

For all of those reasons, Bertens is your Breakthrough Player of the Month!

Final Results for May’s WTA Breakthrough Performance Of The Month

1. Kiki Bertens (69%)
2. Shelby Rogers (16%)
3. Yulia Putintseva (12%)
4. Louisa Chirico (3%)

2016 Breakthrough Performance Of The Month Winners

January: Zhang Shuai
February: Jelena Ostapenko
March: Nicole Gibbs
April: Cagla Buyukakcay

How it works:

Finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com

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