Tennis News

MELBOURNE, Australia – The Australian Open has increased prize money to an historic high of $50 million, up 14% on 2016.  Men and women singles winners will each get $3.7m while a first round loser will receive $50,000.

“We are committed to further improving the pay and conditions on the international tennis tour to ensure every professional tennis player is properly compensated,” said Australian Open Tournament Director CEO Craig Tiley.

“It was especially important for us to increase the compensation for players in the early rounds and qualifying, and this year we have made some real gains. We are constantly reviewing ways to improve the life of every player on tour, not just the Top 100. This includes increasing prize money as well as removing as many costs as possible associated with playing our events.

“Our aim is to shift the break-even point for professional players, to ensure that tennis is a viable career option for the best male and female athletes in the world. We are also committed to equal prize money, equal exposure and equal opportunity for men and women.

“We are proud of our record in looking after the players, and will continue the push for increased prize money for professional players.”

The tournament’s prize money has more than tripled since 2001, when it was $13.9m, with a $10 million increase since 2014.

2016 Year-End World No.1 Angelique Kerber is the defending champion, having defeated then-No.1 Serena Williams in a thrilling three-set final Down Under. 

Round-by-round individual prize money for the Australian Open singles tournaments are as follows:

PARIS, France – Shelby Rogers beat the odds on Sunday, dispatching No.25 seed Irina-Camelia Begu, 6-3, 6-4 at the French Open to reach her first-ever Grand Slam quarterfinal.

Rogers proved she could play on clay earlier this year when she reached the final of the Rio Open, but the unseeded American had never been past the third round at any major tournament in her career. Meanwhile, Begu had enjoyed the most consistent clay court season of anyone in the field, reaching the quarterfinals in Charleston and Madrid, and the semifinals in Rome.

Nevertheless, Rogers has been the Cinderella story of the tournament, taking out No.17 seed Karolina Pliskova, Volvo Car Open finalist Elena Vesnina and No.10 seed Petra Kvitova just to reach the second week. Playing on Court Suzaane Lenglen, she took it to her Romanian opposition, hititng 15 winners and nine fewer unforced errors than Begu, who only hit 12 winners in two sets.

“I think any player has to be ready to do well every week,” she said in her post-match press conference. “We enter the tournaments with expectations, of course, to do well or work on things or, you know, with certain goals in mind.

“If you don’t expect to do well, then maybe you shouldn’t play, you know. I keep going back to trying to treat this as any other tournament, any other tennis match. Obviously the stakes are much higher and the players are much better.

“I’m just trying to stick with my routines and do what I have been doing all year.”

Up a set and 4-2, Rogers briefly saw her lead under threat as the No.25 seed surged back to level the second.

“I won the first set and it was working. Okay, I missed a few, but still going for the right shots kind of thing. So just keep going after it I kept telling myself. It was working in the first, it’s going to work again. So keep doing it.”

Maintaining the course, a fifth break of serve in the tenth game proved decisive for the 23-year-old American, who clinched the biggest win of her career in one hour and 21 minutes.

“I really enjoyed playing on that court. It was a great experience.

“I think that’s a very important point on backing up a big win. I guess I have done that pretty much this whole tournament, starting with the first round, because that was a huge upset for me and kind of set the tone for the last few matches I have played.”

Setting up a quarterfinal encounter with No.4 seed Garbiñe Muguruza, Rogers becomes the first American not named Venus or Serena Williams to make it this far at the French Open since 2005 (Lindsay Davenport) and, at No.108 in the world, the lowest ranked player since 2012, when qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova won her way into the last eight, ranked No.142.

“I keep reminding myself to play one point at a time and that this is just another tennis match. But that’s getting a little bit harder to do as the rounds get farther.

“But I’m very happy with the way I played, and I just hope to continue it.”

“I always dreamed it would happen but I'm not sure I thought it could.” Well @Shelby_Rogers_ , it's happening! #RG16 https://t.co/0eZ2l2LrCu

— Roland Garros (@rolandgarros) May 29, 2016

Karolina Pliskova

2016 Quick Hits
Week 1 Ranking: No.11
Year-End Ranking: No.6
Season Highlights: Nottingham, Cincinnati Champion, Singapore RR
Best Major Result: RU (US Open)

2017 Outlook

Everything you need to know about Pliskova’s season happened in the space of three weeks, where runs to the Western & Southern Open title and the US Open final changed the course of her season – and perhaps her career.

“This year, I’ve had some ups and downs while last year was more solid,” she told WTA Insider after stopping Angelique Kerber from ascending to No.1 in Cincinnati. “It was different, but this year I’ve played bigger tournaments and bigger matches. I won a few, lost a few, and this one is just the biggest of my career so far.

“I’m just happy that it happened this year, because so many people were saying this year has been so bad, and, ‘You have been playing so bad,’ and everything like this. So I’m just happy even for those people, that they can see I can still win something.”

The 2016 ace leader came into the US Open as an undoubted darkhorse, but surpassed all expectations as she saved a match point to defeat Venus Williams in one of the best matches of the year. She followed that win up with an even more emphatic victory over then World No.1 Serena Williams, becoming the eighth woman to beat both Williams sisters at the same tournament – the fourth at a Grand Slam.

“There is not more than to beat both sisters in one tournament in New York,” Pkiskova said after the semifinal. “I’m really excited about those two wins.”

Pliskova narrowly lost the final to Kerber, and finished 2016 by making her debut appearance at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. The Czech youngster is eager to make even greater strides in 2017.

“With me, everything takes time,” she said in Singapore. “Next year maybe I will go out of the group. Right now I know how is it here to play. I got used to it, the system, and I’ll be more experienced next year.

Hopefully I’ll be back.”

PARIS, France – No.5 seeds Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic rounded out the French Open doubles quarterfinals, becoming the last team to advance to the final eight with a dominating victory over German duo Anna-Lena Friedsam and Laura Siegemund, 6-3, 6-2.

Mladenovic recovered from Saturday’s heartbreaker against Serena Williams to continue to delight the French crowd alongside partner Garcia by squeezing in a doubles win before the rain halted play for the rest of the day. The Frenchwomen are the No.2 doubles team on the Road To Singapore Leaderboard and have been a regular force on the tour since the start of the year when they teamed up in hopes of an Olympic berth.

Into their first Grand Slam quarterfinal as a team, Garcia and Mladenovic will face the on-form duo of Kiki Bertens and Johanna Larsson in the next round. The Dutch-Swedish team is fresh off of a title last week at Nürnberg and on Sunday in the third round they dealt Serena Williams and Venus Williams a 7-6(8) 4-6 6-0 upset.

The No.3 seeded team of Hao-Ching Chan and Yung-Jan Chan will have to wait another day to complete their match against No.7 Russians Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina. The Russians vaulted ahead to a commanding 6-1 lead, but the Chan sisters were just beginning to mount their comeback in the second set by opening with a break when the rain forced the match to be postponed at 1-2.

The Chans are the highest seeded team remaining in the doubles draw after the shock straight sets defeat of Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza on Sunday at the hands of Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova. Nicknamed “SanTina,” the pair sit at No.1 on the Road To Singapore Leaderboard and share the No.1 ranking in doubles, but they couldn’t muster up any magic against the Czechs as their bid for a “SanTina Slam” came to an end.

Turning in to twins @KikiMladenovic @CaroGarcia? ? #RG16 pic.twitter.com/sJRFgUX1wd

— Roland Garros (@rolandgarros) May 31, 2016

PARIS, France – No.4 seed Garbiñe Muguruza was made to work in the first set of her much-anticipated French Open quarterfinal against Shelby Rogers, but from set point down, the Spaniard rallied and never looked back, easing past the American, 7-5, 6-3, to reach her first career semifinal at Roland Garros.

Rogers had enjoyed a most impressive run into the last eight, upsetting No.17 seed Karolina Pliskova, Volvo Car Open finalist Elena Vesnina, No.10 seed Petra Kvitova, and No.25 seed Irina-Camelia Begu to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal. Muguruza herself had played solid tennis to reach this stage for a third year in a row, but it was the young American who steadied first, edging out to a 5-3 lead and getting within a point from the opening set.

The 2015 Wimbledon runner-up had only dropped one set through her first four matches, and promptly saved the set point and only lost three more points to sneak off with the opening set a few games later.

Rogers stopped the rot at six straight games, and took one last stand when she recovered from a 0-3 deficit to level the second set at three games apiece.

Muguruza ultimately had too much experience for the American, duly serving out the match to reach the final four for the first time at the French Open.

In a battle of first strike tennis, the No.4 seed proved far more consistent, striking 21 winners to Rogers’ 16, and only 13 unforced errors to 21 from the American. Coverting four of her six break point opportinities, the Spaniard also hit five aces in the 81 minute affair.

Up next is either 2010 finalist and No.21 seed Samantha Stosur or Tsvetana Pironkova. 

More to come…

PARIS, France – Defending champion Serena Williams fired out a warning shot that echoed around Roland Garros by swatting aside Elina Svitolina in straight sets on Wednesday morning.

The players had originally been due on court 48 hours earlier, only for the Paris weather to intervene. When they did finally make it onto Philippe Chatrier, Williams was clearly intent on making up for lost time, reeling off the first four games in the blink of an eye.

Svitolina did eventually get on the scoreboard but was unable to stem the tide for long, dropping the first set in under half an hour. The second set was almost as brief, the American wrapping up a 6-1, 6-1 victory to reach the last eight for a 10th time.

When the players last met in a major, at the 2015 Australian Open, Svitolina extended the World No.1 to three sets. However, on the clay it was never a contest, Williams making a mockery of the heavy conditions to rack up 27 winners in her 62 minutes on court.

“I think it’s definitely a whole new ballgame. I didn’t play my best in the third round and I really wanted to come out and do a lot better and prove that I can do better than that,” Williams said.

The tone was set in the opening game, Svitolina missing four first serves; Williams duly broke to love.

In the build-up to the match both Williams and her coach Patrick Mouratoglou had made no secret of the danger posed by Svitolina, particularly with four-time French Open champion Justine Henin now in her corner. 

Faced with the World No.1 in full flight, Svitolina found it tough to live up to this billing. It was not until the fifth game that she hit a winner and the few openings she did carve out were more often than not slammed shut with a thudding serve.

Williams, who remains on track to become the first player to defend the title in Paris since Henin in 2007, is now just three wins away from her 22nd major title, matching Steffi Graf’s tally and closing in on Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24.

Afterwards, she refused to be drawn on her relentless record chasing exploits: “I think every day, for me, is important to get up for all my matches, you know, first round to the last round. I feel like the moment I step on the court that’s all I see, is the ball and the opportunity to do the best I can.”

She is not expecting an easy time in the next round, when she takes on one of Mouratoglou’s former charges, Yulia Putintseva. “I have actually played her a couple of times, and most recently in Indian Wells,” Williams said. “You know, she’s a tough player. She’s really hungry. I feel like she gives 200% on every single point.”

This attitude was evident in Putintseva’s rain-delayed 7-5, 7-5 win over No.12 seed Carla Suárez Navarro. Putintseva’s intensity and variety never allowed the Spaniard find her comfort zone, drawing error after error.

“I have been waiting for like two or three days for my fourth-round match. Of course it was getting nervous and all this stuff because of the weather. I had to change my hotel, as well, because my reservation finished. But I’m happy that in the end the wait was worth it,” Putintseva said.

What a passing shot by Serena Williams! ? #hotshot #RG16 (via @rolandgarros) https://t.co/ymvi9EUoIK

— We Are Tennis (@WeAreTennis) 1 June 2016

PARIS, France – Kiki Bertens continued her French Open fairytale on Thursday afternoon with a straight set victory over No.8 seed Timea Bacsinszky.

Prior to this fortnight, Bertens had only ever been beyond the second round of a major once before – reaching the fourth round here in 2014 – but after defeating Bacsinszky, 7-5, 6-2, she will now face reigning champion Serena Williams for a place in the final.

An opening set littered with breaks and momentum shifts hinged on the 11th game when Bertens bucked the trend by holding serve. A sequence of errors from Bacsinszky brought three set points, Bertens wrapping it up courtesy of a thumping forehand.

By contrast, the second set was all Bertens, her confidence soaring after prevailing in the 70-minute opening stanza. Understandably given her recent exploits – this was her 20th match in singles and doubles in the past 20 days – the Dutchwoman began to run out of steam as the finishing line approached.

Bacsinszky, though, proved to be equally exhausted, dragging a forehand wide to bring up match point. Moments later it was over – Bertens tumbling to the clay, scarcely able to believe her accomplishment.

Afterwards, Bertens was quick to highlight the importance of the see-saw first set: “I think it was really difficult today. The circumstances were really tough. The court is really slow. The balls are heavy. It’s really tough to play aggressive, and especially with Timea. She is like changing a lot, like with some slower balls and some higher ones, so it was pretty tough for me.

“But I think afterwards I was 4-2 down, and then I was just like, Okay, we are just going to be calm and try to fight for each point. I did it and I won the first set. Yeah, it was just keep on fighting for every ball.”

The last Dutchwoman to make it this far at one of the four majors was Betty Stove, who lost in the semifinals of the 1977 US Open, while the last in Paris was Marijke Schaar, six years earlier.

It has been a remarkable clay court season for Bertens, who kicked it off by nearly leading the Netherlands to the Fed Cup title. This was followed by a semifinal in Rabat and then a title in her last tournament before Roland Garros, in Nürnberg.

The turning point came in Rabat, a particularly painful loss to Marina Erakovic leading to a frank post-mortem in the Bertens camp. “I remember like one thing I remember is like my semifinal in Rabat. I had match point there I was losing the match and I wasn’t just – in my head I was so stressed and all the time and we were like talking with my coach after that match for so long.

“I think after that match I just was so calm in my head and just trying to go out there every day and just give everything and then, yeah, just do my own thing. I think that’s the most important thing.”

Having ended 2015 at No.101, the new rankings will see Bertens break into the Top 30 for the first time in her career. It is the reward for an arduous training regime that allowed Bertens outplay and outlast Angelique Kerber, Daria Kasatkina, Madison Keys and now Bacsinszky.

“I think like in the pre-season 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 like working every day like really hard. Physically I feel good the whole year. I played a lot of matches, so I feel good.”

BRISBANE, Australia – Dominika Cibulkova survived a scare against Zhang Shuai in her first match of 2017, but the World No.5 advanced to the quarterfinals of the Brisbane International after being pushed to three sets, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

“I was prepared for a battle,” Cibulkova said after the match. “The first matches are always really tricky, and so was this one today. It wasn’t easy to play the first match, but I’m happy that I won.”

As the tournament’s No.2 seed, Cibulkova received a bye into the second round that allowed her an extra few days to acclimate and reflect on her incredible journey; at this time last year Cibulkova was ranked. No.38 and just made the main draw cutoff. Now, she’s the second-highest at the tournament.

“I was last in here last year and now I am the second seed!”

-@Cibulkova excited to get 2017 season underway #BrisbaneTennis pic.twitter.com/R23yvh4CdN

— WTA (@WTA) January 2, 2017

Cibulkova’s opponent also has a comeback story: a year ago Zhang was ranked No.139 and was considering retirement before her Grand Slam breakthrough came at the Australian Open. She finished the year at No.23 and was keen to keep her form, not breaking for off season but instead opting to play ITF events after the Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai.

Her match-fitness showed in her performance against the World No.5; despite Cibulkova’s perfect 4-0 head-to-head record against Zhang, she was pushed to the brink in their two hour and nineteen minute battle at Brisbane.

The Slovak got off to a slow start, giving Zhang plenty of room to pounce and play her clean, solid game, outpacing Cibulkova. Zhang broke twice late in the opening set; Cibulkova fought off five set points but finally blinked as she buried a backhand into the net to surrender the set 6-2.

.@ZhangShuai121 hitting all the right angles! #BrisbaneTennis pic.twitter.com/7kjFUhJEb3

— WTA (@WTA) January 4, 2017

Despite the lopsided score line, Cibulkova kept herself within touching distance and kept Zhang under pressure even as the Chinese climbed ahead 2-0 in the second. Seeing her chances slip out of reach time and time again served to galvanize the WTA Finals champion, who brought out her arsenal of punchy groundstrokes and aggressiveness, breaking back emphatically and halting Zhang’s run.

The momentum swung Cibulkova’s way as Zhang seemed to lose her rhythm, and everything went the Slovak’s way as she took the second set, playing more aggressive tennis with renewed confidence.

“[In the second set] I started to be much more aggressive,” Cibulkova explained. “It was the first match of the season and I had a bit of a slow start, but I just pumped myself up more and started playing more aggressive, going for more shots. I didn’t let her play her game.”

Comeback complete!@Cibulkova defeats Zhang 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 and moves into @BrisbaneTennis Quarterfinals! pic.twitter.com/v77QycjXjK

— WTA (@WTA) January 4, 2017

Cibulkova stayed on course and built up a 4-0 to close in on the quarterfinals, but the match had a final twist as Zhang, who refused to fade away throughout the match, clawed her way back to level the score.

But the World No.5 was locked in, and Zhang allowed a couple of loose forehands drift wide as she dropped serve and gifted Cibulkova the chance to serve it out, booking her spot into the next round.

Awaiting Cibulkova in the quarterfinals is Alizé Cornet, who eased past Christina McHale 6-2, 6-1.