Tennis News

DOHA, Qatar – Carla Suárez Navarro produced 62 minutes of immaculate tennis to swat aside No.3 seed Agnieszka Radwanska and take her place in the final of the Qatar Total Open.

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In one of the best performances of her career, Suárez Navarro outthought and outplayed the WTA’s resident magician to run out a surprisingly comfortable 6-2, 6-0 winner.

After an even start, Suárez Navarro laid down a marker in the fifth game, flashing winners off either wing to get her nose in front. A few games later she had the insurance break before calmly serving out the set.

A nasty tumble in the first game of the second set briefly halted the Spaniard’s charge. But after dusting herself down, normal service was immediately resumed: a whipped cross-court forehand and then a wonderful instinctive volley handing her the break.

In stark contrast, Radwanska cut a forlorn figure, the brilliance that decorated her three-set victory over Roberta Vinci the previous evening conspicuous by its absence. The Pole’s mood darkened in the following game when she netted a routine forehand to spurn a rare break opportunity.

With Suárez Navarro’s groundstrokes now in full flow, Radwanska was soon put out of her misery, the final four games flying by in a flurry of winners. 

“Today I feel really, really good,” Suárez Navarro, who hit 20 winners and just eight unforced errors, said. “I think also she was a little tired from yesterday.”

Suárez Navarro is also hoping to reach the doubles final with partner Sara Errani, and was quick to dismiss any suggestion that her visit from the trainer would jeopardize their chances. “I’m running a lot, I fight a lot, and sometime I finish like that,” she said when asked about the after effects of her second set slip. “But now I feel good and I have doubles – I’m feeling better!”

By reaching the semifinals Suárez Navarro guaranteed a return to the Top 10 and her latest win will see her rise to a career-high No.6 in the new rankings. 

“You work for a long time for this. And to be in the Top 10 is obviously good. I feel good, I feel happy and I think I’m ready for tomorrow.”

Read the match recap here.

GAME, SET MATCH: WTA Insider

Game: Carla Suárez Navarro hits a new high.

Win the biggest title of your career, move up to a career-high No.6, and take over the No.2 ranking on the Road To Singapore standings. That’s a good week of work from the 28-year-old Spaniard, who came into the Qatar Total Open final having lost her last three finals. She has struggled to summon her best tennis in the big moments – and it looked like the trend would continue after losing a 26-minute first set – but this is a new Carla. After Jelena Ostapenko swatted her off court in that first set, Suárez Navarro kept her wits about her. She never panicked, instead she grew bolder, altered her tactics to drive the ball into the middle of the court and away from the teenager’s forehand, and increased the pressure. In the end, her experience in the big moments paid off.

Suárez Navarro said at the start of the year that her goal was to get back in the Top 10, hopefully the Top 5, and win a title. It’s March and she’s nearly ticked off all three boxes. Now to see if she can translate that success into two of the biggest tournaments of the season in Indian Wells and Miami, where she was a finalist last year.

WTA Insider Champion’s Corner: Suárez Navarro.

Set: Sloane Stephens outbattles, outcompetes Dominika Cibulkova.

Talk about a turnaround. Stephens was 0-6 in semifinals before winning her first title last summer at the Citi Open in Washington DC. She’s now won three titles in the last seven months, going 3-0 in finals during that span, and she has won every tournament at which she’s hit the semifinal stage. In Acapulco, Stephens nearly blew a set and break lead in the final against Cibulkova. But losing the second set simply set things up for a wild and tense third set, which saw both women save break points time and time again in front of a rowdy crowd. But in the end it was Stephens, who used her defense to hang close in the final frame before taking a handful of courageous cuts to win 6-4, 4-6 7-6(5) to become the first woman to two titles this season. It was a big statement win from a player who had to endure such criticism over her inability to get things done at the business end of tournaments.

Match: Teenage romp.

Another week, another teenager makes a run. February was all about the WTA trio of eighteen year-olds, who are putting their stamp on the tour. Three weeks ago it was Belinda Bencic and Daria Kasatkina making the St. Petersburg semifinals. Last week it was 18-year-old Jelena Ostapenko, who arrived in Doha thinking she would have to play the qualification tournament. Two withdrawals later, Ostapenko was into the main draw and she didn’t waste her chance. She ousted No.5 seed Petra Kvitova and came within a few games of winning her first title. She fell short but her performance throughout the week was notable. Ostapenko’s power and timing, particularly on the forehand, was impressive, as was her feisty competitiveness.

Ostapenko jumps from No.88 to No.41 on Monday, joining Bencic and Kasatkina in the Top 50. It’s the first time three 18-year-olds occupied the Top 50 since April of 2009, when Caroline Wozniacki, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and Sorana Cirstea matched the feat.

We kinda made it?✌?️☺️ @anakonjuh @DKasatkina @LizaKulichkova @jelenaostapenko https://t.co/jQNm2u67UY

— Belinda Bencic (@BelindaBencic) February 28, 2016

RANKING MOVERS
Notable singles ranking movers for the week of February 29, 2016.

Jelena Ostapenko (LAT), +47 (No.88 to 41): The 18-year-old Latvian made the biggest ranking jump of the week, and with good reason! She headed into the Qatar Total Open having won just one first main draw match all year and ended the week reaching her career first Premier-level final. With that result she jumped to a career high of No.41, joining fellow 18-year-olds Belinda Bencic and Daria Kasatkina in the Top 50. That makes this the first time since the week of April 6, 2009 that there are three players 18 or younger inside the Top 50.

Elena Vesnina (RUS), +29 (No.118 to 89): Elena Vesnina jumps 29 spots after her run to the Qatar Total Open quarterfinals, earning a spot back in the Top 100.

Zheng Saisai (CHN), +10 (No.73 to 63): Jumping up 10 spots to No.63, Zheng Saisai climbed to Chinese No.1, overtaking Zhang Shuai and improving her Olympic qualification bid.

Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP), +5 (No.11 to 6): After winning the biggest title of the week – and of her career – Carla Suárez Navarro is ranked a career-high No.6, putting her within striking distance of her 2016 goal.

UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS

Abierto Monterrey Afirme
Monterrey, Mexico
International | $226,750 | Hard, Outdoors
Monday, February 29 – Sunday, March 6

BMW Malaysian Open
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
International | $226,750 | Hard, Outdoors
Monday, February 29 – Sunday, March 6

BNP Paribas Open
Indian Wells, USA
Premier | $6,134,605 | Hard, Outdoors
Wednesday, March 9 – Sunday March 20

Miami Open
Miami, USA
Premier | $6,134,605 | Hard, Outdoors
Tuesday, March 22 – Sunday, April 3

TOP 2O PLAYER SCHEDULES

1. Serena Williams – Indian Wells, Miami
2. Angelique Kerber -Indian Wells, Miami
3. Agnieszka Radwanska – Indian Wells, Miami
4. Garbiñe Muguruza – Indian Wells, Miami
5. Simona Halep – Indian Wells, Miami
6. Carla Suárez Navarro – Indian Wells, Miami
7. Maria Sharapova – Indian Wells, Miami
8. Belinda Bencic – Indian Wells, Miami
9. Petra Kvitova – Indian Wells, Miami
10. Roberta Vinci – Kuala Lumpur, Indian Wells, Miami
11. Flavia Pennetta – (retired)
12. Venus Williams – Indian Wells, Miami
13. Lucie Safarova – Indian Wells, Miami
14. Timea Bacsinszky – Indian Wells, Miami
15. Victoria Azarenka – Indian Wells, Miami
16. Ana Ivanovic – Indian Wells, Miami
17. Sara Errani – Monterrey, Indian Wells, Miami
18. Svetlana Kuznetsova – Indian Wells, Miami
19. Elina Svitolina – Kuala Lumpur, Indian Wells, Miami
20. Karolina Pliskova – Indian Wells, Miami

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
Best wishes to those celebrating birthdays this week:

Alexandra Panova (RUS) – March 2, 1989
Nicole Gibbs (USA) – March 3, 1993
Laura Siegemund (GER) – March 4, 1988
Daria Gavrilova (AUS) – March 5, 1994
Marina Erakovic (NZL) – March 6, 1988
Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) – March 6, 1989

NEW YORK, NY, USA – Some players make their tennis breakthrough in a blaze of glory. For others, the path to the top is a slow and steady one.

Angelique Kerber has taken the second route and this Monday arrived at her destination: World No.1. As far as possible successors to Serena Williams at the summit of the women’s game, Kerber was not top of many people’s lists, even after her breakthrough victory at this year’s Australian Open.

By her own admission, the German has been something of a late bloomer – she did not win her first silverware or break into the Top 10 until her mid-20s. However, just four months from her 29th birthday, she is scaling new heights.

“I’ve had a lot of ups and downs in my career, but I’m having the best year of my career and it’s still not over,” Kerber said earlier this summer. “It’s amazing what’s happened in the last few months – it’s just incredible!”

In January she stunned the tennis world by beating Williams to the Australian Open title, and after taking a while to come to terms with her achievement is now reveling in the limelight; at Wimbledon, she reached her second Grand Slam final, losing narrowly to Williams, following this up with a semifinal in Montréal, a silver medal at the Rio Olympics and now a second major, at the US Open.

Making light of this hectic summer schedule, Kerber was her usual indefatigable self in the final against Williams’ conqueror, Karolina Pliskova, scurrying to track down a succession of seemingly lost causes. This application served her well in the final set, hanging onto the Czech’s flying coattails before producing a characteristic late surge, winning 24 of the last 34 points, to claim the trophy.

Victory saw Kerber become only the second woman to win her first two major championships after turning 28. She is also the oldest player to make their debut at No.1, and there will be few quibbling that she is not there on merit.

“I knew that I have the game to beat the best players if I was just patient and worked really hard,” she said after the final in New York. “And now to see that the work pays off, this is actually the best feeling. Because I was a lot of hours on the practice courts, sweating and everything, and you are just playing for this moment to being on the center court in the final and with the amazing crowd. So this is what I was always dreaming for.”

It is fitting that her coronation came at Flushing Meadows, the venue where it first became obvious that she had something to separate her from the pack. Five years ago, Kerber, then ranked No.92, overcame Agnieszka Radwanska and Flavia Pennetta en route to an unlikely semifinal.

The following year, Kerber proved she would be no one-Slam wonder, consolidating herself at tennis’ top table with 60 wins, two titles and a Top 10 debut. For the next couple of seasons it looked like she had hit her ceiling, bobbing in and around the Top 10, registering the odd noteworthy result yet never launching sustained challenge for any of the game’s major prizes.

A familiar story seemed to be playing out at the start of 2016. After losing out to Victoria Azarenka for the Brisbane title, sixth-seeded Kerber found herself match point down to the unheralded Misaki Doi in the first round of the Australian Open.

What happened over the next hour – and then fortnight – will go down in German sporting folklore, Kerber negotiating a way out of this cul-de-sac, eventually going on to lift the most unexpected of titles.

However, even after the 2,000-point boost to her ranking tally, an assault at the No.1 ranking looked improbable. Indeed, at this point she still trailed Williams by over 3,500 points, making little inroads on this total as she struggled to come to terms with her newfound status over the coming months, a string of early exits culminating in a first-round exit to Kiki Bertens at Roland Garros.

This all changed over the summer months, a maiden Wimbledon final – in which she delivered a credible showing against a destiny-driven Williams – the start of a sequence of results that steadily chipped away at a once insurmountable lead.

By Cincinnati, top spot was in the crosshairs. While she missed out there, losing to Pliskova in the final, she made no mistake in New York, handling the pressure admirably. 

“I think I’m ready to have this pressure on my shoulder, because I think I get used to all of this, especially after my first Grand Slam in Australia,” Kerber said.

Famed for work-ethic off the court, the WTA’s new queen bee is unlikely to rest on her laurels. “I had so much pressure after the title. And to being No.1, of course now everybody will try to beat me and have nothing to lose. I will try to take this challenge, because it will be a little bit new situation for me. But at the end, I was always practicing and working hard to be No.1. Now I can also take the next step and try to stay as long as I can there.”