Tennis News

It is hard to recall a tennis season in recent memory that has thrown up quite so many surprises as the opening few months to 2016.

Showcasing the unprecedented strength and depth of the women’s game, 14 tournaments have witnessed 13 different players lifting silverware. The result has been a Road To Singapore leaderboard featuring a pleasing mix of youth and experience.

Angelique Kerber still leads the way in the fledgling leaderboard thanks to her magnificent January, when she reached the final in Brisbane before an unforgettable triumph at the Australian Open.

Hot on her heels is Carla Suárez Navarro, whose title in Doha, backed up by semi and quarterfinal runs in Brisbane and Melbourne, sees her occupy the No.2 spot.

Reigning WTA Finals champion Agnieszka Radwanska has been as consistent as ever, reaching the semifinals or better on all three outings thus far – a title in Shenzhen followed by deep runs at the Australian Open and Doha. Since the US Open last year, no player has won more matches than Radwanska, who has accumulated a 32-7 record.

Most Match Wins Since 2015 US Open
Agnieszka Radwanska 32-7
Angelique Kerber 27-10
Venus Williams 24-5
Roberta Vinci 22-11
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 21-11

Current WTA world No.1 Serena Williams holds the No.4 spot on the leaderboard with her finals appearance at the Australian Open. Jostling for position below the early pacesetters are Victoria Azarenka, Roberta Vinci, Johanna Konta and Belinda Bencic, while Sara Errani and Jelena Ostapenko are among those just outside the qualification places.

In doubles, Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza cemented their place atop the leaderboard with titles at Brisbane, Sydney, Australian Open and St. Petersburg before their remarkable winning streak was finally snapped in Doha. Profiting from their slip-up were the Chan sisters, Chan Hao-Ching and Chan Yung-Jan, who left Doha with the title and the No.2 position on the leaderboard.

Click here to see the singles and doubles leaderboards heading into the BNP Paribas Open.

QUÉBEC CITY, Canada – No.8 seed Samantha Crawford survived a spirited challenge from Belgium’s Ysaline Bonaventure, edging through to advance 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 6-4 in the opening round of the Coupe Banque Nationale.

“I don’t know how many match points I had in that second set, but I know I had a few,” Crawford said after the match. “After losing the second set, I just wanted to not think about that. I was just trying to stay calm and stay in the present.”

After narrowly escaping with a tight first set – Crawford and Bonaventure traded breaks and wrestled with the momentum in the tiebreak – the American found herself holding match points after a couple of loose serves from Bonaventure. The Belgian fought her off twice to hold serve and send the match to another tiebreaker, where this time Bonaventure came out on top to even the scoreline. Some strong serving in the third set gave Crawford the edge, and the American took her third match point to advance to the second round.

Earlier this year, Crawford turned heads when she made it through qualifying at the Brisbane International to reach the semifinals, upsetting Belinda Bencic and Andrea Petkovic along the way. But it was in Québec City that the American announced her presence to the WTA, reaching the quarterfinals of the event last year after making it out of the qualifying rounds.

Also in action in Québec City, Catherine Bellis shined in her first match at the Coupe Banque Nationale, notching a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Amandine Hesse.

“We never played each other before, so I think it took a while for both of us to get used to each other’s game, and I just stayed more consistent.”

Aside from a tough opponent, Bellis also had to contend with the surface: being an indoor tournament staged on carpet, Québec is home to some of the fastest hardcourts anywhere on the tour.

“I had never played on this surface before,” Bellis said. “I think maybe a long time ago, but I liked it. I think it’s different, but I liked it a lot.”

More to come…

ZHUHAI, China – With the dust settled after an action-packed fortnight at the US Open, there were major shifts on the WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai leaderboard. Some of the WTA’s biggest stars – including defending champion Venus Williams, Roberta Vinci, Madison Keys and Johanna Konta – moving up in contention.

The year’s final tournament will run from November 1 to 6, and like last year the singles draw will feature 11 of the top ranked players and one wildcard, with the winner collecting 700 rankings points.

Here’s the latest leaderboard update for the WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai as of September 12, 2016:

It’s semifinal time on Thursday in Miami. We preview both of today’s must-see matchups at wtatennis.com.

Thursday

Semifinals

[10] Johanna Konta (GBR #11) vs. [11] Venus Williams (USA #12)
Head-to-head: Konta leads, 2-1
Key Stat: Konta became the first British woman to reach the Miami semifinals with her win over Simona Halep on Wednesday.

The last time Venus Williams and Johanna Konta locked horns it was an historic day for the British No.1. Konta claimed a three-set victory over the legendary American last summer to claim her first career title and become the first British woman to win the Bank of the West Classic title since 1977. Afterwards Konta summed up the experience aptly. “I wanted to leave it all out there, but also absorb everything that I could possibly reinvest in my career moving forward,” she said. “I’ve played her twice before and knew I’d be playing a magnitude of experience. Venus Williams doesn’t need an introduction.”

Williams and Konta split 144 points evenly in that entertaining final, but in the midst of her breakout season it was Konta who won the bigger points. Their fourth career battle should be similarly close, and if Williams’ form in her last two matches is any indication, she’s going to aggressively attack Konta and look to get to net often. The American became the oldest player to take out a reigning No.1 in WTA history on Wednesday night when she worked her way past Angelique Kerber, 7-5, 6-3, and while it’s easy—and inspiring—to focus on the fact that Williams is 36, the caliber of tennis she is playing belies her age. The three-time Miami Open champion has played brilliantly to reach the semifinals here for the eighth time, not dropping a single set and knocking off back-to-back Top 10 opponents in the process.

Will Williams take it a step further and avenge her loss in Stanford to Konta? The American will have her chances, but she’ll have to improve on her 45 percent first-serve percentage from her quarterfinal win over Kerber to do so. Konta picked apart Halep’s second-serve on Wednesday in her three-set victory over the Romanian, and Williams will need to keep the Dangerous 25-year-old on the back foot as much as she can to succeed.

Pick: Konta in three

[2] Karolina Pliskova (CZE #3) vs. [12] Caroline Wozniacki (DEN #14)
Head-to-head: Wozniacki leads, 3-1
Key Stat: Pliskova leads the WTA with 23 wins in 2017

They are very different stylistically, but Karolina Pliskova and Caroline Wozniacki share the same sinister approach to tennis warfare. Both are calm, composed and ruthless—eager to expose their opponent’s liabilities and unflappable under duress. That’s why Thursday’s matchup between the No.2-seeded Czech and the No.12-seeded Dane is so intriguing. The experienced, wily and extremely well-rounded Wozniacki will look to keep the powerful, blossoming Pliskova at bay, and she knows she’ll have to pull out all the stops to do it.

“She beat me last time we played, so she’s clearly in good shape,” Wozniacki said on Tuesday after defeating Lucie Safarova for her 22^nd win of the season. “I’m looking forward to getting another try, to see if I can beat her this time.”

Wozniacki won the first three times she faced Pliskova, but the Czech hit back earlier this season breaking Wozniacki’s serve four times in a 6-3, 6-4 win at this year’s Doha final. Despite that loss, Wozniacki is pretty confident that she has a good read on the towering Czech’s game. “I know her game, what her strengths and weaknesses are,” Wozniacki told reporters on Tuesday after her quarterfinal win.

Like Wozniacki, Pliskova has yet to drop a set this week in Miami. But she knows things will get tougher as the stakes get higher. “Anything can happen in the next semi,” she told reporters on Tuesday. “I would expect a tough one because I know she has been playing quite good here in last few years. … It’s the last tournament on hard court, so I just want to enjoy it.”

Pick: Pliskova in two

By the Numbers

7-1 – Konta’s lifetime record at Miami. She reached the quarterfinals on her debut last year.

2 – Pliskova is the only player left in the draw that has won multiple titles this season.

22 – Wozniacki has dropped just 22 games in her four matches en route to the semis. Pliskova, who has also yet to drop a set, has lost 24 games. Williams has dropped 27 games, and also not dropped a set.

14 – Number of wins that Williams has notched over reigning World No.1 players, including her win over Angelique Kerber in the quarterfinals.

49 – Number of career titles for Venus Williams, which is 14 more than the other three semifinalists’ career titles combined (Wozniacki, 25, Pliskova, 8, Konta, 2).