Garcia & Cornet Sail Into Limoges Semifinals
Top seeds Caroline Garcia and Alizé Cornet are one win away from an all-French final at the Engie Open de Limoges after fighting past a pair of tough quarterfinal battles.
Top seeds Caroline Garcia and Alizé Cornet are one win away from an all-French final at the Engie Open de Limoges after fighting past a pair of tough quarterfinal battles.
Which sports are the WTA stars most eager to watch at the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro? Johanna Konta, Petra Kvitova, Eugenie Bouchard, and Angelique Kerber weigh in.
Ekaterina Alexandrova upset defending champion and No.1 seed Caroline Garcia to win the Engie Open de Limoges on Sunday afternoon.
MELBOURNE, Australia – Daria Kasatkina’s 2016 has begun with a bang. The 18-year-old from Moscow opened her season by beating Venus Williams in her first match at the ASB Classic in Auckland, and Friday night she’ll take on World No.1 Serena Williams on the biggest stage of her career on Rod Laver Arena. The shy teenager says it’s a dream come true.
“When I was young, I was just dreaming to play against them, somewhere at the Grand Slams, and now I can do it,” she told reporters after beating fellow teen Ana Konjuh in the second round. “So it’s just great.”
Fans may not be as familiar with Kasatkina, though it’s time to study up. A 2014 junior French Open champion, Kasatkina watched as one of her friends and rivals, Belinda Bencic, left the junior ranks early with great success. While Kasatkina stayed back in 2014, Bencic – three days older than the Russian – made her Grand Slam debut here in Melbourne. By year’s end she was a Grand Slam quarterfinalist at the US Open.
“We played against each other in the juniors and they were real battles,” Kasatkina said of Bencic. “I was a little bit upset because she started to play earlier and she started to beat other players and showing results a little bit earlier than me.
“When she started to play pros, I was still playing juniors, and I was talking to my coaches, saying, ‘I want to play pro, I want to start to play pros! Why am I still in juniors?’ He said, ‘Dasha, be cool.’ I had to get some experience from juniors and that experience was great. A lot of experience and good memories, and I don’t regret it.”
Kasatkina made her major debut at the US Open last year as a lucky loser and proceeded to have a dream run to the third round, where she lost to Kristina Mladenovic. That run seemed to flip a switch within her. She went on to make the semifinals at the Kremlin Cup as a qualifier, losing in a tough three sets to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
“Those two tournaments brought me into the Top 100 and now I’m in main draws almost everywhere,” she said. “It’s a very good opportunity to play better because when you’re a qualifier, you have to play more matches. When you’re in the main draw, you’re more confident.”
Now ranked No.69 and rising, Kasatkina is one of four teenagers into the third round at the Australian Open, joining a group that includes Bencic, Japan’s Naomi Osaka, and her best friend Elizaveta Kulichkova. It’s the first time four teenagers have progressed to the third round at the Australian Open since 2009, when Caroline Wozniacki, Victoria Azarenka, Dominika Cibulkova, Alizé Cornet, and Alisa Kleybanova moved en masse.
Kasatkina’s coach, Vlado Platenik (who has worked with Dominika Cibulkova and former World No.3 Nadia Petrova) has preached patience and tranquility when it comes to her career. The results will come if you put in the work and there is no substitution for experience. “Dasha, be cool,” he reminds her. It’s a difficult lesson to learn.
“For me everything is new and I’m a little bit shy,” she said. “But I’m learning at every tournament and from every match, getting experience, which will help me a lot.”
There’s no experience in tennis like playing Serena Williams on one of the biggest courts in the world. Kasatkina says she has no expectations, but she’ll play the match as if it’s her last.
“It’s luck for me to play against such a great player like Serena, really, because honestly nobody plays forever, so it’s great that I’ve had the opportunity to play against Venus this year and now also Serena,” she told reporters. “I will just enjoy and try to show my best tennis. Nobody is unbeatable, so I will try.”
Catch up with Daria Kasatkina in this exclusive WTA Insider Q&A.
WTA Insider: So what did you do during your off-season?
Kasatkina: Off-season? Hard work! For sure, it was two weeks off – I had fun, rest – and then I go with my fitness coach for 10 days in the mountains, hard work, only fitness. After, I went to Miami for preparation to play tennis. I think it helped. I feel like I’m Duracell!
WTA Insider: It’s been a great week in Melbourne for young Russians. You, Kulichkova, and Margarita Gasparyan are all into the third round. Do you think we’ll see you three at the top of the game in the next five years?
Kasatkina: Nobody plays forever. So we’re the next generation so we have to play better and better. I think soon we will be on top. I have to be confident, otherwise it’s impossible.
WTA Insider: Did you and your coach work on anything specific in the off-season? How are you trying to improve your game?
Kasatkina: You always have to change something; you cannot stay on one level, so for me, I’m trying to play more aggressively and go for volleys. My psychology is to be a little bit more defense, so I’m trying to be more offensive.
WTA Insider: Why do you think you have a more defensive psychology?
Kasatkina: Maybe because I’m not big enough to hit hard, and when I was a kid, I’d play smarter [rather] than just hitting the ball. But now I have to be more aggressive; otherwise, it’s impossible.
True Friendship: Fedfan @LizaKulichkova on teasing BFF/RafaKAD @DKasatkina after the Verdasco/Nadal match. pic.twitter.com/fOsQsDDaqp
— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) January 20, 2016
WTA Insider: What are your goals this year?
Kasatkina: This is my first full year on the WTA so first, I want to adapt, because it’s very difficult. Last year I played a lot of ITF tournaments, and just a few WTAs. I will play WTAs, and will adapt everything and will for sure enjoy my year on tour because, for me, when I was a kid it was my dream to be at the top, so now I’m just enjoying.
WTA Insider: How has the tour been for you so far? Are you finding it fun? Or is it a little bit lonely because you’re fairly new.
Kasatkina: My team is always with me, so they help me a lot. They support me, and tell me what to do when I’m not sure. I’m a little bit shy because everything is new and I don’t know so many of the players, but I think I’m getting better.
WTA Insider: Are you tight with the other young Russian players? Does that help?
Kasatkina: I know all of the Russians and there are a lot of the players older than me, and we know each other from the juniors. But now the new generation is coming and there are a lot of relationships I have.
WTA Insider: Do you help push each other?
Kasatkina: For sure, because even if we are friends we want to be better and better, so it’s like a little competition but it doesn’t show it in the relationship. On the court, we are players, but off we are friends.
Follow Daria on Instagram and Twitter @DKasatkina!
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.
Former World No.2 Petra Kvitova announced on Monday morning that she and coach David Kotyza had ended their seven year partnership. Beginning at the start of the 2009 season, Kvitova began her meteoric rise up the rankings with Kotyza at the helm, winning two Wimbledon titles, and a WTA Finals trophy in 2011, the year in which she was one match from finishing at No.1 in the world.
WTA Insider spoke with Kotyza last fall during the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global; check out that interview here – the audio version can be found on the WTA Insider Podcast – and read Kvitova’s statement on Facebook below:
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Timea Bacsinszky and Martina Hingis staged a stunning comeback on Friday night to defeat Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka and keep alive their dream of an Olympic gold medal.
Four years ago in London, Hlavackova and Hradecka won silver and they looked on course for a return to the final when took the first set and surged ahead in the second. However, their Swiss opponents hung doggedly onto their coattails, escaping from a dramatic second set to complete a 5-7, 7-6(3), 6-2 victory.
The turning point came with Hradecka serving at 5-4 in the second set. Having already saved one match point, Hingis fended off another with a ferocious volley that struck Hlavackova in the eye from point-blank range.
Despite a lengthy injury timeout, it was a blow from which Hlavackova and Hradecka were unable to recover. The Czechs lost the first two points on the resumption to drop serve and while they did manage to force a tie-break, it was one that never looked like going their way.
Bacsinszky and Hingis compounded this misery in the decider, rattling off four straight games to complete the comeback.
Heading into Rio, an Olympic medal was one of the few prizes missing from Hingis’ resume. Her hopes of winning one were dealt a double blow by the withdrawal or first Roger Federer and then Belinda Bencic. Bacsinszky, though, has deputized ably and on Saturday the first-time partnership will meet Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina for gold.
Makarova and Vesnina were quarterfinalists in London and have picked up a couple of Grand Slam titles since then. Against Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova they needed to draw on all this experience to overcome a slow start and edge through, 7-6(7), 6-4.
Dreams are coming true for @EVesnina001 who's guaranteed an Olympic medal after reaching the women's doubles final pic.twitter.com/iQtGsEjjWm
— ITF Olympic Tennis (@OlympicsTennis) 12 August 2016
Johanna Konta won an absolute nail-biter against Ekaterina Makarova to become the first British woman in 33 years to reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open.
MELBOURNE, Australia – Co-No.1s Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza played their best match of the Australian Open on Wednesday, dropping just one game to No.13 seeds Julia Goerges and Karolina Pliskova to win a 35th straight match, and reach a third straight major final – having already captured titles at Wimbledon and the US Open.
Before they take on Silent Hs Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka for their first Australian Open title as a pair – Hingis’ first in women’s doubles since 2002 and fourth overall – they will find themselves under the rare circumstance of being on opposite sides of the net, as each hope to add a mixed doubles crown to their ever-growing trophy collection.
Top seed with partner Ivan Dodig, Mirza will play Hingis and Leander Paes, who are unseeded but defending champions at the Australian Open, in the quarterfinals of the mixed event. The pair have not played against one another since last year’s Apia International Sydney, when the Indian star partnered Bethanie Mattek-Sands to beat Hingis and former partner Flavia Pennetta en route to the title.
Inseparable since pairing up ahead of the BNP Paribas Open last spring, Santina have played 17 tournaments together, winning 11 times. From their initial three-title breakthrough in Indian Wells, Miami, and Charleston, the two capped their near-perfect season with a win at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, and have picked up where they left off in 2016, winning back-to-back titles in Brisbane and Sydney and losing only one set in Melbourne.
Handicapping their chances in mixed, Hingis has won four major titles to Mirza’s three. The Swiss Miss was a French Open title short of a mixed doubles Grand Slam in 2015, partnering Paes – with whom she plays for the Washington Kastles each summer for Mylan World TeamTennis – to win the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open titles.
Mirza’s most recent mixed doubles victory came in 2014 with Bruno Soares at the US Open, but she is also a former Australian Open mixed champion, pairing Mahesh Bhupati for the title in 2009.
Should Hingis emerge victorious on Thursday afternoon, the 20-time Grand Slam champion would remain in the hunt for non-calendar year Grand Slams in both women’s doubles and mixed, having already earned two legs of the box set at Wimbledon at the US Open.
There’s a reason Agnieszka Radwanska has the nicknames “The Magician”, “Ninja” and “La Profesora”. It’s simple, she can pull off the most difficult shots in the game with ease.
And she’s done it again – for the fourth year in a row, Radwanska is the winner of WTA Shot Of The Year.
Radwanska took top honors with her hot shot against Monica Niculescu at Indian Wells back in March. She turned her signature defense into some thrilling offense, running all over the court and blasting a stunning around-the-post winner that even left herself speechless.
Check out the video above to watch all her award-winning shots, from 2013’s incredible 360 spin backhand volley in Miami to this year’s Indian Wells stunner!
Final Results for 2016 WTA Shot Of The Year
1. Agnieszka Radwanska: Indian Wells (62%)
2. Simona Halep: Montréal (21%)
3. Kirsten Flipkens: Seoul (10%)
4. Caroline Wozniacki: Auckland (7%)
Click here to watch all four WTA Shot Of The Year finalists!
Simona Halep, Caroline Wozniacki, Victoria Azarenka, Eugenie Bouchard or Svetlana Kuznetsova – who will win January’s WTA Shot Of The Month? It’s up to you – vote now!