Tennis News

Long-time doubles partners Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka took to the court together once more at the Tianjin Open – as singles opponents – with the latter emerging victorious, 7-5, 6-4.

The Czech pair have long teamed up as doubles partners with great success, winning the 2011 French Open and 2013 US Open titles together. They will play together once more in a fortnight’s time at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.

However, their personal friendship was put to one side in Tianjin and Hradecka has admitted that it felt bizarre to meet Hlavackova for the fourth time in her career.

“You know, it was a tough match playing against Andrea,” she said after the match.

“It’s always tough because we play with each other in doubles and we’re going for the Masters. It’s really tough, you have to concentrate. It’s a strange situation, certainly.

“I’m so happy that I’m through and I’m looking forward to the next match.”

Looking forward, Hradecka says she and Hlavackova are excited to play in the Singapore, which gets underway on October 23.

“We’re looking forward to being in Singapore again, it’s great that we did it this year as well. You know, I think we’re both so excited to be there with the best doubles players in the world.”

TIANJIN, China – Monica Puig booked her place in the second round of the Tianjin Open on Tuesday with a straight sets victory over Kurumi Nara.

The Puerto Rican made a slow start to the match, being broken in the opening game but she soon recovered, breaking back to level the score at 2-2 before moving ahead at 5-3 and serving out the set.

She soon skipped into a 5-2 lead in the second but, serving for the match, she lost four straight games and was forced to confirm her victory via a tie-break.

“I’m really excited to be back here in Tianjin and I’m really excited to have won my first match, so I’m really looking forward to continuing and playing some good tennis,” she said after the game.

Commenting on the colder conditions in Tiajin, she said: “I just try and warm up my body as much as possible before going out onto the court so I don’t feel that cold but you have to deal with it in the end.”

Meanwhile, American qualifier Shelby Rogers scored an eye-catching win over No.3 seed Elena Vesnina. Serving at 5-6 in the first set, the Russian succumbed to the pressure and went down 7-5.

The 30-year-old rallied in the second set, claiming it 6-4 but, having fought back from a break down in the decider, her tournament was ended on a tie-break.

Another American to cause an upset was Alison Riske, who overcame fourth seed Timea Babos in three sets. Having cruised through the first set 6-2, the Hungarian was broken late in the second to level proceedings.

Riske raced into a 3-0 lead with two breaks in the decider and though Babos recovered one, the 26-year-old held her nerve to claim a big-name scalp.

Puig, Rogers and Riske will be joined in the second round by Magda Linette, who beat Nina Stojanovic in straight sets, Naomi Osaka knocked out eighth seed Yaroslava Shvedova, 6-4, 6-2, Lara Arruabarrena overcame Fangzhou Liu in three and Evgeniya Rodina triumphed against Christina McHale, 6-1, 5-7, 6-0.

LINZ, Austria – Roland Garros champion Garbiñe Muguruza edged closer to claiming her spot at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, dispatching Cagla Buyukakcay, 6-4, 6-4, in the first round of the Generali Ladies Linz.

“It was a tough first round. I think we both played well, so it was a battle out there, and a great feeling to start the tournament with a win like this,” she said after the match.

Making her debut in Linz, Muguruza overcame a tough test from the Turkish No.1, who made history for her country by taking home the Istanbul title earlier this season.

“I was looking forward to Linz because it’s new for me, new city, new tournament. I don’t play a lot of new tournaments, so I was excited.

“I just try to go out there and do my best, try to win somehow, playing my tennis and being aggressive. It’s funny because it when there’s no win, everyone plays perfect. The conditions makes things equal.”

Holding on to take the first set after five breaks of serve, the Spaniard broke to 15 to start the second and served out the win in one hour and 38 minutes.

“I was calm and concentrated, even when she was playing great shots and solid in the important moments. I hung in there and waited for my opportunities.”

Up next for the former World No.2 is Monica Niculescu, who won a thrilling three-setter over Madison Brengle on Monday.

“I’ve never played against her, or even practiced together, so it’ll be interesting. I think we have opposite styles, so I think it’s going to be a fun match.”

The highest-ranked woman on the Road to Singapore leaderboard yet to qualify for Singapore, Muguruza could guarantee a second straight WTA Finals appearance by winning the title; if Johanna Konta and Dominika Cibulkova both lose their matches on Thursday, she qualifies by beating Niculescu.

“It’s something great to accomplish, to be part of the eight best players, so you obviously always have it in the back of your mind, wanting to achieve that. But I’m more focused on holding the trophy here.

“I have no idea what I have to do, but hopefully I keep winning, and I earn my spot. I go with the flow!”

SINGAPORE – The BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global is blessed with the support of nine WTA Legends: Alicia Molik, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, Chris Evert, Iva Majoli, Martina Navratilova, Mary Pierce, Monica Seles, Tamarine Tanasugarn and Yayuk Basuki.

Who played at record 21 editions of the WTA Finals? Which Legends competed in Dancing With The Stars? And who has a Triple Crown winning horse named after her?

Reem Abulleil brings you some facts you may or not have known about these remarkable women, right here on wtatennis.com.

Alicia Molik

Molik won a bronze medal at the Olympic tennis event in Athens in 2004, beating the then reigning French Open champion Anastasia Myskina in the bronze-medal match.

The Adelaide-born former World No.8 says Michael Jordan was her childhood hero.

She is Australian but is very proud of her Polish heritage and jokes that she probably got her good footwork from the Polish dance classes she took when she was young.

Also, she’s won two Grand Slam doubles titles – the 2005 Australian Open with Svetlana Kuznetsova and the 2007 French Open with Mara Santangelo.

Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario

Sanchez-Vicario was the singles runner-up at the WTA Finals to Steffi Graf in 1993 – back then the final was best-of-five sets and she lost in four – in Madison Square Garden and won the doubles title twice, in 1992 with Helena Sukova and 1995 with Jana Novotna.

She qualified for the WTA Finals 13 times throughout her illustrious career.

The Spaniard was affectionately nicknamed the “Barcelona Bumble Bee” by the late Bud Collins.

Before playing the 1989 French Open final, where a 17-year-old Sanchez-Vicario was going to face World No.1 Steffi Graf, the Spanish press were asking her how many games she thought she was going to muster against the German favorite. She ended up beating Graf in three sets to become Spain’s first female Grand Slam champion in the Open Era.

She is a five-time Olympian – from 1998-2004 – with doubles silver and singles bronze won at her home Games in Barcelona in 1992, and singles silver and doubles bronze captured in Atlanta 1996.

Her four medals made her the most decorated Spanish Olympian at the time, a record later broken by canoeist David Cal.

She reached 12 Grand Slam singles finals, winning four of them (three French Opens and one US Open).

Chris Evert

Evert was the winner of the inaugural edition of the WTA Finals in 1972, triumphing on the clay of Boca Raton against Kerry Melville Reid in the final at the tender age of 17.

But her amateur status meant that she had to forfeit her 1972 winner’s check of $25,000.

She made the final of each of the first six editions of the WTA Finals, capturing four titles in total.

Her epic rivalry with Martina Navratilova featured heavily in the WTA Finals and they faced off in three championship matches, with Navratilova owning a slight 2-1 edge over Evert in those finals.

Carl Rosen, owner of clothing manufacturer Puritan Fashions Corp, named a horse after her. The horse, Chris Evert, went on to win the 1974 U.S. Filly Triple Crown and was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

In 1976, she was named Sports Illustrated’s ‘Sportsman of the Year’ – one of only four occasions the award was given to a tennis player.

Iva Majoli

Majoli qualified to the WTA Finals four times, from 1994 to 1997.

Her best result at the WTA Finals was reaching the semifinals in 1996.

The former World No.4 ended Martina Hingis’ 37-match winning streak by beating her in the final to capture the 1997 French Open. Seeded No.9, Majoli was the lowest seeded woman to win a slam in the Open Era.

She was the first Grand Slam champion from Croatia.

Majoli stepped out of retirement, 11 years after her last professional match, to play doubles in Moscow with Anastasia Bukhanko in October 2015.

In 2007, Majoli participated in the second season of the Croatian version of Dancing With The Stars.

Martina Navratilova

Navratilova is the player with the most appearances in WTA Finals history, taking part in 21 editions between 1974 and 1994.

She is also the most successful player at the WTA Finals with eight singles titles – including five in a row from 1983 to 1986.

In 2003, she became the oldest Grand Slam champion, capturing the Australian Open mixed doubles trophy with Leander Paes at the age of 46 years and three months. She broke that record by winning the 2006 US Open mixed title with Bob Bryan, just shy of her 50^th birthday.

She competed on Dancing With The Stars in 2012 partnering Tony Dovolani.

She wrote three mystery novels with Liz Nickles: The Total Zone (1994), Breaking Point (1996), and Killer Instinct (1997).

Mary Pierce

The Frenchwoman was twice runner-up at the WTA Finals, to Jana Novotna in 1997 and to her compatriot Amelie Mauresmo in 2005.

She was born in Montréal, Canada (to an American father and French mother), played for France, and now lives in Mauritius.

When she won her second major, and first French Open title in 2000, she was the first Frenchwoman to win her home slam since 1967. No French player has won it since.

She made seven appearances at the WTA Finals.

Monica Seles

Seles competed at the WTA Finals nine times between 1989 and 2002.

She won the WTA Finals three times in a row from 1990 to 1992. She lost the 2000 final to Martina Hingis.

She was coached by the late Jelena Gencic, who also mentored a young Novak Djokovic.

Seles became the youngest-ever French Open champion when she won it aged 16 in 1990.

She won nine Grand Slam singles titles, eight of which were captured before her 20^th birthday.

She took Olympic bronze in singles in Sydney 2000.

Also made a guest appearance as herself on the TV show, The Nanny.

Tamarine Tanasugarn

The California-born Thai trailblazer holds a Master’s of Business Administration from Bangkok University and this year enrolled to become an officer in the Royal Thai Police Force.

She owns four WTA titles and made the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 2008 where she lost to eventual champion Venus Williams. Her career-high ranking of No19, reached in 2002, is the highest ever achieved by a Thai female player.

She won two doubles title partnering Maria Sharapova in 2003 in Luxembourg and Tokyo. They also played together in the 2004 Australian Open.

She was Thailand’s flag-bearer at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.

Her father was a basketball player and competed at the 1960 and 1964 Games.

Yayuk Basuki

Basuki qualified to the WTA Finals in doubles three times with Dutchwoman Caroline Vis from 1996-1998.

Basuki and Vis beat top seeds Martina Hingis and Jana Novotna in their first match at the WTA Finals in 1998.

She is the highest-ranked tennis player ever from Indonesia, hitting a career-high No.19 in 1997. Was ranked as high as No.9 in doubles.

She admired Jimmy Connors growing up and her favorite athlete is swimmer Janet Evans.

She has won four Asian Games gold medals.

All photos courtesy of Getty Images

LINZ, Austria – Top seed Garbiñe Muguruza retired in the deciding set to hand Viktorija Golubic a semifinal spot at the Generali Ladies Linz.

Muguruza had narrowly taken the first set, 7-5.

Golubic struck back 6-3 in the second set, though, having raced to a 4-0 lead as she broke the Muguruza serve twice.

And after Muguruza suffered a fall and sustained an apparent sprain to her ankle, she looked less and less comfortable, eventually withdrawing with the score at four games all in the deciding set.

After picking up titles in the Middle East, Karolina Pliskova and Elina Svitolina seem to have all the momentum as the tour heads to Indian Wells and Miami. But how do their performances stack up against the year’s other top performers?

In this edition of WTA Insider Heat Index, Senior Writer Courtney Nguyen weighs in on who’s hot and who’s not after a fortnight in Dubai and Doha.

For more on the Heat Index and the methodology behind it, click here.

1. Serena Williams (Rank: No.1; RTS: No.1; Previous HI: 1)
2017 record: 8-1
Titles: Australian Open (January)
Recent activity: None.
Key Stat: Did not lose a set in Melbourne.

Serena has not played an event since winning her record-setting 23rd major title at the Australian Open in January, but given her propensity for party crashing some public courts, I’m guessing she’s still healthy and in good spirits. That bodes well for the upcoming Sunshine Double swing through Indian Wells and Miami.

2. Karolina Pliskova (Rank: No.3; RTS: No.3; Previous HI: 2)
2017 record: 15-2
Titles: Brisbane International (January), Qatar Total Open (February)
Recent activity: Doha champion.
Key Stat: The first woman to win two titles this season.

The World No.3 has looked virtually unbeatable in 2017. When it comes to quality wins, no one has been better. Two months into the season and Pliskova already has wins over Dominika Cibulkova, Caroline Wozniacki, Garbiñe Muguruza, and Elina Svitolina.

3. Elina Svitolina (Rank: No.10; RTS: No.2; Previous HI: No.8)
2017 Record: 17-2
Titles: Taiwan Open (February), Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships (February)
Recent activity: Taiwan Open champion, Dubai champion.
Key Stat: Currently on a 13-match winning streak since the Australian Open.

This is what we were waiting for. After tallying five career titles on the International level and improving her year-end ranking year over year, Svitolina put it all together in Dubai to win the biggest title of her career and make her Top 10 debut. With her third straight win over Angelique Kerber, she ended the German’s quest to retake the No.1 ranking and followed it up with a cool performance to beat Caroline Wozniacki in the final.

4. Caroline Wozniacki (Rank: No.14; RTS: No. 5; Previous HI: Unranked)
2017 record: 15-5.
Titles: None.
Recent activity: Runner-up in Doha and Dubai.
Key Stat: Wozniacki already has 15 wins this year. Her 15th match win last year came at the US Open in September.

Is Woz back? It sure does seem that way. The Dane made back-to-back finals in February in Doha (l. Pliskova) and Dubai (l. Svitolina) and she’s continued the fantastic run of form that’s kicked in since the start of the US Open last fall. In fact, if you isolate the ranking points earned since the start of the US Open, Wozniacki is at No.3 behind Kerber and Pliskova. Wozniacki has beaten just one Top 10 player so far this season, a win over Agnieszka Radwanska in Doha, but with less than 200 points to defend from no until the US Open, there’s no doubt a return to the Top 10 — Top 5? — is coming soon.

5. Johanna Konta (Rank: No.11; RTS: No.6; Previous HI: No.2)
2017 record: 15-3
Titles: Apia International Sydney (January)
Recent activity: Went 3-1 in Fed Cup (l. to Konjuh)
Key stat: Konta’s win over Radwanska in the Sydney final was her first over a Top 5 player in over a year.

Konta took her good form into Fed Cup and helped earn Great Britain a chance at promotion to the World Group. A foot injury prevented her from making her debut in the Middle East in Dubai, but with plenty of rest before the upcoming hard court swing, Konta should be in good form.

6. Angelique Kerber (Rank: No.2; RTS: No.9; Previous HI: No.6)
2017 record: 7-5
Titles: None
Recent activity: Dubai semifinalist.
Key stat: Kerber is 0-5 vs. Top 35 players.

After a disappointing January, Kerber showed signs of life in Dubai, playing cleaner, more aggressive tennis to make her first semifinal of the year. The quality was a step in the right direction. I still maintain it’s too early to write off the woman who won two hard court Slams last year. Now, if she continues to struggle through March…then it’s time to have the discussion.

7. Dominika Cibulkova (Rank: No.5; RTS: No.5; Previous HI: No.11)
2017 record: 8-6
Titles: None
Recent activity: Doha semifinalist.
Key stat: Made back-to-back semifinals in St. Petersburg and Doha.

The Middle East swing was a mixed bag for Cibulkova. She lost to eventual champion Pliskova in Doha, but in Dubai she was confounded once again by Ekaterina Makarova, who also beat her at the Australian Open. But much like Kerber, the level of tennis she played was an improvement on what we saw in January and she’s put in extra work with her mental coach to help her deal with the expectations of being a Top 5 player. She started to feel like herself again after Doha, and that’s good news for her tennis.

8. Agnieszka Radwanska (Rank: No.6; RTS: No.16; Previous HI: No.5)
2017 record: 7-5
Titles: None
Recent activity: Lost in Round of 16 in Doha (l. Wozniacki) and Dubai (l. Bellis)
Key stat: Has not won back-to-back matches in her last three events.

After solid outings in her first two tournaments of the year, the World No.6 has struggled to find her confidence and feel. Remember, this is a player who made the semifinals or better of her first four events last season. Her inability to solve 17-year-old CiCi Bellis in Dubai was a shocker. She’s frustrated and searching.

9. CoCo Vandeweghe (Rank: No.22; RTS: No.7; Previous HI: No.7)
2017 record: 8-3
Titles: None
Recent activity: Went 2-0 at Fed Cup; first round loss to Alison Riske in Dubai.
Key stat: Vandeweghe beat Kerber and Muguruza at the Australian Open. It was just the second time in her career she’s beaten two Top 10 players at a tournament (2014 Rogers Cup, Ivanovic and Jankovic).

The question for Vandeweghe after the Australian Open wasn’t whether she had Slam-winning tennis inside her — the quality during the Melbourne fortnight was top-notch — but whether she could maintain a consistent level. Indian Wells and Miami should serve as better litmus tests.

10. Kristina Mladenovic (Rank: No.30; RTS: No.14; Previous HI: Unranked)
2017 record: 8-4
Titles: St. Petersburg
Recent activity: Beat Pliskova in Dubai, semifinalist in Acapulco (tournament ongoing).
Key stat: Her win over Pliskova was her first Top 5 win since 2015.

Mladenovic will be the first to tell you her tennis can reach the highest of highs and, at times, head-scratching lows, but it makes her game all the more compelling. After winning her first title in St. Petersburg, Mladenovic scored a big win over Pliskova only to lose to No.76 Wang Qiang in straight sets the next day. Regardless, she’s been consistently dangerous early this season.

11. Garbiñe Muguruza (Rank: No.7; RTS: No.10; Previous HI: No.4)
2017 record: 9-5
Titles: None
Recent activity: Went 1-2 during Middle East swing.
Key stat: Two of her four tournaments this season has ended in a retirement.

The primary reason surrounding Muguruza’s notable drop in the Heat Index is injury related. She picked up a left Achilles injury in Doha, which forced her to retire from a match in Dubai for the second time this season. In January she retired from the Brisbane semifinals due to an abductor injury. It’s a disconcerting trend for the Spaniard, just two months into the season.

12. Venus Williams (Rank: No.13; RTS: No.4; Previous HI: No.10)
2017 record: 7-2
Titles: None
Recent activity: None
Key stat: This time last year, Venus was also 7-2. She lost in the first round of Auckland and the Australian Open before winning seven straight matches at Fed Cup and en route to the Taiwan Open title.

With the surges from Wozniacki and Mladenovic into this edition of the Heat Index, Venus drops two spots. She did not play a tournament in February, so I’m looking forward to seeing how she’s feeling in Indian Wells next week. If it’s anything like what we saw in Melbourne, it will be a treat.