Tennis News

MIAMI, FL, USA – Heather Watson rose to the occasion on Thursday afternoon, producing some sparking tennis to outclass Sloane Stephens and take her place in the third round of the Miami Open.

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Playing on Crandon Park’s cavernous main court, Watson displayed a few early nerves before settling into the task at hand. A couple of wayward forehands handed the No.20 seed an early break, but from that moment on the Briton was nearly flawless, coughing up just 12 unforced errors as she wrapped up a 6-3, 6-0 victory in a fraction over an hour.

“I thought I played very well today, actually,” Watson said in her on-court interview. “I knew I was playing well. I started off the first few games a little bit shaky but once I started to feel comfortable I played great, which I needed to because Sloane’s such a great player.”

Watson moved to Florida at 12 to train at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy and since then her career has been intertwined with that of Florida native Stephens. “I’ve played Sloane many times –  we came up through juniors together, kind of came up on tour together at the same time – I think I’ve played her more than any other player,” Watson, who has now won five of her seven career meetings with the American, added.

Since returning from a spell out with glandular fever in 2013, Watson has made a concerted effort to play a more aggressive brand of tennis. And her positivity, particularly in the second set, will have pleased the watching Diego Veronelli, whom Watson has recently reunited with.

In the third round, Watson will need to showcase her defensive qualities, too, when she takes on the mercurial Yanina Wickmayer. “Yanina’s a great player. I don’t think I’ve played her for a long time, I’m a very different player now so it should be an exciting match.”

MIAMI, FL, USA – Angelique Kerber will look to recapture her Australian Open magic on Friday as the seeds in the lower half of the draw kick off their Miami Open campaigns.

Friday, Second Round

[2] Angelique Kerber (GER #3) vs. Barbora Strycova (CZE #32)
Head-to-head: Kerber leads, 3-0
Key Stat: Kerber has dropped only 12 games in six previous sets versus Strycova.
After producing the most brilliant performance of her career in Australia, Angelique Kerber suddenly finds herself in a bit of a funk. The German, now ranked No.3 in the world, has lost three straight and has dropped six consecutive sets since winning the Australian Open title. But Kerber is not panicking. “I had a lot to do after Australia, and I was really enjoying it.” Kerber said. “Now I had a little bit of time to rest, to work very hard again on the practice courts. I’m fit and I’m healthy and that’s the important thing, so I’m ready to go again.” The German will be tested by the always pesky Barbora Strycova in the second round. Though troubled by Kerber in the past, the wily Czech will surely be ready to pounce on the opportunity if Kerber isn’t up to snuff.

Pick: Kerber in two

[4] Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP #4) vs. Dominika Cibulkova (SVK #54)
Head-to-head: Muguruza leads, 2-0
Key Stat: As a wildcard, Muguruza reached the round of 16 in her first two Miami appearances.
Perhaps a trip back to the place where the magic started will help Garbiñe Muguruza get her lethal game back on track in 2016. In 2012, the Spaniard was given a wildcard into Miami and proceeded to notch her first career WTA-level win before defeating two seeded players (Vera Zvonareva and Flavia Pennetta) on her way to the round of 16. Four years later, Muguruza is a proven Top 5 talent who is reeling a bit, and in search of her mojo. The Spaniard will look to find it against one of the most ornery fighters on tour in Dominika Cibulkova. The Slovakian was in play for an upset last week at Indian Wells, but squandered a match point and dropped the last five games to fall to Agnieszka Radwanska in three sets. Like Muguruza, Cibulkova is no stranger to having success in Miami. In her last appearance here (2014), she reached the semifinals for the first time.

Pick: Muguruza in three

[6] Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP #6) vs. CoCo Vandeweghe (USA #38)
Head-to-head: Suárez Navarro leads, 2-0
Key Stat: Suárez Navarro had to pull out of Indian Wells with a right ankle injury.
Last year Carla Suárez Navarro reached the final in Miami and secured her place in the WTA’s Top10 for the first time. This year, the Spaniard returns with a lot of points to defend, some questions about her health and a very powerful second-round opponent to deal with. Suárez Navarro has never dropped a set against Vandeweghe, but the American is one of the few players on tour that can take the racquet out of her opponent’s hands when she is on. Still, on the slow-playing hard courts of the Crandon Park Tennis Center, one has to like the consistent grind of Suárez Navarro’s methodical attack against the hit-and-miss aggression of Vandeweghe, particularly if the Spaniard is well enough to capitalize on her fitness advantage.

Pick: Suárez Navarro in three

[13] Victoria Azarenka (BLR #8) vs. Monica Puig (PUR #67)
Head-to-head: First meeting
Key Stat: Azarenka leads the WTA Tour in percentage of service games won thus far in 2016.
Victoria Azarenka is one of two players to have won multiple titles on the WTA Tour this year. Can she make it three in Miami? The red-hot Belarusian will square off against Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig in the first round and the match-up should favor Azarenka. Puig is a hard hitter when she is in control of rallies and able to step in and rip, but with Azarenka serving and returning so well of late, it’s hard to imagine many rallies where Puig will be in the driver’s seat. Azarenka, who improved to 16-1 on the season with her victory over Serena Williams in the Indian Wells final, should be able to dictate, and advance, without too much fuss.

Pick: Azarenka in two

Around the grounds…
Three-time champion Venus Williams will look to get back to winning ways against Elena Vesnina of Russia. The pair have split four previous meetings with 10th-seeded Williams winning the last two. No.7 seed Belinda Bencic will take part in a study of contrasts when she takes on hard-serving southpaw Kristyna Pliskova in a first-time meeting. Madison Keys will begin a new era with Mats Wilander as her part-time coach by facing Kirsten Flipkens. Keys has only played once since the Australian Open, losing to Nicole Gibbs at Indian Wells.

– Chris Oddo, wtatennis.com contributor

MIAMI, FL, USA – No.2 seed Angelique Kerber showed signs of the form that took her to a maiden major title on Friday, dispatching Barbora Strycova in straight sets at the Miami Open.

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Since her Australian Open triumph this January, things on the court have not exactly gone to plan for Kerber; a glorious Fed Cup homecoming was spoiled by a Belinda Bencic-inspired Switzerland before early exits in Doha and Indian Wells.

The draw in Miami, though, was kind to the German, pairing her with Strycova, against whom she had never lost. In fact, in their three career meetings Kerber had not even dropped a set, a record she maintained in emphatic fashion on Friday, completing a 6-1, 6-1 win in just over an hour.

“It was a great start for me,” Kerber said. “I knew that Barbora was a tough opponent and it was a tricky one – she’s played very well this year. But I always go out there and try to play my game again and try to be tough mentally, run for every ball.

“I worked very hard before Miami, because I had a lot of time after Indian Wells and I think the hard work pays off again. I’m also a little bit more relaxed and healthy.”

Grand Slam success has done little to erode Kerber’s famed work ethic. The World No.3 even sought the advice from 22-time major winner Steffi Graf in the build up to the Indian Wells-Miami double-header.

“At the end of such a great success it’s always good to celebrate a little bit and of course no one can ever take it away from me,” Kerber added. “But now it’s time to get on court and work hard again and do the same things that made me strong before Australia, getting ready for me next matches and tournaments.” 

Next Kerber faces Kiki Bertens, after she overcame a disastrous start to upset No.25 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1.

SYDNEY, Australia – British No.1 Johanna Konta put on a masterclass in the final of the Apia International Sydney to defeat Agnieszka Radwanska and capture her second career WTA title in straight sets.

Despite hitting a meager nine unforced errors, Radwanska had no answer against Konta’s aggressively controlled power tennis, falling 6-4, 6-2 after just over an hour and twenty minutes.

“She was just playing unbelievable tennis from the beginning till the end,” Radwanska said to press after the match. “And normally you’re thinking that she can’t play like this whole match and it’s gonna be even game or two that, you know, you can go forward because she’s gonna have some worse couple of games. But she didn’t.

“She was just playing [the] whole match so aggressive with pretty much everything in, and I couldn’t do much.”

Spurred on by a partisan crowd – “it’s a bit like playing Fed Cup,” Konta commented to her coach Wim Fissette at one on-court coaching break – the Sydney-born Brit stayed calm against the World No.3, who she had never defeated in their previous encounters.

.@JoKonta91 is on ?! #SydneyTennis pic.twitter.com/8Y2okuemYP

— WTA (@WTA) January 13, 2017

Keeping Radwanska under pressure with her relentless space and rhythm, Konta grabbed the lone break in the opening set but she had her opponent on the ropes throughout. Radwanska saved another break point that would have given the Brit a double-break lead, but couldn’t take back the deficit as Konta charged ahead.

Konta kept it rolling in the second set, quickly building up a double break to lead 4-0. Though Radwanska managed to grab a couple of games back, Konta imposed herself on every point and never allowed her opponent any time to get back into the match.

The Brit sealed the victory with an ace – her seventh of the match – to take home her second career WTA title.

.@JoKonta91 captures @SydneyTennis title!

Knocks out Radwanska 6-4, 6-2! pic.twitter.com/jVaZfiWMki

— WTA (@WTA) January 13, 2017

“I’m just overall happy with how I was able to progress throughout this tournament,” Konta told press after the win. “I felt each match that I was playing I was thinking a little more clearly and getting that much more match-tight, as the saying is.

“But overall, very happy with the match I played today. I really felt I definitely maintained a high level throughout and I made it very difficult for her to do much today. Going into any match against Aga – I played her twice before – I knew it had to be nothing short of what it was today if I was to have a chance of coming through.”

Guaranteed to move up to World No.9, Konta’s victory will give her plenty of confidence for the upcoming Australian Open, having not dropped a set all tournament long. She’s set to open against Kirsten Flipkens next week in Melbourne.

“Obviously how I have done here, I take it as a really positive thing, as a nice reward along the way for the hard work that myself and my team have put in every day,” Konta said.

“But it’s not a reflection of how next week will go, how the rest of the year will go. It’s back to everyday hard work, because that’s what dictates how I do.”

Svetlana Kuznetsova ended 2016 at such a breakneck pace that it was hard for the Russian to slow down in the off-season.

“I just didn’t want to totally switch off, so that’s why I kept going, trying to do something,” she told WTA Insider before the Brisbane International. “Even in the Maldives, when I was with my parents, I still had some sessions, running or whatever it is.

“The body of an athlete has to be moving all the time. No stopping. One week, maybe a few days, you can let yourself go, but you feel better when you’re moving.”

The former World No.2 was almost unstoppable last fall, moving from a must-win week in Moscow to a long-awaited return to the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global in seven years. Kuznetsova kicked off the new season with a 600th match win, ranking her fifth among active players.

“It’s a great achievement, a lot of matches to count” ?

-@SvetlanaK27 on reaching 600 career wins pic.twitter.com/hhdl0dUwo6

— WTA (@WTA) January 2, 2017

“My physio told me it’s only a couple more until I get to 1000, and I was like ‘What?’ But I started to think about 600, and how sometimes you get confused in matches when you’re playing, thinking ‘How do I do this?’ But then I think, ‘In 600 matches, you haven’t learned how to win?'”

There’s clearly been a lot more winning of late, as the two-time Grand Slam champion returned to the Top 10 after being as low as No.85 four years ago.

“I would love to take some of the consistency into this season. In the last few years, I haven’t been so good; I was always there, but couldn’t quite flip the switch. I would love to stay with the switch on, because it’s the key for me.”

#WTA leading 22 three set match wins!

World No.9 @SvetlanaK27! pic.twitter.com/CNSLBGWua9

— WTA (@WTA) December 23, 2016

Part of the key to that consistency has been maintaining a simplistic approach to each match, focusing on one point at a time.

“The most difficult things in life are often the most simple ones. Even when you start to play tennis, what do they tell you? Look at the ball. It’s the main thing in the whole life of a player. Some players forget to look at the ball, and you don’t think about it. Any player, even the No.1 – I don’t know, maybe, I’ve never been there, but No.2 for sure.

“Sometimes when you keep losing, and you’re thinking, ‘Damn, it’s so hard; how do I get there? It’s impossible.’ Then something goes on and you start winning and you think how it’s so simple. It’s the theory of life, what happens to everyone; when you’re on top, it looks simple. It’s not really like that, but when you’re there, that’s how it looks. When you’re not, it seems so much more complicated.

“I feel that I’m playing as well as the best in the world, and I have a chance to beat them and be ranked among them everywhere I go. It’s a great feeling because I worked really hard to be there; it’s a pleasure.”

Sveta on the Stretch!@SvetlanaK27 takes @BrisbaneTennis Day 4 Shot of the Day with this brilliant volley! pic.twitter.com/6EgWW4egIB

— WTA (@WTA) January 4, 2017

With that pleasure comes increased expectation; Kuznetsova opens against Mariana Duque Mariño on Monday, and is seeded to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal since the 2014 French Open, but the more things change, the more they stay the same for the 31-year-old veteran.

“People see me differently now because I’m a Top 10 player again. They don’t see you like a Top 10 player when you don’t have that same confidence. Players will only see you by the ranking, and ranking reflects everything. You can’t cheat the ranking, that’s for sure!

“All players want to beat me and I definitely don’t have this easy life where I’ve never been at the top and top players don’t expect anything good. Of course, everyone expects good tennis from me and that can be hard to deal with. But I feel confident, I feel happy and healthy. Those are the main things and I love the game; I enjoy it.

“If I feel like this, I’m ready to go for it and one day I’ll make it.”

.@SvetlanaK27 taking an unusual approach to her warm up today ??? #SydneyTennis pic.twitter.com/uMRSU4t4WW

— Apia Intl Sydney (@SydneyTennis) January 8, 2017

With no immediate goals, Kuznetsova does hope to one day surpass the quarterfinals, her best finish in Melbourne. She led by a set in two of those three prior appearances in the last eight, falling to Maria Sharapova in 2005 and Serena Williams in 2009.

“I love the event, the crowd, and Australia. The people are very nice; they love beer a lot! I tell my friends I’m in Australia and they tell me what a dream it is for them to travel here.

“I’m already living someone else’s dream, but I would still love to see more places in Australia.”

That dream already came true this year with a debut appearance in Brisbane; might the No.8 seed make another dream come true Down Under?