Sydney: Halep vs Pliskova
Simona Halep takes on Karolina Pliskova in the quarterfinals of the Apia International Sydney.
Simona Halep takes on Karolina Pliskova in the quarterfinals of the Apia International Sydney.
NANCHANG, China – Duan Ying-Ying fought back to knock out No.8 seed Han Xinyun and book a spot in the quarterfinals of the Jiangxi Open on Thursday.
Watch live action from Nanchang this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
Long-time rivals on the ITF Circuit, this was the first time the players had met at a WTA event, and it was Han that reacquainted herself the quicker. However, after dropping the first set Duan slowly came back into contention in the second, pinching it after getting the better of a flurry of late service breaks.
She rode this momentum into the decider, opening up an early lead before reeling off the final three games to close out a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory.
“It’s been a while since I last played her so it took me some time to get used to her game, especially because she’s a lefty,” Duan said. “I lost the first set but changed strategy in the second and third and it worked.
“I’m happy with my performance today. And felt quite lucky that I won in the end. She moves very well on court. It’s quite difficult to play her.”
Elsewhere, there were mixed fortunes for the Chinese contingent; Liu Fangzhou provided further home cheer with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Jang Su Jeong, while Misa Eguchi ended the run of qualifier Zhu Lin, 6-4, 6-2.
There have been several classic finals over 28 editions of the BNP Paribas Open. Dan Lucas looks back at three of the very best.
Dropshot Podcast: Breaking down the Australian Open draw, are we headed for a Serena vs. Vika final in Melbourne?
On this Dropshot episode of the WTA Insider Podcast, Senior Writer Courtney Nguyen is joined by Web Editor David Kane to analyze the 2016 Australian Open draw, which is notably top-heavy, offering top seed Serena Williams a tricky path to her 22nd major title, and a bottom half that sees one name in particular stand out: Victoria Azarenka.
Nguyen and Kane discuss whether Simona Halep’s decision to play through pain at the Apia International Sydney will impact her chances in Melbourne, Camila Giorgi’s high-risk/high-reward game, Agnieszka Radwanska’s chances for her first major title, and much, much more.
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WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen | What are the biggest stories worth following at what promises to be an exciting Olympic Games? Check out a full draw analysis right her at wtatennis.com!
Angelique Kerber says the boldest decision she ever made came when she was 17 and decided to play tennis professionally.
Her comments reflect the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day: ‘Be Bold For Change’.
“The toughest decision I made was when I was 17, and I decided to start to play tennis [professionally],” she reveals in an exclusive WTA interview. “I was not able to get through to the university and of course when you are 17 years old that’s always a tough decision, because you don’t know how far you can get and what’s happening the next year.”
It was very much a decision that paid off for the 29-year-old, who enjoyed the best year of her career in 2016. In addition to finishing the year at No.1 in the WTA rankings (making it five years in a row in the Top 10), there was double Grand Slam success at the Australian Open and US Open, plus a WTA win in Stuttgart.
On top of that, there were finals at Brisbane, Wimbledon, Cincinnati and the year-end BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, and a silver medal at the Olympics in Rio.
International Women’s Day falls on March 8 every year, and celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.
An interview with Svetlana Kuznetsova after her win in the semifinals of the Apia International Sydney.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – How many people will cram into The Maria Esther Bueno Tennis Stadium to watch next Saturday’s singles final? Which nations are best represented in the draw? And whose record is Venus Williams set to match? These are just a few of the questions answered in an Olympic special of wtatennis.com’s By The Numbers.
10,000 – The Olympic Tennis Center’s main court seats 10,000 spectators and was named after Brazilian legend, Maria Bueno, who won 19 Grand Slam titles in the 1950s and 1960s
63 – Since its reintroduction in 1988, 63 different countries have been represented in the tennis competition
42 – The number of games it took the Soviet Union’s Larisa Savchenko to defeat Sara Gomer in Seoul in 1988. In terms of games played, Savchenko’s 6-7(3), 7-6(3), 9-7 victory remains the longest in the Games’ history
24 – World No.24 Alicia Molik, who won bronze at Athens in 2004, is the only unseeded player to collect a medal at the Olympics
18 – At 18 years old Ana Konjuh is the youngest player competing in the singles draw. In 1992, Jennifer Capriati, then 16 years and 132 days old, beat Steffi Graf to win gold
13 – Venus owns a 13-3 record in singles competition at the Olympic Games, the most match wins since tennis returned in 1988
12 – Serena (9) and Venus (13) boast by far the most singles match wins at this summer’s Games. Caroline Wozniacki (5) is next on the list, while the 14 seeds not named Williams have a combined total of just 12
10 – Atlanta gold medalist Lindsay Davenport was No.10 at the time of the Games. She is the lowest-ranked player to win the singles competition
5 -This will be Venus’ fifth Olympics equaling Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario’s record for most appearances
4 – China, Germany, Russia, and the United States all have the maximum of four representatives in the singles draw
3 – Serena and Venus have picked up doubles gold on each occasion they have competed together (2000, 2008 and 2012)
2 – The top seed has won gold at only two of the seven Games since 1988 – Graf (1988) and Justine Henin (2004)
1 – Serena’s solitary defeat in her two previous bids for singles gold came at the hands of eventual winner Elena Dementieva in the Beijing quarterfinals
0 – Prior to Rio, no Turkish tennis player had competed in the Olympic tennis competition. Cagla Buyukakcay will be the first
Agnieszka Radwanska talks before the start of the BNP Paribas Open.
An interview with Monica Puig after her loss in the final of the Apia International Sydney.