Tennis News

STUTTGART, Germany – Fast-rising Timea Babos edged through a tense opening set and survived a late surge from Sabine Lisicki to defeat the German, 7-6(4), 6-3.

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“I was really happy to play a night match on Center Court, especially after the opening ceremony,” Babos told press after the match. “I took it as a good chance; I knew I had to play solid against Sabine. She’s had many good results and is in front of her home crowd, so I tried to stay focused and solid.

Serving first throughout the match, Babos applied plenty of pressure to the Lisicki return from the start, earning the first break to take a 5-3 lead in the opening set. Despite failing to serve it out in the tenth game, Babos held firm to take the first set in a tie-break.

“I’m here with my fitness coach now, and he said I didn’t move so well!” Babos joked when asked about what she could have improved. “It’s my first match on clay since the French Open, so I have to adapt. It helps that it’s still indoors; it helps my serve. With the movement, it needs some adjustment. I grew up on clay, and I like clay, so there is no problem, but I need more time to get used to the movement.”

Lisicki dug an even deeper hole in the second set, but nearly pulled off a Houdini act for the ages; recovering from 1-5 down, she saved two match points before the Hungarian powerhouse sealed the match in just over 90 minutes.

“In the second set, she felt the match was going away from her and she started to punch the ball as hard as she could and started to serve even better, which is a huge weapon of hers.

“I’m happy that I was able to close it out at 5-3, because even at 5-1, I was doing only first serves and even some big serves and she ripped some winners.”

The tournament has had to deal with quite a few late arrivals thanks to a busy Fed Cup weekend, but Babos had her own reason for not getting to Stuttgart as early as she might have liked.

“I arrived last night; obviously I knew I was going to play today but I also had my five-year high school reunion on Saturday, so I wanted to attend that!”

Babos had a bright start on clay last year – reaching a final in Marrackech –  only to lose her next seven  matches on clay courts, despite taking out Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza to win the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in doubles with Kristina Mladenovic in between. This season, she is in the midst of playing her most consistent singles of her career, reaching quarterfinals in Shenzhen, St. Petersburg, and Katowice. Reaching the round of 16 in Miami, she pushed reigning Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber to three sets.

“I had a good start and an awful season! Last year was interesting because I played a lot better than what my results were, and I had to play a lot of qualies in the beginning of the season; I played eight tournaments in a row in qualifying. But everywhere I qualified, I lost early, so I was winning twice as many matches as I was losing but I couldn’t improve my ranking. I had a final on clay but then I didn’t play the way I should have, how I played in Marrackech. Then I got killed at the French Open by Angie [Kerber].

“This year, I was looking forward to it more; I’ve had some good results this year, and I improved my ranking a lot since the end of the season. I was one of the last to get here, and only wanted to play singles here, so I took it as a good opportunity. I tried to have fun and even with all the adjustments, I think it was a good start.”

Up next for the 22-year-old is No.3 seed Garbiñe Muguruza, who beat her in the round of 16 at the Qatar Total Open.

Earlier in the day, World No.22 Johanna Konta fell at her first hurdle on clay courts; playing one of eight German women in the main draw at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, the Australian Open semifinalist fell to Anna-Lena Friedsam, 6-3, 6-3.

“I think that is always to be expected first match on clay,” the Brit said after the match. “I think it’s not easy for anyone. I think she did a better job than I did today dealing with the conditions. So, I’m happy I’m involved in doubles here. So, I’m looking forward to that, just all the matches I can get going into Roland Garros on the clay is an added bonus.

“This was my first match on clay since last year, so for about a year,” she added with a laugh. “So, I just need to go a little easy on myself and also keep looking forward and keep enjoying the challenge of continuously trying to improve.”

MELBOURNE, Australia – On Day 5 of the Australian Open, the favorites took care of business. The two surprises of the day came from Anastasia Pavluchenkova knocking out No.11 seed Elina Svitolina and Sorana Cirstea continuing her good form to beat Alison Riske and advance to her first Round of 16 at a Slam since the 2009 French Open.

Here’s what you missed:

The Top Half Round of 16 is set for Sunday.

No.1 Angelique Kerber vs. No.35 CoCo Vandeweghe
No.78 Sorana Cirstea vs. No.7 Garbiñe Muguruza
No.116 Mona Barthel vs. No.17 Venus Williams
No.27 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs. No.10 Svetlana Kuznetsova

@MonaBarthel chats on court after progressing to the fourth round pic.twitter.com/mP2kbRXziT

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 20, 2017

Mona Barthel’s long road back.

The German’s talent has never been a question. With a fluid backhand that can take the ball down the line with remarkable precision and disguise, the 26-year-old hit a career-high of No.23 in 2013. But she came into Melbourne having to qualify for the main draw, with a ranking that plummetted to No.116 after an undiagnosed illness derailed her 2016 season.

“Nobody knew what it was exactly,” Barthel said. “Starting around here last year when I got back home I just couldn’t do anything. Walking 100 meters was totally exhausting for me. It was a really tough time. Tennis wasn’t really a part of it, I was just trying to get back to live a normal life. I really didn’t know if I could return.

“It was a tough year for me. I was really sick for a long time. It took me a lot of time to come back and feel physically good again. I think since December I felt a lot better and could practice a lot more and get the hours on the court. I’m just physically much fitter than I was before and that helps me mentally because I know I can play the long rallies and go for three sets.

into the 4th round @AustralianOpen
Bravo @BarthelMona ???
Danke für den Support @WitthoeftCarina @philliplang91
???? pic.twitter.com/iJbXpaAnM1

— Christopher Kas (@KasiTennis) January 20, 2017

“It was mentally tough because if you don’t have a diagnosis you don’t know if it’s coming back. It was tough sometimes on court. I just didn’t know where my body was, if I could trust it again. But it’s much better now.”

Barthel needed all her reserves to get past another solid performance from Ashleigh Barty, coming back from a break down in the third to win 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. The win puts Barthel into her first Round of 16 at a Slam where she’ll face Venus Williams.

“She’s a great player. If she’s on, she’s playing unbelievable. But I won six matches in a row. Nothing is impossible.”

Svetlana Kuznetsova plays another marathon in Melbourne.

It was six years ago that Kuznetsova played her part in setting the record for the longest women’s match at a Slam, eventually succumbing to Francesca Schiavone here in Melbourne in 4 hours and 44 minutes. The No.9 seed didn’t have to go that far this time, but she needed 3 hours and 36 minutes to get past Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 5-7, 9-7. Kuznetsova rallied back from 0-3 down in the final set to nip Jankovic in the end.

You're welcome.#ausopen pic.twitter.com/fdqLiuKmcE

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 20, 2017

CoCo Vandeweghe swags past Eugenie Bouchard.

In the most anticipated match of the day, Vandeweghe came back from a break down in the third set to beat Bouchard 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 in a top-quality battle between two big hitters. The win puts Vandeweghe into her first Round of 16 at a hard court major and she’ll get a chance to pull off the upset over No.1 Angelique Kerber on Sunday.

One thing is for sure: Vandweghe will not be short of confidence. The American was asked whether her win over Bouchard ranked high on her list of career victories and Vandeweghe dismissed the idea.

Coco #Vandeweghe will “be as prepared as possible” for her 4R clash #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/cAWiC7xFaD

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 20, 2017

“Actually, not that high now that I think about it,” she said, smiling. “I think there are different moments in my career that I have, my short career, that I enjoy, different wins for different reasons.

“I think probably my favorite match that I won — well, I probably have to say tournament, is probably my first WTA title would be my favorite. Then after that, I had a really good run at Montreal where I beat Jankovic and Ivanovic back to back, and that was the first time I ever beat two — I believe they were top 10, both of them, at the time, first time I had ever done that.

“So this one isn’t that high for me. It was kind of expected, in my mind, to get the win and to get the victory and to move a step closer to achieving what I want to achieve for this year and also this tournament.”

Venus Williams doesn’t age.

The 36-year-old has now made the second week at four consecutive Slams and has done so in seven of her last nine majors. On Friday she lost just one game to Duan Ying-Ying, sealing the match in under an hour.

Kristyna Pliskova has a surprising admirier.

The Czech couldn’t do much against Kerber, losing 6-0, 6-4 in 55 minutes. But she certainly caught one Gladiator’s attention:

@KrisPliskova you will be a champion, if you decide to be … You are more powerful than you realise . Strength and honour

— Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) January 20, 2017

Quote of the Day: “It wasn’t a horrible trip.”

Bouchard leaves Australia with a lot of positives, having found some consistent form to make the Sydney semifinals and come within a few games of the Round of 16 here.

“Obviously, deep down, always expect more, but, you know, I couldn’t expect too much, considering I trained for a month, and it’s the first, you know, really good training I got in a while, first time I got a good break in a while, first time I trained well in a while,” she said.

“It’s kind of like a restart process. I can’t expect too much at the beginning. It wasn’t a horrible trip.”

The Barty Party is over.

It was a great tournament for Barty, who will jump to around No.150 after the tournament. “I think if you would have asked me 12 months ago if I was going to be in the third round of the Australian Open, I would say, Mate, you’re kidding,” Barty said. “Obviously it’s disappointing tonight that we couldn’t execute what we wanted. But still a very positive week.”

Now we’ll just end it on this:

Go @ashbar96 All of #IpswichQld is behind you. #winning #AusOpen We couldn't resist this flashback pic taken 2002 @AustralianOpen @7tennis pic.twitter.com/S7ca81o1ov

— Ipswich City Council (@IpswichCouncil) January 20, 2017

ZHUHAI, China – Following their season-long success and resurgent Asian Swing performances, Johanna Konta, Carla Suárez Navarro and Petra Kvitova are set to lead a world-class field at the 2016 Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai.

Joining them at the season-ending event are Elina Svitolina, Roberta Vinci, Timea Bacsinszky, Elena Vesnina, Samantha Stosur, Barbora Strycova, Kiki Bertens, Caroline Garcia and wildcard Zhang Shuai. Timea Babos will be an alternate. Between all qualified competitors, they represent nine WTA singles titles won in 2016.

Here is a more in-depth look at the singles players competing in the 2016 Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai:

“We are looking forward to the second edition of the WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai, showcasing some of the top athletes on the WTA,” said WTA CEO Steve Simon. “This event features many of our top stars who have accomplished much success during the 2016 season and now have the opportunity to compete against each other for the Zhuhai title.”

The 2016 WTA Elite Trophy will run from November 1-6, 2016 at the custom-designed and state-of-the-art Zhuhai Hengqin International Tennis Centre. The event features both singles and doubles and will be staged in the southern Chinese coastal city of Zhuhai with a total prize money of over $2.2 million on the line.

The players will compete in four round-robin groups of three, with the winners of each group advancing to the semifinals. The six doubles teams will be split into two round-robin groups, with the winner of each advancing to the final.

The doubles field consists of Zheng Saisai and Xu Yifan, Arantxa Parra Santoja and Andrea Klepac, Olga Savchuk and Anastasia Rodionova, and Tatjana Maria and Oksana Kalashnikova, as well as the two wildcard teams of Wang Yafan and Liang Chen and You Xiaodi and Yang Zhaoxuan.