Miami: Saturday Highlights
Highlights from the finals day action at the Miami Open.
WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen | As Victoria Azarenka and Bethanie Mattek-Sands bask in a Sunshine Sweep, one last look back on Miami as the tour turns to clay.
An interview with Samantha Stosur after her first round win at the Volvo Car Open.
CHARLESTON, SC, USA – 2004 Volvo Car Open champion Venus Williams made a thunderous return in Charleston, hitting 20 winners to ease past Alison Riske, 6-4, 6-2.
Watch highlights, interviews and more video from Charleston right here on wtatennis.com!
“It wasn’t easy,” the former No.1 told Andrew Krasny during her on-court interview. “It was great tennis from both of us, an hour and a half of slam, bam, thank you m’am!
“I was really impressed with her; it was great to have Americans playing well.”
Keeping up a high first serve percentage, the elder of the Williams sisters hit three aces and broke serve five times in the nearly 90 minute match; despite it being her first clay court match of 2016, she still found her way to the net 26 times, winning 17 of those points. What made the difference for Venus in a battle of big hitters?
“I don’t know; I’m a little bit taller? Maybe that’s an unfair advantage,” she said with a laugh. “Thanks Mom; thanks Dad! But I think just experience definitely helped; she’s played good matches and won titles, so just the experience of playing those important points helped me a little more today.”
The No.3 seed will have an even greater height advantage in her next round as she takes on the 5’4″ Yulia Putintseva for a spot in the quarterfinals. Putintseva rallied from losing the second set of her match against 2013 Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki to serve out a titanic third set against her more experienced opponent, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3. Williams and Putintseva have met thrice before, with the American winning all three matches in tight, two-set matches. No doubt another advantage will be the enthusiatic Charleston crowd, who cheered for the decorated veteran throughout her second round victory.
'It's like my second home.'
Venus Williams declared her love for #Charleston following her win over Riske. #VCO2016 pic.twitter.com/eTiRAyeTQu
— Volvo Car Open (@VolvoCarOpen) April 6, 2016
“Thank you guys for rooting me on; I love being here. I love Charleston. It’s like my second home, and so I’m looking forward to the next match!”
Earlier in the day, No.7 seed Sloane Stephens won her first match since hoisting her second title of the season by defeating Danka Kovinic, 6-4, 6-3. Former Charleston finalists Lucie Safarova and Madison Keys eached dropped their opening round matches to Louisa Chirico and Laura Siegemund, respectively. Safarova, the No.4 seed and 2015 French Open finalist, was playing her first match on clay and only her fourth singles match of 2016 after illness and injury interrupted her start to the season.
Keys appeared on well on her way to moving past a tricky veteran in Siegemund, but the 28-year-old beguiled last year’s runner-up with an array of dropshots to edge out the victory in three sets.
“I think it was a very high level that we both played,” Siegemund said after the match. “I think it was a great match in general. I had chances in the first set, had a set point, but she played very well in the tough moments, so I had to be patient and wait for more chances to come.”
Third set!@LauraSiegemund forces a decider over Keys 6-7(3), 6-4! #VCO2016 https://t.co/yijErccUs8
— WTA (@WTA) April 6, 2016
Variety was the name of the game for Siegemund, who in the midst of a career-best season after reaching the third round of the Australian Open – her best-ever Grand Slam finish – back in January.
“I’m definitely a clay court player and against someone like Madison who’s a hard hitter and likes to hit fast balls, I like to mix it up, play higher, lower, try to play slices and drops. That’s just my game and I think it worked well.”
Siegemund will play another big-hitter in Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, who saved four match points to defeat Kristina Mladenovic on Tuesday.
“Honestly, I haven’t thought about it much yet because I was thinking about my performance today and going through that. It’s just another match so I’ll focus, regroup and go out and try to play well again tomorrow.”
On the outer courts, No.14 seed Daria Kasatkina continued her clay court domination with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over fellow 18-year-old and former junior rival, Ana Konjuh. Kasatkina will next play Chirico for a spot in her first WTA clay court quarterfinal.
It was a tough finish for 2014 semifinalist Eugenie Bouchard, who had just leveled her match against Lourdes Domínguez Lino when she was forced to retire with a left abdominal injury; the Spanish veteran was leading the former World No.5, 6-4, 1-6, 1-0.
“I wanted to give it another game in the third set, and when I realized I couldn’t serve faster than I could serve lefty, then I thought I should probably stop playing,” she said after the match.
“It’s the same one [from last summer], which is why I’m concerned and why I did retire, to not get in the same situation as I was last year where I pushed way too much with an injury and made it worse.”
Also dealing with injury was No.2 seed Belinda Bencic, who is still dealing with back issues that forced her to retire from her match at the Miami Open. Playing 2011 runner-up Elena Vesnina, Bencic only managed two games as the Russian ran away with the affair, 6-1, 6-1.
“It wasn’t easy because Belinda is having a great season,” she said during her on-court interview. “She’s a young player in the Top 10 already. I saw at the end of the second set she started moving slowly. She had some problems with her back, but she started swinging and hitting as she could and it wasn’t easy. But I’m happy that I won this match and I’m sorry for Belinda; I hope she will be ready for the next tournaments.”
Vesnina has been surging back up the rankings following a year of inconsistent results; the former World No.21 has already earned wins over Simona Halep, Venus Williams, and Caroline Wozniacki. What’s her secret?
“Maybe because I got married? I guess so, because my results are getting better and better every week. I’m really enjoying my time here and I love Charleston. I love coming back here; my friends live here and they came to support me!”
The last match of the day was a night session match between Andrea Petkovic and Monica Puig, who roared back from 5-2 down in the openng set to defeat the 2014 champion, 7-5, 6-2.
Oh what a night!!!! Thanks for the fun and laughs and funny kiss cams ?! Cant wait for tomorrow!!! ?⭐️? pic.twitter.com/q9Mmj53VfF
— Monica Puig (@MonicaAce93) April 7, 2016
Former No.1 Victoria Azarenka began the month of March ranked outside the Top 10 and heads into April back inside the Top 5 for the first time since 2014, having captured back-to-back titles at the BNP Paribas Open and Miami Open.
Gritting out several tough three-setters in Indian Wells, Azarenka enjoyed a comprehensive upset of top seed and 21-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams for her fourth career victory over the American and second title in the California desert. She followed up the feat by winning Miami, becoming the third woman in WTA history to win the prestigious and elusive Indian Wells-Miami “Sunshine” Double.
“It’s been a really long month and to be able to contain this determination and that intensity throughout all the matches is definitely not an easy task,” Azarenka told WTA Insider in the latest Champion’s Corner.
“The last couple of days especially have been a lot of expectations and pressure from the outside to complete the Sunshine Double and so I’m very proud that I kept myself present, kept myself really focused and focused on the job before anything else.”
Focused and intense throughout the Miami fortnight, Azarenka didn’t drop a set en route to her third Miami title; the win increased her 2016 total to three WTA titles and brought her up to the top spot on the Road to Singapore Leaderboard.
“Pressure is something that I want to go after, something that I want to face, and the challenge I always want to face.
“I’m never going to be the type of person who runs away from a challenge, no matter how hard it is, because that’s what gets me excited and a hardened competitor.”
With more challenges ahead of the Sunshine Double winner, Azarenka appears ready to move even higher as March’s WTA Player Of The Month!
Final Results for March’s WTA Player Of The Month
1. Victoria Azarenka (70%)
2. Svetlana Kuznetsova (17%)
3. Serena Williams (13%)
2016 WTA Player of the Month Winners
January: Angelique Kerber
February: Carla Suárez Navarro
How it works:
Finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com
CHARLESTON, SC, USA – Top seeds at the Volvo Car Open, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova were in the midst of relaunching their Grand Slam-winning partnership after capturing the Miami Open title. Though they finished runner-up to Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic, team “Bucie” nonetheless had a great week in Charleston, dropping just one set en route to the final.
The team also collaborated with Safarova’s coach, Rob Steckley, to produce another action-packed video that takes viewers on a frantic tour of Daniel Island, the site of the Family Circle Tennis Center.
6 wks ✅ 2 ? and a New Video to recap our crazy life #teambucie @luciesafarova @BMATTEK https://t.co/r5nz0WYJ2w pic.twitter.com/V7IUFQ4rRg
— Rob Steckley (@robsteckley) April 10, 2016
Check out the full video above, and stay tuned for more high-octane content from the reigning French Open champions.
Elena Vesnina has Saturday’s shot of the day at the Volvo Car Open.
LUCERNE, Switzerland – Barbora Strycova will begin the Czech Republic’s bid to reach a third consecutive Fed Cup final when she takes on Switzerland’s Timea Bacsinszky on Saturday afternoon.
With the lynchpin of his all-conquering side, Petra Kvitova, absent, Petr Pala will look to Strycova and Karolina Pliskova to pave the way to yet another victory. Both players have been part of the Czech set-up for several years now and even teamed up for the decisive doubles victory in last year’s final against Russia.
Although Strycova has tasted defeat in her last three singles rubbers, she will take comfort in her fine record against her opening day foe; in three career meetings against Bacsinszky, Strycova has never conceded a set, winning the most recent of these, at last year’s US Open, for the loss of just five games.
“I don’t know if it’s a huge confidence [boost] but it is a little bit because last year I played her,” Strycova said. “The other two matches were many years ago so I don’t count that. It’s going to be a different match tomorrow because the whole crowd are going to push her to play her best tennis. I have to be ready for that.”
Pliskova, meanwhile, takes a near-perfect Fed Cup record into her singles meeting with World No.129 Viktorija Golubic. In eight Fed Cup matches, Pliskova’s sole defeat came at the hands of Maria Sharapova, and in February’s first-round tussle with Romania she dealt with the contrasting challenges of Simona Halep and Monica Niculescu before claiming the crucial third point alongside Strycova in doubles.
Eight hundred kilometers away, in Trélazé, France will play host to the Netherlands in the weekend’s other semifinal. Despite their impressive victory over Russia in the previous round, the Netherlands will start as underdogs against a strong French side attempting to reach its first final since 2005.
French captain Amélie Mauresmo has elected to open the tie with Caroline Garcia, who will face Dutch No.1 Kiki Bertens. Garcia sits over 50 places higher in the rankings than Bertens, and the gap in the second singles rubber is even wider, pitting World No.28 Kristina Mladenovic against No.139 Richel Hogenkamp.
After their heroics in Moscow, Mauresmo is wary of looking past the Dutch: “It [the Dutch winning in Moscow] was definitely a surprise and it keeps us on our toes,” Mauresmo said.
Mauresmo’s team also includes Alizé Cornet and the in-form Pauline Parmentier, who are scheduled to play together in Sunday’s doubles. “I’m very lucky in this tie,” Mauresmo added. “In some ties I had easier choices to make. The four girls came into this week either with a lot of wins behind them, great confidence on the surface or coming out of doubles wins.”
Petra Kvitova takes on Louisa Chirico in the first round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
ISTANBUL, Turkey – The last first round match of the day ended in an upset as Andreea Mitu sent the No.2 seed Yanina Wickmayer crashing out of the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup, 7-5, 6-4.
Watch live action from Stuttgart & Istanbul this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
Ranked No.113, Mitu doesn’t often play on the center court, but at the Garanti Koza Arena she didn’t allow the setting to intimidate her.
“It was strange for me to play on such a big court,” the Romanian said. “I am not that used to it so it feels different, but I am confident on clay.”
Mitu and Wickmayer stayed locked into a tense first set despite the No.2 seed bringing up two break points early on. It was Mitu that drew first blood at 6-5 to Wickmayer’s mounting frustration. The Romanian was about to serve for the set when the match was temporarily suspended while the roof closed due to rain. The delay did nothing to improve Wickmayer’s mood, and Mitu quickly took the first set.
Despite finding her composure to start off the second set, Wickmayer was broken twice in the third game and soon found herself facing match points with Mitu serving up 5-3. The Belgian was able to fight them off and stay alive in the match, but the Romanian took the match at her second opportunity to move into the second round.
“It was a good match, even though I never played her before and I struggled at the beginning,” Mitu said after the victory. “My forehand was not working that well, I made a lot of unforced errors so I need to improve that for my next match.”
Mitu moves on to play a familiar opponent: Swiss player Stefanie Voegele, who advanced 6-2, 7-5 over Turkish wildcard Ipek Soylu.
“I know Stefanie pretty well, we practiced together the other day,” Mitu said. “I expect I tough one!”
No.4 seed Kirsten Flipkens overcame a spirited start from Donna Vekic, fighting through exhaustion to make her way into the second round, 7-6(5), 6-4.
“It was a tough one,” Flipkens said afterward. “After Fed Cup it´s very hard because it takes a lot of energy playing for the team. Even though it´s Wednesday I am still pretty tired but I am very happy that I pulled it off.”
Flipkens goes on to play Kateryna Kozlova in the next round. The Ukrainian advanced past Alexandra Dulgheru in a tight three sets, emerging victorious 6-7(6), 7-6(3), 6-1.
Also into the second round are Greek qualifier Maria Sakkari, who backed up her upset of top seed Anna-Karolina Schmiedlova with a win over Hsieh Su-Wei 6-3, 6-4, and No.5 seed Danka Kovinic.
