Sydney: Radwanska Interview
An interview with Agnieszka Radwanska before her withdrawal from the Apia International Sydney.
An interview with Agnieszka Radwanska before her withdrawal from the Apia International Sydney.
Simona Halep takes on Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup.
WTA Doubles World No.1 Bethanie Mattek-Sands is heading into the Miami Open looking to defend her title with partner Lucie Safarova – and her spot atop the rankings.
An interview with Sara Errani after her win in the first round of the Apia International Sydney.
Madison Keys takes on Kristina Kucova in the semifinals of the Rogers Cup.
MIAMI, FL, USA – No.2 seed Karolina Pliskova wrapped up her straight sets win over Madison Brengle in just under an hour to move into the third round of the Miami Open, 6-1, 6-3.
Last year, Pliskova made a run to the Indian Wells semifinals and crashed out of Miami in her opening match. The Czech admitted at All-Access Hour that her biggest goal was to avoid the same fate again.
“I had this last year as well – I did semis last year and then I lost in first round here,” she said. “So I just want to change this. I know I struggle after I do a good result in one tournament and then coming to a different tournament after.
“I think I’m in good shape this year, so hopefully I can change it in this tournament, to not lose in the first round.”
.@KaPliskova races through the first set 6-1! ? #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/kxxXZA3Mdf
— WTA (@WTA) March 23, 2017
With her first serve percentage dipping to 46%, Pliskova relied on her booming groundstrokes and strong returning to ensure that she’d fight another day. She bossed the rallies against the American, quickly breaking twice to reel off six straight games and take the opening set and a break to lead in the second.
Brengle put up a better fight in the second set as she attacked the Pliskova serve and earned herself her first break of the match, but Pliskova quickly reestablished the lead in the next game. They stayed on serve for the rest of the set with just a break separating the two players, and Brengle was unable to bring up a second break opportunity as Pliskova took the victory in just 59 minutes.
.@KaPliskova is first through to @MiamiOpen Third round!
Hurries past Brengle 6-1, 6-3! pic.twitter.com/6Y5EKke1ru
— WTA (@WTA) March 23, 2017
Pliskova dictated the rallies from start to finish, and it showed in the stats: she finished the match with 27 winners and 30 unforced errors to Brengle’s six winners and 24 unforced errors. She took five of the eight break opportunities she created, while the American was only able to convert one of two.
“The last few matches it’s not really about my serve because the percentage is a little low, but I’m happy that I have my game from the baseline,” Pliskova said after the match. “I was feeling the ball pretty well today.
“It was a tough one today against an American, she has the home crowd supporting here. So I’m just happy to be through.”
Her relentless pursuit of the highest echelons of tennis now comes with the reality of having to deliver week-in and week-out. Ranked World No.3, Garbiñe Muguruza has gone from underdog to favorite, and along with that comes the inevitable – pressure.
“Before, I was Garbiñe who had chances to win; now I’m Garbiñe who is supposed to win,” Muguruza told Spanish reporters during the off-season.
“Until now I had never found myself in a situation with so many expectations and so much pressure. It’s something I have to take in, because you can’t learn that off of the court. You’re out there and you have to manage it.”
But the 22-year-old Spaniard remains undaunted by the big task of meeting high expectations – in fact, she’s learned to relish the pressure.
“It’s about dealing with it on your own,” she said, “because there’s no one who can teach you how to handle it all. It’s a part of my job – all this pressure. And I love it.”
And another thing Muguruza is loving are her chances at the Australian Open despite having to bow out of the Brisbane International early, her first tournament of 2016 cut short by the flare up of a long-standing foot injury. She’s optimistic that it won’t be a problem in Melbourne.
Muguruza hasn’t made it past the fourth round at Melbourne yet, but she also has never been seeded so high – her ranking guarantees a Top 4 seed. The only people to knock her out of the Happy Slam – Serena Williams and Agnieszka Radwanska – are both in the Top 4 as well, so she won’t have to face them until at least the semifinals.
Can the youngest member of the WTA Top 10 seize this opportunity and win the biggest title of her career in Melbourne?
Following last week’s withdrawals, the International Tennis Federation has updated entry lists for the upcoming Olympic Games, adding Magda Linette and Polona Hercog to the singles competition.
MIAMI, FL, USA — She reached the quarterfinals in her Miami Open debut a year ago, and Johanna Konta’s 2017 tournament is off to a winning start after the No.10 seed survived a game effort by Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus, 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-4 in the second round on Friday night.
“I’m definitely satisfied with how I came back in the third set and just competed,” Konta said after the match. “Basically just did the best that I could with what I had. It was very difficult conditions — not just the wind, but also the rain, quite a little bit of stop and start. It was about managing your expectations for any sort of level for the match but also any sort of frustrations that would arise because of the conditions — just keeping things in good perspective, fighting and competing. She played quite well, and I really had to fight hard and work for it in the end.”
Konta cruised in the 33-minute opener, winning four straight games from 2-2 to take a one-set lead. The Brit surrendered just seven points on serve in the first set, while winning 50 percent of the points on Sasnovich’s delivery. She remained in command for much of the early going in the second, building a 6-2, 4-2 lead, but Sasnovich got a foothold in the match with a key break of serve in the seventh game — her first of the match.
From there, the set went with serve until the tie-break, with Konta forced to save break points at 4-4 as Sasnovich looked to win a third straight game, before the qualifier found her forehand late, striking several winners to earn herself a deciding set.
Sasnovich is still fighting hard! #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/QCsVJZrVJd
— WTA (@WTA) March 24, 2017
After the pair traded breaks to begin the final set, a second break in the fifth game keyed the victory for Konta, as she held serve the rest of the way to emerge victorious in the two hour, 39 minute encounter.
.@JoKonta91 holds off Sasnovich 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-4!
Advances to @MiamiOpen Third round! pic.twitter.com/sE09QZUTam
— WTA (@WTA) March 25, 2017
Also through on Day 4 was Madison Keys, who surrendered just three games en route to dispatching Viktorija Golubic, 6-1, 6-2 in 67 minutes. Dropping serve just once, the No.8 seed broke five times to sail through to the third round.
“The key today was definitely staying calm, because the conditions were not great,” Keys told WTA Insider after the match. “[I was] staying focused on playing my game, having good serves, kind of just focusing on what I could control.”
.@Madison_Keys eases past Golubic 6-1, 6-2 in @MiamiOpen Second round! pic.twitter.com/yre4lQohmf
— WTA (@WTA) March 24, 2017
Keys, who began her 2017 at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells following a lay-off from wrist surgery, reached the fourth round in her first tournament back, and feels as though it hasn’t taken her very long to get back in the swing of competitive tennis.
“I feel pretty good,” Keys said. “There’s obviously still some points where it’s more the mental, where it’s, ‘That was a bad decision’ — that’s where I feel like I’m still not 100 percent happy with myself all of the time. That’s one thing the one thing that I really want to look to improve on.”
Keys will next face Spain’s Lara Arruabarrena, who defeated No.28 seed Irina-Camelia Begu in three sets, but Patricia Maria Tig and Sorana Cirstea made it three Romanians in the third round behind a pair of second-round upsets of their own.
Tig recorded her first win against a top 20 player in defeating Kristina Mladenovic, 7-6(5), 6-2, while Cirstea was victorious in the conclusion of a rain-delayed match against No.19 seed Anastasija Sevastova, 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-3.
Tig also led a trio of qualifiers to advance to the third round, as Anett Kontaveit scored an upset over No.32 seed Ekaterina Makarova, 6-7(1), 6-2, 6-2 and American Taylor Townsend handled No.25 seed Roberta Vinci, 6-3, 6-2.
Twelve years after tennis was relaunched as an exhibition event during the 1984 Los Angeles Games, the sport returned stateside for the centenary Games in Atlanta…
Atlanta, United States, 1996
Stone Mountain Tennis Center
Hardcourt
Now appearing in its third consecutive Games, tennis was beginning to come of age as an Olympic sport by the time it arrived in Atlanta. And by the time the flame had died out above the Centennial Stadium, one of the game’s bright young things had completed her own rite of passage.
Aside from an injured Steffi Graf, all the big names were present in Atlanta. America’s Monica Seles topped the seeds and after a stellar year was many people’s favorite for gold at the recently completed Stone Mountain Tennis Center.
However, by the time the business end of the tournament had arrived, it was another American who was podium bound and winning the hearts of the American public.
Up until then, Lindsay Davenport was known as the big-hitting Californian who had struggled to convert her prodigious talent into titles that mattered. Still just 20 by the time the Games rolled around, Davenport had been a near-permanent fixture in the Top 10 for two years, but still only had a handful of minor titles and Slam quarterfinals to show for her efforts.
Yet at an Olympics where so many of her compatriots were shining on the track and in the pool, Davenport couldn’t help but be inspired, producing some of the best tennis of her career to defeat Anke Huber, Iva Majoli and Mary Joe Fernandez to reach the final.
“For the last two weeks, I’ve been hearing “The Star-Spangled Banner” so much for the other athletes,” Davenport said after defeating Fernández. “And only last night did I really think I could hear it for myself.
“I realized that actually when Michael Johnson was on the stand, and Dan O’Brien. I thought, ‘I want to hear that song so badly now.'”
And hear it she did.
Taking on the tour’s toughest competitor in Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario, the old Davenport may have succumbed to the pressure. The Atlanta version came out fighting like a lion.
With neither player able to break serve, the first set went to the tie-break. Davenport moved ahead, 6-4, only to let Sánchez-Vicario back into it with a backhand that sailed wide and a lob that drifted long.
The American responded with a strong serve and deep volley to go back ahead before taking the set with a touch of good fortune when a backhand drive hit the tape and trickled over.
From here there was no looking back; Davenport secured two early service breaks in the second and soon after was serving out for an emotional 7-6(6), 6-2 win.
“This means everything for me,” Davenport said. “No matter what else happens in my life, I’ll always be a gold medalist.”
——
Olympic Memories: Barcelona
Olympic Memories: Seoul