Tennis News

ZHUHAI, China – All four semifinalists at the Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai boasted perfect round-robin records, but someone’s 0 has to go on Saturday. Top seed Johanna Konta takes on the in-form Elina Svitolina, while Petra Kvitova meets home favorite Zhang Shuai.

Saturday, Semifinals

Stadium
[1] Johanna Konta (GBR #10) vs. [4] Elina Svitolina (UKR #14)
Head-to-head: Svitolina leads 1-0
Stat: Svitolina was the only semifinalist to drop a set during the round robin  
Nearly four years ago, Elina Svitolina met Johanna Konta in the quarterfinals of an ITF Circuit event in Israel. Both players were ranked outside the Top 100, but on that day it was the teenage Svitolina that comfortably prevailed, going on to collect the trophy a few days later. She would lift more significant silverware that year, announcing herself as one of the game’s brightest prospects by triumphing at the WTA event in Baku.

She has made good on this promise, developing her game under the watchful eye of coach Iain Hughes to the extent that she is knocking ever louder on the door of the Top 10. Last year the Ukrainian reached the semifinals in Zhuhai and after strong showings at recent outings in Moscow, Beijing and Tokyo it would be no surprise to see her go at least one step further this time around.

To do so she will need to get the better of Konta once more. However, this version of the Briton is a very different proposition to the one that stood across the net from her in their ITF days. Imbued with an on-court maturity and steely competitiveness matched by few of her peers, Konta has flown up the rankings over the past 18 months. Her round-robin victory over Samantha Stosur guaranteed she would finish the year in the Top 10, and judging by the way she dispatched Caroline Garcia to reach the semifinals her ambitions do not end there.

[2] Petra Kvitova (CZE #13) vs [WC/12] Zhang Shuai (CHN #28)
Head-to-head: tied 1-1
Stat: Zhang owns a 7-6 win-loss record against Top 20 players in 2016
Petra Kvitova can lay claim to being the WTA’s most impressive performer over the last few months of the season. Casting aside the inconsistency that blighted the first half of the season, Kvitova, who eased past Roberta Vinci and Barbora Strycova in her two round-robin outings, has now won 26 of her past 32 matches.

The highlight of this run was a second title in Zhuhai, and should she continue this rich vein of form on Chinese soil it will take a super-human effort to stop the Czech. Her next opponent, Zhang Shuai, will have a little extra help though, in the shape of an unashamedly partisan home crowd.

Desperate for a successor to Li Na, Chinese tennis has seen Zhang emerge as its unlikely standard bearer in 2016. Little more than 12 months ago, Zhang was contemplating retirement on the back of a dispiriting spell on tour. Sam Stosur talked her out of it and she has been on an upward trajectory ever since. In January she ended her long-running Grand Slam hoodoo by making it all the way through qualifying and into the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, building on this platform with credible showings in Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing to leave herself on the verge of the Top 20.

MONTRÉAL, Canada – It’s going to be a big week in Canada, as all the major contenders continue to fine-tune their game ahead of the Olympics and US Open. Here are 10 facts to feast on ahead of the visit to one of the oldest stop-offs on tour…

1) The draw is out.
The official draw ceremony took place on Friday night – check out the draw right here!

2) This is the last chance for most to find their game before the Olympics.
For the majority of leading names, Montréal represents the final opportunity for match practice ahead of the Rio Olympics – the tennis competition begins on August 6.

3) Twelve of the Top 14 players in the world are in Toronto.
It’s a Grand Slam-quality field – 13 of the Top 14 players in the world are here, with the only absentees being World No.1 Serena Williams and mother-to-be Victoria Azarenka. Also missing out is defending champion Belinda Bencic (read more here).

4) Serena has never triumphed in Montréal.
Serena Williams has won titles galore at the Rogers Cup. Just not in Montréal. The World No.1 has lifted the trophy three times – 2001, 2011 and 2013 – but each of those triumphs came at the event’s other home, the Rexall Centre in Toronto. Her last visit to Montréal ended in a semifinal defeat at the hands of sister Venus in 2014.

5) And there is some added pressure this time…
Serena has reigned supreme atop the rankings since February 2013, and should she enjoy her usual bountiful summer on cement, the likelihood is that she will break Steffi Graf’s record for most consecutive weeks (186) at No.1. However, should she falter then any one of Angelique Kerber, Garbiñe Muguruza or Agnieszka Radwanska are close enough to overhaul her in the next few months. Should one of the aforementioned trio get on a roll, it could conceivably happen before the US Open.,

6) The leading four seeds all have potential banana skins lying in their path.
After a first-round bye, top seed Serena could meet Monica Puig then Stanford finalist Johanna Konta after that. Kerber will begin against either a qualifier or upset specialist Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, while Muguruza has been paired with the winner of Annika Beck versus Daria Gavrilova. Radwanska, winner the last time the Rogers Cup was held at the Stade Uniprix, opens up against either Jelena Ostapenko or Monica Niculescu.

7) Before then there are plenty of eye-catching first-round match-ups to feast on…
Arguably the pick of the bunch is hometown favorite Eugenie Bouchard’s clash with Lucie Safarova. Also sanding out is Madison Keys’ meeting with recent Wimbledon semifinalist Elena Vesnina.

8) There are contenders throughout the draw.
Rounding out the Top 8 seeds are Simona Halep – last year’s runner-up – Venus Williams, Roberta Vinci and Carla Suárez Navarro. Another former finalist, Dominika Cibulkova, is seeded No.11, while Ekaterina Makarova, Safarova, Barbora Strycova and Sloane Stephens are all lurking in the unseeded contingent.

9) If you’re good enough, you’re old enough.
Twelve months ago, opportunity knocked and Bencic pounced to announce herself to the wider sporting world. Can another precocious youngster do the same this time around? Daria Kasatkina, Daria Gavrilova and Elina Svitolina have all shown glimpses of what they are capable of, or perhaps Madison Keys will rediscover the momentum that took her into the Top 10 earlier this summer?

10) Find out where you can watch the action from Montréal here!

STANFORD, CA, USA – No.3 seed Johanna Konta played one of the best matches of her career to dismiss former No.1 and two-time Bank of the West Classic champion Venus Williams, 7-5, 5-7, 6-2, to capture her first WTA title.

Watch live action from Bastad, Stanford and Washington DC this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

“It’s quite an incredibly humbling experience,” she said after the match when asked about winning her first title. “It’s a validation of all the hard work you’ve already put in and a motivator on the things you want to keep improving on, and the lengths you might go to in order to become that much better at your discipline

Konta kicked off her career-best season with a win over the elder Williams sister in the first round of the Australian Open, going on to become the first British woman to reach semifinals Down Under since Sue Barker in 1977. The top-ranked Brit has only continued to rise since then, making the second week of both Indian Wells and Miami, and finishing in the semifinals of the Aegon International in Eastbourne.

“I’ve played her twice before and knew I’d be playing a magnitude of experience. Venus Williams doesn’t need an introduction, and I knew going into that I’d need to stay focused on myself and to be really grateful for the experience and try to learn from her within the match. I wanted to leave it all out there, but also absorb everything that I could possibly reinvest in my career moving forward.”

Playing Stanford for the first time at 25 years old, Konta overcame a quarterfinal wobble against Zheng Saisai to emphatically defeat No.2 seed Dominika Cibulkova on Saturday, and was on course for a similarly landmark win against Williams on Sunday, surging out to a set and 4-1 lead.

“Credit to her for playing great tennis; she played so well and all of her balls were landing today,” Venus said after the match. “It wasn’t my best day, but I tried to stay in there and fight, and that helped me get an opportunity to win the match.”

Where Konta was making her debut, Venus’ story began in Stanford over 20 years ago, playing her first WTA tournament at the Bank of the West Classic – even winning a match before falling to Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in three sets. The American has played incredible tennis in her own right this season, and the Wimbledon semifinalist wouldn’t go down without a fight.

“Just because it’s 4-1 doesn’t mean the match is over; it’s not a favorable scoreline if you happen to be down, but it’s not over.”

From the aforementioned deficit, Venus won six of the next seven games to level the match at a set apiece.

“Quite honestly, you’d expect nothing less from a champion,” Konta said. “They don’t give away any match, much less a final. It was her 80th, so you could only imagine the number of different situations that she’s already been in. It was about keeping things in perspective, and understanding there’d be ebbs and flows in the match.”

Konta recovered in surprising fashion in the decider, relying on a fabulous serving day – one in which she hit 12 aces to three from Venus – and an aggressive ground game (42 winners to 39 unforced errord) to shake off a tricky final game to serve out her maiden WTA trophy.

“Every single point was a battle, and I tried to win as many battles as possible.

“The simpler you keep things, the more clarity you have, and the less dumb you play!”

Believe it @JoKonta91! ? #BOTWC pic.twitter.com/qO3pqpmmtO

— WTA (@WTA) July 24, 2016

STANFORD, CA, USA – We Konta believe it!

Johanna Konta joined the winner’s circle, winning her first WTA title at the Bank of the West Classic. And she did in impressive fashion. To win the title, Konta knocked off the top two seeds in Dominika Cibulkova and Venus Williams and she’ll move to No.14 on Monday.

Hear Jo talk about her meteoric rise over the last 12 months — she was ranked No.126(!) this time last year — and her mouth-watering plans to celebrate her career milestone.

(Spoiler alert: It will be animal style.)

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