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Insider Notebook: Scouting Report

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Andrea Petkovic readies for Jelena Ostapenko: No one would have slated this semifinal when the draw came out. 18-year-old Ostapenko had won just on main draw match all year and came to the Qatar Total Open thinking she would have to play through qualifying. But she paved her own way, knocking out No.5 seed Petra Kvitova and then Zheng Saisai on Thursday to become the third 18-year-old to advance to a semifinal this year.

Watch live action from Doha & Acapulco this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

Can Ostapenko go one further? She’s already into the Top 60 by virtue of her career-best run at a Premier tournament and could move into the Top 50 if she makes the final. She’ll face Andrea Petkovic, who played a top-notch match to beat No.3 Garbiñe Muguruza 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 for her first Top 5 win since 2013. It will be the first meeting between Petkovic and Ostapenko, but the German admitted to taking notice of Ostapenko late last year.

“I saw her playing qualifying in Linz last year, and I said to myself, Wow, this girl’s really talented,” Petkovic told reporters. “I think she’s going to do some damage on tour. It’s really nice to see I have a great [prediction skills].”

Agnieszka Radwanska and Roberta Vinci put on a clinic: Remember this match at the end of the year when you’re asked for the best WTA matches of the season. This will be on the short list.

Any fan thirsty for the days of all-court tennis need look no further than the shot-making extravaganza put on between Radwanska and Vinci. Radwanska came back from a set down to win 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 to advance to her third straight semifinal this season — she still has just one loss to her name, to Serena Williams at the Australian Open – but as stadium announcer Andy Taylor said, she broke the internet with her highlights. Catch up on all the happenings here.

One of the most notable trends of the day in Doha: Net play. Zheng Saisai started off the morning with some net-rushing – how great was it to see a Sneak Attack By Saisai? – Muguruza continued the trend with over 30 forays into the forecourt, and Radwanska and Vinci combined for over 100 net points between them.

Carla Suárez Navarro returns to the Top 10: The Spaniard beat Elena Vesnina 6-3, 7-6(3) to advance to her second semifinal of the season (Brisbane). She’ll play Radwanska next, but Thursday’s win means Suárez Navarro will knock Flavia Pennetta out of the Top 10 on Monday, and she could move as high as No.6 if she wins on Friday.

Love means nothing: Few players give as thoughtful post-match interviews as Petkovic and she didn’t disappoint after her quarterfinal win. Here she is reflecting on her career so far:

“Tennis has always been a great love and hate story for me,” Petkovic said. “I love it so much that I hate it at the same time. I guess love and hate are very close together. It’s torn me apart, but it has also given me the most beautiful moments of my life. I wouldn’t want to miss anything of it.”

Garbiñe Muguruza makes progress: It was undoubtedly a disappointing and frustrating result for Muguruza, who looked to have the match back on her terms early in the third set before getting broken and letting her frustration get the best of her. But Muguruza played her best tennis of the year this week in Doha and there was a lot to like about how committed she was on her returns and getting herself at the net. The negatives? She picked up a left thigh injury during the match and Petkovic exposed her weak low volley.

Just win, baby: Petkovic is sharing her coach Jan de Witt with ATP veteran Gilles Simon. The two trained together during the off-season at de Witt’s academy in Halle and she says she’s trying to get over her penchant for perfectionism and just focus on winning.

“I actually learned quite a few things with Jan and Gilles, both of them, because men approach the game much differently than women,” she explained. “They are just less emotional and much more rational.

“I think girls — I don’t know, maybe I’m leaving myself out the window right now — but I think girls, they always want to play the perfect match. For example, I think especially Gilles Simon, because he’s also this type of player, he’s totally fine winning a match where the other guy has 65 unforced errors. He still sees his positives, what he did to the other guy that he did unforced errors.

“I think the girls, they win 6-2, 6-3, and the one missed a lot of balls, and they’re like, Yeah, I didn’t play so well. The other girl was bad. Putting so much pressure on this perfectionism that women I think a lot of time have.

“It’s really nice to get this other side, Yeah, I won, good for me. I think it’s good to have this attitude about just pushing through and winning matches no matter how ugly or how good they are.”

Called it: Earlier in the week, I highlighted the team of Elena Vesnina and Daria Kasatkina as a potential darkhorse Olympic doubles team. The two have already won a title in Moscow and made the quarterfinals two weeks ago in St. Petersburg. On Thursday they snapped Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza’s 41-match win streak, knocking out the Co-No.1s 2-6, 6-4, 10-5 to advance to the Doha semifinals.

Yanina Wickmayer? Yanina Wickmayer!: The Belgian announced on Facebook that she has a memoir coming out soon.

She’s also into the Acapulco semifinals after beating No.3 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 7-6(3). Wickmayer will play No.2 seed Sloane Stephens, who held off a solid challenge from Naomi Osaka, winning 6-3, 7-5.

Petko jokes: Here’s exchange between Petkovic and the stadium announcer:

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Vote: February's WTA Shot Of The Month

Vote: February's WTA Shot Of The Month

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

It’s time to crown February’s WTA Shot Of The Month. There were some incredible shots to choose from this month, and we narrowed it down to the five best – have a look at the nominees in the above video and cast your vote for your favorite shot before voting ends Thursday at 11:59pm ET!

The winner will be announced Friday, March 4.

How it works: five shots are selected by wtatennis.com, and the winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com.

WTA February Shot Of The Month

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Konta Outpaces Duque-Mariño In Monterrey

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MONTERREY, Mexico – Johanna Konta overcame a tricky opponent and gusty conditions to advance to the second round of the Abierto Monterrey Afirme, defeating Mariana Duque-Mariño 6-3, 6-3.

Watch live action from Monterrey & Kuala Lumpur this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

The last time Konta played in Monterrey was back in 2014, when the then-No.120-ranked Brit fell in the second round of qualifying to Belinda Bencic.

But a lot has changed in the two years since that disappointing result. Building up confidence from her strong showing in 2015 and even better start at this year’s Australian Open, Konta needed just over an hour to book her spot into the second round.

Konta’s last match in Mexico was last week in the hot and humid Acapulco, but the conditions couldn’t be more different in Monterrey, which is located on the foothills of the Sierra Madre in the northeast. Konta and Duque-Mariño faced dry and windy conditions throughout their match.

“It was a tough match, the conditions changed within the match itself,” Konta said after the match. “There’s not much I can do about the wind, so it would be silly for it to bother me.

“It’s an external thing, so you’ve just got to deal with it.”

Konta showed signs of her famed emotional stability early on – she came up with two break opportunities against Duque-Mariño and despite being unable to convert them, she stayed cool to grab the third break point and go up 4-2 in the opening set. She kept up the lead, dictating the points with her heavy forehand and closing out the set 6-3.

The Brit felt more pushback from Duque-Mariño in the second set – Konta broke at 2-1 to get ahead but the Colombian’s crafty slices forced a pair of forehand errors to bring up break point. Konta buried her serve into the net and handed the break right back for 2-2. She went on to win four of the next five games, taking the match at 6-3, 6-3.

“I had a very competitive match against a very good player,” Konta said of her No.74-ranked Colombian opponent. “I had to compete really hard and really stay focused, I’m happy I came through in the end.”

Another Brit is also through to the second round at the Abierto Monterrey Afirme; No.84-ranked Heather Watson battled past Misaki Doi in a three-set thriller. She overcame a shutout in the second set tiebreak to win the match 6-4, 6-7(0), 6-3 after two hours and 47 minutes. Mirjana Lucic-Baroni advanced to the second round with a win over Tatjana Maria, 7-5, 6-4. No.6 seed Alison Van Uytvanck wrapped up the day’s action with a comfortable win over Irina Falconi, 6-4, 6-2.

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Serena Scores 10th Laureus Nomination

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

The nominees for the prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards have been announced and after a near-perfect season, World No.1 Serena Williams is up for the biggest award of them all, Laureus World Sportswoman Of The Year.

The Laureus World Sports Awards began in the year 2000 and in the 16 previous editions, Laureus World Sportswoman Of The Year has gone to WTA players four times – Jennifer Capriati in 2002, Williams in 2003, Justine Henin in 2008 and Williams again in 2010. Williams and pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva are the only two women ever to win the award twice – Isinbayeva won it in 2007 and 2009.

No woman has ever won the award three times – if she wins this year’s, Williams will be the first.

In addition to the American, the other nominees for Sportswoman of the Year include Genzebe Dibaba (athletics), Anna Fenninger (skiing), Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (athletics), Katie Ledecky (swimming), and Carli Lloyd (football).

Williams was a wall-to-wall No.1 for the second time in her career, finishing the season atop the WTA rankings for the fifth time (2002, 2009, 2013, 2014). She won a WTA-leading five titles, including the first three Grand Slams of the season at the Australian Open, French Open, and Wimbledon – winning her second Non-Calendar Year “Serena Slam” and becoming the closest to achieve the Calendar Year Grand Slam since Steffi Graf in 1988. With a 53-3 record, she earned the  most prize money in 2015 – surpassing her 2014 record for second highest total prize money won in a single season at $10,582,642.

The 21-time Grand Slam champion is the only WTA player nominated this year, and one of three tennis members of the tennis world, alongside Novak Djokovic and the British Davis Cup Team.

Largely considered “the Oscars of sports”, the Laureus World Sports Awards have been held in major cities all over the world with an all-star cast of hosts, including Jeff Bridges, Heidi Klum, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey and Benedict Cumberbatch. This year’s awards are in Berlin on April 18.

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Watson Downs Wozniacki In Monterrey QFs

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MONTERREY, México – Heather Watson produced her best tennis of the season to defeat Caroline Wozniacki and take a place in the semifinals of the Abierto Monterrey Afirme.

Watch live action from Monterrey & Kuala Lumpur this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

A battle between two of the WTA’s sprightliest movers produced no shortage of entertaining exchanges, yet it was Watson, not the former No.1 on the other side of the net, setting the tone.

In a sparkling display, Watson took the game to Wozniacki from the off, eventually getting her reward with a break in the penultimate game of the opening set. Even a slow start to the second failed to discourage the Briton as she came roaring back, a couple of heavy-duty forehands kick-starting a run of four straight games.

Wozniacki, as ever, battled gamely to end, but she had no answer to her opponent’s inspired tennis, spraying a forehand wide to slip to a 7-5, 6-4 defeat.

“I’m very happy with how I played today. I thought I played very well – I needed to against Caroline because she’s a great player – and I had to fight to the end because I knew she would,” Watson said during her on-court interview. “I just took it point by point and didn’t look too far ahead.

“I think one of her main traits is that she is such a fighter. She makes a lot of balls and makes you really win it. I knew I was going to have to finish a lot of points today, come to net and not be too passive.”

Meeting Watson for a place in the final will be either Caroline Garcia or Pauline Parmentier.

On the other side of the draw, hopes for an all-British final were dashed when Kirsten Flipkens upset No.4 seed Johanna Konta, 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-1. Her reward is a meeting with another unseeded player, Anett Kontaveit, a 6-1, 6-4 winner over Nicole Gibbs. 

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Champion's Corner: Watson

Champion's Corner: Watson

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Heather Watson won her third career title at the Abierto Monterrey Afirme, recovering from a set down to defeat Kirsten Flipkens, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.

The 23-year-old was one of three Brits to reach WTA quarterfinals in Monterrey and the BMW Malaysian Open, joining Johanna Konta and Naomi Broady, respectively, making for the most successful week for British women since 1978 (Eastbourne).

A former US Open junior champion, Watson is likely best known by tennis fans as the hometown favorite who nearly ended World No.1 Serena Williams’ Calendar Year Grand Slam bid at last year’s Wimbledon Championships, pushing the American to three grueling sets.

Unveiling a more aggressive gameplan, the Brit overcame the heat and other adversities throughout the week to defeat the veteran Belgian, surviving a late surge to win her first title since last year’s 2015 Hobart International.

Earning a wildcard at the BNP Paribas Open before completing her winning week in Monterrey, Watson spoke with WTA Insider ahead of her trek towards the California desert about steady improvements and celebrating Mother’s Day with mother Michelle, a “tennis geek” who served as her on-court coach.

Insider: How does it feel to get that third title of yours on familiar and friendly territory in Mexico?
Watson: I’m just really pleased. The week started out kind of tough. When I got my bag off the plane, it was broken so I had it safety-pinned together this whole week. I put my laundry in the first day and lost all my clothes, so I was without half of my clothes. In my first match, I was almost full-body cramping in that epic match against Doi. Being here now, I’m just so pleased with how I stuck with it and tried my best.

Insider: You’d come in with two tough three-set losses in your last couple of events. With all of that happening, with the bags and the laundry, how hard was it to stay positive and to plug away down there?
Watson: I’d lost really close matches to some really tough players, but I didn’t let that bother me. They were all close matches, and I was in them all, so I just had to look at it from that point of view and just be positive about it. That’s what I kept doing.

Heather Watson

Insider: It seems quite obvious this year that you’ve stepped up your game quite a bit. Can you talk about the work you’ve been doing in the off-season and some of the adjustments you’ve been making to your game?
Watson: I had a shorter off-season this year because I went to India to play some league tennis, so I only had an off-season for about four weeks. Usually I do about six weeks. Doing this way, I actually preferred doing a shorter but more intense off-season and I just felt fitter than I’ve ever been in January. With my game, I’m always working on being more aggressive; I think in important matches like today, it comes out because I know I need to do that to win otherwise the other player is going to step up first. I always force myself to do it in these important matches but I need to do it more often so it becomes a habit.

Insider: What does being aggressive mean to you and what’s the most challenging thing about that? What’s the biggest key to help keep you in that aggressive mindset when you play?
Watson: I feel like my serve is always pretty aggressive, so I don’t even think about that. My baseline game and trying to step into the court, take the initiative, go down the line first, come into the net. Just go for the winner first, basically, and not just hope for the mistake.

Insider: Does it come down to decision-making? Knowing where that hole is where you can gun for the shot and when not to?
Watson: It’s basically a mindset. I can do it, I can play aggressive tennis, I can play defensive tennis. It’s just making sure my mind is in the right place.

Insider: You aren’t the only player to say they really enjoyed a shorter off-season and playing league events, and they felt more in mid-season form. Is that kind of how you felt when you started the season?
Watson: Because it was shorter and more intense, I was more raring to go, and I just felt so fit. I feel like if the off-season is too long, you can almost exhaust yourself before the season’s even begun. I didn’t do that on purpose this year, but doing it that way makes me want to do it more like that in the future.

Insider: So many players will say that they don’t really know where their game is for the first couple of matches, but there’s always that one match where it triggers something in your brain where you think, “I can win this tournament.” Did you have a moment like that?
Watson: No I didn’t. I literally just thought, ‘I want to win one match here.’ That was my mindset coming in. I just wanted to win that first match, and I killed myself on court and did everything I possibly could to come through that. Once I got myself through that, the second match felt right, and I’ve got another opportunity here. Let’s try and give everything for another match, and it just continued like that and I never thought further than that. I just tried to be as professional as I could, kept my routines healthy, did all my warm-ups and cool downs and did everything I could to be prepared for that next match.

Heather Watson

Insider: What’s the story behind your mom acting as your coach this week?
Watson: I’d been with Judy Murray in Australia; she was very nice to help me out. I’d tried a few coaches but haven’t really found the right fit. I asked my mum to come along; she’d been with me when I was very young and playing little tournaments in the UK. She’s been with me throughout my whole career. To have her back was really nice; she’s been so supportive this week. She knows a lot about tennis; she’s a tennis geek! She does actually know her stuff. But she hadn’t seen me win a title yet, so to have her here and seeing it meant a lot to her. Also, it was Mother’s Day back home in England, so it makes it even more special.

Insider: That’s quite the coaching debut!
Watson: Right? I might need her around a little more often!

Insider: Are you without a formal coach? I didn’t know you’d stopped working with you previous coach.
Watson: Yes, for right now, but I’ve got some plans in the up and coming weeks, but nothing set in stone yet.

Insider: When did you split with your former coach, Diego Veronelli? I was going to say Dante, and I was like, ‘No, that’s not right. That’s Nishikori.’
Watson: But Dante Bottini used to be my coach, as well, at Bollettieri. We stopped at the beginning of the off-season.

Insider: Where were you during the off-season?
Watson: I did my off-season in Florida with Pat Harrison, who is Ryan and Christian Harrison’s dad. I did that with him in Florida.

Insider: Was that the first time your mom has ever done one of those on-court coaching timeouts?
Watson: She did it in my first match, but this is probably the first time she’s ever done it.

Insider: Was that surreal, having her come down?
Watson: It felt really normal; I didn’t think anything of it, but yeah, she was great.

Insider: How are you going to celebrate your title? I know you’ll have to get to Indian Wells fairly quickly, but what do you plan on doing this evening?
Watson: Oh gosh. Well, first of all: get some food in me, because I’m hungry. I struggled to eat today and yesterday. I’m actually still not even hungry, but I’ve got to eat something. Then I’m flying early to Indian Wells and I’ve got to make sure I recover, so I don’t think I’ll be celebrating yet. I’ll just wait until after, when I have a few days.

Insider: But it was still a great Mother’s Day present.
Watson: Yeah, I hope she enjoys it.

All photos courtesy of Abierto Monterrey Afirme.

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Monterrey: Player Party

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

With the Abierto Monterrey Afirme in full swing, Caroline Wozniacki, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Monica Puig took a walk on the wild side at the player party.

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Kerber Ready For Indian Wells Challenge

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – In her first outing as Australian Open champion, Angelique Kerber was brought back to earth with a bump, slumping to a shock defeat at the hands of Zheng Saisai at the Qatar Total Open.

By her own admission, Kerber struggled to deal with the occasion, her metronomic groundstrokes breaking down under the strain. “That was a new situation – it was the first match after my biggest title and I think I had so many things in my mind,” Kerber said during her All Access Hour at the BNP Paribas Open.

It was an experience the German, now enjoying the status as the world’s second best player, is keen to accentuate the positives from. After a brief break, she was back on the practice court, gearing up for one of the biggest events on the tennis calendar.

“After Doha I took maybe five or six days off. I really tried to get relaxed and enjoy this feeling of being No.2 in the world and getting used to it for the next tournaments that are coming up,” she added.

“I had a nice start to practicing hard again at home with my team around me.”

Few players have a bad word to say about Indian Wells and Kerber is no different. Down the years the tournament has provided memories both good – back-to-back semifinals in 2012 and 2013 – and bad – first round exits on her past two visits – and after that Doha blip she is hungry to add to the former list.

“I think now I got used to it [the No.2 ranking] and I’m looking forward to playing my next match here and I think I’m ready to go out there and play great tennis again.”

Kerber finds herself in a relatively open section of the draw; potential engagements with Johanna Konta and Ana Ivanovic await should she survive a far-from-straightforward opener against Denisa Allertova.

“I’m looking forward to being here, to play my matches and I have a lot of confidence from the last few weeks. I’m feeling good, I’m healthy, I was practicing very well here in the last few days so I think I’m ready for the tournament to start!”

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