Radwanska Completes Great Escape
Agnieszka Radwanska made a dramatic start to her BNP Paribas Open challenge, staging an improbable comeback to overcome Dominika Cibulkova.
Agnieszka Radwanska made a dramatic start to her BNP Paribas Open challenge, staging an improbable comeback to overcome Dominika Cibulkova.
World No.1 Serena Williams overcame a slow start to roar past Yulia Putintseva to reach the fourth round at the BNP Paribas Open.
INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – Whisper it quietly, but Eugenie Bouchard is beginning to resemble the player who took the tennis world by storm two years ago.
While the player herself has been quick to downplay her revival, there is no denying that some of the swagger of old can be seen in the Canadian’s game. On Saturday evening she came out on top in her eagerly anticipated clash with childhood sparring partner Sloane Stephens to reach the third round of the BNP Paribas Open.
Remarkably, Stephens is the highest-ranked player Bouchard has beaten since September 2014, and the significance of the result was not lost.
“It’s important to me because it’s kind of on my comeback as I have kind of called this year,” Bouchard said in her post-match press conference. “It gives me confidence looking forward. You know, I don’t want to look back or don’t want to think about 2014 or 2015 really, so this one is important. It’s kind of a step forward, and I just want to keep going.”
Bouchard may not have wanted to dwell on those two campaigns, but the tennis world felt differently, conducting a thorough post-mortem.
With Thomas Hogstedt now in her corner, a refreshed and revitalized Bouchard has gone about proving the naysayers wrong by doing what she does best: winning matches.
In fact, the 22-year-old has already posted more victories in the opening two and a half months of this campaign (13) than in the whole of 2015 (12). And with this success comes the confidence so vital at the game’s summit.
Unfortunately for Bouchard, it also attracts the odd celebrity admirer.
“The Great One” @OfficialGretzky in the house supporting fellow Canadian @GenieBouchard! ?? #WTA https://t.co/QPXdQmamp3
— WTA (@WTA) March 13, 2016
“Actually, as soon as I saw him I lost a game and played pretty bad and I was wondering if he would leave or whatever,” Bouchard said when quizzed on the appearance of ice hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, in her box. “I was thinking, I have to get my game up a little. I know his daughter is an aspiring tennis champion. It’s cool that they are really into it and supportive.”
Should she get past Timea Bacsinszky in the next round, the clamor for a spot in the Canadian’s corner will only intensify. So, having been unnerved by Canadian sporting royalty last time out, whose face could send her over the edge?
“The prime minister? The president? Yeah – that would make me nervous!”
Best support team! Thank you @OfficialGretzky & the future tennis star ?? pic.twitter.com/zBI0RtP4Ja
— Genie Bouchard (@geniebouchard) March 13, 2016
An interview with Roberta Vinci after her third round win at the BNP Paribas Open.
SAN ANTONIO, TX, USA – Daria Gavrilova snatched victory from the jaws of defeat against Maria Sakkari on Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals of the San Antonio Open.
After a rocky start to the tournament, top seed Gavrilova continued to live dangerously, coming within two points of defeat against Sakkari before eventually prevailing, 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-3.
This January, Sakkari qualified for and then reached the second round of the Australian Open, where she lost in three sets to current World No.6 Carla Suárez Navarro.
Against Gavrilova, she once again proved herself capable of competing with the WTA’s very best. However, the Greek was unable to capitalize on her opportunities – she twice came within a game of victory and held a 5-3 lead in the second set tie-break – as Gavrilova finished strongly to dash hopes of a maiden Top 50 win.
“I think the match was pretty even and in the beginning I was just missing a few more balls than her and even sometimes I was a bit too passive,” Gavrilova said. “But I was just trying really hard and wanted to prove to myself that I could come back and win that match.
“I was fighting very hard. She’s playing well and probably having the best year of her life so I knew it was going to be pretty tough and I’m happy with the result.”
Up next for Gavrilova is Alison Riske after she overcame an erratic start to knock out No.7 seed Kirsten Flipkens, 7-5, 6-1.
“I got off to a bit of a rough start and I felt like I was spraying balls kind of everywhere,” Riske said. “So I knew when I could settle down a bit and start putting balls in the court, whether that be in the first or second [set], I felt like things could turn around to my advantage. I was very happy with the way I fought and obviously how it turned out!”
In the bottom half of the draw there were wins for Samantha Crawford, Donna Vekic and Misaki Doi.
Crawford followed up her first-round upset of No.2 seed Irina-Camelia Begu with an equally impressive 6-1, 6-3 victory over Carina Witthoeft. No.6 seed Doi was pushed rather harder, edging past Han Xinyun, 7-6(5), 7-6(4), while Vekic defeated Kiki Bertens, 7-6(3), 6-3.
An interview with Serena Williams after her win in the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open.
An interview with Victoria Azarenka after her win in the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open.
Serena Williams has Friday’s shot of the day at the BNP Paribas Open.
The BNP Paribas Open caused some seismic shifts to the Road to Singapore leaderboard; while Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber remained atop the standings, No.2 Serena Williams and No.3 Victoria Azarenka are hot on her heels as the tour turns to the Miami Open.
Kerber suffered a second straight WTA loss in the second round of Indian Wells, losing a tight contest to Denisa Allertova. By contrast, Williams and Azarenka made it all the way to the final, with the Belarusian winning her fourth career match over the 21-time Grand Slam champion and her second title of the season after the Brisbane International.
Not far behind is reigning BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global champion Agnieszka Radwanska; the new WTA World No.2 reached another big semifinal in Indian Wells, narrowly losing to Williams in two tough sets. Drawn to face the American again in the semifinals, Radwanska rounds out the Top 4 on the RTS Leaderboard.
Qatar Total Open champion Carla Suárez Navarro saw her progress on the RTS Leaderboard stunted when a right ankle injury took her out of Indian Wells, while a left foot injury caused St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy winner Roberta Vinci into retiring in the fourth round – leaving the veterans at No.5 and No.6 respectively.
Johanna Konta took out Allertova en route to the second week, losing a three-setter to eventual semifinalist Karolina Pliskova; the Australian Open semifinalist not only became the highest-ranked British woman since 1987 (Jo Durie), but she also kept ahead of No.8 Belinda Bencic, who dropped out in the third round to Magdalena Rybarikova.
An upper respiratory illness likely kept Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships runner-up Barbora Strycova from making a bigger leap; already moving up three spots to No.9, the Czech veteran retired down a set to Simona Halep, whose own run saw her jump nearly 50 spots and into the Top 40.
Meanwhile, Co-No.1s Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza retained the top spot on the RTS Leaderboard in doubles, while Bethanie Mattek-Sands and CoCo Vandeweghe debuted at No.7 following their championship win over Pliskova and Julia Goerges, who are all the way up to No.4 with two strong results in Melbourne and Indian Wells.
Click here to see the singles and doubles leaderboards heading into the Miami Open.
MIAMI, FL, USA – Daria Kasatkina continued her productive trip stateside with victory in a see-saw encounter against Kateryna Bondarenko on the first day of the Miami Open.
Watch live action from Miami this fortnight on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
In the opening months of 2016, Kasatkina has been making great strides up the rankings, gatecrashing the Top 40 for the first time after her quarterfinal run in Indian Wells.
The young Russian carried this form into the early stages of her first-round meeting with Bondarenko, breaking three times to wrap up the first set in 27 minutes. When she then broke in the opening game of the second, a routine victory looked on the cards.
However, such thoughts were soon parked as Bondarenko capitalized on some uncharacteristically sloppy mistakes to level to contest in emphatic fashion. In the decider Kasatkina struck first, before exhibiting tremendous poise to hold onto her own serve in a titanic sixth game and close out a 6-2, 1-6, 6-2 victory.
“I started the match well, but in the second set I started to give her some chances and she came back,” Kasatkina said. “It was really tough to get the momentum back, but I did it and I’m very happy because it’s my first time in Miami.”
Twelve months ago, Kasatkina, then ranked well outside the Top 200, had just qualified for an ITF Circuit event on the other side of Florida, in Palm Harbour. Since then her rise has been rapid, but the 18-year-old is eager for the perks of an even loftier ranking: “Nothing really changed – because I’m still not seeded! It’s just a ranking. If I was seeded I would get a bye, but it’s one more match I have to play.”
Her reward is a meeting with No.5 seed Simona Halep on Thursday. “She’s great player for sure so it will be difficult, but I will watch matches with my coach and we will talk about how to play her.”
Among the other early winners were Barbora Strycova, Teliana Pereira and Zhang Shuai. Strycova needed less than an hour to see off Anna-Lena Friedsam, 6-2, 6-0, while Zhang was nearly as swift in dispatching junior Wimbledon champion Sofya Zhuk, 6-1, 6-2.
In the tournament’s opening match on Grandstand, Pereira had more difficulty winning her all-Brazilian clash with Beatriz Haddad Maia, eventually prevailing 7-6(2), 6-1.