Australian Open: Liang/Yang vs Chan/Chan
Liang Chen and Yang Zhouxuan take on Chan Yung-Jan and Chan Hao-Ching in the first round of the Australian Open.
Liang Chen and Yang Zhouxuan take on Chan Yung-Jan and Chan Hao-Ching in the first round of the Australian Open.
World No.1 Angelique Kerber survived another second-set hiccup on her 29th birthday to overcome Carina Witthoeft in straight sets at the Australian Open.
Watch Svetlana Kuznetsova ride a rollercoaster at Melbourne’s historic amusement park, Luna Park!
MELBOURNE, Australia – 2016 semifinalist Johanna Konta raced through a much-anticipated collision with former World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki, 6-3, 6-1, to return to the second week at the Australian Open.
“Against someone like Caroline, she’s not going to give it to you,” she said in her post-match press conference. “You really do have to earn it and win it till the very last point. I’m just very happy I was able to keep that pressure on.”
Konta rode a seven-match winning streak into the third round in Melbourne, having captured her second career WTA title at the Apia International Sydney last week.
“I think I had a longer streak a couple years ago. Still got awhile to go till then,” she said, referring to a 16 match winning streak she compiled in the summer of 2015 between the ITF and WTA circuits. “But I’m very pleased with how I’ve just been able to problem solve in the last matches that I’ve played, really play myself into matches where I felt I started slowly, and, like today, maintain the level.
“I’ve played against some very good players. To be able to come through that, I’m very pleased.”
Contrasted against the Brit’s meteoric rise was Wozniacki across the net; the Dane had been the model of consistency for much of the last decade before an injury-addled 2016 took her as low as No.74 in the WTA rankings.
A run to the US Open semifinal served as a springboard for the No.17 seed, who returned to the Top 20 by year’s end and was looking to interrupt Konta’s run with a big win to start the season.
The first six games were hotly contested, but each went with serve before the Brit broke through on her third break point of the opening set, winning eight straight games to take a set and 5-0 lead.
“I know this may sound like a broken record, but I do try very hard to always make sure I really take the good and the things I can improve on from every match that I play and reinvest it into the next match. Whenever a similar situation arises, I make sure that’s in my bank and I can use my experience from that.
“I think hopefully I’m getting a little wiser.”
Undaunted, Wozniacki got on the board and pushed Konta through a tense final game before the No.9 seed clinched victory in one hour and 17 minutes.
“She played really well. She served really well, returned deep. She was going for the lines. It was going in. You could see she had the confidence,” the Dane said after the match.
“I’m looking forward to the season. It’s a better start than last year. We just have to go from here, go back and grind and then come back and play again.
“There’s lots of tournaments ahead. That’s what I’m looking forward to.”
Up next for the top-ranked Brit is 2015 Australian Open semifinalist Ekaterina Makarova; the No.30 seed survived a titanic ecounter with reigning BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global champion and No.6 seed Dominika Cibulkova, 6-2, 6-7(3), 6-3.
“Every time we play, we have a battle,” Konta said of her Russian rival. “I think last year was 8-6 in the third. I remember that was a high-level match from both of us. That was really a great match to be a part of.
“She had a great match against Dominika Cibulkova. Dominika is not an easy player to beat, and she was able to do that. She’s playing obviously great tennis.
“I think she really enjoys playing here. She always seems to do well on these courts. I’m looking forward to it. We’ll deal with whatever challenges come up the next day.”
Johanna #Konta to play Ekaterina #Makarova in 4R #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/Vo0kVY08pP
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 21, 2017
MELBOURNE, Australia – CoCo Vandeweghe ended No.1 Angelique Kerber’s title defense at the Australian Open on Sunday, defeating the German 6-2, 6-3 in the Round of 16 to make her first quarterfinal in Melbourne. Ranked No.35 and set to rise to a career-high ranking after the tournament, the big-hitting American bullied Kerber off the court with her power, firing 30 winners to 20 unforced errors in just 68 minutes.
.@CoCoVandey with the dab!#AusOpen pic.twitter.com/yEayki4q6k
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 22, 2017
1. This result was in the cards.
On paper, this was a significant upset. In actuality, you could see it coming from a mile away.
There’s no way around it: Kerber was still trying to find her form in Melbourne. She came into the tournament with just three matches under her belt – two of them losses – and though she successfully navigated the first week of play, she was never convincing.
The defending champion needed three sets to get past Lesia Tsurenko in the first round and Carina Witthoeft in the second round, relying on her physical defense to grind out matches against players who tried to hit her off the court.
“This is tennis, and you have good days and bad days. For sure today was not my best day.” -#Kerber#AusOpen pic.twitter.com/oyEqc9kIIB
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 22, 2017
That defense finally found its match against the ballistic ball-striking from Vandeweghe. The American is into her second Slam quarterfinal after scoring strong wins over Roberta Vinci, Pauline Parmentier, Eugenie Bouchard, and now Kerber. Her serve has been cranking and her backhand in particular has dominated her matches. Kerber’s defense alone would not be enough to unwind Vandeweghe on her day.
The German needed her serve — which has not been at the level it was last year — as well as good depth and width on her groundstrokes. Instead, she sent back a buffet of short balls in the middle of the court, which were automatic for Vandeweghe.
On improving: “I usually sit down and think of three positives from the match and three negatives from the match.'” -#Vandeweghe#AusOpen pic.twitter.com/Pjm2fA312L
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 22, 2017
2. CoCo’s confidence carries her through.
The American insists that sometimes she “fakes it until she makes it”, an allusion to the idea that she’s not always as confident as she may seem on court. But there’s no denying that Vandeweghe talks as big of a game as she plays and that swagger seems to translate into tremendous clarity on court. Since the start of 2016, Vandeweghe has won 5 of her 6 meetings against Top 10 players.
Next, she gets a shot to avenge that one loss to Muguruza in Cincinnati last summer.
“I go out there expecting to win.” ✔️
Goal achieved, @CoCoVandey #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/YyQ7MuwliA
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 22, 2017
After coming back from a break down in the third set to beat Bouchard in the third round, Vandeweghe shrugged off any implication that the win was a particularly significant one. After converting match point against the World No.1 and defending champion, she calmly looked to her box and nonchalantly shrugged.
The message is clear from the 25-year-old Californian: this is what she expects of herself and this is what she knows she can do.
On Sundays, we slow-mo with @serenawilliams. #ausopen pic.twitter.com/QMPRf0H3VA
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 21, 2017
3. The No.1 scenario is simple.
Serena Williams can retake the No.1 ranking if she wins the Australian Open title. She plays her Round of 16 against Barbora Strycova on Monday.
CoCo Vandeweghe discusses her quarterfinal win over Garbine Muguruza in a press conference at the Australian Open.
MELBOURNE, Australia – The bottom half of the Australian Open draw concludes the quarterfinal match-ups in Melbourne, featuring the much-anticipated clash between six-time champion Serena Williams and Johanna Konta, the in-form semifinalist from last year. No.5 seed Karolina Pliskova also hopes to continue her unbeaten run in 2017 against Cinderella story Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, who is into her first major quarterfinal in nearly two decades.
We preview all the Day 10 matchups right here on wtatennis.com.
Wednesday, Quarterfinals
[5] Karolina Pliskova (CZE #5) vs Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (CRO #79)
Head-to-head: Pliskova leads, 3-2
Key Stat: Both Pliskova and Lucic-Baroni are playing in their second Grand Slam quarterfinals (Pliskova, 2016 US Open, Lucic-Baroni, 1999 Wimbledon).
Pliskova made her first 17 Grand Slam appearances without making the second week, but the Brisbane International champion is making up for lost time in her second straight major quarterfinal since reaching the US Open final.
It was a much longer drought for Lucic-Baroni, who needed 18 years to back up her breakthrough run at the 1999 Wimbledon Championships after a mix of personal and financial problems kept her off the tour for almost a decade.
The 34-year-old veteran takes on Pliskova for the first time since the 2015, when the two split their two meetings that season; Lucic-Baroni lost their most recent encounter in a third-set tie-break at the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open.
Pliskova has dropped just two sets all season, emerging victorious from a 10-8 final set against Latvian youngster Jelena Ostapenko to brush aside No.22 seed Daria Gavrilova in front of her home crowd.
Can Lucic-Baroni win the battle of big hitters to continue her fairytale run, or will Pliskova continue her newfound dominance at majors and reach another semifinal?
[9] Johanna Konta (GBR #9) vs [2] Serena Williams (USA #2)
Head-to-head: First meeting
Key Stat: Konta has dropped serve twice in four matches (tournament leader).
With defending champion Angelique Kerber out at the hands of CoCo Vandeweghe, Serena Williams suddenly found herself in a solid position to reclaim the No.1 ranking from her rival. To do it, she’ll also need to take home the Open Era record of 23 Grand Slam titles and her seventh Down Under.
Standing between her and the semifinals is an unfamiliar foe in Johanna Konta, the fastest rising force in women’s tennis since her initial 16-match winning streak in the summer of 2015.
Konta has been ruthless through four rounds, knocking out former No.1 Caroline Wozniacki and 2015 semifinalist Ekaterina Makarova en route to her second straight quarterfinal in Melbourne.
Serena has taken out on-fire opponents in the past; can she solve the unflappable Brit on Rod Laver Arena, or will Konta keep up her potentially Slam-winning form into the final four?
Around the Grounds…
The women’s and mixed doubles events are rounding into form, and both feature doubles No.1 Bethanie Mattek-Sands. The American rejoins Lucie Safarova to take on the unseeded Japanese duo of Eri Hozumi and Miyu Kato. Meanwhile, top seeds Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic will need to turn around from their three-set thriller over Aussies Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua to play No.12 seeds Andrea Hlavackova and Peng Shuai, who dispatched reigning Olympic champions Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina in two tight sets on Tuesday.
In mixed, No.2 seed Sania Mirza will partner Ivan Dodig for a second day in a row as they try to reach a second straight Australian Open semifinal; aiming to stop them are an unseeded pair in Gabriela Dabrowski and Mirza’s countryman, Rohan Bopanna.
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.
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