Brisbane: Shot Of The Day (Friday)
Victoria Azarenka has Friday’s shot of the day at the Brisbane International.
Victoria Azarenka has Friday’s shot of the day at the Brisbane International.
HOBART, Australia – No.2 seed Camila Giorgi had a tough battle to start her week at the Hobart International, but the big-hitting Italian had few problems against rising Japanese star Nao Hibino to reach her first WTA quarterfinal of the season, winning, 6-2, 6-3.
Play in Hobart suffered a slight delay to start as rain threatened to wash out the opening matches. Known for her effortless power, Giorgi made up for lost time in style against Hibino, maintaining a healthy 68% on first serves, and only dropping serve once per set.
“Every match is different,” Giorgi said after the match. “The conditions are different. The important thing is to go on so you can get better.”
Hibino had been looking strong to start the season, having already made the quarterfinals of the ASB Classic, but Giorgi – who pushed Angelique Kerber to three sets at the Brisbane Internaitonal – was too strong over the one hour, 11 minute match.
Giorgi next plays the winner of the second round match between No.8 seed Alison Van Uytvanck and Eugenie Bouchard, who lost just three games in her first round match against former nemesis Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
“It’s just a match, so it doesn’t matter who I play. I will be focused on me, like always.”
More to come…
MONTRÉAL, Canada – No.2 seed Angelique Kerber’s Rogers Cup challenge continued to gain momentum after a dominant quarterfinal victory over Daria Kasatkina.
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In an intergenerational battle it was Kerber’s experience that held sway, sweeping aside her teenage opponent, 6-2, 6-2 in exactly an hour.
Kerber arrived Canada with fitness concerns – an elbow injury forced her to pull out of last week’s Ericsson Open – and has used the rounds to play herself into form and fitness. Against Kasatkina, she got off to an inauspicious start, erring on a couple of forehands to drop serve in the opening game.
She did not trail for long, though, the young Russian ballooning a wild forehand long to immediately hand back the initiative.
The swirling wind and her opponent’s precise returning intensified Kasatkina’s service struggles. Kerber meanwhile was into her groove, rattling off the final three games of the first set before forging ahead in the second.
When the World No.33 thumped away a frustrated drive volley to finally hold serve at 4-1 it elicited sympathetic applause from the crowd. Unfortunately for the young Russian, there was little compassion from down the other end, Kerber taking the final two games to quash any hope of a comeback.
“She played a great tournament and she’s really dangerous,” Kerber said. “I think I played really well today and it’s really nice to be in the semis for the first time in Montréal. I was trying to focus on my game because it was the first time I met her and it worked!”
Next up is No.5 seed Simona Halep in a rematch of the Wimbledon quarterfinals. “It’s going to be tough. We’ve played a lot of good matches in the past. I’m sure the crowd will support both of us so I’m really looking forward to playing her tomorrow.”
Selfie d'après-match de notre 2e demi-finaliste @AngeliqueKerber avec les Petits As Banque Nationale. #CoupeRogers pic.twitter.com/HoFGrKErxt
— Coupe Rogers (@CoupeRogers) 29 July 2016
Angelique Kerber, who’s back at No.7 in the world after a brilliant week in Brisbane, battled through scorching conditions to make a winning start in Sydney on Monday.
An interview with Simona Halep after her win in the semifinals of the Rogers Cup.
Samantha Stosur takes on Roberta Vinci in the first round of the Apia International Sydney.
Angelique Kerber has Saturday’s shot of the day at the Rogers Cup.
An interview with Simona Halep after her win in the second round of the Apia International Sydney.
Simona Halep was ranked as low as No.7 after lingering Achilles and nasal issues hijacked the first three months of the season, but the Romanian is back to her best ranking in nearly six months, up to No.3 on both the WTA rankings and the Road to Singapore leaderboard thanks to her Rogers Cup victory.
“Here I won matches with top players,” Halep said after winning her 10th straight match, having come to the Rogers Cup with a title in Bucharest. “That makes me more happy and relaxed that I have a good level of tennis in this moment.”
One off from a career-high ranking of No.2 Halep aims for a strong second half of the season, one that will help her qualify for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global for a third straight season.
“It’s a goal to go to Singapore every year,” she told WTA Insider in the latest Champions Corner. “I have great memories from [reaching the final] in 2014. I like the court there, and the atmosphere. I just have to do my job until Singapore.”
Madison Keys also made a big leap thanks to her runner-up finish in Montréal, returning to the Top 10 at No.9 and moving back into the Top 8 on the Road to Singapore leaderboard.
Who else made gains after a thrilling week up north?
Svetlana Kuznetsova (+1, No.11 to No.10): The Russian veteran moved back into the Top 10 after reaching the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup, pushing Halep to three sets.
Johanna Konta (+1, No.14 to No.13): Konta fell one match shy of making her Top 10 debut, but still had a solid week in Montréal before falling to Cinderella story Kristina Kucova.
Kristina Kucova (+44, No.121 to No.77): Speaking of Kucova, the former junior US Open champion made her long-awaited Top 100 debut, knocking out Carla Suárez Navarro, Eugenie Bouchard, and Konta before the qualifier ran out of gas against Keys in the semifinals. Kucova became the first qualifier to make it that far at the Rogers Cup since surprise semifinalist Zi Yan in 2007.
Daria Kasatkina (+6, No.33 to No.27): The teenaged phenom continued her meteoric rise in Montréal, reaching the last eight and hitting a new career-high ranking.
Check out the latest Top 8 line-up on the Road to Singapore leaderboard:
