St. Petersburg: Story Of The Tournament
The story of the tournament from the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
The story of the tournament from the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
Agnieszka Radwanska takes on Kirsten Flipkens in the quarterfinals of the Connecticut Open.
Venus Williams talks about her celebration on reaching the Australian Open final – and praises the game of opponent CoCo Vandeweghe.
An interview with Caroline Garcia after her win in the second round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
Highlights from semifinal round action at the Connecticut Open.
Some of the biggest stars in women’s tennis – past, present and future – headed to Brazil for the Rio Open this week.
Elina Svitolina had Saturday’s shot of the day at the Connecticut Open.
WINNERS
Top seed Agnieszka Radwanska survived a late challenge from No.10 seed Elina Svitolina on route to claiming her first Connecticut Open title, 6-1, 7-6(2).
The World No.4 Radwanska took a wildcard into the New Haven event looking for some last-minute tune up ahead of the US Open. She’ll now leave the tournament having claimed the 19th WTA title of her career, and her second title of 2016 after opening the season with a win at Shenzhen.
“Yeah, it’s been a great week for me, great preparation,” Radwanska said. “A couple of great matches. In the semi, in the final. It was a very strong tournament, no easy matches. I was pushing myself 100% from the first round, working hard here.
“I’m just trying to keep it up and play the same level in New York.”
Click here for match recap and highlights.
In the doubles draw, Sania Mirza cemented her place at the top of the doubles ranking. Mirza and temporary partner Monica Niculescu capped off their newly rekindled doubles partnership with their first title together at the Connecticut Open, edging past Kateryna Bondarenko and Chuang Chia-Jung 7-5, 6-4.
“It’s always nice to have the week before a Grand Slam where you’re able to ease up,” Mirza explained in post-match press. “We go to New York and there’s so much happening there. Here you have nice restaurants and even though we’re in the city, you feel quite quiet around here.
“I was actually not planning on completely playing this week. But when Monica asked me, I thought we could obviously win together.”
Click here for match recap.
RANKING MOVERS:
Notable singles ranking movers for the week of August 29, 2016.
Johanna Larsson (SWE), +15 (No.62 to 47): Lucky loser Larsson made the best of her second shot at the Connecticut Open main draw, reaching her first Premier-level semifinal. She also jumps up to No.47, sitting one spot away from equaling her previous career high ranking of No.46.
Kirsten Flipkens (BEL), +12 (No.68 to 56): Another New Haven lucky loser, Flipkens played some of her best tennis to upset Belinda Bencic and Caroline Garcia and inch her way back up toward the Top 50.
Elina Svitolina (UKR), +4 (No.23 to 19): Having reached her career first Premier-level final at New Haven last week, Svitolina jumps up four spots to land back inside the Top 20.
UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS
US Open
New York, USA
Grand Slam | $ TBA | Hard, Outdoor
Monday, August 29 – Sunday, September 11
Dalian Women’s Tennis Open
Dalian, China
125K | $115,000 | Hard, Outdoor
Tuesday, September 6 – Sunday, September 11
Coupe Banque Nationale
Quebec City, Canada
International | $226,750 | Carpet
Monday, September 12 – Sunday, September 18
Japan Women’s Open Tennis
Tokyo, Japan
International | $226,750 | Hard
Monday, September 12 – Sunday, September 18
TOP 20 PLAYER SCHEDULES
1. Serena Williams – US Open
2. Angelique Kerber – US Open
3. Garbiñe Muguruza – US Open
4. Agnieszka Radwanska – US Open
5. Simona Halep – US Open
6. Venus Williams – US Open
7. Victoria Azarenka
8. Roberta Vinci – US Open
9. Madison Keys – US Open
10. Svetlana Kuznetsova – US Open
11. Karolina Pliskova – US Open
12. Carla Suárez Navarro – US Open
13. Dominika Cibulkova – US Open
14. Johanna Konta – US Open
15. Timea Bacsinszky – US Open
16. Petra Kvitova – US Open
17. Samantha Stosur – US Open
18. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova – US Open
19. Elina Svitolina – US Open
20. Elena Vesnina – US Open
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
Best wishes to those celebrating birthdays this week:
Margarita Gasparyan (RUS) – September 1, 1994
Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP) – September 3, 1988
WTA Insider | The final Grand Slam of 2016 is already underway; stay tuned for more on the first edition of the US Open’s WTA Insider Live Blog.
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia – Former World No.9 Andrea Petkovic had a whirlwind start to her week at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy, but is thoroughly enjoying her first visit to Russia’s cultural capital, into the second round as a qualifier.
“I just came back from Australia on Wednesday, and I had to get a Russian visa from Germany,” she explained before making the main draw. “I got it Friday at 1PM, and didn’t arrive to St. Petersburg before 11PM last night. I couldn’t practice here, so everything was a little fast.”
The German hasn’t dropped a set through four matches, all without new coach Sasha Nensel, who was held up due to visa issues. Traveling with her mother, Petkovic is instead drawing inspiration from seeing Mirjana Lucic-Baroni reach the semifinals of the Australian Open; the pair played doubles in Melbourne, reaching the semifinals.
“I feel like I still have so much more in me, and I think it was important for me to make a new commitment with a new coach to show I still want it. He’s really hard on me, and I haven’t had this before, so it’s a new thing for me. I like it so far, and we’ll see where it takes me.”
The 29-year-old has used the surge of veteran success as primary motivation of late, crediting another doubles partner, good friend and former World No.1 Angelique Kerber as the first to reignite her passion for the game.
“I didn’t know where my place was, but I kept going half-heartedly,” she said of an emotional end to her 2015 season. “When Angie won the Australian Open and started playing so well, I saw what an achievement it was and how happy it made her.
“It’s a different story from when you see Serena winning Slams, because she’s so far away from me. But Angie and I are good friends; we played doubles so many times, and it made me think about how if she can do it, I can do it.”
There would be no better place for Petkovic to start doing it than St. Petersburg, a city that played a prominent part of her childhood.
“One of my favorite authors is Dostoyevsky. I feel like I know the city very well; I’ve just never been here before. When we arrived, my mother saw the river and said, ‘Look at the water, what kind of river is it?’ I answered, ‘That’s the Neva,’ and she was like, ‘How do you know that?’ I said, ‘I read it, I know it!’
“It’s difficult because I came so late and I have to play, but I really hope that I can catch a day or afternoon to see the Hermitage. One day, when I’m done with tennis, I want to come back here as a tourist because this is one of the cities I’ve always wanted to visit. I have a picture of it in my mind, because I’ve never actually seen it!”
Her love for Dostoyevsky runs deep, citing Rodion Raskolnikov – the protagonist to Crime and Punishment – as her “first crush.”
“I always struggle because I really like The Brothers Karamazov but the first book I read of his was Crime and Punishment; I read it several times. I think I like Brothers Karamazov more.”
Her comfort on court in St. Petersburg was particular evident when she brought back some familiar dance moves after beating Begu – perhaps inspired by Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova.
“Their dancing was so professional. I used to do a few dance moves but they had a choreographer! They were so in sync that I’d be a little afraid to be in competition with them.”
Regardless of choreography, Petkovic undoubtedly appears in rhythm ahead of her next match against No.6 seed, defending champion Roberta Vinci.
.@AndreaPetkovic dancing her way into the second round! ? pic.twitter.com/2ePW8Rrsak
— WTA (@WTA) January 31, 2017
All photos courtesy of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy 2017