My Performance: Elina Svitolina
Elina Svitolina talks through her win in the final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
Elina Svitolina talks through her win in the final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
1) Caroline Wozniacki is back in action.
A right ankle injury sidelined Wozniacki for all of the clay season, and the Dane is looking to make her comeback in Nottingham. She hasn’t played a WTA match since Miami and her ranking has plunged to No.34 – can she start her comeback on grass?
2) Can Cagla Buyukakcay keep making history?
The 26-year-old Turk is one to watch at the Aegon Open Nottingham: after making Turkish history in Istanbul and Paris, Buyukakcay starts her Wimbledon tune up at Nottingham, where she’s set to meet No.3 seed Caroline Wozniacki in the first round.
3) Defending champion Ana Konjuh faces a setback.
2015 Nottingham champion Ana Konjuh looked to be in good form after her run at the WTA Bol Open 125K before a lower back injury forced her to retire in the semifinals. Will she be recovered in time for Nottingham?
4) Don’t call it a comeback for Vicky Duval…
The American Vicky Duval is entering her second tournament of 2016 at Nottingham after undergoing knee surgery following the Australian Open. She’s up against the No.2 seed Johanna Konta in the first round.
5) …Or for Laura Robson.
With a clean bill of health and back on home soil again, former British No.1 Laura Robson is looking to make the best of her protected ranking at Nottingham. First up for the wildcard? Defending champion Ana Konjuh.
6) Belinda Bencic returns to Den Bosch going for one better…
No.1 seed Belinda Bencic is hoping to improve her run to the final in ‘s-Hertogenbosch last year.
7) …And she’s not the only one.
Besides Bencic, there are two other former ‘s-Hertogenbosch finalists in the draw: Kirsten Flipkens (2013) and Jelena Jankovic (2007) are both looking for their first title at the Ricoh Open. 2014 champion CoCo Vandeweghe is back as well.
8) It’s anyone’s game in Den Bosch.
With defending champion Camila Giorgi and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova out due to injury, No.8 Belinda Bencic is the highest ranked player at the Ricoh Open. Can Bencic capitalize on the opportunity or will a new name make her mark?
9) Can Kiki Bertens keep up the momentum?
The on-fire Bertens has built up quite the winning streak: she’s won 12 of 13 matches by claiming her second WTA title at Nurnberg and reaching her first Grand Slam final at Roland Garros. But as the season turns to grass, can Bertens keep it up?
10) And see where you can watch action from Nottingham and ‘s-Hertogenbosch on TennisTV!
The top seeds tried to predict who would sweep Sunday’s Academy Awards to hilarious effect at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. Check it out right here!
ACAPULCO, Mexico – No.2 seed Kristina Mladenovic made a winning start to her campaign at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, racing past Varvara Lepchenko in straight sets.
Kicking off the opening day action on Cancha Central, the Frenchwoman needed just an hour an fifteen minutes to complete the 6-2, 6-3 victory.
“It felt great to play the first match on Central,” Mladenovic said after the victory. “I was actually really surprised at the schedule, you know, to open up the tournament on the center court.
“It was difficult for me, too, because I arrived just two days ago from Dubai. I’m still a bit jetlagged and it’s totally different conditions here, but I’m just very happy with the win.”
Mladenovic got off to a quick start against the No.91-ranked American, jumping ahead to a 3-0 lead in both sets. Mladenovic played aggressive, positive tennis to keep Lepchenko out of the rallies, hitting a serve out wide and following it up with a booming forehand. She closed out the set with a second break to the Lepchenko serve.
Well-executed drop shot from @KiKiMladenovic! #AMT2017 pic.twitter.com/9hXnzArzMf
— WTA (@WTA) February 27, 2017
But the American stood her ground heading into the second, mixing up her game plan to play more aggressively and earn a break back and level the score at 3-3.
Mladenovic stayed positive, and peppered her game with dropshots to grab another break and serve out the match, sealing it with another ace out wide – her fifth ace of the match.
“I was trying to stay tough in my head, just trying to work for every single point, every game. I was just trying to go for it, and Varvara is a tough player as well. Very happy with this first win.”
Up next in the second round Mladenovic will face Heather Watson, who edged past American wildcard Bethanie Mattek-Sands, 7-5, 6-3.
.@HeatherWatson92 beats Mattek-Sands 7-5, 6-3!
Sets @AbiertoTelcel Second round vs @KikiMladenovic! #AMT2017 pic.twitter.com/VbnOMMb5xA
— WTA (@WTA) February 28, 2017
Also through in Acapulco, No.8 Andrea Petkovic faced a tough battle against American qualifier Jamie Loeb, needing to come back from a set down in her 2-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory.
“I’ve been here for a week already so I’ve been practicing for a long time,” Petkovic said. “I don’t remember the last time I waited this long for a match. So at the beginning I was a bit tight, because also she had been through qualifying here”
“She was playing really fast, and I needed some time to get used to it. In the second and third set – after some rough patches – I think it was pretty good.”
Joining them in the second round will be Shelby Rogers, who moved past her American compatriot Louisa Chirico 6-2, 6-2, and Pauline Parmentier who survived a rollercoaster against Nicole Gibbs to advance 7-5, 6-7(6), 6-2.
Playing in her first competitive match in 13 months, Ajla Tomljanovic stunned No.6 seed Eugenie Bouchard in straight sets to move into the second round at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel.
Serena Williams takes on Kiki Bertens in the semifinals of Roland Garros.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Magda Linette says she was surprised when fourth seed Peng Shuai was forced to retire from their third-round match at the Alya Malaysian Open – but she is now ready for her next opponent.
“You are always surprised when someone retires, you’re never ready for that,” the Polish player told reporters after the match. “You just need to be focused on your own game and just try to play your own tennis. I’m glad I stayed focused.”
The 25-year-old said she noticed Peng struggling with her serve before the fourth seed admitted she could not continue, 5-2 down with just 28 minutes of the match gone.
.@MagdaLinette is in control of the first set! #alyawtamalaysianopen pic.twitter.com/5TWC2jE0Hf
— WTA (@WTA) March 2, 2017
Nevertheless, Linette was satisfied with her performance.
“I was aggressive, that was the plan, to play my own game, and I realised that most of the time,” she said. “I’m pretty happy. It was short. It’s tough to judge, but I’m happy.”
Next up for the World No.93 is Duan Ying-Ying, one of only two seeds remaining in the draw, but Linette says that no quarterfinal match would be a straightforward one.
“Everyone plays good,” she said. “Qualifiers beat the third seed and second seed. So it’s not easier now, those players are good. Even the wildcard I played two days ago was a tough one, so obviously there are no easy players, it’s even tougher because the girls are so motivated to play. I’m lucky, I’m very happy and looking forward to tomorrow.”
Lesia Tsurenko takes on Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in the semifinals of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel.
Minutes after her tough 7-5, 6-4 loss to Garbiñe Muguruza in the Roland Garros final, Serena Williams walked directly into her post-match press conference. She was as open and honest as she felt she could be after minimal time to process the match, the loss, and her emotions.
Q: Are you the type of person who can kind of let this match go quickly, or will you beat yourself up about it for a few days?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I don’t really know right now. I’m just — obviously it’s not something I’m like, Oh, it’s over with. It’s definitely something I want to dissect and see what I can learn from that and what can I do to get better from it. That’s the only way to keep improving.
On Wednesday, Serena turned to social media to tell the world how she really felt. “I was pissed, I have to admit,” she said in a video posted by Uninterrupted. “I thought I could’ve played better, I thought I could’ve competed better, I thought I could’ve really done everything five times better. And I didn’t, and I was so pissed that I actually abandoned my rackets in France after maybe a few smashes of the racket bag.”
VIDEO: @SerenaWilliams on French Open loss: “I'm going to take a moment to be super honest … I was really pissed.”https://t.co/qJzaGOjrJZ
— UNINTERRUPTED (@uninterrupted) June 8, 2016
Thankfully Serena’s speech did not end there. Not to worry, tennis fans. The World No.1 is already back on court preparing for her assault on Wimbledon, where she will once again be the defending champion and aim to match the Open Era record of 22 major titles.
Said Serena: “I’m out here [on court] by myself because sometimes by yourself is when the great things really happen.”
Here’s what Serena said in its entirety:
“So I’m going to take a moment to be super candid and super honest.
“After Paris, the final, which is great, you know, for everyone on this planet with the exception of me — I don’t do what everyone else does — I was really pissed, I have to admit. I thought I could’ve played better, I thought I could’ve competed better, I thought I could’ve really done everything five times better. And I didn’t, and I was so pissed that I actually abandoned my rackets in France after maybe a few smashes of the racket bag. I felt like if I was going to play that awful and that crappy, that maybe I don’t need rackets. Maybe I can just show up to a tournament, and maybe I can get to a final without playing great, and without practice.
“But obviously that doesn’t work and sometimes you have to work extra hard. So I’m out here by myself because sometimes by yourself is when the great things really happen.”
Lesia Tsurenko has Saturday’s shot of the day at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel.