Dubai: Muguruza Interview
An interview with Garbiñe Muguruza before her opening round match at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
An interview with Garbiñe Muguruza before her opening round match at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
An interview with Julia Goerges after her win in the first round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships
Nicole Gibbs is feeling pretty good about her score in the WTA Frame Challenge! Find out how she did right here on wtatennis.com.
The most fun part of any Chinese meal is the fortune cookie, so last month while in Beijing the WTA’s biggest names received a special treat.
Watch as Angelique Kerber, Simona Halep, Agnieszka Radwanska, Petra Kvitova, Johanna Konta, Lucie Safarova and Bethanie Mattek-Sands learn their fortunes, and get a bit of tennis advice too!
Check out which fortune each WTA star received – and don’t miss lucky Kerber’s double fortune!
DUBAI, UAE – World No.47 Barbora Strycova employed her brand of unpredictable tennis to power past Caroline Garcia, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, and reach her sixth career WTA final at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
Watch live action from Dubai & Rio de Janeiro this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
She was up against a very familiar opponent in the day’s second semifinal: Strycova and Garcia have played each other four times, with Strycova winning their last three matches in straight sets, including a first-round encounter earlier this year at the Australian Open.
The players started out this encounter very evenly-matched – and they stayed that way for most of the match.
Garcia played her trademark aggressive all-court game, sending Strycova on the defensive early on until the Czech grabbed the first break of the match at 3-2. Garcia used all of her weapons – even throwing in some serving and volleying – but Strycova’s unpredictable style was just too full of surprises, a two-handed backhand slice drop shot throwing Garcia completely off kilter and bringing up the break.
Strycova went on to win the next five games to take the opening set at 6-2 and go up 2-0 in the second.
Not to be outdone, the Frenchwoman held her nerve – and came up with some incredible service games – to win six of the next seven games to take the set 6-3 to level the match.
In the final set, the two were toe-to-toe, neither woman giving an inch: when Garcia broke to start the match, Strycova broke her right back; when Garcia held her serve at love, Strycova held serve at love in reply. They stayed deadlocked until Strycova finally broke for 5-3 – Garcia saved two break points to bring it to deuce, but after a 22-shot-rally Strycova emerged victorious. Serving for the match, Strycova erased both of Garcia’s break opportunities and sealed the match with an ace.
“I kept telling myself play your game and go for it – you have nothing to lose,” Strycova said after the match. “I wasn’t serving well the whole match but in that last game it was important that I pull it through.”
“That last game I was like, ‘Okay, pull something through. And then I made good serves. I’m so happy about it because it wasn’t easy match for me. But to be in the final it’s great.
Awaiting Strycova in the final is 2013 Dubai finalist Sara Errani, winner of the day’s first semifinal against Elina Svitolina. Errani leads their head-to-head record 5-1.
“We always have tough matches with Sara,” Strycova said of her opponent in the final. “Last time I lost from two match points.
“But it’s a final so I will enjoy it. Or I’ll try to enjoy it, actually.”
Barbora Strycova takes on Ana Ivanovic in the quarterfinals at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
An interview with Sara Errani after her win in the semifinals at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
Former World No.1 Amélie Mauresmo ended her fourth year as French Fed Cup Captain by leading her country into its first final since 2005 – back when the two-time Grand Slam champion herself played for the team.
Mauresmo announced that she wouldn’t continue at her post in 2017, however, due to personal reasons:
.@AmeMauresmo : “Pour raisons personnelles, je vais quitter mon poste de capitaine. J'attends un 2e enfant.” #fedcup
— FFT (@FFTennis) November 14, 2016
The news that she is expecting her second child was met with mixed emotions from the talented squad of players, including Caroline Garcia, Kristina Mladenovic, Alizé Cornet, and Pauline Parmentier. In her four years as Captain, Mauresmo took from the precipice of Fed Cup zonal relegation into a championship weekend in Strasbourg, which they narrowly lost to the Czech Republic in a decisive doubles rubber.
Mauresmo’s team took to Twitter to express their appreciation for their fearless leader:
Cap @AmeMauresmo, un grand MERCI pour tout ce que tu ns as apporté ces 4 dernières années, ns avons grandi à tes côtés. Tu vas nous manquer! pic.twitter.com/rx8iVUtZ3A
— Alize Cornet (@alizecornet) November 14, 2016
Dur réalité mais quelle belle aventure merci a cette magnifique equipe et ce staff de rêve #lovemyteam #lastpicalltogether #triste pic.twitter.com/JYuIgQZS8I
— pauline parmentier (@ppauline86) November 14, 2016
MERCI à tous du fond du cœur pour votre soutien inconditionnel! Malgré la défaite, ce we et toutes ces émotions resteront inoubliables ??❤️ pic.twitter.com/TbcBdpujHc
— Kristina Mladenovic (@KikiMladenovic) November 14, 2016
Tout est possible ! A demain tous ensemble #TeamFranceTennis pic.twitter.com/GIPy9DduHM
— Caroline Garcia (@CaroGarcia) November 12, 2016
Mauresmo’s fellow former No.1 and 2016 International Tennis Hall Of Fame Inductee Justine Henin also announced the coming birth of a second child, with the due date expected for early next year:
Henin has been working with rising WTA talent Elina Svitolina since the start of 2016; the Ukrainian youngster has since defeated a pair of reigning World No.1s in Serena Williams and Angelique Kerber, and reached the final of the Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai.
An interview with Victoria Azarenka after her win in the final of the Miami Open.
Highlights from final round action at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.