St. Petersburg: Svetlana Kuznetsova's Practice Session
Watch Svetlana Kuznetsova’s practice session on Day 3 of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
Watch Svetlana Kuznetsova’s practice session on Day 3 of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
Check out Dominika Cibulkova’s shot of the day, against Donna Vekic.
On Saturday a sellout crowd packed into the Rod Laver Arena to watch Angelique Kerber end Germany’s near 17-year wait for a Grand Slam champion. However, the attendance and Germany’s title tally weren’t the only noteworthy numbers from a fascinating month Down Under…
2,360 – Kerber leaves Australia sitting pretty atop the Road To Singapore leaderboard with 2,360 points. Last year, she didn’t pass this mark until the start of August.
1,698 – In January, a total of 1,698 aces were served in 276 main draw matches.
694 – Kerber spent 694 minutes on court en route to her Australian Open triumph.
194 – The number of minutes needed by Heather Watson to defeat Monica Niculescu in the second round of the Hobart International, making it the longest match of the season. Honorable mentions go to Yulia Putintseva and Caroline Wozniacki for their three hour, 12 minute effort at the Australian Open.
139 – Zhang Shuai started the year ranked No.139 but has since has risen 74 spots – the biggest jump of any player currently in the Top 100.
125 – The speed in miles per hour of the fastest serve at the Australian Open, unleashed by Serena Williams.
80.1 – Serena’s 120mph-plus deliveries helped her win 80.1% of the points on her first serve in January.
74 – Perhaps unsurprisingly, Serena had more racquets restrung than any other main draw player at the Australian Open, sending 74 to the stringer’s room.
54 – Maria Sharapova (five matches) and Serena Williams (seven matches) have each hit a WTA-leading 54 aces.
45 – Monica Puig has been the most upwardly mobile of any player currently ranked in the Top 50, rising 45 places (from No.92 to 47).
34 – Based on the rankings from February 2, 2016, there are currently 34 nations represented in the Top 100, led by the USA (12), Germany (10) and Russia (8).
13 – Kerber has played a WTA-leading 13 matches (12-1); her only loss came in the Brisbane final against former world No.1 Victoria Azarenka.
3 – Kerber also leads the way in the fledgling Road To Singapore leaderboard. Three of the Top 8 on the leaderboard following the 2015 Australian Open went on to compete in the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
0 – Number of times Serena had lost a third set in a Grand Slam final going into her meeting with Kerber.
Yulia Putintseva has Friday’s shot of the day at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
27-year-old Zhang Shuai had to win three matches just to qualify for the 2016 Australian Open. A player who had never won a Grand Slam main draw match in 14 previous attempts, Zhang drew the highest-ranked opponent possible in No.2 seed Simona Halep. What Zhang saw as an ending became a new beginning.
“The last few months my ranking was down to No.200, so it was very tough. I was feeling very sad every day. I almost retired.
“But so many people helped me: my coach, my parents, my team, also the national team. My sponsor, too, always tried to help me, and give me more motivation.”
Zhang blasted past Halep for one of the biggest wins of her career – after upsetting then World No.1 Dinara Safina at the China Open in 2009 – and won three more matches to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, losing a close match to Johanna Konta.
“In my heart I’m feel like I already win the tournament because I won seven match. Yeah, it doesn’t matter if I won or lost today. I’ll just keep going.”
Final Results for January’s WTA Breakthrough Performance Of The Month
1. Zhang Shuai (44%)
2. Johanna Konta (31%)
3. Daria Gavrilova (17%)
4. Daria Kasatkina (6%)
5. Samantha Crawford (2%)
How it works:
Finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com
An interview with Karolina Pliskova after her win in the second round of the Western & Southern Open.
Elina Svitolina had Saturday’s shot of the day at the Taiwan Open.
World Group I
Romania vs. Czech Republic (2-3)
Just as the Romanian team looked like it would pull off the biggest upset of its history, the defending Fed Cup champions came back from a 1-2 deficit to continue their historic run.
Karolina Pliskova rose to the occasion and contributed to all three points of the team’s win. She came out swinging and scored the first point against Simona Halep, who had postponed nose surgery to support Romania in the tie. Romania’s Halep and Monica Niculescu grabbed the next two points, each scoring a win over Petra Kvitova making it. Pliskova got the Czechs on even footing with a win against Niculescu, before the fight was clinched in the deciding doubles rubber.
This team???thanks to everyone in this team amazing week again and also to all fans for supporting us♥️ pic.twitter.com/C6upqVLLUe
— Karolina Pliskova (@KaPliskova) February 7, 2016
Germany vs. Switzerland (2-3)
Belinda Bencic and Martina Hingis won the deciding point in the doubles rubber to beat Germany and send Switzerland into the Fed Cup semifinal for the first time in 18 years.
Playing as visitors in Leipzig Germany, Bencic held her nerve against two German heavyweights – No.23 Andrea Petkovic and Australian Open Champion Angelique Kerber – to win her two singles matches, putting Switzerland ahead 2-1 after Kerber defeated Timea Bacsinszky. Germany’s Annika Beck leveled the score at 2-2 with a victory over Bacsinszky, leaving the doubles match to decide the tie.
“It feels awesome next to Belinda to play with her now and [win] the deciding point,” Hingis told FedCup.com.
“It was tough at the beginning for me to be on the side bench for the first four matches, you are cheering them on and then you’ve got to go out. It took me a little while to get used to it but I feel I had great support from her.”
Switzerland will play the Czech Republic in the next round.
No matter what,together we are stronger! #SwissTeam ?? #TeamSpirit #WeHaveEachOthersBack ❤️ #united ?-U in April ?? pic.twitter.com/STFWFYqIMI
— Timea Bacsinszky (@TimeaOfficial) February 7, 2016
France vs. Italy (4-1)
Caroline Garcia dominated all her matches in singles and doubles, booking France’s spot in the final four for the second straight year.
Kristina Mladenovic put the home side in a tough spot, dropping the opening match against Italy’s Camila Giorgi, but Garcia leveled the tie with a win over Sara Errani. Mladenovic found redemption the next day by closing out Errani to put France ahead 2-1, before Garcia won the decisive point against Giorgi and sent France into the semifinals.
“I feel very happy, and it’s been a great week,” Garcia told FedCup.com after the victory. “It’s not every day you beat Italy 4-1. We are pretty proud.”
.@CaroGarcia's TWO WINS lead France back into #FedCup Semifinals!
Sets Semifinal vs the Netherlands! pic.twitter.com/sxxQ8ZpQpf
— WTA (@WTA) February 7, 2016
Russia vs. Netherlands (1-3)
Kiki Bertens pulled off two stunning upsets in Moscow to send last year’s finalists crashing out and put the Netherlands into their first Fed Cup semifinal since 1997.
She opened the tie with a straight sets win over Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova, before her countrywoman Richel Hogenkamp emerged victorious in a four-hour marathon match against Svetlana Kuznetsova to put the Netherlands ahead 2-0. Kuznetsova came back the next day but fell short against Bertens, giving the Dutch team an unassailable 3-0 lead and the group’s first semifinal berth. Makarova and Daria Katatkina claimed Russia’s only point in the doubles rubber.
“This is unbelievable,” Bertens told FedCup.com after the tie. “I don’t think anyone expected that we could win this tie, perhaps we even didn’t. It’s an unbelievable feeling.”
Netherlands is set to play France in the semifinals.
Netherlands is FIRST through to the #FedCup Semifinals! @KikiBertens def Kuznetsova 6-1, 6-4 & knocks out Russia! pic.twitter.com/kj7n3XPOKy
— WTA (@WTA) February 7, 2016
World Group II
The victories were more one-sided in World Group II for the USA and Spain, who both advanced with shutout victories.
Venus Williams and Sloane Stephens rattled off three straight-sets singles wins for the United States to seal the tie and give their country a place in the World Group play-offs. Spain booked their spot in a similar manner, with Garbiñe Muguruza and Carla Suárez Navarro sweeping their opponents in straight sets for a 3-0 victory over Serbia.
Sam Stosur powered Australia to a close 3-2 victory over Slovakia, winning her two singles matches over Anna Karolina Schmiedlova and Jana Cepelova before teaming up with Casey Dellacqua to claim the decisive point in doubles.
Belarus came back from a 1-2 deficit to win over Canada, booking their spot in the World Group II play-offs. Aliaksandra Sasnovich contributed to all three of Belarus’ points, winning two singles matches and the doubles decider with Olga Govortsova.
Barbora Strycova takes on Eugenie Bouchard in the first round of the Western & Southern Open.
Elina Svitolina talks through her win over Mandy Minella in the semifinals of the Taiwan Open.