Insider Podcast: The State Of Serena, Draw Shake-Up In The Desert
WTA Insider | The Insider team addresses the withdrawal of top seed Serena Williams, the re-ascent of Angelique Kerber to No.1, and the similarly different BNP Paribas Open draw.
WTA Insider | The Insider team addresses the withdrawal of top seed Serena Williams, the re-ascent of Angelique Kerber to No.1, and the similarly different BNP Paribas Open draw.
The lower half of the singles draw will kick into action on Thursday at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Chris Oddo takes a look at the compelling matchups right here at wtatennis.com.
Thursday
First round
Eugenie Bouchard (CAN # 53) vs. Annika Beck (GER # 61)
Head-to-head: Tied, 1-1
Key Stat: Bouchard saved all five break points she faced in her straight sets win over Beck last year at New Haven.
A pair of 23-year-olds with tons of potential will look to kick their 2017 campaigns into high gear on Thursday when Eugenie Bouchard and Annika Beck meet for the third time. Bouchard started the year promisingly by reaching the semifinals at Sydney, but she has not won since falling in a tight three-setter in the third round of the Australian Open to CoCo Vandeweghe. Bouchard has been solid in all of her main draw appearances at Indian Wells, and owns a 6-3 record at this event. Is it time for some of the hard work that Bouchard has done under coach Thomas Hogstedt to pay off this week?
Meanwhile 2017 has been a struggle for Beck, whose ranking peaked at a career-high of 37 last July. She lost her first three matches of the season and only owns one Top 50 win. Beck has only been past the second round once at Indian Wells, and has lost three of her last four here.
Pick: Bouchard in two
Peng Shuai (CHN # 41) vs. Lesia Tsurenko (UKR # 49)
Head-to-head: Peng leads, 1-0
Key Stat: Peng was ranked 768 in the world last year at Indian Wells.
Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko comes into the BNP Paribas Open riding high, having won her third career title last weekend in Acapulco, but she’ll need to stay on guard on Thursday when she faces a tricky qualifier who is a former BNP Paribas Open quarterfinalist with 12 wins to her name. Peng Shuai was ranked well outside of the Top 700 when she visited Indian Wells last season, but this year she’s back inside the Top 50 after a 2016 full of victories on the ITF and WTA circuit. Peng’s story is characterized by determination and fortitude – she has battled through serious back issues to reemerge as a factor on tour. Tsurenko, who enters the main draw with an impressive 9-2 record on the season, is closing in on her peak ranking, just eight spots shy of the career-best No.33 ranking she achieved in 2015.
Pick: Tsurenko in three
Andrea Petkovic (GER #79) vs. Vania King (USA # 91)
Head-to-head: Petkovic leads, 3-0
Key Stat: Petkovic has lost her last four matches at Indian Wells; her last three in three sets.
Andrea Petkovic and Vania King will battle for the right to face Angelique Kerber in the second round, and while it is Petkovic that owns the decided edge in the pair’s head-to-head, King is a Southern California native who will relish the chance to knock off a few big names on home soil. King hasn’t had much traction thus far in 2017, but she does own eight career main draw wins at Indian Wells, including a Top 20 upset over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in 2012.
Working in King’s favor is the fact that Petkovic, even when she has been playing her best tennis, has never been able to figure out the tricky desert conditions at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. The German is 1-5 lifetime here, and has not won a main draw match since she defeated Lucie Safarova in 2011.
It’s been a long time for Petko. Will she be able to find her form against the lesser-ranked King, or will King come through with another big win in the Golden State?
Pick: King in three
Jelena Jankovic (SRB # 51) vs. Irina Falconi (USA # 96)
Head-to-head: Jankovic leads, 1-0
Key Stat: Jankovic has made more main draw appearances than any other player in BNP Paribas Open history.
2010 champion and 2015 BNP Paribas Open runner-up Jelena Jankovic will bid for her 26th main draw win at Indian Wells when she takes on feisty Irina Falconi for the second time and first on a hardcourt.
Jankovic, who lost in the round of 16 last year to eventual semifinalist Agnieszka Radwanska, comes into Thursday’s match on a four-match losing streak. But the Serb is back on her home soil. Falconi may play for the stars and stripes, but Jankovic now owns a home in San Diego and considers herself a California girl. Will a dose of the dreamy desert landscape do Jankovic good, or will it be Falconi who secures the upset and earns the right to face Venus Williams in the second round?
Pick: Jankovic in two
Around the Grounds:
American wildcard Taylor Townsend has won four of five first-round encounters at Indian Wells. She’ll try to make it five of six on Thursday when she faces Polish qualifier Magda Linette (winner faces No.13-seeded Caroline Wozniacki).
Croatia’s Ajla Tomljanovic will continue her comeback at Indian Wells with a first-round battle with Germany’s Julia Goerges. After missing a full year due to a shoulder injury, Tomljanovic made her return at Acapulco last week, where she upset Eugenie Bouchard in her first match.
Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova will battle Spanish qualifier Sara Sorribes Tormo for the right to face Agnieszka Radwanska in the second round. The former World No.8 has never been past the third round in nine previous BNP Paribas Open appearances.
– Photos courtesy of Getty Images
Andrea Petkovic moves into the second round to face Angelique Kerber at the BNP Paribas Open – catch up with more of Day 2 results right here!
LONDON, Great Britain – Francesca Schiavone has already struck gold in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, winning her seventh career title in the year’s first clay event at the Rio Open back in February. Despite dipping out of the Top 100, the former French Open champion was still expected to return to Brazil for the Olympic Games with a wildcard typically reserved for Grand Slam champions.
However, earlier today the Italian announced via her Facebook page that she won’t be wearing the Azzurri in Rio this year, deciding instead to give up the wildcard.
Here’s Schiavone’s statement, translated to English:
“Here at Wimbledon I have received notice of the wild card for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. It is news that has made me happy. However, I made a decision not to accept it because at this stage of my life, with the important decisions that are in front of me about the development of my career, I need to focus and prioritize my personal projects. This is why I won’t be in Rio. A choice that cost me but I’m proud to have worn the blue jersey in three editions of the Games. In August I will be in front of the television to cheer on all the Azzurri.“
The WTA veteran has been a fixture at the Olympics for the past 12 years, competing in the past three editions of the Games. Her best result came in the form of a run to the quarterfinals in Athens back in 2004. In the 2008 Games in Beijing she reached the third round while in 2012, when the Olympic tennis event was held at the All England Club, she made the second round.
Schiavone’s decision to give up her wildcard means that another spot has opened up for a player seeking to head to Brazil later this summer. In the meantime, click here to find out who has already qualified for Rio 2016.
Angelique Kerber moved confidently into the Wimbledon quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Misaki Doi on Monday.
No.5 seed Simona Halep overcame defeat in a tense first set tie-break to end No.9 seed Madison Keys’ eight match winning streak on grass to reach the last eight at Wimbledon.
LONDON, England – Tuesday afternoon at the All England Club saw the WTA’s finest take center stage. The on-court entertainment did not disappoint, and neither did the press conferences afterwards.
Serena Williams downplays her peerless serve…
“My serve is usually really good. I don’t know how it came about, though. Like, I’m not as tall as all the other players. So it’s strange that I have such a strong, hard serve.
“But I have to say what I think really is my game is my mental toughness because just not only to be able to play, to win, but to be able to come back when I’m down. Both on the court and after tough losses, just to continue to come back and continue to fight, it’s something that takes a lot of tenacity.”
Elena Vesnina on hatching a plan to topple the World No.1…
“First of all, you need to be consistent with Serena. You don’t need to give her a lot of free points. You have to be very, very strong mentally, and, as I said, put pressure on her on the baseline, to show her you can actually beat her.
“I was watching her final against Angelique in Australian Open on the court. It was great atmosphere over there. I saw how Angelique, she was sticking into her game from the first till the last. She was not giving up. Yeah, maybe Serena didn’t play her best tennis, and that was the key, and Angelique used her chances on that moment. Maybe that’s going to be the key for me as well.”
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova reflects on her first quarterfinal at Wimbledon…
“I’ve always been saying that I’ve never liked grass and I’ve always been quite negative in terms of grass and playing at Wimbledon. But I think right now I’ll change my mind!”
Venus Williams on her journey back to a Grand Slam semifinal…
“The road was six years. They go by fast, thankfully. But I’ve been blessed. Been really blessed to have an opportunity to be here, had an opportunity in the past to do this. And I don’t have any regrets about anything that has taken place in between. It’s been a journey, but it’s something I’ve had to do and it’s made me stronger.
“The good part is I’ve always felt like I had the game. So this is always a plus when you know you have the game. So you just have to keep working until things fall into place. It’s never a given, everyone plays well. I mean today, she played so well and there were so many times where we were just dead even it felt like. It’s never a given. She could have easily won that match as well. So just grateful.”
Angelique Kerber on her recreating her Melbourne magic…
“When I arrived in Paris, I was feeling much more pressure. I did it actually by myself, to put a lot of pressure on me. Also, I was not handling all the off court things so well. It was too much of everything, I think.
“When I arrived here, I was telling myself, just like in Australia, Just be relaxed, playing round by round, not making things actually too much complicated, not putting pressure on myself.
So that was actually what I changed, what I learn also from Paris. Just being also focusing on the tennis thing, on my practice, being more relaxed.”
Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova dashed Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza’s hopes of defending their Wimbledon doubles title with a dominant quarterfinal win on Thursday.
WTA Insider | Live from the Bank of the West Classic, check out all the action as first round play continues in Stanford.
Garbiñe Muguruza has Wednesday’s shot of the day at the Brisbane International.