Belarus, USA Triumph in Thrilling Fed Cup Semifinals
A pair of 3-2 victories were on the cards for both Belarus and the United States on Sunday, as the two nations advance to the 2017 Fed Cup Final.
A pair of 3-2 victories were on the cards for both Belarus and the United States on Sunday, as the two nations advance to the 2017 Fed Cup Final.
GSTAAD, Switzerland – World No.797 Rebeka Masarova’s dream run at the Ladies Championship Gstaad continued on Saturday with a straight set win over No.5 seed Annika Beck.
Delivering another performance to belie her tender years – and lowly ranking – Masarova prevailed 7-5, 6-2 to set up an all-Swiss semifinal with Viktorija Golubic.
Earlier this summer, Masarova tripped up a couple of highly touted rivals to lift the junior French Open title. It was a performance that earned her a wildcard for the WTA’s return to Swiss soil, a chance she grabbed with both hands by knocking out first former No.1 Jelena Jankovic then Anett Kontaveit in the opening two rounds.
Beck had her chances, but despite serving for the opening set she was unable to avoid becoming the 16-year-old’s third Top 100 victim.
“It’s just amazing that I’ve won another match. I can’t quite believe I’ve beaten three Top 100 players so far this week. I think I played a great match against Annika and I hope I can keep this going in the semis!”
Golubic was made to work far harder in her quarterfinal, eventually subduing Carina Witthoeft, 7-6(4), 7-6(4).
The other semifinal will also feature a Swiss player, after top seed Timea Bacsinszky raced past Johanna Larsson, 6-0, 6-1 in just 56 minutes. Her reward is a meeting with No.3 seed Kiki Bertens, a 6-3, 6-1 winner over Irina Khromacheva.
Three swisswomen in semifinal! WOW! HOPP Schwiiz! @TimeaOfficial #Golubic #Masarova ????? @WTA_Gstaad pic.twitter.com/fHuR4iJjrk
— Davide Valentini (@DavideLiberista) 16 July 2016
GSTAAD, Switzerland – Local favorite Victorija Golubic capped off a dream week by winning her first WTA title at the inaugural Ladies Championship Gstaad. Golubic defeated Kiki Bertens 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 after a two-hour battle to claim the title in her home country.
More to come…
Geschafft!!!!! Viktorija Golubic gewinnt die Ladies Championship Gstaad!!!! #wtagstaad pic.twitter.com/M32RvfI4WI
— Ladies Open Gstaad (@WTA_Gstaad) July 17, 2016
WASHINGTON DC, USA – No.136-ranked Risa Ozaki scored the biggest win of her career in the opening round of the Citi Open, knocking out defending champion Sloane Stephens 6-2, 6-1.
The 22 year old from Japan came into the matchup having won just two WTA-level matches all year long, but put all that disappointment behind her against the No.23-ranked American.
Despite being broken in the opening game, Ozaki turned up the intensity and rattled off the next nine games in a row to leave Stephens reeling, down a set and a break. The American held serve to get her name on the score board at 3-1, but it wasn’t enough to turn around Ozaki’s momentum as she swept the match in just 57 minutes.
“I just played real bad. Nothing more, nothing less,” Stephens assessed after the match. “Today just sucked, it was just one of those days where everything was really bad.”
“Obviously, I’m not the first person to have a bad day and I won’t be the last. Hopefully I can pull myself together and next week will be better than this week. I won’t look too deep into this.”
Ozaki’s win sets up a second-round clash with on-the-rise Brit Naomi Broady, who saw off Irina Falconi in straight sets earlier in the day, 6-3, 6-4.
Giorgi Ousts No.5 Seed Bouchard
The unseeded Camila Giorgi snapped a four-match losing streak in her straight sets upset over No.5 seed Eugenie Bouchard in their Washington DC opener. Even more impressive, Giorgi recorded her first win against the Canadian; she previously hadn’t even won a set against Bouchard in either of their previous two encounters.
Bouchard initially struggled against the pace of the Italian’s high octane game, falling a break down in the opening set.
“My game is based on moving forward as soon as I can,” Giorgi said, speaking to Tennis Channel after the match. “Today it worked, I think, almost everything.”
Facing elimination at a set down and 5-2 in the second, Bouchard gritted out a pair of back to back games to cut into Giorgi’s lead, and even held game point on her serve at 5-4 to try to even the score. But the ultra-aggressive Giorgi saw off her challenge with her usual calm, quick game, climbing back from 15-40 to take the match 7-5, 6-4.
After the match, she immediately grabbed her cell phone to make a very special call.
“I called my dad, my coach,” Giorgi said. “He told me I played a good game, very aggressive. He was happy.”
Giorgi will go on to play Tamira Paszek in the next round. The Austrian No.108 took down American qualifier Lauren Albanese in a comfortable 6-3, 6-4 win.
More to come…
– All photos courtesy of Citi Open and Getty Images
Highlights from the second round action at the Brisbane International.
An interview with Angelique Kerber after her quarterfinal win at the Brisbane International.
WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen | Look back at game-by-game coverage of the Brisbane International final between Angelique Kerber and Victoria Azarenka right here on wtatennis.com!
It has been nearly 16 years since the Olympics first welcomed a still-teenaged Serena Williams, who turned 20 years old during her debut in Sydney. Fresh off her record-tying 22nd Grand Slam title, the World No.1 aims to to truly experience the Games for the first time in her storied career.
“I actually was just talking to Venus about the Olympics a few seconds ago, and how excited we are to get there,” she said at the French Open. “I was like, ‘I’ve got to do the opening ceremonies this year.’ Usually the tennis is the same day. So we’ll see. Hopefully I’ll be able to make something. It’s just going to be a really cool experience and I’m really excited about it.”
She may have missed out on some of the pomp and circumstance each Olympics provides, but Serena has nonetheless been a integral part of her sport’s presence at the Summer Games. She has taken home at least one gold medal in each of her previous three appearances – including her first in 2000, when she helped sister Venus secure a sweep of singles and doubles.
Her most recent outing was her most successful yet, winning her first gold medal in singles and pairing once more with Venus to win in doubles.
“My experience has been really amazing at the Olympics,” she said at Wimbledon. “I really loved going out there and competing, really just, you know, standing out there and being an Olympic athlete.
“It is really one of the best experiences that I’ve ever had.”
That pride is evident in an ad spot she did with Mini USA, where she reflected on her Olympic journey as part of a campaign emphasizing the importance of defying labels.
“No one can say, ‘This is what you’re supposed to do,'” she says in the video. “When you think of all the Olympic athletes, they are really doing something that is beyond everything that they should have done – having the chance to win a gold medal and compete against the best of the best across the globe.”
Her gold medals may be among her most prized possessions, but as the American aims to break Stefanie Graf’s record of total Grand Slam titles, how firm will her focus be in Rio?
“I’ve won gold. I love gold. I mean, for me, if I kept one trophy, I would probably grab my gold medals. But right now I am probably focused a little more on the Slams, or at least I was with getting to 22.
“Now I feel like, you know, everything else will be pretty good.”
A fourth trip to the Olympics would be a bonus for any athlete; it may be an even bigger bonus for the fans who’ve so rarely seen one of the greatest of all time play in their part of the world. But as Serena herself has often said, everything is a bonus for one who has achieved so much.
Don’t expect her to give up the gold so easily.
All photos cortesy of Getty Images.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – No.2 seed Angelique Kerber ended Johanna Konta’s debut run at the Olympic tennis event after an emphatic straight sets win, 6-1, 6-2, to advance to the semifinals.
Kerber, who is bidding to become the first German woman to medal at the Olympics since Steffi Graf in 1992, was in fine form against Konta, dropping just three games in the hour-long match.
Coming off a marathon encounter against Svetlana Kuznetsova, Konta was likely thankful for yesterday’s washout giving her an extra day to recover. But despite the additional rest, Britain’s No.1 never really seemed in the match, striking 43 unforced errors to Kerber’s 11 and hitting just 18 winners against Kerber’s 7.
Kerber broke Konta’s serve in a marathon opening game that set the tone for the rest of the match; Konta struck two double faults to gift the German an early lead and despite putting up a battle she couldn’t match Kerber’s dogged defense stroke for stroke.
The World No.2 settled into the match quickly and broke twice more to win the last four straight games of the opening set. Though Konta showed her grit by getting her first break in Kerber’s opening service game, the German didn’t allow her to relish in the lead for long and immediately broke back. The Australian Open champion broke twice more and eased into the semifinals after just over an hour.
Watching in the stands was Madison Keys, Kerber’s opponent in the next round. The German owns a 4-1 lead in the pair’s head to head, including a win in their last encounter earlier this year in Miami.
More to come…
MELBOURNE, Australia – Former No.1 Ana Ivanovic had to deal with a half hour break when a spectator took a spill on Rod Laver Arena, but the Serb maintained her focus to close out Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova, 6-3, 6-3.
Sevastova first made waves in 2011 when she reached the round of 16 at the Australian Open, but a brief retirement took her out of the game for nearly two years before she came back last January. Coming through three rounds of main draw qualifying, the 25-year-old played Ivanovic tough over two sets, but was ultimately undone by unforced errors – 27 to Ivanovic’s 17.
Ivanovic, by contrast, played a much cleaner match, breaking serve four times and winning 83% of her first serves.
“I enjoy playing here so much; this is one of my favorite courts in the world,” Ivanovic said during her on-court interview. “It’s always good to be back.”
The No.20 seed has looked solid through her first two matches, a major improvement over her last appearance in Melbourne, when a broken toe hampered her through an opening round loss.
“I tried to work on my fitness during the off-season; that needed improvements after last season. I hired a new fitness coach, so it’s been really great. We did a lot of prevention work for injuries, and fitness and on-court work.
“It’s a work in progress.”
Up next for Ivanovic is the winner of the second round match between No.15 seed Madison Keys and Yaroslava Shvedova, the latter of whom pushed her to three sets at last year’s French Open.
“Every match is tough and we’ve seen that throughout the week. Every opponent is tough and there have been a lot of tricky first round matches.
“But I’m really thrilled be to be through and you guys are amazing, so excited about your tennis, so keep it up!