Tennis News

It’s been a busy Throwback Thursday for the WTA stars, who’ve shared some of their first photos on Twitter as part of a new ad campaign from Nike.

Madison Keys, Roberta Vinci, Sara Errani, Caroline Garcia, and Annika Beck have already tweeted out baby pictures to show fans where their stories began. Check out the #tbts here:

My story began in Rock Island where I dreamed of playing on the big stage. Now I want to win it all @Nike #justdoit pic.twitter.com/PlaXuSIm1j

— Madison Keys (@Madison_Keys) July 21, 2016

My story began in Taranto, Italy, where I improved my game. And now, I play to improve my ranking. @Nike #JustDoIt pic.twitter.com/9sKSd2mfyB

— Roberta Vinci (@roberta_vinci) July 21, 2016

My story began in Bologna. Tennis is my path forward. It's made me the person I am. Better every day.@Nike #JustDoIt pic.twitter.com/GgZHJGm6jn

— Sara Errani (@SaraErrani) July 21, 2016

My story began in Lyon where I dreamed to travel around the world now my tennis passion allows it @Nike #justdoit pic.twitter.com/AoZZDL5cz0

— Caroline Garcia (@CaroGarcia) July 21, 2016

My story began in Bonn, where I dreamed of tennis grand slams. Now I put my heart and soul in it. @Nike #JustDoIt pic.twitter.com/qCf2BXzH6b

— Annika Beck (@BeckAnnika) July 21, 2016

STANFORD, CA, USA – This week at the Bank of the West Classic proved one to remember for 17-year-old Catherine Bellis, who reached her first WTA quarterfinal, where she played former No.1 Venus Williams.

Bellis first turned heads at the 2014 US Open, when she became the youngest woman to win a match in Flushing since Anna Kournikova in 1996, upsetting then-reigning Australian Open finalist Dominika Cibulkova in the first round. The youngster went on to reach the third round of the Miami Open in 2015 – where she played Venus’ sister Serena for the first time – and with wins over No.6 seed Jelena Ostapenko and Sachia Vickery, kept dreams of a pro career alive in Stanford, even as she committed to play college tennis for that very university.

Here from Bellis as she spoke with reporters following her first round win over Ostapenko, how she doubted whether she’d even be able to take the court after a traumatic left eye contusion left her faced with “the scariest moment of her life,” and how her game has improved since bursting onto the scene nearly two years ago.

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BASTAD, Sweden – Katerina Siniakova advanced to the first final of her career by dethroning home favorite and reigning Ericsson Open champion Johanna Larsson on Saturday.

Watch live action from Bastad, Stanford and Washington DC this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

A relative novice at this stage of a WTA event and faced with an unashamedly partisan crowd, Siniakova took some time to find her bearings. However, once she had the Czech produced some sparkling tennis to run out a 7-5, 6-1 winner and set up a Sunday showdown with Laura Siegemund.

“It was a really hard match, I just tried to focus on every point and I think I played pretty well,” Siniakova said. “Maybe in the beginning I was a little bit nervous, so there were a few more mistakes, but from there my performance was better so I’m really happy.”

Having frozen when serving for the opening set at 5-3, Siniakova showed no hesitancy when another chance presented itself, thundering a backhand into the corner to bring up two set points. Larsson ballooned a drive volley long to surrender the set.

In addition to her title run last year, Larsson was a finalist on home soil in 2011 and 2013, but she never looked like adding to this tally in the second set, Siniakova establishing an early lead and never looking back.

Siniakova, whose previous semifinal appearance ended in defeats in Moscow and Prague, was understandably elated at clearing this hurdle at the third time of asking: “It’s really exciting. I think it will be a really tough match, hopefully we will both show great tennis. I think I will be nervous, but this is normal. I will just have to try my best, fight for every point and see how it goes.”

Like Siniakova, Siegemund took some time to find her groove, weathering an early storm of winners to see off Julia Goerges. Siegemund had already reached semifinals on the clay this year, in Stuttgart and Bucharest, and despite falling behind early on refused to get disheartened against her powerful compatriot.

While she was unable to rescue the first set, she hit back to take a high-quality second then forge ahead in the third. Trailing 4-6, 6-3, 4-0, Goerges body admitted defeat, a hip injury bringing an entertaining contest to a premature end.

“It was very tough – she started out very strongly in the first set. I tried to be solid but it was not enough, she was really the better player at the beginning and I needed to step it up,” Siegemund said. “I felt good out there today, I felt confident to be a bit more risky and go for my shots.”

Until recently, Siegemund existed in a different world on the tennis circuit to some of her more celebrated compatriots. A memorable run all the way through qualifying to the final in Stuttgart changed all this and on Sunday she has the opportunity to further cement her place among the elite.

semifinal highlights from #ericssonopen @wta pic.twitter.com/yQB2YTfbfn

— Swedish Open Tennis (@swedish_open) 23 July 2016