Acapulco: Kristina Mladenovic Interview
An interview with Kristina Mladenovic after her victory in the semifinals of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel.
An interview with Kristina Mladenovic after her victory in the semifinals of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel.
Lesia Tsurenko takes on Kristina Mladenovic in the final at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel.
After picking up titles in the Middle East, Karolina Pliskova and Elina Svitolina seem to have all the momentum as the tour heads to Indian Wells and Miami. But how do their performances stack up against the year’s other top performers?
In this edition of WTA Insider Heat Index, Senior Writer Courtney Nguyen weighs in on who’s hot and who’s not after a fortnight in Dubai and Doha.
For more on the Heat Index and the methodology behind it, click here.
1. Serena Williams (Rank: No.1; RTS: No.1; Previous HI: 1)
2017 record: 8-1
Titles: Australian Open (January)
Recent activity: None.
Key Stat: Did not lose a set in Melbourne.
Serena has not played an event since winning her record-setting 23rd major title at the Australian Open in January, but given her propensity for party crashing some public courts, I’m guessing she’s still healthy and in good spirits. That bodes well for the upcoming Sunshine Double swing through Indian Wells and Miami.
2. Karolina Pliskova (Rank: No.3; RTS: No.3; Previous HI: 2)
2017 record: 15-2
Titles: Brisbane International (January), Qatar Total Open (February)
Recent activity: Doha champion.
Key Stat: The first woman to win two titles this season.
The World No.3 has looked virtually unbeatable in 2017. When it comes to quality wins, no one has been better. Two months into the season and Pliskova already has wins over Dominika Cibulkova, Caroline Wozniacki, Garbiñe Muguruza, and Elina Svitolina.
3. Elina Svitolina (Rank: No.10; RTS: No.2; Previous HI: No.8)
2017 Record: 17-2
Titles: Taiwan Open (February), Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships (February)
Recent activity: Taiwan Open champion, Dubai champion.
Key Stat: Currently on a 13-match winning streak since the Australian Open.
This is what we were waiting for. After tallying five career titles on the International level and improving her year-end ranking year over year, Svitolina put it all together in Dubai to win the biggest title of her career and make her Top 10 debut. With her third straight win over Angelique Kerber, she ended the German’s quest to retake the No.1 ranking and followed it up with a cool performance to beat Caroline Wozniacki in the final.
4. Caroline Wozniacki (Rank: No.14; RTS: No. 5; Previous HI: Unranked)
2017 record: 15-5.
Titles: None.
Recent activity: Runner-up in Doha and Dubai.
Key Stat: Wozniacki already has 15 wins this year. Her 15th match win last year came at the US Open in September.
Is Woz back? It sure does seem that way. The Dane made back-to-back finals in February in Doha (l. Pliskova) and Dubai (l. Svitolina) and she’s continued the fantastic run of form that’s kicked in since the start of the US Open last fall. In fact, if you isolate the ranking points earned since the start of the US Open, Wozniacki is at No.3 behind Kerber and Pliskova. Wozniacki has beaten just one Top 10 player so far this season, a win over Agnieszka Radwanska in Doha, but with less than 200 points to defend from no until the US Open, there’s no doubt a return to the Top 10 — Top 5? — is coming soon.
5. Johanna Konta (Rank: No.11; RTS: No.6; Previous HI: No.2)
2017 record: 15-3
Titles: Apia International Sydney (January)
Recent activity: Went 3-1 in Fed Cup (l. to Konjuh)
Key stat: Konta’s win over Radwanska in the Sydney final was her first over a Top 5 player in over a year.
Konta took her good form into Fed Cup and helped earn Great Britain a chance at promotion to the World Group. A foot injury prevented her from making her debut in the Middle East in Dubai, but with plenty of rest before the upcoming hard court swing, Konta should be in good form.
6. Angelique Kerber (Rank: No.2; RTS: No.9; Previous HI: No.6)
2017 record: 7-5
Titles: None
Recent activity: Dubai semifinalist.
Key stat: Kerber is 0-5 vs. Top 35 players.
After a disappointing January, Kerber showed signs of life in Dubai, playing cleaner, more aggressive tennis to make her first semifinal of the year. The quality was a step in the right direction. I still maintain it’s too early to write off the woman who won two hard court Slams last year. Now, if she continues to struggle through March…then it’s time to have the discussion.
7. Dominika Cibulkova (Rank: No.5; RTS: No.5; Previous HI: No.11)
2017 record: 8-6
Titles: None
Recent activity: Doha semifinalist.
Key stat: Made back-to-back semifinals in St. Petersburg and Doha.
The Middle East swing was a mixed bag for Cibulkova. She lost to eventual champion Pliskova in Doha, but in Dubai she was confounded once again by Ekaterina Makarova, who also beat her at the Australian Open. But much like Kerber, the level of tennis she played was an improvement on what we saw in January and she’s put in extra work with her mental coach to help her deal with the expectations of being a Top 5 player. She started to feel like herself again after Doha, and that’s good news for her tennis.
8. Agnieszka Radwanska (Rank: No.6; RTS: No.16; Previous HI: No.5)
2017 record: 7-5
Titles: None
Recent activity: Lost in Round of 16 in Doha (l. Wozniacki) and Dubai (l. Bellis)
Key stat: Has not won back-to-back matches in her last three events.
After solid outings in her first two tournaments of the year, the World No.6 has struggled to find her confidence and feel. Remember, this is a player who made the semifinals or better of her first four events last season. Her inability to solve 17-year-old CiCi Bellis in Dubai was a shocker. She’s frustrated and searching.
9. CoCo Vandeweghe (Rank: No.22; RTS: No.7; Previous HI: No.7)
2017 record: 8-3
Titles: None
Recent activity: Went 2-0 at Fed Cup; first round loss to Alison Riske in Dubai.
Key stat: Vandeweghe beat Kerber and Muguruza at the Australian Open. It was just the second time in her career she’s beaten two Top 10 players at a tournament (2014 Rogers Cup, Ivanovic and Jankovic).
The question for Vandeweghe after the Australian Open wasn’t whether she had Slam-winning tennis inside her — the quality during the Melbourne fortnight was top-notch — but whether she could maintain a consistent level. Indian Wells and Miami should serve as better litmus tests.
10. Kristina Mladenovic (Rank: No.30; RTS: No.14; Previous HI: Unranked)
2017 record: 8-4
Titles: St. Petersburg
Recent activity: Beat Pliskova in Dubai, semifinalist in Acapulco (tournament ongoing).
Key stat: Her win over Pliskova was her first Top 5 win since 2015.
Mladenovic will be the first to tell you her tennis can reach the highest of highs and, at times, head-scratching lows, but it makes her game all the more compelling. After winning her first title in St. Petersburg, Mladenovic scored a big win over Pliskova only to lose to No.76 Wang Qiang in straight sets the next day. Regardless, she’s been consistently dangerous early this season.
11. Garbiñe Muguruza (Rank: No.7; RTS: No.10; Previous HI: No.4)
2017 record: 9-5
Titles: None
Recent activity: Went 1-2 during Middle East swing.
Key stat: Two of her four tournaments this season has ended in a retirement.
The primary reason surrounding Muguruza’s notable drop in the Heat Index is injury related. She picked up a left Achilles injury in Doha, which forced her to retire from a match in Dubai for the second time this season. In January she retired from the Brisbane semifinals due to an abductor injury. It’s a disconcerting trend for the Spaniard, just two months into the season.
12. Venus Williams (Rank: No.13; RTS: No.4; Previous HI: No.10)
2017 record: 7-2
Titles: None
Recent activity: None
Key stat: This time last year, Venus was also 7-2. She lost in the first round of Auckland and the Australian Open before winning seven straight matches at Fed Cup and en route to the Taiwan Open title.
With the surges from Wozniacki and Mladenovic into this edition of the Heat Index, Venus drops two spots. She did not play a tournament in February, so I’m looking forward to seeing how she’s feeling in Indian Wells next week. If it’s anything like what we saw in Melbourne, it will be a treat.
Qualifier Ashleigh Barty’s party rolled on as she beat Nao Hibino to win the ALYA Malaysian Open – her first singles title.
World No.1 Serena Williams has taken a wildcard into next week’s Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, a Premier 5 event.
The two-time defending champion has a 10-match win streak in Cincinnati and will be making her eighth appearance at the tournament where she holds a 21-4 match record. Serena enters the event looking to rebound from a disappointing early exit from the Olympics in Rio, where she lost in the third round to Elina Svitolina.
Having played only three matches since winning Wimbledon in July, Serena will look to return to form as she continues to prepare for the US Open, where she has a chance to break the Open Era record for Slam singles titles by winning her 23rd major.
Also on the line for Serena next week: The No.1 ranking.
Current World No.2 Angelique Kerber has a chance to end Serena’s 183-week reign at No.1 at Cincinnati, however, it will not be an easy task. Kerber, who is still in Rio de Janiero at the Olympic tennis event, would need to win the title at the Western & Southern Open in order to do so.
With Serena accepting the wildcard, she can extend her stay at No.1 through US Open if she makes the quarterfinals, regardless what Kerber does.
Kerber is trying to become the first German to reach No.1 since her idol Stefanie Graf and would be the third left-handed player to hold the No.1 ranking (along with Martina Navratilova and Monica Seles).
Main draw play at the Western & Southern Open begins on Monday, with the top 16 seeds receiving a bye into the second round. The draw ceremony will be held on Friday, August 12, at 5:30pm local time.
SHE'S BACK.
2-time defending champ @serenawilliams returns to #CincyTennis after receiving a WC into the main draw. pic.twitter.com/1rNIEvHaok
— W&S Open (@CincyTennis) August 11, 2016
The Wuhan Open team have wished their two-time champion Petra Kvitova a happy birthday and a swift recovery in a cute Twitter clip.
KEY INFORMATION:
Tournament Level: Premier 5
Prize Money: $2,804,000
Draw Size: 48 main draw (16 byes)/48 qualifying
Main Draw Ceremony: Friday, August 12, 5.30pm EDT
Qualifying Dates: Saturday, August 13 – Sunday, August 14
First Day of Main Draw: Monday, August 15
Singles Final: Sunday, August 21, 2pm EDT
Doubles Final: TBC – Sunday, August 21, 12.15pm EDT on Grandstand
MUST FOLLOW SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS:
@WTA
@WTA_Insider – WTA Insider, Senior Writer Courtney Nguyen
@CinyTennis – official tournament handle
Get involved in conversations with the official hashtags, #CincyTennis and #WTA.
TOURNAMENT NOTES:
· Serena Williams bids to win a third straight Cincinnati title after accepting a late wildcard. She is the only player in the Open Era to win multiple times at the event.
· Since the tournament’s return to the tour in 2004, there have been 11 different winners of the tournament, although Serena is the only returning champion in the field this year. There are a couple of former runner-ups – Simona Halep (2015), Ana Ivanovic (2014) and Angelique Kerber (2012).
· The WTA’s current Top 5-ranked players are all in attendance: Serena, Kerber, Halep, Garbiñe Muguruza and Agnieszka Radwanska.
· Halep arrives on a 10-match winning streak, having won her past two tournaments, in Bucharest and Montréal.
· Lucie Safarova and Andrea Petkovic could both register their 400th career win by reaching the second round and quarterfinals, respectively.
· For the full draw click here.
WILDCARDS:
Serena Williams (USA), Christina McHale (USA), Louisa Chirico (SVK)
WITHDRAWALS:
Sloane Stephens (right foot), Jelena Jankovic (right shoulder)
A tennis career plays out on a myriad of stages. One minute, American Christina McHale is headlining Margaret Court Arena and battling Agnieszka Radwanska, the reigning WTA Finals champion, in the first round of the Australian Open.
The next, she finds herself far from Melbourne’s spotlight and bringing new meaning to the word “battle” in an ITF 50K Challenger tournament in Maui.
“I felt like I needed more match play, because I didn’t get enough matches in Australia,” McHale told WTA Insider on Sunday.
A former World No.24, McHale went 1-3 in her first three events of the season, but rather than retreat to the practice courts – and the cold New Jersey winter – she made the rare decision to enter an ITF event during the second week of the Australian Open.
“I’d just had a really long off-season and I was doing a lot of practicing. I saw there were a bunch of tournaments, and Maui seemed like a good place because it’s on the way home; it seemed like a good place to stop. Luckily, I got a wildcard at the last minute, so everything worked out.”
Top seed at an event that featured Brisbane International semifinalist Samantha Crawford and ASB Classic quarterfinalist Naomi Broady, McHale hardly cruised through a Valley Isle vacation at her first ITF event since 2013.
“It’s definitely different. The nice part of it was that it was in Hawaii, and the hotel was right at the courts, so it was easy to walk to.
“The first day I was waiting for the schedule to be emailed to me, because that’s how it normally is at WTA tournaments, and then I remembered that’s not how it works in ITFs! We didn’t have ball kids, and we didn’t have a full set of line judges on some of the courts.
“It took some getting used to.”
Sand sprints in paradise. Hello from Hawaii ? pic.twitter.com/VmUFCcXmv7
— Christina McHale (@ChristinaMcHale) January 26, 2016
After fighting through a tricky opening round against former World No.7 Nicole Vaidisova, she needed three sets in the semifinals against the big-serving Broady and American teenager Raveena Kingsley, who had taken out Crawford and Jessica Pegula to reach the final.
“I had some really tough matches here; my semifinal was really difficult and so was my match today. The level of play was quite high. In terms of getting good match play in, it was tough.”
The American had started her 2016 season with a first career WTA doubles title in Hobart, but Maui was her first title of any kind in singles, having reached one WTA final in 2014 and two ITF finals at the very start of her career in 2007 and 2009.
Ranked solidly in the Top 70, McHale considers herself lucky to be able to play an ITF knowing the doors to the most prestigious tournaments remain open to her.
“It definitely makes you appreciate a lot of the things I take for granted when playing WTA tournaments. It might have even been a little bit of a wake up call. But everyone here was really nice, and all of the volunteers that helped put this tournament together did a good job. I don’t want to take away from that.”
Indeed, McHale takes away only positives from her winning week in Maui, getting some much-needed match play, all with a tropical backdrop at her disposal.
“My fitness trainer Rodney Marshall is a USTA fitness coach; he was here and so I kind of used it as a training week, as well. I was able to do some work outs on the beach; it’s really cold back home so it was nice to be in this warmer weather for the week. It was good to have a men and women’s tournament, so there were a lot of players here to practice with.
“Just being in Hawaii was really nice.”
Heading home before resuming a full slate of WTA events in Rio, Acapulco, Monterrey, and Indian Wells, a confident McHale hopes to have kick-started her season with the wind at her back and a sunkissed trophy in her hand.
“It’s definitely very motivating. This week served its purpose, because I came here trying to get matches and work on my fitness. In that regard, it was really good.
“It does make you appreciate all of the Slams and the other big tournaments that we go to.”
Thanks for a great week Maui! ? @TCofM pic.twitter.com/h6gh8Y7YG4
— Christina McHale (@ChristinaMcHale) January 31, 2016
Follow Christina on Twitter @ChristinaMcHale!
The Gold Medal match in women’s singles was one to remember as Monica Puig took on World No.2 and reigning Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber.
Puig pulled off the upset of Olympics to knock Kerber out in three tight sets, becoming the first Puerto Rican to win a gold medal.
Puig had made it her season goal to win the Olympics – even naming her dog Rio – but the yougster could hardly believe her dream had come true after the match.
Puig led a star-studded podium featuring Kerber, who became the first German to win a medal in tennis since Stefanie Graf, and two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova taking the bronze.
Pairing up for the Olympic Games four years ago in London, Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina came straight from winning the Rogers Cup to roar into the Gold Medal match in women’s doubles on Sunday.
Taking the Russians on were a tough team composed of World Co-No.1 Martina Hingis – who was playing her first Olympic Games since 1996 – and Timea Bacsinszky, who replaced Belinda Bencic after injury ruled her out of the games. Hingis and Bacsinszky saved a match point in their semifinal against Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka.
Makarova and Vesnina spent 10 months apart as the former addressed injury concerns, but the pair reunited in the spring and have amassed a 25-5 record since Madrid, winning a ninth straight match to oust Hingis and Bacsinszky in straight sets.
The women’s doubles podium was complete when Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova – who began the tournament by knocking out three-time women’s doubles gold medalists Venus and Serena Williams – won the all-Czech bronze medal match in straight sets.
The final Gold medal match of the day was in mixed doubles, with Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jack Sock taking on four-time Olympic Gold medalist Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram.
Venus was aiming to become the first player to win gold in all three tennis events, but couldn’t convert a one-set lead or a 6-3 advantage in the match tie-break. Still, the American leaves Rio with a fifth Olympic medal in five appearances.
Mattek-Sands has struggled with injuries in the last few years, and recovered from a false alarm when Sock appeared to seal victory on their first match point to capture the gold medal one point later.
Mattek-Sands wins a gold medal in her Olympic debut, while Lucie Hradecka adds to her Olympic silver medal from 2012 alongside Radek Stepanek by taking the bronze.
WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen | World No.1 Serena Williams maintained her mastery of Maria Sharapova, winning an 18th straight match in Melbourne on Tuesday. Here’s how it happened.