Tennis News

After reaching her first Grand Slam semifinal at the Australian Open, American CoCo Vandeweghe stopped by SportsNation to tell all about her breakout run in Melbourne.

Chatting with a round table that includes ESPN tennis analyst LZ Granderson, Vandeweghe discussed how she deals with mid-match frustrations – typically with a crack of a racquet – and how her on-court coordination doesn’t always translate off the court.

Plus, who inspired the 25-year-old to do the dab after defeating World No.1 Angelique Kerber Down Under?

Check out the full video right here on wtatennis.com!

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia – Kristina Mladenovic continued her stunning run at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy with another shock victory, this time in the quarterfinal over the reigning champion, Roberta Vinci, 6-1 6-4.

The unseeded world No.51 continued with the approach that had seen off Venus Williams in the surprise of the second round. She tore into the 33-year-old’s serve in the first set, winning all three of the Italian’s service games. Facing set point at 30-40 in the final game, Vinci produced a wonderful drop shot down the line from deep in the court to take it to deuce, but Mladenovic was undeterred and came through for a 6-1 win.

A rocket of a return from @KikiMladenovic! @Formula_TX pic.twitter.com/2eXZkScAly

— WTA (@WTA) February 3, 2017

Vinci, facing Mladenovic for the first time since the 2015 US Open, faced break point once again at the start of the second set. This time, though, she proved more resilient and held for the first time in the match.

“Roberta is a big fighter,” said the 23-year-old of a more even second set, “and she is very smart on the court. She tried different tactics and almost turned it around in the second set. I’m happy I stayed calm and all the time responded with a game plan as well.”

The second serve increasingly proved key. Mladenovic won 50% of the points behind hers in contrast to 25% for Vinci and, although the French player served three double faults to her opponents’ one, it was that one that was crucial. A double fault from Vinci at 30-40 and 4-4 in the set gave the underdog the chance to serve for a meeting with Russia’s Natalia Vikhlyantseva in the last four.

Wonderfully delicate touch from @Roberta_Vinci! ? pic.twitter.com/LU8a5BBLaR

— WTA (@WTA) February 3, 2017

Mladenovic grew more aggressive, coming forward more with the win in sight. Serving at 5-4 she rushed too quickly to the net and gave up three break points. However she showed great composure to save all three. In a tense finale, the pair went to deuce four times before, at the third time of asking, Mladenovic converted match point with a top-spin heavy cross-court winner to qualify for her third career Premier semifinal.

“We played against each other last year in Hertogenbosch on grass and I won in three sets,” she said of Vikhlyantseva. “I discovered this young lady there for the first time and I thought she had an amazing great quality and game and potential for the future. I’m not surprised at her improvement and her ranking climbing up.”

Meanwhile the defeated champion said: “It was a difficult match, a tough match. Kiki played incredible tennis first set. In the second set I started to play much better than in the first – a bit more aggressive – I had some chances to break her, but she played too good. I played so so – this is tennis! I’m happy I managed to make it back to the quarter-final.”

THE WINNERS

It was a tightly drawn match from start to finish, but Serena Williams outgunned Angelique Kerber in straight sets to win her seventh Wimbledon title – a record-tying 22nd Grand Slam title.

Playing in their second Grand Slam final of 2016, the No.4 seed Kerber came out on fire against the World No.1, and neither player gave an inch. But when it was all said and done it was Serena, again, who clinched the match and The Championships, 7-5, 6-3.

With 22 major titles under her belt, Serena is now tied with Steffi Graf for the most Grand Slam titles in the Open Era. She now sits just two behind Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24.

“It’s been incredibly difficult not to think about it. I had a couple of tries this year and I lost to two incredible opponents – one of them being Angelique!

“But it makes the victory even sweeter, to know how hard I’ve worked for it.”

Read the full story and watch highlights here | As It Happened: Game by game analysis from WTA Insider

Not content to with just one Wimbledon crown, hours after her win in singles Serena was back out on Centre Court to join Venus Williams in the final of Ladies Doubles.

The sisters extended their doubles dominance and improved their record to 14-0 in Grand Slam finals by taking the title, powering past Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova 6-3, 6-4.

“It was really special to be out there again, to win Wimbledon in doubles. We love it, we love playing doubles, we love being together,” Serena said after the match.

“I had just enough time to change and get the ankles re-taped. It was fine. I didn’t want to warm down.”

Read the full story here.

Finally, Britain enjoyed a local champion as Heather Watson’s Wimbledon ended on the best possible note, triumphing on the final day of the fortnight in mixed doubles. She partnered with Finland’s Henri Kontinen to defeat doubles specialists Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Robert Farah, 7-6(5), 6-4.

Watson became the first British woman to win a Wimbledon Championship of any kind since Jo Durie, who also captured a mixed doubles crown in 1987. Virginia Wade remains the last women’s singles winner back in 1977.

Read the full story here.

RANKING MOVERS:
Notable singles ranking movers for the week of July 11, 2016.

Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) +47 (No.96 to 49): The week’s biggest ranking jump belongs to Shvedova, who reached her first Wimbledon quarterfinal.

Elena Vesnina (RUS) +26 (No.50 to 24): Vesnina had to wait a long time to reach her first ever Grand Slam semifinal – it took her 42 tries – but the feat earned her a spot back inside the Top 25. Even more impressive: she started the year ranked No.122 in mid-February.

Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) +4 (No.14 to 10): Kuznetsova’s run to the fourth round of Wimbledon earns her four very important ranking points, putting her back in the Top 10 for the first time since 2010.

Angelique Kerber (GER) +2 (No.4 to 2): Although she didn’t walk away the Wimbledon champion, Kerber grabbed a sweet consolation prize. The German returns to World No.2, her career-highest ranking.

UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS

BRD Bucharest Open
Bucharest, Romania
International | $226,750 | Clay, Outdoor
Monday, July 11 – Sunday, July 17, 2016

Ladies Championship Gstaad
Gstaad, Switzerland
International | $226,750 | Clay, Outdoor
Monday, July 11 – Sunday, July 17, 2016

Bank Of The West Classic
Standford, USA
Premier | $687,900 | Hard, Outdoor
Monday, July 18 – Sunday, July 24

Citi Open
Washington DC, USA
International | $226,750 | Hard, Outdoor
Monday, July 18 – Sunday, July 24

Ericsson Open
Bastad, Sweden
International | $226,750 | Hard, Outdoor
Monday, July 18 – Sunday, July 24

TOP 20 PLAYER SCHEDULES
1. Serena Williams
2. Angelique Kerber – Bastad
3. Garbiñe Muguruza
4. Agnieszka Radwanska
5. Simona Halep – Bucharest
6. Victoria Azarenka
7. Venus Williams – Stanford
8. Roberta Vinci
9. Carla Suárez Navarro
10. Svetlana Kuznetsova
11. Madison Keys
12. Dominika Cibulkova – Stanford
13. Petra Kvitova
14. Samantha Stosur – Washington DC
15. Belinda Bencic
16. Karolina Pliskova
17. Timea Bacsinszky – Gstaad
18. Johanna Konta – Stanford
19. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova – Stanford
20. Elina Svitolina

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
Best wishes to those celebrating birthdays this week:

Mona Barthel (GER) – July 11, 1990
Abigail Spears (USA) – July 12, 1981
Olivia Rich (AUS) – July 14, 1992
Alisa Kleybanova (RUS) – July 15, 1989