Singapore: Makarova & Vesnina Interview
An interview with Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina after their final win at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
An interview with Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina after their final win at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina take on Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova in the final of the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
With the Formation World Tour wrapping up on Friday night, singer Beyoncé still had a few surprises in store for her fans at her final show at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
It’s not easy to steal the limelight away from the multiple Grammy-winning performer, but that’s what Serena Williams did when she joined her on stage.
Reprising her famous role in “Sorry,” from Beyoncé’s Lemonade album, Serena took to her throne and twerked away, much to the crowd’s delight.
Two legends, one stage.
Beyoncé + Serena Williams#FormationWorldTour #NewYork pic.twitter.com/Lhb5TxwnBf— Formation World Tour (@FormationWT) October 8, 2016
Afterward, Serena posted these snaps to her Instagram page with the fitting caption “Not sorry.”
Serena, who is no stranger to joining mega-popstars on stage, wasn’t the only celebrity at the star-studded event, with the likes of Taylor Schilling, Adrienne Moore, Hugh Jackman, and Frank Ocean all in attendance last night, as well as Beyoncé’s husband, Jay-Z who joined her onstage shortly after Serena’s performance.
Petra Kvitova, Johanna Konta, Carla Suárez Navarro, and more stepped out for the Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai’s official player party – see all the best photos right here!
BEIJING China – No.3 seed Agnieszka Radwanska returned to the final of the China Open for the third time in her career after edging past Elina Svitolina in straight sets.
Watch live action from Beijing on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
Svitolina took advantage of Radwanska’s sluggish start to push her early in the first set, but the Pole survived to advance 7-6(3), 6-3 in an hour and forty minutes.
“Well, definitely a bit too slow start for me,” Radwanska assessed. “Suddenly it was 3-5. As we know, this is a score you can definitely come back. Serve was not really the key of that match, either my serve or her.”
“I was just very glad I could come back in that first set. I think it was very important. I just played a great tiebreaker, so that helped me a lot for sure in that match.”
Both Svitolina and Radwanska advanced to their semifinal match without dropping a set in Beijing, but after trading breaks to start, it was the Ukrainian who struck first. She stepped into a Radwanska lob and hammered it cross court, earning a break in fifth game which she built up into a 5-3 lead.
Radwanska was left to play catch-up, using every trick in her arsenal to stay within touching distance before finally breaking back and leveling the match. The Pole dominated in the tiebreaker, flying out to a 5-0 lead before eventually claiming the set.
She shot to a double break lead in the final set, and saved a pair of break points to keep her nose ahead. She broke once again in the final game of the match to claim another straight sets victory in Beijing.
Radwanska books a clash against Top 10 debutante Johanna Konta for a shot at her second China Open title.
“Just very, very happy to be in the third final here in Beijing,” Radwanska said. “Well, is a great event. As we know, everybody is playing here. It’s always good to be in the final that all the top players were here.”
2011 champ @ARadwanska is back in the @ChinaOpen Final! ? pic.twitter.com/aNQv1mbvzA
— WTA (@WTA) October 8, 2016
ZHUHAI, China – Azalea Group action begins in earnest on Wednesday at the Huajin Securities Elite Trophy Zhuhai. Top seed Johanna Konta is fresh from her stint as first alternate at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, and the Brit admitted that Zhuhai already feels more like home.
“What can I say? I like China!” she joked with WTA Insider. “We get treated very well here; every hotel is always really beautiful, as is every venue. They really put a lot of effort into the immediate things that surround us as tennis players, the things we experience at every event.
“They definitely make us feel quite comfortable.”
Konta had a chance to get comfortable on the first day of round robin play in Zhuhai, fielding questions in All-Access hour that ranged from tennis to fashion – one in particularly about the dress she sported at Singapore’s draw ceremony.
“I was not expecting that question!” she told reporters. “I’m very flattered. I do enjoy fashion. I do get some help though, so it’s not all me. Thank you for noticing.”
All eyes have been on the Brit as she blew the roof off her 2016 season with stellar performances, including one just three weeks ago at the China Open, where she reached the final.
“I still feel very much in this season, and I’m really happy and looking forward to playing my last event here in Zhuhai. I’m looking forward to stepping out on the court, competing finally.
“I like to be at events that I’m competing in, mainly!”
She’ll certainly have to compete in her first match as she takes on No.8 seed and former US Open champion Samantha Stosur. The Aussie arrived a day earlier than Konta, allowing her more of a chance to explore the city.
“We’ve gone out for some great meals every single night. I have an opportunity – by not playing tonight – to go out and see something else.
“Then, I’ll probably just be busy with the tournament. But we’ve been very well looked after and it’s been a very enjoyable week.”
It’s been a stabilizing week for the former World No.4, who recently announced Josh Eagle as her full-time coach; the ex-ATP professional was with Stosur during the Emirates Airline US Open Series, and are together in Zhuhai for the first time since Flushing.
“I’m looking forward to starting the year with him, and hopefully getting a level of consistency with the people around me. That will help my game as well. There’s never been a bad relationship with anyone I’ve had this year, but when you’re chopping and changing all the time, it makes it difficult.
“If that’s all in the past, then I’ll be very happy next year!”
Stosur parted with longtime coach David Taylor after this year’s French Open, where she earned her best Grand Slam result in four years by reaching the semifinals, and is looking forward to having a new voice to help her adapt to an ever-changing game.
.@bambamsam30 meets the press @wtaelitetrophy to discuss her season and look ahead to her Azalea Group draw pic.twitter.com/Ki8InCaj6x
— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) November 1, 2016
“You can’t say the one way you’ve done it for so long is the only way to do it. I think you have to be a little bit open to change or even just hearing new ideas.
“That’s just different; I wouldn’t say it’s good or bad, but you have to get used to it when you’ve gotten set in your routines, the way you communicate with someone and how they might tell you to do something.”
The up-ended routines have helped her in practice – Stosur says she’s hitting as good as ever – and she hopes to use the week in Zhuhai to begin translating that onto the match court.
“Sometimes it only takes one or two matches and then you feel really good about things, and then, all of the sudden, you can get on a little bit of a roll. Who knows? I feel like I’m in a decent spot now; this is kind of a bonus extra tournament for all of us to be at, and given the Asian Swing that I had, it’s probably a good thing to win a couple before I finish the year.”
With one week left to the season, both women will be keen to end the season on a high note, which ought to inspire some scintillating tennis as they go head-to-head in second on Zhuhai’s Stadium court.
All photos courtesy of the WTA Elite Trophy.
MIAMI, FL, USA – No.4 seeds Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova secured their place in the Miami Open doubles final with a hard-fought win over Margarita Gasparyan and Monica Niculescu on Friday.
Gasparyan and Niculescu have been the tournament’s surprise package, knocking out a number of more seasoned teams, including top seeds and defending champions Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza. However, Babos and Shvedova were determined not to add their names to the list of upsets, digging deep to close out a 7-5, 4-6, 10-8 victory in an hour and 41 minutes.
“It was a tough match because the girls played well – they’ve proved through this two weeks that they’re a very good team – and it was not easy,” Shvedova said. “The conditions were windy and Monica has a special style of playing, so we needed to be patient and keep working hard.”
The outcome of a see-saw encounter remained in the balance until the very last, Gasparyan and Niculescu rallying from 8-5 down in the match tie-break to come within two points of victory. “It’s our style, we were down in both sets and then almost in the super tie-break, too,” Babos added.
“But we enjoy playing with each other – on my part, for sure! – and this makes it a lot easier to fight for every point and as it shows in doubles anything can happen. Basically they didn’t do any mistakes but we were fighting and coming back, taking it point by point and in the end we got the tie-break.”
Having lifted the Tashkent title in their first outing together two and a half years ago, Babos and Shvedova reunited for Indian Wells, where they proceeded to make the semifinals before being edged out by Bethanie Mattek-Sands and CoCo Vandeweghe.
Sunday’s final at Crandon Park presents a shot at – partial – revenge, after Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova prevailed, 6-2, 6-1, in their clash against Zheng Saisai and Xu Yi-Fan.
“It was a great match, we knew we had to play well, but I love the night match atmosphere – a lot of fans stayed after the men’s match – and it’s great because we really had a lot of fan support and they were cheering for some great tennis,” Mattek-Sands said.
The result means that Mattek-Sands remains on course to become just the third player to win Indian Wells and Miami in the same year with different partners; Natasha Zvereva triumphed alongside Lindsay Davenport at Indian Wells and Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario at Miami, in 1997, before Martina Hingis repeated the feat two years later, teaming up with Anna Kournikova at Indian Wells and Jana Novotna at Miami.
Zhang Shuai takes on Timea Babos in the group stage at the Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai.
Svetlana Kuznetsova takes on Timea Bacsinszky in the semifinals of the Miami Open.
ZHUHAI, China – Three of the four semifinal spots at the Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai could be decided as Elina Svitolina, Elena Vesnina and Sam Stosur take the court on Day 3. Preview all the singles action right here on wtatennis.com!
Thursday
Camellia Group
[13/Alt] Timea Babos (HUN #25) vs [12/WC] Zhang Shuai (CHN #28)
Head-to-head: Babos leads 1-0 (first meeting at tour level)
Stat: Zhang can advance to semifinals if she wins four games
The two lowest-ranked players at the WTA Elite Trophy will meet on Thursday with the same goal in mind, but facing very different scenarios. Last-minute singles alternate Timea Babos sits at the bottom of her group after suffering a straight sets defeat against Timea Bacsinszky, but she would have to pull off a massive performance in to advance to the semifinals. Her opponent, Zhang Shuai, needs to win just four games in order to clinch the Camellia Group semifinal spot. And considering the way China’s Zhang was able to leverage the support of her home fans in her 6-1, 6-1 thumping of Bacsinszky, Babos seems to be facing an uphill battle.
Azalea Group
[8] Sam Stosur (AUS #20) vs [11] Caroline Garcia (FRA #23)
Head-to-head: First meeting
Stat: Garcia owns a 1-7 record against Top 20 opponents in 2016
After suffering a straight-sets defeat against Britain’s Johanna Konta, Sam Stosur has one last shot to keep her semifinal hopes alive in Zhuhai. She’s up against Caroline Garcia and needs to win without dropping a set in order to stay alive in the Azalea Group. Stosur is more battle-tested than Frenchwoman, who is making her Zhuhai debut on Thursday, but she can’t afford another slow start against her big-hitting opponent.
“I’m playing another player I have never played before, so that’s I guess kind of unique these days out on tour,” Stosur mused in her post-match press conference. “I know that she plays aggressive tennis, got a big serve, really goes for it. She hits the ball hard.
“In a lot of ways it’s kind of similar to [playing Konta]. I need to, no doubt, get off to better starts. You can’t be giving these girls head starts by four games and expect to be able to come back every single time.”
Rose Group
[4] Elina Svitolina (UKR #14) vs [7] Elena Vesnina (RUS #19)
Head-to-head: Vesnina leads 2-1
Stat: Svitolina needs to win against Vesnina to advance to semifinals
Elena Vesnina is flying high after her doubles victory at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, but she’ll have to hit the ground running in her first singles match at Zhuhai. Her opponent, Elina Svitolina, has her work cut out for her; she needs to beat Svitolina in order to advance to the semifinals, but Vesnina could knock her out if she wins in straight sets.
“[Vesnina] of course really confident, I think, at the moment after winning doubles in Singapore,” Svitolina assessed in her post-match press conference. “I will try just to stick to my game. It’s a new match, new challenge. There will be new opportunities. I will try to create of course opportunities for myself.”
Semifinal Scenarios
Camellia Group: Zhang advances if she wins 4 games vs. Babos on Thursday
Peony Group: Winner of Strycova vs Kvitova (on Friday) advances
Azalea Group: Stosur (vs. Garcia on Thursday) needs to win in straight sets to keep chances of advancing alive.
Rose Group: Svitolina advances with a win over Vesnina on Thursday. If Vesnina wins in straight sets, then Svitolina is out, with Friday’s match between Bertens and Vesnina determining the group winner; Bertens would need to win in straight sets to win the group.