Miami: Wednesday Highlights
Highlights from quarterfinal action at the Miami Open.
Agnieszka Radwanska takes on Johanna Konta in the final of the China Open.
Svetlana Kuznetsova takes on Destanee Aiava in the second round at the Brisbane International.
See all of the best shots from this week at the China Open – right here!
Elina Svitolina takes on Angelique Kerber in the quarterfinals at the Brisbane International.
HONG KONG, SAR – Angelique Kerber will be forced to dig deep to reach the quarterfinals of the Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open after a gutsy second-set performance from Louisa Chirico.
The World No.1 and top seed breezed through the first set, which she eventually won 6-2 after a series of unforced errors from the 20-year-old allowed the German to race into a 4-1 lead.
However, Chirico returned with renewed vigour in the second set and Kerber did not look the same after a brief rain delay. An error-strewn service game at 2-3 gave Chirico the break and she held on to her lead, only for rain to strike at 40-30 when she was serving for the set. After a lengthy delay, she held her nerve to force a decider, despite being dragged into an epic 37-shot rally.
Kerber’s out-of-sorts form continued in the first three games of the third set, which remains on serve although Chirico was set to defend a break point when the bad weather returned, forcing the postponement of play until Thursday.
Jelena Jankovic continued her defence of the tournament with a routine straight sets victory over fellow Serb Aleksandra Krunic.
Having held her own against the former World No.1, the 23-year-old faltered on serve at 4-4, with two double faults and two weak shots into the net giving Jankovic a first-set lead she did not surrender.
The two compatriots exchanged two breaks apiece at the start of the second set but, serving for a 4-3 lead, Krunic sent a wayward drop shot wide and a backhand into the net to give Jankovic the advantage. The 31-year-old made no mistake from there, holding and breaking once more to book her place in the next round.
Eighth seed Daria Gavrilova’s match with Katerina Siniakova fell victim to the rain with the Australian leading 6-2, 1-0, with a break of serve in the second set. Venus Williams’ match with Alizé Cornet was postponed due to the bad weather.
BRISBANE, Australia – Alizé Cornet played an inspired match to oust the reigning WTA Finals champion Dominika Cibulkova and secure her spot in the semifinals of the Brisbane International.
The No.2 seed Cibulkova had to mount a major comeback in her previous match when Zhang Shuai had her a set and a break down, but she couldn’t come up with enough to pull it off again as she fell to Cornet 6-3, 7-5.
Cornet, the only non-seed through to the quarterfinals, reached just one semifinal all of last year; now she’s knocked out the World No.5 to do so in her very first tournament of 2017.
What a rally! ?@AlizeCornet holds 5-2 in the opening set vs Cibulkova! #BrisbaneTennis pic.twitter.com/tdAuyaETot
— WTA (@WTA) January 5, 2017
“What a start of the year! It’s the first week and I think my game is not so bad!” Cornet enthused after the match. “Beating a player like Dominika takes an amazing performance, everybody knows how much she fights and hits hard the ball. I’m just very, very, very happy.”
Cibulkova will likely rue her missed opportunities – she had ample chances to take the lead in the first set, with four break points coming in the first three games alone. But every time she was against the wall, the Frenchwoman found a first serve to bail her out of trouble as she did throughout the match.
A pair of daring back-to-back dropshots gave Cornet the first break of the match, which she quickly consolidated for a 4-1 lead after edging Cibulkova in a monumental effort. The pair were neck and neck throughout the first set, but as the match progressed it was Cornet that won the big points and close games.
Into a second set, Cornet continued to claim the scrappy points, changing up the pace and keeping the ball in play to force Cibulkova to make the error. The Slovak was visibly frustrated like many of Cornet’s opponents as the Frenchwoman went to the dropshot time and time again to build a 4-1 lead.
.@Cibulkova is back in it!
Levels the score 5-5 in the second set! #BrisbaneTennis pic.twitter.com/CDP6N3gW40
— WTA (@WTA) January 5, 2017
Despite her vital first serves, Cornet struggled with double faults giving up 10 during the course of the match, including two in the same game to give Cibulkova a lifeline down 5-3. The World No.5 consolidated, finding ways to maneuver Cornet into the corners of the court to hit past her, finally breaking to level the set 5-5. But the Frenchwoman would not be denied and broke straight back, holding her nerve to serve it out after a two hour and three minute battle.
Cornet credited the good vibes in Australia for bringing out her best tennis, after all last year she won the title at the Hobart International.
“I always say Australia is a lucky charm for me, I always play good here! And Brisbane is a bigger tournament than Hobart, so being in the semifinal means a lot to me. I hope I’ll be ready and fit for the next match.”
Through to the Brisbane semifinals for the first time, Frenchwoman awaits the winner between No.4 seed Garbiñe Muguruza and No.5 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova to play for a spot in the final.
HONG KONG, SAR – There were contrasting emotions on display after Alizé Cornet beat Venus Williams 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 in Hong Kong.
Cornet could not have been more delighted to reach the quarterfinals by beating a player who had always bested her previously.
“We have played many times and I was losing in straight sets. Now I can beat her in Hong Kong!” the French player enthused. “It means I used a good tactic, I played a very good match, and I believed in it.”
Her American opponent, unsurprisingly, was very downcast.
“My opponent played well, there wasn’t much I could do against her,” said Williams. “You work hard to win matches – it’s always disappointing [to lose].”
Cornet will face Jelena Jankovic next up — and is anticipating a very difficult match.
“I’m expecting a really tough battle,” she admitted. “She has a really solid baseline game. I expect some good rallies from both of us.”
Describing her current mood as “great, tired, happy”, Cornet said that she still had some trouble with the same heel issue that has plagued her for the past four years — but that she would be running with just as much energy in the morning.
She added that she was enjoying her time in Hong Kong — the city and the tournament.
“The welcome is really amazing and the city is great,” she said. “For me, every match [on tour] is the same intensity.”
Earlier in the day, Caroline Wozniacki took less than an hour and a half to secure her quarterfinal spot, beating Great Britain’s Heather Watson, 6-3, 6-3.
Neither player looked solid on her serve – Watson won three of her four break points, but Wozniacki broke her six times in return. Next up for Wozniacki is Wang Qiang, who received a walkover after Johanna Konta withdrew from the tournament with an abdominal injury.
HONG KONG, SAR – On Thursday the race for the final qualifying spots at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global took another twist when Johanna Konta withdrew from the Hong Kong Tennis Open.
Konta currently occupies the final qualifying berth for Singapore, just 10 points ahead of Dominika Cibulkova. However, after pulling out of Hong Kong with an abdominal injury Konta may now be left relying on other results to go her way if she is to reach Singapore.
“Obviously it’s never the ideal way to finish a tournament, and definitely never the intention when you come to play,” Konta said. “I really enjoy playing here in Hong Kong and I was really looking forward to making this week last as long as possible. Unfortunately it wasn’t as long as I would have liked but I need to look after my body first – I’ve only got one – so I really have to make sure I make the right decisions for my health.
“I’m looking forward to hopefully coming back next year and making it a full week here.”
Three places at the season-ending showpiece remain up for grabs. Garbiñe Muguruza, Madison Keys and Konta are in sixth, seventh and eighth place, respectively, while Cibulkova, Carla Suárez Navarro and Svetlana Kuznetsova remain hot on their heels.
All six contenders entered tournaments this week, and with Cibulkova and Carla Suárez Navarro also scheduled to play next week’s Kremlin Cup, in Moscow, for the second year in a row the battle is likely to go down to the wire…
• Cibulkova would need to reach the final in Linz this week to pass Konta
• A semifinal for Cibulkova in Linz would put Konta and Cibulkova in a tie*
• Cibulkova’s 16th best result is currently 100 points, so she would need to reach the semifinals at Moscow to add any points to her total
• Suárez Navarro can also pass Konta, but will need to add points in both Linz (where she is through to the quarterfinals) and Moscow
• If Cibulkova loses in Linz and Muguruza can qualify for the WTA Finals by beating Monica Niculescu on Thursday
* When two or more players have the same number of ranking points, the first tie-break is the player with the most combined points from Grand Slams, Premier Mandatory, Premier 5 and WTA Finals (as outlined on pg.215 of the Rule Book). In this regard, Konta (2685) has the edge over Cibulkova (2180)
Alison Riske takes on Camila Giorgi in the semifinals of the Shenzhen Open.