Kristina Mladenovic On The Significance of Winning In St. Petersburg
Kristina Mladenovic talks about the significance of winning the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
Kristina Mladenovic talks about the significance of winning the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
Serena and Venus Williams advanced to their first Grand Slam final in four years with a hard-fought win over Julia Goerges and Karolina Pliskova on Friday.
Kristina Mladenovic talks through her win in the final of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
TALLINN, Estonia: Heather Watson soared to a straight-sets win to give Great Britain the best possible start in the Fed Cup opener against Portugal.
Under the watchful eye of new captain Anne Keothavong, Watson made an impressive start to her country’s campaign, beating Ines Murta 6-1, 6-1.
? Boom! @HeatherWatson92 gives Aegon GB @FedCup Team a 1-0 lead after beating Murta 6-1, 6-1 #BackTheBrits ??? pic.twitter.com/L3nkghe6QZ
— British Tennis (@BritishTennis) February 8, 2017
The 2016 Wimbledon mixed doubles champion then assumed her role as “chief supporter”, ready to cheer on her teammates – first Johanna Konta in the singles, then Jocelyn Rae and Laura Robson in the doubles. “I’ll get the pom-poms, and the tambourines!” she joked.
A smiling @HeatherWatson92 ready to cheer on @JossRae91 & @laurarobson5 in the doubles! #BackTheBrits ?????? pic.twitter.com/zl53deFe9G
— British Tennis (@BritishTennis) February 8, 2017
Her cheerleading obviously worked – Konta cruised through her singles rubber 6-2, 6-4 against Michelle Larcher de Brito, giving Great Britain an unassailable 2-0 lead in the tie. It was good preparation for the British No.1, who will be seen in WTA Tour action next in Dubai from February 19.
Shelby Rogers put a lyrical twist into the traditional Fed Cup rookie speech by performing her own version of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song.
Victories from Ekaterina Makarova, Elina Svitolina and Francesca Schiavone headlined a dizzying opening day of Fed Cup action in World Group II.
Here’s how the ties stand after day one:
Russia 1 – 1 Chinese Taipei
Ekaterina Makarova found herself leading a group of young talented Russians this weekend, with two of her teammates making their Fed Cup debut and the average team age just 20 years old.
“It’s a totally different situation because every time I was playing I was one of the young players, even when I had a good ranking. But it was someone like Elena Vesnina in the team every time teaching me,” Makarova told FedCup.com before the tie.
“Now there are two girls who are debutants and it’s a good experience for me. We have a great atmosphere the girls are very nice. We’re looking forward to this weekend.”
The 28-year-old survived a scare to defeat Lee Ya-Hsuan 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 and put Russia ahead in front of a delighted Moscow crowd.
But Chang Kai-Chen put Chinese Taipei back on track, brushing away Fed Cup debutant Anna Blinkova, 6-3, 7-5.
Romania 0 – 2 Belgium
Hosts Romania were stunned on day one as Yanina Wickmayer and Kirsten Flipkens’ brace of victories put Belgium firmly in control of the tie.
Without Simona Halep and Irina-Camelia Begu, Romania struggled in singles as Flipkens dominated the opening rubber against Monica Niculescu, 6-3, 6-4.
“I knew I had to be patient and wait for the right moment to move forward,” Flipkens told press after the victory.
“It would have been a lot more difficult against Simona Halep as she is a top five player. Against Monica, I was confident going forward as I created my chances and took them when they came.”
Cirstea had a golden opportunity to rescue a point for her side, leading 5-2 in the opening set but Wickmayer came roaring back to edge through in a tight battle, 7-6(4), 5-7, 7-5.
Ukraine 2 – 0 Australia
The hosts Ukraine are in full control over Australia after Elina Svitolina and Lesia Tsurenko notched wins on day one.
Tsurenko opened proceedings with a comfortable win against Daria Gavrilova, easing past the Australian 6-2, 6-3.
“I’m very pleased with my game today,” Tsurenko explained to FedCup.com. “After the first games, the captain asked me to play deep. Don’t try to hit flat. That was the key. To play deep and wait for the right moment, and stay focused in the point whatever happened.”
Svitolina had a harder time against Barty, whose game made a mockery of her No.156 ranking as the Australian quickly took the opening set. Svitolina hit back just as strong, and finally tamped down the resistance to win 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.
“I’m happy about today, although not about the score,” Barty said afterwards. “Elina is a tough player, with a lot of experience. She raised her level. The score of the second and third set doesn’t reflect how close the games where.”
Italy 1 -1 Slovakia
Fed Cup veteran Francesca Schiavone and Slovakian debutante Rebecca Sramkova left their countries level in Italy to close out day one.
At home and on clay, Schiavone fought past Anna-Karolina Schmiedlova 6-3, 6-1 to give Italy an early lead.
“I have to speak with my body, it’s not easy to handle three hours like before – but today I enjoyed my one hour and a half and I’m happy to bring the point to my national team. It’s my last Fed Cup so there are some big emotions,” said Schiavone, who will retire from professional tennis at the end of this season.
No.116 Sramkova took on Sara Errani, and came back from a set down to win 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
“I was nervous in that first set but I just said to myself ‘I’m going to win it’. I just changed my thinking,” Sramkova told FedCup.com after the victory.
Photos courtesy of FedCup.com
GSTAAD, Switzerland – World No.797 Rebeka Masarova’s dream run at the Ladies Championship Gstaad continued on Saturday with a straight set win over No.5 seed Annika Beck.
Delivering another performance to belie her tender years – and lowly ranking – Masarova prevailed 7-5, 6-2 to set up an all-Swiss semifinal with Viktorija Golubic.
Earlier this summer, Masarova tripped up a couple of highly touted rivals to lift the junior French Open title. It was a performance that earned her a wildcard for the WTA’s return to Swiss soil, a chance she grabbed with both hands by knocking out first former No.1 Jelena Jankovic then Anett Kontaveit in the opening two rounds.
Beck had her chances, but despite serving for the opening set she was unable to avoid becoming the 16-year-old’s third Top 100 victim.
“It’s just amazing that I’ve won another match. I can’t quite believe I’ve beaten three Top 100 players so far this week. I think I played a great match against Annika and I hope I can keep this going in the semis!”
Golubic was made to work far harder in her quarterfinal, eventually subduing Carina Witthoeft, 7-6(4), 7-6(4).
The other semifinal will also feature a Swiss player, after top seed Timea Bacsinszky raced past Johanna Larsson, 6-0, 6-1 in just 56 minutes. Her reward is a meeting with No.3 seed Kiki Bertens, a 6-3, 6-1 winner over Irina Khromacheva.
Three swisswomen in semifinal! WOW! HOPP Schwiiz! @TimeaOfficial #Golubic #Masarova ????? @WTA_Gstaad pic.twitter.com/fHuR4iJjrk
— Davide Valentini (@DavideLiberista) 16 July 2016
GSTAAD, Switzerland – Local favorite Victorija Golubic capped off a dream week by winning her first WTA title at the inaugural Ladies Championship Gstaad. Golubic defeated Kiki Bertens 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 after a two-hour battle to claim the title in her home country.
More to come…
Geschafft!!!!! Viktorija Golubic gewinnt die Ladies Championship Gstaad!!!! #wtagstaad pic.twitter.com/M32RvfI4WI
— Ladies Open Gstaad (@WTA_Gstaad) July 17, 2016
WASHINGTON DC, USA – No.136-ranked Risa Ozaki scored the biggest win of her career in the opening round of the Citi Open, knocking out defending champion Sloane Stephens 6-2, 6-1.
The 22 year old from Japan came into the matchup having won just two WTA-level matches all year long, but put all that disappointment behind her against the No.23-ranked American.
Despite being broken in the opening game, Ozaki turned up the intensity and rattled off the next nine games in a row to leave Stephens reeling, down a set and a break. The American held serve to get her name on the score board at 3-1, but it wasn’t enough to turn around Ozaki’s momentum as she swept the match in just 57 minutes.
“I just played real bad. Nothing more, nothing less,” Stephens assessed after the match. “Today just sucked, it was just one of those days where everything was really bad.”
“Obviously, I’m not the first person to have a bad day and I won’t be the last. Hopefully I can pull myself together and next week will be better than this week. I won’t look too deep into this.”
Ozaki’s win sets up a second-round clash with on-the-rise Brit Naomi Broady, who saw off Irina Falconi in straight sets earlier in the day, 6-3, 6-4.
Giorgi Ousts No.5 Seed Bouchard
The unseeded Camila Giorgi snapped a four-match losing streak in her straight sets upset over No.5 seed Eugenie Bouchard in their Washington DC opener. Even more impressive, Giorgi recorded her first win against the Canadian; she previously hadn’t even won a set against Bouchard in either of their previous two encounters.
Bouchard initially struggled against the pace of the Italian’s high octane game, falling a break down in the opening set.
“My game is based on moving forward as soon as I can,” Giorgi said, speaking to Tennis Channel after the match. “Today it worked, I think, almost everything.”
Facing elimination at a set down and 5-2 in the second, Bouchard gritted out a pair of back to back games to cut into Giorgi’s lead, and even held game point on her serve at 5-4 to try to even the score. But the ultra-aggressive Giorgi saw off her challenge with her usual calm, quick game, climbing back from 15-40 to take the match 7-5, 6-4.
After the match, she immediately grabbed her cell phone to make a very special call.
“I called my dad, my coach,” Giorgi said. “He told me I played a good game, very aggressive. He was happy.”
Giorgi will go on to play Tamira Paszek in the next round. The Austrian No.108 took down American qualifier Lauren Albanese in a comfortable 6-3, 6-4 win.
More to come…
– All photos courtesy of Citi Open and Getty Images
Karolina Pliskova has Saturday’s shot of the day at the Qatar Total Open.