Google Play App Download

Tennis News

From around the world

Serena Surges Into Olympic Second Round

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Four-time Olympic gold medalist Serena Williams survived some breezy conditions to ease past unseeded Aussie Daria Gavrilova, 6-4, 6-2, to reach the second round of the Olympic tennis event.

“It felt really good to be out htere today,” Serena said after the match. “It’s been a long time; four years ago I was out here playing the Olympics, so it’s really cool to be here again.”

Serena swept the singles and doubles events four years ago in London, but struggled early on against Gavrilova, who was making her Olympic debut. Racing out to a 5-2 lead in the opening set, Serena found herself pegged back to 5-4 against the combined forces of the Aussie and the dust storm known as a “haboob,” but played her best tennis when it mattered most to put herself a set from victory after 49 minutes.

“Early on it was super windy, and it was a survival of just who could get the ball in; it wasn’t quality tennis because of the strange and tough conditions. But I got through it.”

Gavrilova is a former Youth Olympic gold medalist in 2010, and began 2016 with a bang, winning the Hopman Cup alongside countryman Nick Kyrgios and reaching the round of 16 at the Australian Open; the youngster continued to fight in the second set, digging out of a marathon sixth game to keep herself in contention, but ultimately succumbed on her third match point.

Hoping to win her fifth Olympic gold medal – and second in singles – Serena will next play the winner of Johanna Larsson and Alizé Cornet for a spot in the third round. The American will also begin her doubles campaign with sister Venus, who took a heart-breaking loss to Kirsten Flipkens on the first day of play last night.

“We just want to have the chance. Hopefully we can win a couple of matches, and see how it goes. We love playing doubles, period, so every four years, we know we have a chance where we’re guaranteed to get some matches.”

At the start of the weekend, Serena got a shoutout from former United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is currently the Democratic nominee for the 2016 presidental election:

No.2 seed Angelique Kerber was not too far behind her American rival on Sunday, winning the last five games of her first round match against Mariana Duque-Mariño, 6-3, 7-5.

The 2012 Olympic tennis event quarterfinalist was coming off a run to the semifinals at the Rogers Cup, but didn’t have things all her own way against the Colombian, who took a 5-2 lead in the second set – holding a set point on her own serve at 5-3 – before the German came back to book her place in the second round.

Kerber will next play Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard, who sailed past Sloane Stephens, 6-3, 6-3; Bouchard beat Kerber in their most recent encounter at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

Source link

Puig Pummels Muguruza At Olympics

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – No.3 seed Garbiñe Muguruza was sent crashing out of the Olympic tennis event in Rio after a decisive 6-1, 6-1 defeat at the hands of Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig.

Competing in her first ever Olympic Games, 22-year-old Puig notched her first ever victory over a Top 5 player against the No.4-ranked Muguruza to claim the biggest win of her career.

“I think it is. I consider it the biggest win of my career because it’s at the Olympics. This happens once every four years,” Puig said, grinning in the mixed zone after the match. “Right now, I’m in the clouds. I can’t even believe it because truly it was incredible.”

Muguruza’s usually aggressive game was lacking its bite, and she couldn’t seem to find her rhythm, getting caught a step or two late to the ball time and time again. The Spaniard struck almost twice as many unforced errors as Puig, 29 to 15. Her powerful serve fired off seven double faults, and she was broken six times throughout the hour-long encounter.

Puig took advantage of Muguruza’s lapse and came out of the gate on fire, breaking in the fourth game to quickly build up a 4-1 lead, which she backed up by breaking again and snapping up the opening set. Puig’s zinging forehand and dogged, line-to-line defense powered her through the next set as she broke Muguruza four more times to reach her first ever Olympic quarterfinals.

“I still have goose bumps,” Puig said of serving for the match and her emotional reaction afterward. “You just go into shock, you are trying to keep it together the whole time because you know in that last game, serving at 4-1 especially to consolidate that break, you’re so close to winning you start getting emotional, there’s no hiding it, you start feeling those butterflies, those nerves.

“So I think it’s all that coming out, you keep it bottled up. It’s like a Coca Cola bottle if you shake it, you shake it, you shake it, it’s going to explode. I just tried to not explode till the right moment and it worked.”

The win is a banner result for Puig, who started out the year ranked No.94. Her newly-found consistency has seen her reach the quarterfinals or better at six events as well as climb all the way to a career-high No.33.

“I know what I want to achieve and I’m letting the world know that Monica Puig is here. It’s my time,” she said. “I’ve always been there, but I’ve never been able to maintain the level. But I’m doing it now and I’m in such a good moment.

“I want the medal, and I’m going to do what it takes to reach this goal… I always seem to play my best when I play for my country.”

Puig is set to play against Germany’s Laura Siegemund in the next round for a spot in the semifinals.

Source link

Mattek-Sands & Sock Capture Mixed Gold

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In a thrilling encounter between two tough American teams, Bethanie Mattek-Sands partnered Jack Sock to take out four-time gold medalist Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram, 6-7(3), 6-1, 10-7 and win gold in mixed doubles of the Olympic tennis event.

“I’m still pretty emotional,” Mattek-Sands said after the match. “I think, going into this final, we knew the American national anthem was going to be played either way, but I was actually kind of surprised I was so emotional. It’s my first Olympics, first time being up on the podium. It’s hard to describe it in words, but I’m so excited having this guy next to me, we played awesome. It was a lot of fun this whole week.”

After disappointing results in singles and doubles with sister and fellow four-time Olympic Gold medalist Serena Williams, Venus and Ram were late additions to the mixed doubles squad and played incredible tennis to reach the final. With Venus hoping to become the first tennis player to win gold medals in all three disciplines, they took the first set over Mattek-Sands and Sock, a team playing their first Olympic Games.

But Mattek-Sands and Sock are experienced doubles players in their own right, each a former Grand Slam champion in mixed doubles. Roaring through the second set, they recovered from a 3-6 deficit in the match tie-break to clinch the gold medal.

“I was feeling pretty down and out after singles, but I just wanted to enjoy the experience and get the most out of it,” said Sock, who fought off a bout of walking pneumonia to win medals in mixed and men’s doubles with Steve Johnson. “To come away with two medals, one being gold, I’m speechless. It’s a surreal moment for both of us.

“I had a blast with Bethanie all week; she definitely carried me through every match, but it was a ton of fun and it’s going to be something I have with Bethanie for the rest of our lives.”

Overcoming multiple injuries in the latter part of her career, Mattek-Sands was understandably emotional in her post-match interview.

“After a couple of hip surgeries and all of the months I’ve been out where you’re watching all of this happen on TV. Standing on the podium, I was just thinking of everything I’ve gone through to be here.”

Gracious in defeat, Venus nonetheless took home her fifth Olympic medal in her fifth Olympic appearance, and took great pride in being part of an all-American Gold medal match.

“It’s been an honor to play at so many Olympic Games. We’ve had a blast this whole tournament and it was awesome to see two US teams on the podim. We’re just on Cloud 9 today.”

Ram echoed his partner’s sentiment.

“It’s fantastic. To play the final against our teammates, it was a great match and they were just a little better than us. It was just an unbelievable experience to play with Venus at the Olympics and get a medal.”

Source link

Insider Podcast: Catching Up With CoCo

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

CINCINNATI, OHIO, USA – CoCo Vandeweghe has been around the world, and can now add the Olympics to her global passport.

Straight from a thrilling three-set win over Sara Errani, Vandeweghe sat down with WTA Insider to discuss victory over the Italian veteran and her wild week in Rio for the Olympic tennis event on the first of our Daily Dispatches from the last major tournament of the Emirates Airlines US Open Series:

Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn or on any podcast app of your choice to ensure you never miss an episode when they go live. Reviews are always helpful, so if you like what you’ve heard so far, leave us one. You can also get new episode alerts by following us on Twitter @WTA_Insider.

Follow @WTA_Insider

Source link

Puig Talks Olympics With Telemundo

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MIAMI, FL, USA – Before heading off to Puerto Rico next week for her big Olympic welcome, Monica Puig made a stopover in her hometown of Miami for a quick cuddle with her new dog Rio and the first leg of her media whirlwind.

While in town the gold medalist, who made history for her country by becoming the first Puerto Rican athlete ever to win a gold medal hit Telemundo’s Miami studios for her first televised interview since her big win in Rio.

“I’m still super emotional,” Puig told the morning talk show Un Nuevo Día. “I don’t even know how to talk about it because I still feel like I’m living a dream.”

“It’s been a long year with a lot of sacrifices, but everything’s worked out well for me so I can’t complain.”

Puig also shared the meaning of her social media rallying cry, the hashtag #PicaPower. The tag comes from the saying “picar piedras,” meaning “to break rocks” and is Spanish slang for working long and hard at small tasks for small rewards.

“You’ve got to break a lot of rocks to accomplish what you want,” she said.

Puig was joined on the show by Grammy-winning merengue singer Elvis Crespo, who surprised her by dedicating a rendition of the iconic song “Qué Bonita Bandera” to the island’s new national hero.

The singer even performed an ode to her Olympic feat to a merengue version of “La Borinqueña,” Puerto Rico’s official anthem, which was heard at the Olympics for the first time ever last week.

Source link

Cincinnati Thursday: Sweet 16

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

CINCINNATI, OH, USA – Twelve of 16 seeds remain in Cincinnati, and they will all be battling for a spot in the Western & Southern Open quarterfinals on Thursday. Chris Oddo previews the must-see sweet 16 match-ups for wtatennis.com.

Thursday, Third Round

Center Court
[3] Simona Halep (ROU #4) vs. Daria Gavrilova (AUS #47)
Head-to-head: Halep leads, 2-1

Key Stat: Halep stretched her win streak to 11 with a straight-sets victory over Annika Beck.
Eleven wins and counting. It’s plain to see that things are going along swimmingly for Romania’s Simona Halep these days. She has not lost since Wimbledon and the World No.4 picked up some extra confidence with a breezy second-round win over Germany’s Beck on Wednesday in Cincinnati. “I feel confident,” she said after working her way past Beck in 55 minutes. “I had pretty good tournaments before coming here and I feel my game.” Halep has already been in Cincinnati for a week, and says that the conditions suit her in more ways than one. “I came Wednesday or Thursday,” she said. “That helped me a lot to play today because I have many days to prepare. I like these courts. I like that they’re faster a little bit and the ball is a bit heavier. I like these conditions.” Will the conditions favor Halep when she takes on Aussie qualifier Daria Gavrilova? The 22-year-old has already won four matches in Cincinnati, the latest and most impressive over Elina Svitolina. The No.3 seed will come in as the favorite, but Gavrilova already owns three Top 10 wins this season – one of which came against Halep in Rome – and is certainly capable of the upset.

Pick: Halep in three

[5] Agnieszka Radwanska (POL #5) vs. [10] Johanna Konta (GBR #13)
Head-to-head: First meeting

Key Stat: Konta comes in with a 4-3 record versus the Top 10 in 2016.
Johanna Konta made a successful Queen City debut against World No.121 Donna Vekic and the British No.1 is happy to have another chance for a big win on Thursday against Agnieszka Radwanska. “I am very happy to have gotten through that and just give myself another shot at coming back tomorrow and keep trying to get better,” Konta said after recording her 32nd victory of the season. Konta says that her success in 2016 has been a product of hard work and learning from experience. “I keep trying to do that every time I step out onto the court, to keep basically taking everything from the match that I’m playing and try to reinvest it into the following matches,” she said. “I think I’ve been able to do a good job at just reinvesting those experiences and becoming that much tougher.” She’ll have to be super tough to get past Thursday’s opponent. Agnieszka Radwanska raced past Andrea Petkovic on Wednesday, dropping just one game in the process. The three-time Cincinnati quarterfinalist will meet Konta for the first time and will look to test the powerful Brit with her variety, creativity and defense. Will Konta be up for the challenge?

Pick: Radwanska in three

Grandstand
[2] Angelique Kerber (GER #2) vs. Barbora Strycova (CZE #20)
Head-to-head: Kerber leads 4-1Key Stat: Kerber could ascend to the No. 1 ranking with the title in Cincinnati.
With Serena Williams out of the draw with a shoulder injury, the No.1 ranking is in play this week for Angelique Kerber. It’s certainly a big deal, and the media has rightfully placed a lot of attention on it, but the World No.2 is too smart to fall into that mind trap. “No, that’s not on my mind,” Kerber said after defeating Kristina Mladenovic in her second-round match on Wednesday. “Of course everybody is talking about this and asking me, but at the end it’s still a long way to go. There are really tough opponents here in the draw and I’m not thinking about this. I’m just trying to go step by step, and at the end of the week we will see how far I can get and what will happen.” Kerber will leave the ranking talk to the media and instead focus her attention on her next opponent, Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic. The talented 30-year-old is fresh off a bronze medal in doubles at the Olympics, plus wins over Eugenie Bouchard and Sam Stosur here in Cincinnati. Kerber has the 4-1 edge over the Czech, but Strycova took their last meeting in straight-sets in Madrid.

Pick: Kerber in two

Stadium 3
[4] Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP #3) vs. [16] Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS #18)
Head-to-head: Muguruza leads, 2-0

Key Stat: Muguruza earned her first win at Cincinnati by beating CoCo Vandeweghe on Wednesday.
Garbiñe Muguruza earned her first win at Cincinnati on Wednesday, easing past hard-serving American CoCo Vandeweghe in straight sets. Will she be able to back it up against an in-form opponent with a spot in the last eight on the line? Muguruza seems to be settling back into a dominant posture after a forgettable summer on the grass. Aside from her thumping at the hands of Monica Puig in Rio, Muguruza has won the other six sets she’s played on the hard courts. Is that enough for the Spaniard to build on ahead of what promises to be a hard-hitting tilt with Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on Thursday? The 25-year-old has been a player on the rise this summer, reaching the quarterfinals at Wimbledon and claiming wins in nine of her last twelve. Though she has lost both matches she’s played against Muguruza, Pavlyuchenkova has won three of her last six against the Top 10. On the fast hardcourts at Cincinnati, this should be a dizzying display of power tennis between two players that embrace the grip it and rip it mentality.

Pick: Pavlyuchenkova in three

By the numbers…
306 – Number of consecutive weeks that Serena Williams has held the No. 1 ranking, which is third-most all time behind Navratilova (332) and Graf (377).
47 – The position of the lowest-ranked player remaining in the draw (Gavrilova).
12 – Number of seeded players that have advanced to the sweet 16 in Cincinnati.
3 – Number of qualifiers (Timea Babos, Gavrilova) plus lucky losers (Misaki Doi) in the round of 16.

Source link