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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MIAMI, FL, USA — She reached the quarterfinals in her Miami Open debut a year ago, and Johanna Konta’s 2017 tournament is off to a winning start after the No.10 seed survived a game effort by Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus, 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-4 in the second round on Friday night.

“I’m definitely satisfied with how I came back in the third set and just competed,” Konta said after the match. “Basically just did the best that I could with what I had. It was very difficult conditions — not just the wind, but also the rain, quite a little bit of stop and start. It was about managing your expectations for any sort of level for the match but also any sort of frustrations that would arise because of the conditions — just keeping things in good perspective, fighting and competing. She played quite well, and I really had to fight hard and work for it in the end.”

Konta cruised in the 33-minute opener, winning four straight games from 2-2 to take a one-set lead. The Brit surrendered just seven points on serve in the first set, while winning 50 percent of the points on Sasnovich’s delivery. She remained in command for much of the early going in the second, building a 6-2, 4-2 lead, but Sasnovich got a foothold in the match with a key break of serve in the seventh game — her first of the match.

From there, the set went with serve until the tie-break, with Konta forced to save break points at 4-4 as Sasnovich looked to win a third straight game, before the qualifier found her forehand late, striking several winners to earn herself a deciding set.

After the pair traded breaks to begin the final set, a second break in the fifth game keyed the victory for Konta, as she held serve the rest of the way to emerge victorious in the two hour, 39 minute encounter.

Also through on Day 4 was Madison Keys, who surrendered just three games en route to dispatching Viktorija Golubic, 6-1, 6-2 in 67 minutes. Dropping serve just once, the No.8 seed broke five times to sail through to the third round.

“The key today was definitely staying calm, because the conditions were not great,” Keys told WTA Insider after the match. “[I was] staying focused on playing my game, having good serves, kind of just focusing on what I could control.”

Keys, who began her 2017 at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells following a lay-off from wrist surgery, reached the fourth round in her first tournament back, and feels as though it hasn’t taken her very long to get back in the swing of competitive tennis.

“I feel pretty good,” Keys said. “There’s obviously still some points where it’s more the mental, where it’s, ‘That was a bad decision’ — that’s where I feel like I’m still not 100 percent happy with myself all of the time. That’s one thing the one thing that I really want to look to improve on.”

Keys will next face Spain’s Lara Arruabarrena, who defeated No.28 seed Irina-Camelia Begu in three sets, but Patricia Maria Tig and Sorana Cirstea made it three Romanians in the third round behind a pair of second-round upsets of their own.

Tig recorded her first win against a top 20 player in defeating Kristina Mladenovic, 7-6(5), 6-2, while Cirstea was victorious in the conclusion of a rain-delayed match against No.19 seed Anastasija Sevastova, 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-3.

Tig also led a trio of qualifiers to advance to the third round, as Anett Kontaveit scored an upset over No.32 seed Ekaterina Makarova, 6-7(1), 6-2, 6-2 and American Taylor Townsend handled No.25 seed Roberta Vinci, 6-3, 6-2.

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Notes & Netcords – January 18, 2016

Notes & Netcords – January 18, 2016

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

The Winners:

Svetlana Kuznetsova had to pull double duty to win the Premier-level Apia International Sydney. She scored her biggest win in six and a half years against Simona Halep in a rain-delayed semifinal, then turned right around to play a near-flawless final against Puerto Rican qualifier Monica Puig. Kuznetsova needed just 55 minutes to win 6-0, 6-2 and pick up her 16th WTA title.

“It’s great. I mean, honestly, I didn’t expect this, but I’ve also never gone into a tournament thinking about winning, never even once,” Kuznetsova said after the match. “I just went out there and performed, and everything went my way. Now I just want to keep focused for the Australian Open.”

The full story – here.

Alizé Cornet dropped only three games in the final of the Hobart International against a resurgent Eugenie Bouchard to win her first title in nearly two years, 6-1, 6-2.

“I was very focused for the whole tournament and the whole match today, and now I can let go!” Cornet told press after the match. “To start the year this way, it’s the best.”

The full story – here.

Game, Set Match: WTA Insider

Game: Svetlana Kuznetsova roars into the Australian Open.

The Russian has been vocal about the current depth of the women’s game. Earlier in her career she could count on easy early rounds at tournaments, which suited her style. “I’m not scared of anybody,” she said at the Sydney International. “I just need matches under my belt.” But with the depth of the current game, Kuznetsova says it’s far more difficult to play yourself into form.

So it bodes well for the two-time major champion that she got better and better during her title run in Sydney, which culminated in a 6-0, 6-2 win over Monica Puig. Mercurial and unpredictable, it’s hard to know if Kuznetsova will be able to carry her momentum into the Australian Open. But having been drawn into the Serena Williams/Maria Sharapova quarter, Kuznetsova has the quality to play the spoiler.

Set: How Patrick Mouratoglou helped Alizé Cornet get back on track.

Cornet dropped just one set en route to the Hobart International title. In this week’s Champion’s Corner, Cornet talked about the elusive nature of confidence, and how a post-US Open chat with Mouratoglou turned things around.

The full story – here.

Match: The many faces of Victoria Azarenka

Expect to see a lot of Azarenka this year. She’s already shown signs of a strong uptick in her level of play, but Azarenka is already writing a regular column for Sports Illustrated and directed a video. As Azarenka told me in Brisbane: “You’ll be learning a lot more about me this year.”

The full story – here.

Ranking Movers:

Notable singles ranking movers for the week of January 18, 2015..

Monica Puig (PUR), +42 (No.94 to 52): Puig reached the first Premier final of her career in Sydney and made the biggest ranking jump of anyone in the Top 100, improving 42 spots to reach No.52.

Eugenie Bouchard (CAN), +10, (No.47 to 37): Bouchard’s consistent results continued at the Hobart International, where she reached her first final since 2014.

Alizé Cornet (FRA), +9 (No.42 to 33): Cornet won her first title since 2014 at the Hobart International, an International-level event, and improved her ranking to No.33.

Kiki Bertens (NED), +8 (No.103 to 95): Bertens went from the qualifiers all the way to the Hobart International quarterfinals and broke into the Top 100 this week.

Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS), +5 (No.25 to 20): The two-time Grand Slam champion captured the Premier-level title at the Apia International Sydney and as a result she is back into the Top 20.

Upcoming Tournaments:

Australian Open
Melbourne, Australia
Grand Slam | $14,835,728 | Hard, Outdoors
Monday, January 18 – Sunday, January 31, 2016

Top 20 Player Schedules:

1. Serena Williams – Australian Open
2. Simona Halep – Australian Open
3. Garbiñe Muguruza – Australian Open
4. Agnieszka Radwanska – Australian Open
5. Maria Sharapova – Australian Open
6. Angelique Kerber – Australian Open
7. Petra Kvitova – Australian Open
8. Flavia Pennetta – (retired)
9. Lucie Safarova – (not competing – viral illness)
10. Venus Williams – Australian Open, Kaohsiung
11. Carla Suárez Navarro – Australian Open
12. Karolina Pliskova – Australian Open
13. Belinda Bencic – Australian Open, St Petersburg
14. Timea Bacsinszky – Australian Open
15. Roberta Vinci – Australian Open, St Petersburg
16. Victoria Azarenka – Australian Open
17. Madison Keys – Australian Open
18. Caroline Wozniacki – Australian Open
19. Sara Errani – Australian Open
20. Svetlana Kuznetsova – Australian Open

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

Angelique Kerber (GER) – January 18, 1988
Anastasiya Vasylyeva (UKR) – January 18, 1992
Petra Martic (CRO) – January 19, 1991
Petra Rampre (SLO) – January 20, 1980
Polona Hercog (SLO) – January 20, 1991
Monique Adamczak (AUS) – January 21, 1983
Shuai Zhang (CHN) – January 21, 1989
Veronica Cepede Royg (PAR) – January 21, 1992
Laura Robson (GBR) – January 21, 1994
Alizé Cornet (FRA) – January 22, 1990

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Zhang Blasts Past Halep

Zhang Blasts Past Halep

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MELBOURNE, Australia – World No.133 Zhang Shuai played the best tennis of her career to dismantle No.2 seed Simona Halep on Margaret Court Arena, 6-4, 6-3, in 78 minutes.

The Chinese veteran first came to prominence in 2009 when she became the lowest ranked player to defeat a reigning World No.1 – Dinara Safina at the China Open – but the 26-year-old had never won a Grand Slam match in 14 previous attempts.

Against Halep, Zhang displayed stunning form from the outset, hitting 31 winners and racing out to a 4-0 lead in the opening set before breaking serve in the 10th game to take the early lead.

Though the Romanian appeared to right the ship early in the second, Zhang weathered the storm and remained aggressive to win the last five games of the match to reach the second round.

“Thank you to everyone for supporting me,” a speechless Zhang said in her on-court interview.

“I think today is the best moment.”

For the former French Open finalist, the loss marked another abrupt end to an Australian Open campaign, having lost in back-to-back quarterfinals in straight sets. It is also her earliest exit from a hardcourt major tournament since the 2013 Australian Open, where she also lost in the first round.

Zhang will next play Hobart International champion Alizé Cornet; the Frenchwoman has dropped just six games in her last three matches – including a 6-1, 6-2 win over Eugenie Bouchard in the final of Hobart – and was equally ruthless to open her Australian Open against Bojana Jovanovski, winning, 6-1, 6-0.

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Williams & Sharapova Open Round 3 Action

Williams & Sharapova Open Round 3 Action

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova remain on a collision course for a quarterfinal date at this year’s Australian Open. But they’ve still got some work to do before they get there. We preview their Day 5 tilts, as well as some other enticing Friday matchups, here.

Friday, Day 5
Third Round

[1] Serena Williams (USA #1) vs. Daria Kasatkina (RUS # 69)
Head-to-head: First meeting
Key Stat: Kasatkina was just two years old when Serena Williams won her first major.

Russia’s Daria Kasatkina is quickly making a name for herself as a future star on the WTA tour. Just two weeks ago she defeated Venus Williams in Auckland, and the 2014 French Open junior champion has now reached the third round at both Grand Slams she’s played in her career. But on Friday when she faces top-seeded Serena Williams, she’ll encounter the biggest challenge in women’s tennis. Williams, who has erased all doubts about the state of her health by breezing through her first two matches in Melbourne, is hungry to make more Grand Slam magic and very much aware of the potential of Kasatkina. “I don’t think it’s going to be easy,” Williams said of their impending battle. “Any time someone is beating Venus they are more than likely playing really good. So I definitely will be ready for that.”

Pick: Williams in two

[5] Maria Sharapova (RUS #5) vs. Lauren Davis (USA # 103)
Head-to-head: First meeting
Key Stat: Sharapova is going for her 600th career win. 

Like Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova also came to Melbourne with doubts about her health and match fitness swirling. But the five-time major champion has dropped seven games in two matches and looks to be in mid-season form ahead of her third-round showdown with hard-charging American Lauren Davis. Sharapova has never faced the Ohio native before, but at this stage of the tournament the fifth seed is more concerned about dictating with her power strokes than the opponent on the other side of the net. “I don’t think it matters [who I face],” she told reporters after her straight-sets victory over Aliaksandra Sasnovich on Wednesday. “I think my focus has to be on myself and on my game. Just improving and getting better.”

Pick: Sharapova in two

[4] Agnieszka Radwanska (POL #4) vs. Monica Puig (PUR # 52)
Head-to-head: First meeting
Key Stat: Red-hot Radwanska has won 24 of her last 28 matches.

After an impressive takedown of surging Canadian Eugenie Bouchard in the second round things don’t promise to get any easier for No.4-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska. Her next opponent, 22-year-old Puerto Rican Monica Puig, has won 10 of her last 11 matches and is into the third round of a major for the first time since 2013. After surviving a 31-ace onslaught from Kristyna Pliskova in the second round, Puig has stockpiled a pile of the belief that comes with saving five match points and gutting out an improbable win at a major. “I think it’s just about believing that you can come out of a moment like that, that at any moment you can get a second wind and come out of it,” Puig said after her marathon win on Wednesday.

Pick: Radwanska in two

[28] Kristina Mladenovic (FRA # 30) vs. Daria Gavrilova (AUS # 39)
Head-to-head: First meeting
Key Stat: Gavrilova has four Top 10 wins since last March.

They have never met at the tour-level but that does not mean that France’s Kristina Mladenovic and Australia’s Daria Gavrilova don’t have history. They met in the Roland Garros Girls’ Singles final in 2009, and it was Mladenovic who got the win. “We played juniors a lot,” Gavrilova explains. “I actually lost to her at the French Open, I don’t know, ages ago. I was 15. It was in the finals. We have known each other since we were about 12.” Nearly seven years on, both players appear to be on the cusp of big-time stardom. Mladenovic reached her first major quarterfinal at last year’s US Open, while Gavrilova, who exudes fire and infectious enthusiasm for the game, has risen from outside the Top 200 to No.39 in the world in just over a year’s time.

Pick: Gavrilova in three

Around the Grounds: Belinda Bencic will look to advance to the round of 16 in Melbourne for the first time, but she’ll have to get past one of the tournament’s inspirational figures in Kateryna Bondarenko to get there. Bondarenko, who left the tour in 2012 to give birth to a child and didn’t return until 2014, is looking like she never missed a beat… Quietly, No.10-seeded Carla Suárez Navarro is working her way through the draw. The 2009 Australian Open quarterfinalist will face 19-year-old Russian Elizaveta Kulichkova for a spot in the second week… A finalist at last year’s US Open, Italy’s Roberta Vinci is alive and well in Melbourne. She’ll bid to reach the round of 16 in Melbourne for the first time against Anna-Lena Friedsam of Germany.

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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MIAMI, FL, USA – No.2 seed Karolina Pliskova took down an on-form Mirjana Lucic-Baroni to book the first spot into the Miami Open semifinals, notching a 6-2, 6-4 victory after an hour and 12 minutes.

The win sends her into the Miami semifinals for the first time, where she awaits the winner between No.12 seed Caroline Wozniacki and Lucie Safarova.

She also gets her hard-earned revenge on the player who knocked her out of the Australian Open, where she fell 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to the Croatian in the quarterfinals.

“I think I played much better here than I was playing [in Melbourne],” Pliskova said in her post-match press conference. “Also, the conditions here are different, and she was playing better tennis there because it was faster. It suited her better in Australia.

“So definitely I was feeling more confident with this match. I had a different game plan today.”

For her part, Lucic-Baroni – who was into her second Miami quarterfinal and the first since the tournament became a Premier Mandatory – made a strong start to the match, which featured lots of short rallies and plenty of first-strike tennis.

Lucic-Baroni’s fearless returning helped her neutralize powerful Pliskova serve during the early exchanges, but she wasn’t able to back it up with her own serves. She hit nine double faults during the opening set – including on set point – and was broken four times to surrender the first set in 28 minutes.

The Croat continued to attack Pliskova’s serve emphatically and was rewarded with the first break of the second set, building up a 4-2 lead as her service game began to click.

But with her serve under fire, Pliskova relied on her other weapons – her big forehand and her improved court movement – and bailed herself out of trouble. The Czech reeled off four games in a row to erase Lucic-Baroni’s lead and close out the match.

“The difference was in the first set,” Lucic-Baroni told WTA Insider afterwards. “I started out great but then I couldn’t find my serve. The more I was making mistakes the worse I was getting.

“I was able to calm down and fix it in the second, but then I just had a lot of bad luck after 4-2. But she played great, a pretty flawless match. It was still pretty close, but it just didn’t go my way today.”

With the win Pliskova is through to her fourth semifinal of 2017, and she’ll face either Safarova or Wozniacki for a spot in the final.

“Lucie obviously I know pretty well,” Pliskova assessed. “It will not be something really surprising for me there. I will be really confident coming into this one but it’s Czech against Czech so anything can happen.

“Obviously against Caroline, we played in Doha also, so a little bit different conditions than here. I would expect tough one because I know she has been playing quite good here in last few years.”

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Zhang Shuai's Dream Run Continues

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MELBOURNE, Australia – Zhang Shuai battled past 2015 Australian Open semifinalist Madison Keys to become the fourth Chinese player ever to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament.

Zhang, who nearly went out in qualifying – her opponent in the last round of qualies, Virginie Razzano, served for the match in the third set – had taken out No.2 seed Simona Halep en route to her first second week at a major, and she continued that giant-killing form Monday night with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over the No.15-seeded Keys, who looked increasingly hampered by injury during the match.

“It’s so tough to play against someone injured,” Zhang said. “Maybe two points you’re feeling like you cannot play, and then the next three balls, pong, pong, pong, you make two aces, one winner. You don’t know what’s going to happen. And also last year this happened many times, and I’d almost win the match, but then I’d lose. But this time I really tried to concentrate, and I’m happy I won.”

Coming in, Zhang was 0-14 in Grand Slams and had lost 20 straight sets at majors, too – she was considering retirement. She’s not thinking of hanging her racquets up now, but she will need a break.

“Right now, after this tournament, I need a long break,” the Tianjin native commented.

“I’ve already played seven matches. Before today I was thinking, ‘Okay, today is the final.’ When somebody wins six matches at a Grand Slam, it’s already the final, right? And at night, it felt like it.

“But I’d already said this year I’ll play less tournaments. I don’t want to play too much. I want some more time for my life. I can have a holiday, rest, stay with my parents – and practice more too.”

Zhang is the fourth Chinese player ever to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal, after Li Na, Zheng Jie and Peng Shuai – Li was the most successful of the group, picking up two career Grand Slam titles.

Zhang is also guaranteed of becoming the new Chinese No.1 after this tournament. The World No.133 is currently China’s No.4 after No.83 Zheng Saisai, No.102 Wang Qiang and No.117 Duan Ying-Ying.

Next up for Zhang is Johanna Konta, who will also be playing her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.

Konta and Zhang are tied in their head-to-head, 1-1, though they haven’t played since 2013.

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