Tennis News

LONDON, England – Even the rain could not dampen the spirits of those at this year’s WTA Pre-Wimbledon Party presented by Dubai Duty Free.

The event, now in its 11th year, is one of the highlights of tennis’ social calendar. This time Serena Williams, Garbiñe Muguruza, Ana Ivanovic and Caroline Wozniacki were joined by personalities from the world of sport, entertainment and fashion, including Thom Evans, Katie Piper and Tallia Storm.

There were also some younger faces braving the worst of the British weather, Elena Baltacha Academy starlet Tawana Senah walking the purple carpet alongside Judy Murray, and WTA Future Star Karman Thandi getting her first taste of life at tennis’ top table.

SYDNEY, Australia – With the Australian Open just around the corner, six of the WTA’s Top 10 players are heading to the Apia International Sydney to fine-tune their preparations for the year’s first major.

The Sydney draw is out and Angelique Kerber, Agnieszka Radwanska, Dominika Cibulkova and Karolina Pliskova are all in action at the Premier-level event – here’s a rundown of what they’re up against this week.

Click here for the complete Sydney singles and doubles draws.

POSSIBLE QUARTERFINALS

EARLY MATCHES TO WATCH

Sloane Stephens vs [4] Karolina Pliskova: Stephens is back in action for the first time since August after a left foot injury ended her season after the Olympic tennis event. But it won’t be an easy welcome back to the WTA as she’s drawn Brisbane champion Pliskova in the first round. Stephens leads their head-to-head record 2-0, but the pair haven’t played since late 2015.

[7] Elina Svitolina vs Monica Puig: Svitolina and Puig are set to meet for the second time in as many weeks, and this time it’s at a tournament where the Puerto Rican reached the final last year and is defending valuable points. Svitolina leads their head-to-head 2-1 after last week’s win in Brisbane.

As the top two seeds, Kerber and Radwanska received a bye into the second round. Kerber awaits the winner between Daria Kasatkina and Timea Babos, while Radwanska will face either Roberta Vinci or a qualifier in her first match.

KERBER & RADWANSKA’S ROAD TO THE FINAL:

Should World No.1 Kerber make it past her tricky second-round battle, she could face British No1 Johanna Konta in the quarterfinals. Precedent would be on her side, though, as Kerber’s won both of their previous two encounters in straight sets – including their semifinal clash at the 2016 Australian Open.

It doesn’t get any easier from there, with WTA Finals champ Dominika Cibulkova and defending Sydney champion Svetlana Kuznetsova potentially looming in the semifinals.

For 2013 champion Radwanska, it’s a more straight-forward road to the final but it’s littered with dangerous floaters.

A battle against longtime nemesis Caroline Wozniacki could await in the quarterfinals – though she trails their head-to-head 6-9, Radwanska’s come out on top in their last two matches in Wuhan and Beijing. After that, she could get the big hitting Pliskova in the semifinals.

LONDON, Great Britain – No.12 seed Carla Suárez Navarro survived a scare in her Wimbledon opener against Shuai Zhang, overcoming a mid-match wobble to advance 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

The last time the pair played was at this tournament and at this stage, with the Spaniard easing past Zhang in a comfortable straight sets back in 2014. Today’s match was decidedly more competitive, with the Chinese No.1 breaking twice to take the second set and going up a break in the third.

But the Spaniard, who reached the semifinals of the Aegon Classic Birmingham earlier in the grass season, roared back in the third to reach the second round.

No.14 seed Samantha Stosur also moved into the second round after putting an early wobble behind her to defeat 24-year-old Magda Linette 7-5, 6-3.

“Not much to be disappointed about with that match,” Stosur said afterwards. “I felt like I was in control.

“There’s always things you want to get a little bit better at but for the most part I thought I played well and really solid. I served well. A couple little things on my forehand. Apart from that, I was happy.”

The Australian’s next opponent will be the big-serving Sabine Lisicki, who was off to a roaring start at Wimbledon and needed only 52 seconds to win her opening game against Magda Linette before taking the match 6-1, 6-3 in 59 minutes.

Meanwhile, Russian qualifier Ekaterina Alexandrova scored the biggest win of her career over No.23 seed Ana Ivanovic, knocking out the former No.1 in her Wimbledon main draw debut, 6-2, 7-5.

The Serb took no credit away from her No.223-ranked opponent but pointed to a lingering wrist injury as a factor in her first round exit.

“It was very tough. I mean, since two weeks I struggle with my right wrist,” she said “It was very hard to accelerate on my forehand. I tried to do everything possible to be fit and recover and tape it and so on.

“I feel like it caused me a lot of miss hits. My forehand was hard to control her fast shots. I thought she played really well and served very good. Especially in the first set, she was not missing many first serves.”

Lucie Safarova and Bethanie Mattek-Sands put their friendship aside in their first round battle. Regular doubles partners, this time they stood on opposite sides of the net as Mattek-Sands looked to deal an upset to her No.28-seeded friend. She nearly managed it two times – the American held match point once in the second set and twice in the third – before Safarova closed her out 6-7(7), 7-6(3), 7-5.

Also through to the next round is No.17 seed Elina Svitolina, who advanced comfortably against British player Naomi Broady, 6-2, 6-3. Perhaps surprisingly, Svitolina has never made it past the second round of Wimbledon – she’ll hope to do so for the first time against Yaroslava Shvedova.