Konta: Great Britain Won't Underestimate Anyone
Great Britain open their Fed Cup campaign this week in Estonia – and Johanna Konta says they won’t be underestimating anyone as they look to progress from the Europe/Africa zone.
Great Britain open their Fed Cup campaign this week in Estonia – and Johanna Konta says they won’t be underestimating anyone as they look to progress from the Europe/Africa zone.
All four semifinalists at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia are rounding into form at just the right time. But who will be the one to sign-off ahead of Roland Garros with the silverware.
ROME, Italy – Serena Williams returned to the final of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia after a comfortable victory over the unseeded Irina-Camelia Begu on Saturday.
Watch highlights, interviews and more video from Rome right here on wtatennis.com!
The Foro Italico has historically been a happy hunting ground for Williams, who has reached the semifinals or better on eight occasions. Three times she has gone on to lift the trophy at the famous old venue, and judging by her performances this week she is in the mood to add to this tally.
Following on from the World No.1’s awe-inspiring display against Svetlana Kuznetsova on Friday evening, few gave Begu much hope of springing an upset. However, the Romanian has been enjoying a fine clay court season and acquitted herself well early on, recovering from an early break to draw level at 4-4.
Unfortunately for Begu, this was as good as it got. Two games later, a sequence of smart returns gave Williams the set and from there she rarely looked like being caught, wrapping up victory after an hour and 26 minutes by ghosting in to punch away a smart volley.
Standing between Williams and her 70th WTA title is fellow American Madison Keys. Earlier in the day Keys maintained her composure after a lengthy rain delay to defeat No.3 seed Garbiñe Muguruza, 7-6(5), 6-4.
Since losing to her sister Venus at Montréal in 2014, Williams has won 15 straight matches against Americans. Her match against Keys will be the first all-American final at the Foro in 46 years.
“I think it will be wonderful because, like I said last time I was in here, I feel like Madison is one of the players that really can be great and she has that potential, and now she’s showing that on all surfaces,” Williams said.
“You know, we’re an all-American final on the clay. It’s been a minute since that’s happened. That’s just – it’s great. It’s really exciting.”
TALLINN, Estonia – Johanna Konta fought back from set a down to seal Great Britain’s place in the Fed Cup promotion play-off on Saturday.
The World No.10 and Heather Watson helped the British team beat Portugal 3-0 on Wednesday and Latvia by the same score on Thursday before facing Turkey in the final Pool C match today.
Watson, the World No.72, comfortably overcame Ipek Soylu 6-0 6-1 in the opener but says the match was deceptively hard.
“The score was 6-0 6-1, but it felt a lot closer than that in the games and she’s a good player but today I just felt that I was pretty flawless,” she explained after the match.
High ?! @HeatherWatson92 celebrates her brilliant win over Turkey in the @FedCup #BackTheBrits ????? pic.twitter.com/Q45lpUi0m9
— British Tennis (@BritishTennis) February 10, 2017
Konta was made to work harder for her success. After taking a 5-3 lead in the first set against Cagla Buyukakcay, Konta lost four straight games to hand the World No.86 the opening set.
But the 25-year-old raised her game after that setback to close out a 5-7 6-4 6-3 win and victory in the tie ahead of the final doubles match.
“I’m just really happy to come through that,” she said. “It wasn’t easy and she definitely played herself into the match and to give us the opportunity to go into the play-off tomorrow, I’m very happy for us and the team.”
? fight back complete! @JoKonta91 battles past Buyukakcay 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 to keep the 100% record going #BackTheBrits ?? pic.twitter.com/Df1g6uSzzA
— British Tennis (@BritishTennis) February 10, 2017
Britain will face either face Hungary or Croatia for the prize of a World Group II play-off in April.
ROME, Italy – Serena Williams emerged victorious in the first all-American final since 2012 – the first on red clay since 2002 – defeating countrywoman Madison Keys, 7-6(5), 6-3, to snap a nine-month title drought and win the Internazionali BNL d’Italia for the fourth time in her illustrious career.
Watch highlights, interviews and more video from Rome right here on wtatennis.com!
“I feel like it was important for me to just go out there like usual,” she said in her post-match press conference. “It’s a totally new match, it’s a different week, you know, and hopefully just win one. If not, hope for next time, next week.”
Playing in her third final of 2016, Williams had spent the season in search of her first title since the Western & Southern Open last summer, and was the heavy favorite to break that duck against Keys, who was playing the biggest final of her career on what had hitherto been her least favorite surface.
“I think no matter how many times you play Serena, you always go in and you can just feel her presence,” Keys said after the match. “That’s always an extra thing that you have to be worried about during the match.
“But for me today it really wasn’t so much about how big the tournament was or anything like that. It was really just wanting to go out and do my best and give my best performance.”
None of that seemed to matter from the outset as Keys unlocked the early break, leading 3-1 in the first set. Williams steadied from there, winning the next three games and later grabbing the opening set in a tie-break.
“I think she’s such a powerful player,” Williams said, backing up her praise of Keys at net, when she predicted her opponent could be a future World No.1. “Obviously going in, I knew that, but I was just trying. I think I was pretty much able to just get back what I could, you know, and that’s all I was trying to do was just to go out there and be consistent, and, yeah, make my shots.”
Serving for the match in the second, there would be one final momentum shift as the 21-time Grand Slam champion was broken one game from the win, but the break was swiftly repaid in kind and Williams was the winner of a 70th career title – the fifth woman to achieve such a total in singles after Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Steffi Graf, and Margaret Court. In all, she hit four fewer winners than Keys (13 to 17), but also eight fewer errors (24 to 32), and converted all but one of her six break point chances to seal the match in just under 90 minutes.
“I'm so proud of you. You can get to World No.1.”@SerenaWilliams to @Madison_Keys #ibi16 pic.twitter.com/LA7lzmOcC3
— WTA (@WTA) May 15, 2016
Missing the Mutua Madrid Open due to illness, Williams was playing her first red clay event of the season; the win in Rome sets her up in good stead to defend her French Open title as she attempts to win her fourth crown there, as well.
“I have tried to defend there once, twice, three times before. Didn’t quite work so well. But this year is different. I’m going to definitely go in there and I feel more calm and I don’t feel stress to, like, have to win. You know, I feel like I just am happy to be out here.”
For Keys, it was a breakthrough run; recently pairing with new coach Thomas Hogstedt, the 21-year-old is set to re-enter the Top 20 at No.17 – not too far from her career-high of No.16.
“I think having a couple of Top 10 wins this week was really big for me and playing people who have done very well in Roland Garros and just on clay in general. But I think the biggest thing is just how calm I have stayed on court and really, even in tough situations, stayed calm and collected and just really focused on my game, and I feel like I’m just playing much smarter tennis.”
INCREDIBLE court coverage @SerenaWilliams! ? #ibi16 https://t.co/aOYNs2ggSI
— WTA (@WTA) May 15, 2016
TALLINN, Estonia – Great Britain are through to the Fed Cup World Group II play-offs after a nerve-wracking tie against Croatia, with Heather Watson and Johanna Konta emerging victorious in the deciding doubles rubber.
“I’m absolutely ecstatic,” team captain Anne Keothavong told the LTA after the tie. “It’s been a real emotional rollercoaster, but the way the girls performed today and throughout the whole week, I’m just so proud of them.
“It wasn’t easy today against Croatia with it coming down to the deciding doubles. It was so tight, everyone was on the edge of their seats. But they fought their hearts out and played with so much passion out there. I’m so proud of them.”
Watson, who didn’t drop a set all week long against Turkey, Latvia and Portugal, kept her streak intact against Croatia as well, sweeping past Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-4 in the hour-and-20-minute opener.
But with Great Britain one win away from clinching the tie, 19-year-old Ana Konjuh stunned World No.10 Konta to keep Croatia alive, 6-4, 6-3.
A last-minute team change by team captain Keothavong had Watson and Konta back out on court for the deciding doubles rubber, replacing the undefeated Jocelyn Rae and Laura Robson against Konjuh and Darija Jurak.
Konjuh and Jurak took the opening set in just 26 minutes against to earn a lead against the British pair, but they rallied back to a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory to book Britain’s spot in April’s World Group II play-offs.
“It’s safe to say we are all very happy,” Watson said to the LTA, grinning with her teammates afterwards. “That was really tough, all of our matches today were. Croatia are a strong country, and I think we all played great tennis all the way from start to finish.”
Konta added, “It was tough going back out after having lost my singles rubber, but having all the girls supporting me – Laura and Jocelyn, they made a lot of noise courtside – it helped.
“And we can’t forget all those other ties before this one. The fact that we were able to win our group undefeated, that’s a massive achievement for us.”
SQUAD. So proud to be a part of this team! Playoffs here we come ???? pic.twitter.com/LS05qz8yXm
— Laura Robson (@laurarobson5) 11 de febrero de 2017
More to follow…
Serena Williams’ fourth Internazionali BNL d’Italia title provided an emphatic riposte to any doubting Thomases heading into the defense of her French Open crown
A series of sure-footed showings on the clay, particularly a semifinal dismantling of Svetlana Kuznetsova, underlined her status as the woman to beat at the year’s second major. The 900 points collected from her week in the Eternal City also saw Williams leapfrog Agnieszka Radwanska into third place on the Road To Singapore leaderboard.
By her own very high standards, Williams arrived in Rome on the back of a disappointing start to 2016, failing to collect silverware from her outings in Melbourne, Indian Wells or Miami. Nevertheless, she remained in the thick of the hunt for a place at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, a position she has consolidated with her 70th career title.
The American, a five-time WTA Finals winner, is now within striking distance of the leaderboard’s early pacesetters, Angelique Kerber and Victoria Azarenka, and with 2,000 points up for grabs in Paris, there is remains the likelihood for further shuffling at the top of the pack.
Last week also provided the platform for a couple of other players to lay claim to a place in Singapore. The aforementioned Kuznetsova built on her Miami run with another encouraging showing that promoted her to the No.7 spot on the leaderboard, while Timea Bacsinszky’s is up to No.10 after reaching the quarterfinals
The week’s biggest mover, though, was eventual runner-up Madison Keys, whose wins over Petra Kvitova and Garbiñe Muguruza helped propel her from No.38 to No.12.
RTS Ranking Movers
Madison Keys: No.38 to No.12 (+26)
Irina-Camelia Begu: No.52 to No.26 (+26)
Misaki Doi: No.54 to No.35 (+19)
Garbiñe Muguruza: No.35 to No.17 (+18)
Click here to see the full Road To Singapore leaderboard standings heading into Paris.
STRASBOURG, France – Monica Puig recovered from a one-set deficit to upend top seed Sara Errani, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, to advance to the second round of the Internationaux de Strasbourg.
Puig had never lost to the 2012 French Open finalist in their two previous encounters, and though their first match-up on clay looked to give the Italian an advantage, the ultimate result wasn’t any different as the Puerto Rican star and 2014 champion hit six aces en route to a one hour and 45 minute victory.
“I’m really pleased to get the win here in Strasbourg, and it’s nice coming back as a former Champion,” she said after the match. “Errani is a really tough competitor, and after the first set, my head could have gone down, but I kept fighting and was really pleased with the victory, especially the third set score.”
For Errani, it marks the end of a difficult red clay swing; after a promising start and a run to the semifinals of the Volvo Car Open, the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship winner went 0-3 in Madrid, Rome, and Strasbourg.
“I tried my best today but sometimes it just doesn’t go your way,” Errani said. “I felt strong after the first set but my game was a little off and I found the conditions tough.
“There was a time in the second set when it went 4-2 and I knew I was struggling. Then the third set happened. It’s never nice to go out in the first round but that’s tennis.”
Undaunted, the No.1 seed tried to find a silver lining in her early defeat.
“I haven’t had time to see the city yet but maybe before I go to Paris.”
Puig will next play lucky loser and former World No.16 Virginie Razzano, who defeated 2010 French Open quarterfinalist Yaroslava Shvedova, 6-3, 6-3.
Earlier in the day, No.3 seed Samantha Stosur continued her successful clay court season with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over American qualifier Lauren Davis, while No.8 seed Timea Babos went through Olga Govortsova 6-4, 6-1. No.10 seed Caroline Garcia was imperious in a 6-1, 6-2 win over Kirsten Flipkens, while qualifier Mirjana Lucic-Baroni won a see-sawing 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 match against Qiang Wang.
No.2 seed Sloane Stephens had just leveled her first round match with Donna Vekic at one set apiece before the match was suspended, first due to rain, then darkness at 7-5, 2-6.
An interview with Samantha Stosur after her win in the first round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
An interview with Agnieszka Radwanska before her opening round match at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.