Riske Clears Opening Hurdle In Shenzhen
Last year’s runner-up Alison Riske overcame her nerves to defeat wildcard Zhu Lin in the first round of the Shenzhen Open. Fellow seed Monica Niculescu was among Sunday’s other winners.
Last year’s runner-up Alison Riske overcame her nerves to defeat wildcard Zhu Lin in the first round of the Shenzhen Open. Fellow seed Monica Niculescu was among Sunday’s other winners.
Go inside the Auckland Player Party with Venus Williams, Caroline Wozniacki, Lucie Safarova and more WTA stars at the ASB Classic.
Dominika Cibulkova and Casey Dellacqua paid a special visit to the children at the Ronald McDonald House in Brisbane with WTA Charities.
BRISBANE, Australia – Sania Mirza and Bethanie Mattek-Sands have booked their spot into the Brisbane semifinals, but should they reach the final there could be more at stake than just the Brisbane International trophy.
Mirza has held the WTA Doubles No.1 Ranking since April 13, 2015, a total of 91-consecutive weeks (as of Jan 2, 2017), which includes 31 weeks as co-No.1 with Martina Hingis.
She faces a difficult task defending her top spot, though, as she will be defending 2,960 points during the Australian swing. Last year she teamed up with Martina Hingis to win titles at Brisbane, Sydney and the Australian Open.
This year in Brisbane, Mirza is the top seed along with her new partner Mattek-Sands, who currently sits at No.5 in the WTA Doubles Rankings. If they go on to win the title in Brisbane, Mattek-Sands will overtake Mirza for the No.1 WTA Doubles Ranking.
It’s not the first time that the American has come close to usurping her current partner’s top spot; last year at the WTA Finals, Mattek-Sands came within one win of climbing to No.1, but Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina dashed her hopes in the championship match.
Makarova and Vesnina, the No.2 seeds in Brisbane, are also through to the Brisbane semifinals and will play the winner of Irina Falconi and Shelby Rogers vs. Abigail Spears Katerina Srebotnik for a spot in the final. Mattek-Sands and Mirza await the winner of Andreja Klepac and María José Martínez Sánchez vs. Hsieh Su-Wei and Laura Siegemund.
Most Consecutive Weeks at WTA Doubles No.1 (As of Jan 2, 2017):
181 Martina Navratilova
145 Cara Black^
134 Liezel Huber^
91 Sania Mirza
73 Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario
^ Black & Huber held co-No.1 Doubles Rankings for 127 weeks (Nov. 12, 2007 until April 18, 2010)
Serena Williams discusses her shock defeat to Madison Brengle in the second round of the ASB Classic in Auckland.
In today’s SAP Stat Of The Day, Karolina Pliskova’s clinical serving was front and center in her semifinal victory at the Brisbane International.
Bethanie Mattek-Sands has become the World No.1 after clinching the title with the Brisbane International with Sania Mirza, ending her partner’s 91-week streak at the top.
Highlights from all the first-round action on Day 2 of the Apia International Sydney.
An interview with Eugenie Bouchard after her quarterfinal win at the Apia International Sydney.
As Serena Williams readies to pursue a record-breaking 23rd Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, espnW presents the story of how the former No.1 won her first 22.