Charleston: Keys Interview
An interview with Madison Keys before her opening round match at the Volvo Car Open.
An interview with Madison Keys before her opening round match at the Volvo Car Open.
MELBOURNE, Australia – The 2017 Australian Open begins on Monday in Melbourne, with World No.1 and defending champion Angelique Kerber headlining the first night session on Rod Laver Arena. What else do you need to know about your favorite WTA stars as the first Grand Slam tournament of the season gets underway?
Click here for a full analysis of the draw, courtesy of WTA Insider.
1. Kerber contends for first-ever major title defense.
Kerber came away with an impressive haul of Grand Slam titles in 2016, bookending the season with wins Down Under and the US Open – taking the No.1 ranking at the latter. 2017 is a new ballgame for the German, who will seek to defend a major title for the first time in her career. Her first opponent is Lesia Tsurenko, with the likes of Eugenie Bouchard and Roberta Vinci looming in her section of the draw.
2. Serena could reclaim No.1 in Australia.
In the other half of the draw stands 22-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams, who is firmly in the hunt for her seventh Daphne Akhurst Memorial Trophy in Melbourne. The American would have to reach the final to have a chance at wresting the No.1 ranking from Kerber; click here to find out how it would all have to shake out.
3. Radwanska feeling in Grand Slam rhythm.
Armed with a new racquet, No.3 seed Agnieszka Radwanska is the high seed in Serena’s half of the draw, projecting a rematch of their 2016 semifinal encounter Down Under. Radwanska shrugged off a tough week in Shenzhen to reach the final at the Apia International Sydney, but has a potentially tricky opener against Tsvetana Pironkova. The Bulgarian beat Radwanska in their most recent meeting at last year’s French Open.
4. Halep in hot pursuit of first major title.
No.4 seed Simona Halep also started her year in Shenzhen, but arrived last week for some early preparation in Melbourne on the advice of coach Darren Cahill. The Romanian opens against American Shelby Rogers, and is aiming to build on her pair of quarterfinal appearances earned in 2014 and 2015.
5. Cibulkova seeking Singapore stepping stone.
No.5 seed Dominika Cibulkova ended 2016 on an all-time high, winning the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global and reaching a best-ever ranking of No.5. The Slovak’s biggest major success came in Melbourne, where she reached the final back in 2014.
6. Is this Pliskova’s breakthrough moment?
Karolina Pliskova fell before the second week in her first 17 Grand Slam appearances, but made up for lost time in style at the US Open, where she rolled past both Williams sisters en route to the final. The Czech looked just as tough in Brisbane to start 2017, winning the tournament alongside new coach David Kotyza and moving back up to a career-high of No.5.
7. Muguruza feeding off good Melbourne memories.
Garbiñe Muguruza enjoyed a strong start to the season before injury forced her to retire from the Brisbane International semifinals. Still, the the No.7 seed feels fit and fresh ahead of the Australian Open, starting off against New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic on Monday.
8. Kuznetsova rounds out Top 8.
Kuznetsova burned some serious rubber on the Road to Singapore last fall, narrowly qualifying to become the story of the tournament, reaching the semifinals. This year, Kuznetsova is feeling calm as she hopes to surpass the quarterfinals, her previous best finish in Australia.
9. Venus & Serena headline the doubles draw.
The Australian Open women’s doubles draw came out on Sunday, with Wimbledon winners Venus and Serena Williams coming in as the most dangerous floaters in the draw, seeded No.15. The pair could play No.2 seeds Lucie Safarova and new World No.1 Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the third round.
10. No.1 up for grabs in Australia.
The singles No.1 isn’t the only ranking under threat at the Australian Open. Mattek-Sands narrowly took the top spot from Sania Mirza in Brisbane, ending the Indian star’s 91-week reign. But Elena Vesnina and the French team of Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic all have a shot of taking No.1 during the fortnight. Click here to find out how.
WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen | As Victoria Azarenka and Bethanie Mattek-Sands bask in a Sunshine Sweep, one last look back on Miami as the tour turns to clay.
MELBOURNE, Australia – An ageless Venus Williams played remarkable tennis in the high heat of the Australian Open, knocking out a game Kateryna Kozlova, 7-6(5), 7-5.
“Girl, I don’t know,” Venus joked when asked how she got the job done during her on-court interview. “I know how to play tennis, and I like to think I’m good at this. She hasn’t had the years I’ve had, the grey hair I’m dyeing, the wrinkles I’m hiding.”
V never goes out of style.#ausopen pic.twitter.com/jUf4wJ9eeN
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 16, 2017
Seeded No.13, Venus was playing just her second match of 2017 after withdrawing from the ASB Classic due to right-arm pain, and was taking on a tricky opponent in Kozlova, who took her to three sets at the US Open last summer. In an ironic twist, the 22-year-old was born the same year Venus turned pro back in 1994.
“You’re trying to make me feel old!” joked Williams.
Kozlova served for the first set but the seven-time Grand Slam champion’s experience shone through when it mattered most, breaking the young Ukrainian to win the ensuing tie-break.
“Just from the warm-up it looked like she was just ready to go, hitting it solid,” she said in her post-match press conference. “I really have to give her a lot of credit for playing a match that was not a lot of errors and just relentless.
“I guess when I walk out there I have to expect that from my opponents and not an easy first round, but a great first round to get through, for sure.”
She twirls her way to 2R. Go #Venus #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/hzCSYDY3Jp
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 16, 2017
Venus appeared to struggle with the heat at times, relying on ice towels to keep cool during the changeovers.
“I’m a Floridian, so I’m pretty good with heat,” she admitted. “But obviously, if it’s going to be hot, I think with players, you can train in the heat the week before. This last week it was kind of cool, actually, a lot of the time. So it’s definitely a wildcard, like, total wildcard.”
Despite losing some momentum in the second set, the American rebounded to take the last three games of the match and advance into the second round after just over two hours.
Up next for the former World No.1 is either Stefanie Voegele or Kurumi Nara.
A wonderful start for #Venus #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/QVhFuaUdDg
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 16, 2017
Caroline Garcia had Monday’s shot of the day at the Volvo Car Open.
SINGAPORE – For the sixth straight year and eighth time overall in her career, Agnieszka Radwanska has qualified once again for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. And this time she returns not only as the defending champion, but as the most in-form player since the US Open.
Radwanska never expected the Asia-Pacific would become the home of her best tennis, but that’s been precisely the case over the last four years. She’s won 10 titles since the start of 2013 and eight of them have come in the Asia-Pacific. Of course, the biggest title of her career came last here in Singapore, where she scrapped to qualify out of the round robin stage before beating Garbiñe Muguruza in the semifinals and Petra Kvitova in a thrilling three-set final to win the WTA Finals.
The 27-year-old veteran continued that season-ending momentum into 2016. She started the season with yet another title in Asia, winning the Shenzhen Open, and backed that up with a solid run to the semifinals of the Australian Open. In fact, Radwanska made the semifinals or better at five of her first six tournaments of the season, including the BNP Paribas Open, Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, and the Qatar Total Open.
Most notable in 2016 was Radwanska’s more disciplined schedule. She had built a career on playing as much as her body would allow and often ran the risk of arriving to the tour’s biggest tournaments injured or fatigued. This year Radwanska opted for a more limited schedule, backing herself to do well on the surfaces on which she excels. She played just three tournaments on European clay, her worst surface, and shifted to a heavier schedule during the grass season. The gamble did not pay off immediately — she lost in a thrilling three-sets to Dominika Cibulkova in the Round of 16 at Wimbledon — but playing fewer tournaments over the course of the season eventually paid off.
Radwanska found her game during the latter half of the North American hard court season, making the quarterfinals of the Western & Southern Open before rolling to her second title of the year at the Connecticut Open. Then, when the tour turned to Asia, Radwanska turned on the jets. Radwanska insists she doesn’t do anything differently in Asia to get the results she does. It just so happens that when she’s here, the big points go her way.
“As we know, tennis is very tight,” Radwanska told WTA insider in Beijing. “Sometimes you lose because of a couple of points. Now, I’m winning those points more often. Everything might be similar, but at the end of the day, I’m the one winning the key points. It’s not about changing something big as much as it’s about being very focused in important moments and believing in yourself, that you can do it.
“Seriously, the Asian Swing is the toughest for everyone – and for me as well! Maybe because New York is not really for me, I’m always getting home earlier so I can get a good rest and then practice really hard to do well in Asia. I guess I’m just taking my chances here.”
The Pole surged through the fall season, making the semifinals at the Toray Pan Pacific Open, quarterfinals at the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open, before rolling to her biggest title of the season at the China Open. Radwanska did not lose a set in Beijing and became just the fourth woman to own three or more Premier Mandatory titles, joining a club that includes Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, and Victoria Azarenka. Radwanska finished her 2016 regular season with three titles and a 51-16 record.
Having now qualified for her sixth consecutive WTA Finals, Radwanska now holds the longest streak among active players. She will also finish the season in the Top 10 for her sixth consecutive season. She has been a steady Top 10 stalwart and her ability to do so without having a typical power game makes her career all the more inspiring. Most other players rely on pure power or athleticism to work their way to the top. Radwanska’s creativity and guile proves that there is another path to the upper echelons of the game, one that can enthrall fans, light up the hot shot highlight reels, and earn her some of the best nicknames in the game.
“I really like ‘La Professora’,” Radwanska said with a smile, when asked what for her favorite nickname was. “I think it comes from Spanish and Italian coaches or players. It’s great to hear this kind of nickname. It means I playing really good, perfection tennis.”
SINGAPORE – Dominika Cibulkova will round off a fantastic season by appearing at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global for the first time in her career.
Victory over Viktorija Golubic in the final of the Generali Ladies Linz confirmed Cibulkova as the eighth qualifier for the season-ending showpiece, joining Angelique Kerber, Serena Williams, Simona Halep, Agnieszka Radwanska, Karolina Pliskova, Garbiñe Muguruza and Madison Keys in the singles field.
The 2016 season has been a comeback year for Cibulkova, as the 27-year-old claimed three titles at the Katowice Open, Aegon International Eastbourne and most recently at the Generali Ladies Linz. Cibulkova reached three additional finals at the Abierto Mexicano TELCEL, Mutua Madrid Open and the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open, which helped set a career-high ranking of No.8. The Slovak also advanced to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon.
“I can’t describe with words what qualifying for the WTA Finals Singapore means to me,” said Cibulkova. “After such a tough year last year, this year has been amazing – so reaching the WTA Finals is a dream come true. It was my goal to be a consistently great player and I have achieved that this year. I want to enjoy it, play good tennis and end the year the best way I can.”
The current Road to Singapore Leaderboard as follows (as of October 10, 2016):
Yulia Putintseva takes on Venus Williams in the third round of the Volvo Car Open.
As the Kremlin Cup gets underway, the tournament’s stars, including Elena Vesnina, Ekaterina Makarova, Ekaterina Ostapenko, Shelby Rogers and Belinda Bencic have been mingling.
An interview with Sara Errani after her quarterfinal win at the Volvo Car Open.