Bellis Eases Into Honolulu Final
Catherine Bellis moved smoothly into the Hawaii Open final on Friday with a straight-set win over Jacqueline Cako on Saturday.
Catherine Bellis moved smoothly into the Hawaii Open final on Friday with a straight-set win over Jacqueline Cako on Saturday.
MELBOURNE, Australia – The field for the Australian Open is starting to take shape after the initial acceptance list was unveiled earlier this week.
Monday marked the entry deadline for 2017’s first major, with Tennis Australia confirming the identity of 110 of the 128-strong draw. The remaining 18 will be made up of qualifiers and wildcards.
Defending champion Angelique Kerber will be joined by all her principal title rivals, including Serena Williams, Agnieszka Radwanska, Simona Halep and Dominika Cibulkova. The cut-off this year was No.107, with Patricia Maria Tig claiming the last berth.
Also Melbourne-bound will be Luksika Kumkhum and Lizette Cabrera, who have been awarded the first two wildcards.
Australian teenager Cabrera, who will be making her Grand Slam debut, made great strides in 2016, winning two ITF Circuit titles and rising nearly 800 places in the rankings. “It’s amazing news and a pretty surreal feeling. To be honest I’m probably still in a bit of shock, but I’m super excited to start playing,” Cabrera said. “I think if I’m playing my best tennis you can always match it with any girls inside the top 100, so I want to try and win as many matches as I can which will hopefully help me play in more WTA tournaments in the future.”
Kumkhum, meanwhile, earned her spot by triumphing over Chang Kai-Chen in the final of the Asia-Pacific Wildcard Play-off. An ever-present at the Australian Open since 2013, Kumkhum, who upset Petra Kvitova several years back, is eagerly anticipating her return.
“I actually have played in the Australian Open since juniors,” she said. “And I don’t know why, I really like playing there in Melbourne, and had some good results too.
“I feel like at home every time being there, not far from Bangkok, the weather and everything, I think if someone gets used to hot weather, they will like Melbourne too.”
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Timea Bacsinszky has told her story before, but with every match she wins, and each career-high ranking she earns, it bears repeating.
The World No.9 was working in a hotel exactly three years ago when her first career, one she had pursued from early childhood, beckoned her back.
“This year I won’t take my car, driving by myself with my old racquets and the string which were probably like strung at 17 and 19 kilograms,” she said of her last-minute decision to play the 2013 Roland Garros qualification event. “It was a joke.”
But things got very serious for Bacsinszky from there; a year later, she was back in qualifying, but more importantly, back in love with the sport. She won her way into her first French Open main draw in four years, pushing Carla Suárez Navarro to three sets in the second round.
One semifinal finish – where she led World No.1 Serena Williams by a set and a break – and a Top 10 debut later, those first moments of indecision are all but forgotten.
“This was just a turning point. But there are so many others that you can just keep close to your heart, because if you look around, there are so many mean things around you and war everywhere and so many problems.
“We should try just to cherish those moments. It sounds philosophic, but I feel really like that.”
Grazie @InteBNLdItalia e stato molto bello per me!Non vedo l'ora di tornare on 2017 ? #limitless #senzalimite ❤️?? pic.twitter.com/vOASFph2qm
— Timea Bacsinszky (@TimeaOfficial) May 13, 2016
Bacsinszky has been at her best when applying an approach to tennis that is at once acerbic and optimistic, overcoming brief bouts with anemia last summer and injury this past spring to become the tour’s most consistent performers.
A thoughtful character on and off the court, her game boasts a breathtaking backhand, but while she espouses a philosophy of “limitlessness,” she’s not aiming for style points.
“I don’t want produce a huge show or something. I want to be playing, not great tennis, but efficient tennis.”
That efficiency allowed her to pull off incredible physical feats, including a 24-hour turnover from capturing her first title of 2016 in Rabat to win back-to-back three-setters en route to the round of 16 at the Mutua Madrid Open. It also helps her manage the pressure and maintain perspective.
Trophy-Mirror-Selfie!?? 1st title of 2016 & on clay!Merci Rabat ??!#limitless #lovemyjob @ASICSTennis @WTA @babolat pic.twitter.com/x8M4Z1pBfH
— Timea Bacsinszky (@TimeaOfficial) April 30, 2016
“Well, I have two legs, two arms, my hair is longer,” she quipped after her quarterfinal loss in Rome, when asked how she had changed from last year’s run to the final four at the French. “I’m a little more fit, fitter than last year.
“It’s for sure going to be a tough tournament, close to home. I will have to deal with expectations, the expectations from the press, and also, all of a sudden, now so many people are asking me for tickets to come to the French Open.
“I’m like, ‘Guys, you could also ask me for Rome and Madrid when no one was coming!’ ‘But it’s the French Open.'”
“All of a sudden I have so many media requests and I’m like, ‘Okay, well, why? Why now?’ They could have asked also two years ago or come with me in 2013 when I was maybe playing my last French Open.”
Three games from a maiden Grand Slam final 12 months ago, Bacsinszky plans to hit the ground running in Paris, unwilling to overlook any opposition from the start of the fortnight.
“I’m never underestimating my opponent, because I know how hard it is, because I have been in this position, where I was underestimated maybe a couple of times. It was good for me, because then I could catch the win.
“This is a great challenge for me. What I’m expecting from myself, just to be able to maybe win the first round and we’ll see. We’ll see.”
For Bacsinszky, the fairytale is over, but the adventure looks to have just begun.
#RolandGarros2015 #TimeaBacsinszky pic.twitter.com/mxgD7N0qa7
— MiniPeople.ch (@SwissMinipeople) June 4, 2015
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Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza love a good winning streak.
They christened their partnership last spring with 14 straight victories through Indian Wells, Miami, and Charleston. They ended the season undefeated from the US Open through the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, bringing that streak into 2016 before the run ended at the Qatar Total Open – with an impressive haul that included nine titles and two Grand Slam trophies.
Co-No.1s since January, they head into the French Open in search of a “Santina Slam” with two active streaks in their arsenal: one at major tournaments (18 straight since Wimbledon), and the four matches in a row to win their most recent title – and first on red clay – at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.
For all of their winning, red clay was the final frontier for a team who arrived in Rome after finishing second in both Stuttgart and Madrid – losing to the then-streaking French Connection of Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic each time.
first clay court title! woohoo! @MirzaSania @InteBNLdItalia #ibi16 pic.twitter.com/IaOwo2rodF
— Martina Hingis (@mhingis) May 15, 2016
Recovering from a second set hiccup on Sunday, Santina dispatched Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina, who they beat to kick off their Grand Slam streak at last year’s Wimbledon final, 6-1, 6-7(5), 10-3.
The French Open bears extra significance for two women who’ve experienced bitter disappointment on the terre battue. Mirza was one half of another team to beat back in 2011, when she and Vesnina reached the final at Roland Garros. Her bid to win her first major women’s doubles title came to an unexpected halt at the hands of an unseeded Czech duo, Silent H’s Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka.
Hingis’ struggles to peak in Paris are well-documented, and the French Open is the only major tournament where she lacks a box set of singles, doubles, and mixed titles.
None of that may matter a fortnight from now, as Santina seem to have weathered a spring hardcourt slump to rebound on a surface where they’ve traditionally enjoyed the least success. Earning wins over nearly all of the teams likely to pair up next week, Hingis and Mirza’s French nemeses will have the added pressure of playing at home, while defending champions Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova lost the only match they’ve played on red clay since winning the Miami Open.
Victory would cement their already legendary partnership with a Non-Calendar Year “Santina Slam.” The last team to win four majors in a row was Venus and Serena Williams, whose campaign also started at Wimbledon and ended at the French Open in 2010.
Let's rewatch @mhingis and @MirzaSania's match point! They are going straight to the #ibi16 doubles final! #WTA pic.twitter.com/1Pg7ATVZZ7
— Internazionali Bnl (@InteBNLdItalia) May 14, 2016
Victory would also mean that the streak goes on. Along with Pam Shriver and Martina Navratilova, Hingis is one of only three women to complete the Calendar Year Grand Slam in women’s doubles – albeit with two different partners – in 1998, winning the Australian Open with Mirjana Lucic-Baroni and the final three legs with Jana Novotna. Who would believe that, 18 years later, the Swiss Miss could be in contention for a Golden Slam?
Well before such lofty goals appeared possible, Mirza was quick to pump the breaks and add perspective.
“It’s a Grand Slam for a reason, and the reason is that it’s so tough to win even one in your lifetime,” Mirza told WTA Insider back in January after she and Hingis had captured the Brisbane International. “If it happened, it would be amazing, but it’s not something we’re focusing on, to be honest.
“We’re just trying to take it one match at a time. Every match is tough; we’re just going to go there, focus on one match at a time, and hopefully get into the Slam.
“If we win it, great. If we don’t, we move on.”
You didn't let me down Roma ??❤️ secret wishes before I leave you .. #justhadto #timewilltell ? pic.twitter.com/h8hbKlaeUr
— Sania Mirza (@MirzaSania) May 16, 2016
Click here to keep up with WTA Insider’s pre-French Open coverage!
Which players have the best chance of playing spoiler to the top tier of Roland Garros contenders? WTA Insider compiled a list of seasoned veterans and dangerous floaters who could do some serious damage on the terre battue.
Victoria Azarenka: The most in-form player through the first quarter of 2016, Azarenka is hard to beat once she gets on a roll, completing the Sunshine Double with titles in Indian Wells and Miami. Her lone hardcourt loss was to eventual Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber in Melbourne.
Coming into what has traditionally been her least favorite time of year, Azarenka appeared keen to disprove the doubters – not that she listens to what they have to say – and continue her winning streak through the clay court season. Injuries have played their part in disrupting that rhythm, as a lower back injury forced her to withdraw from Madrid and didn’t seem fully healed in a second round loss to Irina-Camelia Begu in Rome.
Should she be healthy in time for Paris, her consistency can certainly take her places, having reached the semifinals back in 2013.
With comfortable head-to-heads against three of the four top seeds, it will be interesting to see who will be projected to face the Belarusian come the quarterfinals.
Agnieszka Radwanska: Seeded No.2 at this year’s French Open, Radwanska would be an all-out contender were this any other major tournament, but red clay of Roland Garros has proven the Pole’s kryptonite on too many occasions for her to feel truly comfortable coming into the fortnight.
The 2012 Wimbledon finalist eased into the semifinals of Stuttgart before getting dismantled by qualifier Laura Siegemund, and an unlucky draw saw her face one of her fiercest rivals in Dominika Cibulkova early on in Madrid. Opting not to play the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, it’s anyone’s guess how Radwanska will play in Paris, but like Azarenka, her long resumé of consistency should give her confidence to start the week. Since the US Open, the WTA Finals champion has made the semifinals or better at all but three of her last 12 events, including the semifinals of the Australian Open, which she reached dropping just one set along the way. Conserving energy will also be critical for a player who was once all too often drawn into wars of attrition.
Petra Kvitova: With a new coach and new philosophy when it came to clay courts, the two-time Wimbledon winner looked poised to build on last year, when she won her second Mutua Madrid Open title.
A run to the semifinals in Stuttgart saw her battle with eventual champion Kerber, but a pair of early losses to Daria Gavrilova and Madison Keys may have shaken her confidence ahead of the French Open. Kvitova is another former semifinalist, reaching that stage back in 2012, but has only made it to the second week once since then – last year, when she lost to Timea Bacsinszky in the fourth round.
Carla Suárez Navarro: If clay court comfort holds back the first three, the next three will need intangibles on their side. The Spaniard has all the skills and “traditional” clay court guile to succeed at the French; her breakout run came back in 2008, when she reached the quarterfinals as a qualifier.
But for Suárez Navarro, it’ll come down to what’s between the ears. A game from the semifinals in 2014, the Spaniard succumbed to nerves and a determined Eugenie Bouchard. She appeared in good form at home in Madrid, but a cold kept her from closing the door against Samantha Stosur.
If she can replicate the form that took her up to No.6 in the world just two months ago, the Qatar Total Open champion will be in good shape in the latter stages of the fortnight.
Dominika Cibulkova: The 2014 Australian Open finalist was a woman in need of a big win, and she got it in Madrid, taking out top seed Radwanska and battling all the way into the final with three-setters against Caroline Garcia, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and Sorana Cirstea.
The Slovak missed last year’s French Open to have surgery on her Achilles, and will be looking to back up her best result at a Premier Mandatory with another deep run at a major tournament. The dynamic veteran burst onto the scene back in 2009, when she blew past Maria Sharapova to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal at the French, following the feat five years later in Melbourne by going one better, again by beating Sharapova and Radwanska en route.
Seeded No.22, Cibulkova will be in position to face down another big name in the first week; unless the nerves that kept her from early round upsets in Indian Wells and Miami reappear, she is all but a shoo-in to reach the second week.
Svetlana Kuznetsova: The tour’s most enigmatic figures had a solid, if unspectacular, clay court swing; though she failed to defend her runner-up points from last year’s Mutua Madrid Open, she rebounded nicely in Rome, defeating Samantha Stosur and Daria Gavrilova before bowing out to World No.1 Serena Williams in the quarterfinals.
The 2009 champion still has the game to compete with the best in the world, as her run to the finals of the Miami Open proved, but everything else has so often been up in the air. Seeded in the Top 16, Kuznetsova will be able to work her way through the first few round without facing a top seed, but will have to hit the ground running should she reach the second week.
Her win over Williams in Miami showed she could close out a big name when given the opportunity; whether she can still seal the deal at a Grand Slam remains to be seen.
Lucie Safarova: Which Safarova will show up in Paris? The 2015 runner-up looked to have shaken off the rust with a much-needed title run at the J&T Banka Prague Open, but food poisoning derailed her in Madrid and Rome. The Czech star was ruthless through six matches 12 months ago, and it took a return to red clay for the former World No.5 to win her first matches of the season after coming back from injury and illness.
A tough draw may help her feel less pressure, and she proved she could take out the best clay courters around to reach the final last year, including Sharapova, Garbiñe Muguruza, and Ana Ivanovic. A healthy and confident Safarova is not one to underestimate, particular for a top seed looking to reach the last eight.
Click here to keep up with WTA Insider’s pre-French Open coverage!
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.
NÜRNBERG, Germany – Kiki Bertens lifted the second WTA title of her career on Saturday, defeating Mariana Duque-Mariño in a one-sided final at the NÜRNBERGER VERSICHERUNGSCUP.
In Friday’s semifinals, Bertens had required a third set tie-break to see off Julia Goerges, but against Duque-Mariño there was no such drama as she wrapped up a 6-2, 6-2 win in little over an hour.
“I think I played really well today – I was serving good and going for my shots. I had really good length to my shots and so she couldn’t do much from the baseline” Bertens said.
There was little to separate the players at the start of the contest, as they traded a couple of service holds, before Bertens hit the front decisively, breaking to 15 as she reeled off the final four games of the set.
Bertens’ path to the title was far from straightforward, beginning last Saturday in qualifying. And it was clear she had no intention of staying any longer on court than was strictly necessary; in the second set she raced into a 4-1 lead before breaking for a fourth and final time to wrap up victory.
Incidentally, Bertens only previous singles title also came as a qualifier, four years ago at the French Open tune-up event in Fès. The Dutchwoman will now turn her attention to Paris, where she meets No.3 seed Angelique Kerber in the first round.
Before then, though, she is planning to savor a bumper weekend. “I will fly to Paris in the morning. My family is here so for sure we will celebrate tonight!”
The afternoon got even better for Bertens a few hours later when she teamed up with Johanna Larsson to defeat Shuko Aoyama and Renata Voracova, 6-3, 6-4, in the doubles final.
“We try to play as many tournaments as possible together, so it’s really fun to always have the same partner,” Bertens said when asked about her long-time partnership with Larsson. “For me it’s also important that we not only have a lot of fun on the court but off the court as well.
“We’re really supporting each other. Like this week she lost first round of singles, but was there with me every match, supporting me, and that’s a great feeling to have in a doubles partner.”
The sweetest #kiss … @kikibertens and Johanna #Larsson pic.twitter.com/3VZUpZMNCx
— Nürnberger Cup (@NuernbergerCup) 21 May 2016
Garbiñe Muguruza
2016 Quick Hits
Week 1 Ranking: No.3
Year-End Ranking: No.7
Season Highlights: Title at Roland Garros, semifinals in Rome and Cincinnati
Best Major Result: Champion (French Open)
2017 Outlook
World No.7 Garbiñe Muguruza’s 2016 season was a study in contrasts.
Following up and down results at the start of the year, the 23-year-old peaked at the right time to stun the world and claim her maiden major at the French Open.
But she didn’t advance past the third round at any other Grand Slam, and didn’t reach a WTA final all year long, with her best results coming in the form of semifinals appearances at Rome and Cincinnati.
The mercurial Spaniard was the first to acknowledge the mental toll of her season’s extreme highs and lows.
“Winning Roland Garros has been the best and worst part of the year,” Muguruza admitted to Marca in October ahead of the WTA Finals. “It might sound strange but it was like a double-edged sword.
“I won Roland Garros, but at other tournaments it was hard for me to play at the same level… I felt more responsibility, more pressure, more eyes on me, more of a feeling that you have to win because it’s what is expected of you.”
Looking ahead to 2017, Muguruza will look to step off the rollercoaster and regain the one aspect missing from her world-beater game: consistency.
“[My objective after winning Roland Garros] is to never believe that at 25 years old you will have achieved everything that you want, because in the end no player reaches their highest level at 22.
“I’ll take my time with everything. And if it doesn’t come next year, well, so it goes. That’s how I try to reassure myself.”
Tenis. Tennis. Tenis. Tennis….¡Trabajando duro! Working hard! https://t.co/JO4k6DixaC pic.twitter.com/HDtiM1la2G
— Garbiñe Muguruza (@GarbiMuguruza) December 9, 2016
No.10 seed Petra Kvitova was two points from a first round upset at the hands of familiar foe Danka Kovinic, but turned the tide to advance to the second round in Paris.