Arruabarrena Dodges Opening Scare In Bogota – Day 1 Roundup
2012 champion Lara Arruabarrena was taken to three sets by a determined Swiss qualifier in her first match at the Claro Open Colsanitas, but turned it around to move on in Bogota.
2012 champion Lara Arruabarrena was taken to three sets by a determined Swiss qualifier in her first match at the Claro Open Colsanitas, but turned it around to move on in Bogota.
Top seed Barbora Strycova edged past former junior prodigy Marie Bouzkova in three sets to reach the second round of the Ladies Open Biel Bienne.
Barbora Strycova takes on Julia Goerges in the quarterfinals of the Ladies Open Biel Bienne.
BIEL/BIENNE, Switzerland – Marketa Vondrousova’s fairytale week continued at the Ladies Open Biel Bienne; the qualifier roared back from a first set deficit to surprise countrywoman and top seed Barbora Strycova, 7-6(3), 6-2 and book her first WTA final appearance alongside Estonian youngster Anett Kontaveit. Kontaveit triumphed in a 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 thriller against Aliaksandra Sasnovich earlier in the day.
A week after teenagers Daria Kasatkina and Jelena Ostapenko fought for the Volvo Car Open title, the WTA field continued to serve youth in Biel/Bienne, with 23 as the average age of the semifinalists – and that’s including 31-year-old Strycova.
Defense to offense from Vondrousova!
Back on serve #WTABiel pic.twitter.com/Iq1uDQk3R7
— WTA (@WTA) April 15, 2017
Vondrousova, who reached two Slam semifinals and won two major doubles titles as a junior, was playing her first tour-level semifinal, and that experience showed early as the World No.18 raced out to a 5-2 lead, later holding a set point in the 12th game of the opener.
The teenager gamely saved it behind a booming lefty serve and saved her best tennis for the ensuing tie-break, striking a screaming winner to clinch it.
First set ? Marketa Vondrousova
Saves a set point to surprise Strycova 7-6(3)! #WTABiel pic.twitter.com/7wJHPy2X8i
— WTA (@WTA) April 15, 2017
Strycova struggled to counter her fellow Czech’s aggressive game on the indoor hardcourts as Vondrousova took a 5-2 lead of her own in the second, breaking serve for the fourth and final time to advance into the biggest final of her career.
17 year old qualifier Marketa Vondrousova reaches FIRST #WTA Final!
Stuns Strycova 7-6(3), 6-2 @WTABielBienne! pic.twitter.com/YKFgxhkRIC
— WTA (@WTA) April 15, 2017
In all, the qualifier played a clean match, striking 22 winners to 13 unforced errors; Strycova’s own 13 winners were undone by 20 unforced errors.
Anett Kontaveit and Aliaksandra Sasnovich open @WTABielBienne Semifinals! pic.twitter.com/PAfhqglB2r
— WTA (@WTA) April 15, 2017
Awaiting Vondrousova in the final is another former junior prodigy in Kontaveit, who reached the US Open girl’s singles final back in 2012 and outlasted Sasnovich to start Semifinal Saturday.
“I feel really good, and really happy to be in my first final,” she said after the match.
Back in the Top 100 after reaching the third round of the Miami Open, the unseeded Estonian battled through a high-quality encounter with Sasnovich, who was playing her first WTA semifinal since 2015.
Anett Kontaveit takes a close opening set vs Sasnovich 6-4! #WTABiel pic.twitter.com/KuezLGrvmB
— WTA (@WTA) April 15, 2017
“I was down a break twice in the third set, but I tried to stay in there even though she was playing really well. I was just trying to stay with her do what I always do: fight and not give up.
“Mentally, I toughed it out.”
Hitting 26 winners to the Belarusian’s 29, Kontaveit’s consistency won the day, hitting 17 unforced errors against Sasnovich’s 29, and won four more points (114 to 110) by match’s end, converting her WTA final on her fourth match point after two hours and 24 minutes on court.
Drop shot Anett Kontaveit! ? #WTABiel pic.twitter.com/XzM7w5UjLP
— WTA (@WTA) April 15, 2017
It will be Kontaveit’s first meeting with Vondrousova, and knows to expect another tough match if she hopes to hoist her first WTA trophy.
“She’s had really good wins, and it looks like she’s playing well this week.”
First #WTA Final!
Anett Kontaveit battles past Sasnovich 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 at @WTABielBienne! pic.twitter.com/WkGZC8LdNr
— WTA (@WTA) April 15, 2017
More to come…
Before winning the inaugural Ladies Open Biel Bienne, Hsieh Su-Wei and Monica Niculescu went head-to-head on an egg hunt. Check out who won right here on wtatennis.com!
PARIS, France – Defending champion Serena Williams outlasted an inspired Kristina Mladenovic and weathered a two and a half hour rain delay to advance to the second week of Roland Garros, 6-4, 7-6(10).
After breezing through her first two matches here in less than one hour each, Williams faced her first big test of the tournament against French No.1 Mladenovic, who relishes playing on big stages in her country. In fact, of Mladenovic’s five career Top 10 wins, four have come here in Paris with two of those taking place right here in Roland Garros.
Mladenovic seemed comfortable as ever on Philippe Chatrier, the biggest stage of all, though ahead of the match she admitted to feeling the mixed emotions many players experience when playing against the World No.1.
“I have to take it very positively,” she said in her press conference. “This is an experience, something to do, it’s a dream. I grew up watching Serena play. Then I’m going to play against her.
“I’m extremely happy because this is a challenge. Well, this being said, it’s going to be very difficult.”
Mladenovic and Williams kept pace during a tense first set, which saw Williams brush away all four of Mladenovic’s break point chances while letting slip away two of her own. Mladenovic’s sneaky drop shots caught Williams wrong-footed on more than one occasion, and made for some spectacular rallies during the course of the contest.
(Very Very) Hot Shot de Kristina Mladenovic contre Serena Williams ! ??? #RG16 https://t.co/r8ZLJJ1IFd
— Roland Garros (@rolandgarros) May 28, 2016
But Williams turned up the heat when it counted. A drawn out battle at 4-4 saw Mladenovic bring up three break points, but the American blasted back to back aces to deny her. A lone break in the final game gave Williams the first set after almost an hour.
In the second set, Williams continued to keep the pressure on the Frenchwoman’s serve: Williams made her have to come back from 0-40 down to hold serve at 2-2, and then again in her next service game.
A Mladenovic ace sent the match into a tiebreak right as the rain, which had been threatening all match long, finally broke into a downpour.
Two and a half hours of rain delay later, the players were back on the court for the decisive battle. Mladenovic quickly built up a 3-0 lead, but it was short-lived as Williams broke back and rattled off four straight points to bring up her first of five match points.
Mladenovic rallied valiantly, saving match point after match point – including one with a gutsy drop shot, her go-to weapon in this match – but the World No.1 wouldn’t be denied a fifth time, and Williams took the match after a two-hour and thirteen minute thriller.
“I just made it a point to play my game,” Williams said of the tiebreak. “Up until that point I had not been playing my game. I was playing really defensive. It’s not me.
“So I just wanted to be Serena out there.”
Huge celebration from @serenawilliams. How much do you think that win meant to her? #RG16 #InsideRG pic.twitter.com/cIl9hKxiLm
— Roland Garros (@rolandgarros) May 28, 2016
The stats reveal just how evenly matched Mladenovic and Williams were throughout the match: both players hit three aces and struck 27 winners, though Williams hit 31 unforced errors to Mladenovic’s 35. The difference makers proved to be Mladenovic’s vulnerable serve – she hit seven double faults in total – and Williams’ dominance at the net, winning 15 of 25 net points.
“I think she played well,” Williams said afterwards. “I feel like I made a tremendous amount of errors. But, you know, I feel like she kind of forced me to. She forced me to go for it.”
With the win, Williams brings up a fourth round match against Elina Svitolina, who earlier in the day defeated former champion Ana Ivanovic.
The first quarter of 2017 is in the books, and before the WTA tour turns to the European red clay, it’s time to take one last look back at the Top 5 moments that have shaped the season thus far.
The No.1 moment on our countdown is a record-breaking achievement that went down in tennis history…
Serena Cements Her Place In Tennis History: There was one word that dominated the tennis headlines in January: “history.” It’s what was on the line at the Australian Open final when Serena Williams and Venus Williams took to the court for the first all-Williams final in Melbourne in 14 years.
And 81 minutes later, Serena took home the title – without dropping a set or even facing a tiebreaker during the entire tournament – and rewrote the history books with an Open Era record 23rd Grand Slam title.
SHE’S DONE IT! No. 23@serenawilliams is your #AusOpen 2017 women’s singles champion. ? pic.twitter.com/LC6fpWi3Ik
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 28, 2017
“It’s such a great feeling to have 23,” Serena said after the match. “I’ve been chasing it for a really long time. When it got on my radar, I knew I had an opportunity to get there, and I’m here. I’m here.
“It’s a great feeling, and no better place to do it than Melbourne. My first Grand Slam started here, and getting to 23 here, but playing Venus, it’s stuff that legends are made of. I couldn’t have written a better story.”
Not only was the win Serena’s 216th at Grand Slam tournaments, improving on her already-record total, but it also restored her place at the top of the WTA rankings, returning to World No.1 for the first time since the 2016 US Open.
Her season would come to a halt after the Australian Open, though. Serena withdrew from Indian Wells and Miami before announcing earlier this week that she was expecting her first child in the fall.
But Serena stands alone on our countdown – much like she does in tennis history – and her record-breaking feat at the Australian Open is the No.1 moment of the 2017 season to date.
The Top 5 Moments That Marked 2017 So Far:
5) The Future Is Now: Teen Titans Crash WTA Party: Kasatkina, Vondrousova Take Titles To Start 2017
4) Slow & Steady Wins The Race: Wozniacki & Svitolina’s Hot Streaks Lighting Up 2017
3) Veterans Victorious: Venus & Lucic-Baroni Loom Large To Start 2017
2) Sunshine Sweeps: Vesnina & Konta Capture Career-Best Titles To Start 2017
1) Serena, Unparalleled: Serena Makes History With 23rd Grand Slam Title To Start 2017
STUTTGART, Germany – The European clay season begins in earnest this week as hometown favorite Angelique Kerber leads the WTA into the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart. The two-time champion tops a draw that houses a host of elite players and threats on the dirt, as players look to get off on the right foot on the road to Roland Garros.
Check out 10 things to know ahead of Germany’s Premier red-clay event.
1) Star-studded sightings in Stuttgart.
Eight of the WTA’s top 10 are competing this week. Defending champion Angelique Kerber is the event’s top seed, as one of three former champions in the main draw.
2) Top seed, but not No.1 (for now).
Though Kerber will drop to World No.2 in the rankings on Monday, the German has a chance to reclaim the top spot in the WTA rankings should she reach the semifinals this week.
3) Good things come in threes.
Kerber could be the fourth player to three-peat in the history of the tournament, dating back to when Tracy Austin and Martina Navratilova did it at the event’s beginnings in Filderstadt. Maria Sharapova also won three straight tiles from 2012-14.
4) Siegemund sneaks in.
Last year’s runner-up Laura Siegemund earned the final wildcard to this year’s tournament at the 11th hour – the World No.37 was tabbed as the final entrant prior to Saturday morning’s draw.
5) Sharapova says hello.
The aforementioned three-time Stuttgart champion Maria Sharapova returns to the WTA this week.
6) An epic rematch first up.
Though both are unseeded, the first round match between Kristina Mladenovic and Mirjana Lucic-Baroni promises to have fireworks. The two have met already on clay this season, as the Croat took a marathon 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(13) victory in Charleston earlier this spring.
7) Game, set, match – for the first time.
Two of the event’s top 8 seeds will be looking to break a losing spell in Stuttgart this week. The No.6 seed and a wildcard in the event, Johanna Konta is 0-2 in her career at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, while No.3 seed Dominika Cibulkova has fallen in the first round in each of her four appearances.
8) Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back.
Several WTA stars will be returning to Stuttgart for the first time in a while this week, as Cibulkova makes her first appearance in the tournament since 2012, while Mirjana Lucic-Baroni plays the event for the first time in three years. Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova plays just her second Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, having fallen in the first round in 2011, and her first-round foe, 2010 runner-up Samantha Stosur appears for the first time since 2013.
9) Compatriots to do battle to commence play.
Two first-round matches will see countrywomen face off, as Elena Vesnina will play Daria Kasatkina — and the winner of the all-Russian showdown will face either Garbiñe Muguruza or Carla Suárez Navarro, who face each other in an all-Spanish clash.
10) Show your colors, then head to Stuttgart.
Nine players who will feature in the main draw are also donning their country’s colors this weekend – Kerber, Vesnina, Kasatkina, Siegemund, Johanna Konta, Simona Halep and CoCo Vandeweghe.
WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen | Follow along with the French Open final between Serena Williams and Garbiñe Muguruza live on wtatennis.com!
With the 2016 French Open officially in the books, the WTA Insider team looked back at the entertaining final that saw new World No.2 Garbiñe Muguruza stun 21-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams for her first major title, and look ahead to the grass court season and all the intriguing storylines that abound heading into Wimbledon.
Can Muguruza replicate last year’s run to the final at the All England Club and avoid the dreaded post-major slump? Will Serena capture the elusive and record-tying 22nd Grand Slam title at her favorite major tournament? How will Victoria Azarenka recover from her injury-addled spring? Can Timea Bacsinszky and Simona Halep turn around disappointing Roland Garros compaigns into grass court success?
All this and more on the latest episode of the WTA Insider Podcast:
Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or on any podcast app of your choice and reviews are always helpful, so if you like what you’ve heard so far, leave us one. You can also get new episode alerts by following us on Twitter @WTA_Insider.