Tennis News

Elina Svitolina posted back-to-back wins over Angelique Kerber and Caroline Wozniacki to claim the title at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships – and leap up to the No.2 spot on the Road To Singapore leaderboard.

The Ukrainian – who also broke the Top 10 with her win in the final – is in the middle of a 12-match winning streak and shows no signs of slowing down.

“When I go on court, and everything I just leave behind,” Svitolina told WTA Insider after the win. “For me it’s very important to be mentally there – don’t think, don’t let bad thoughts do bad things with my game.

“If I had lost somewhere, I would feel it. Like, ‘Come on, you did something good!’ Now I’m winning and winning and I want more and more.”

Another player to record a big RTS move is World No.2 Angelique Kerber. Her run to the Dubai semifinal puts her back on track for a return to the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, and she sits right on the Top 8 bubble at No.9. Meanwhile, Caroline Wozniacki’s back-to-back finals at Doha and Dubai put her inside the Top 8 at No.5. 

Here are the biggest moves on the Road To Singapore leaderboard this week:
Elina Svitolina +7 (No.9 to No.2)
Caroline Wozniacki +4 (No.9 to No.5)
Angelique Kerber +15 (No.24 to No.9)
Garbiñe Muguruza -3 (No.7 to No.10)
Dominika Cibulkova -3 (No.11 to No.8)

 Click here to check out the full Road to Singapore leaderboard, updated as of February 27th.

Vera Zvonareva broke her social media silence to make a big announcement – a couple of big announcements, actually. The former WTA World No.2 has been busy in her year away from the tennis courts.

Zvonareva announced via her Instagram that she’d recently tied the knot and became a mother.

But that’s not all: Zvonareva had a few more announcements in store for her fans, including a return to tennis (of sorts). She’s set to join the Eurosport team and take on a commentating role during this year’s US Open.

Congratulations Vera!

February was defined by four breakthrough players who brought some impressive performances on and off the court. Which one soared the highest?

Have a look at the nominees for February’s Breakthrough of the Month and cast your vote before Thursday at 11:59pm ET! The winner will be announced Friday, March 10.

February 2017 WTA Breakthrough of the Month Finalists:

Elina Svitolina: Svitolina surged up the rankings and into the upper echelons of the women’s game in February, debuting in the Top 10 and winning the biggest title of her career at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. Along the way, she also won the Taiwan Open and amassed a 13-match winning streak, one that’s yet to be broken heading into the BNP Paribas Open.

Kristina Mladenovic: The Frenchwoman took home her first career title on one of the game’s biggest stages, surviving Yulia Putintseva to win a Premier title at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy. Mladenovic capped off the month with a win over Karolina Pliskova and another run to a WTA final at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel.

CiCi Bellis: The young American made waves in Dubai, stunning former World No.2 Agnieszka Radwanska to become the youngest quarterfinalist at the Premier 5 event since Lina Krasnoroutskaya in 2001.

Ashleigh Barty: Barty continued her impressive comeback by winning the singles and doubles titles at the Ayla WTA Malaysian Open; the former was her first career singles title and helped her make her Top 100 debut on Monday’s rankings.

2017 Winners:

January: CoCo Vandeweghe

How it works:

Finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com