My Performance: Venus Williams
Venus Williams reflects on her performance against Patricia Maria Tig at the Miami Open.
Venus Williams reflects on her performance against Patricia Maria Tig at the Miami Open.
MIAMI, FL, USA – No.3 seed Simona Halep was pushed to the brink in a late night epic against Sam Stosur, needing to come back from a set down and save match point to book her spot into the Miami Open quarterfinals.
Halep books a blockbuster battle against Johanna Konta after emerging victorious in the two-hour-and-ten minute thriller, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.
“It was a tough match, like I expected,” Halep told press after the match. “But the comeback was pretty good, and I’m really happy about that.
“The last comeback like this for me was in 2014, my first match in Doha against Kanepi. Match point down and I came back. I’m happy about this, shows I can still play some tennis.”
3rd Set!!@Simona_Halep saves a match point to force a decider vs Stosur 4-6, 7-5! #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/s103xofKtn
— WTA (@WTA) 28 de marzo de 2017
The Romanian targeted the Aussie’s backhand throughout the early exchanges in the opening set, and was rewarded with an early break. She built up a solid 4-2 lead and looked set to wrap up the opening set, but Stosur had other plans.
Stosur got her heavy topspin forehand going and wreaking havoc on Halep’s game plan, and reeled off four straight games to snatch away the opening set. She went on a tear in the second, recovering from an early break and winning five of the next six games to serve for the match.
She even held a match point, at 5-4 on Halep’s serve, but the Romanian chose that moment to start mounting her epic comeback. A handful of loose errors from Stosur on key moments let Halep back into the set, and she took the next seven games in a row to take the second set and a break lead in the third.
With Stosur flagging and letting her aggression dip slightly, it was Halep who bossed the rallies and dictated play to extend the lead to 4-1. The Aussie didn’t have another comeback left in her, and Halep completed the comeback to move into the Miami quarterfinals.
Comeback Complete✔️@Simona_Halep saves a MATCH POINT to edge Stosur 4-6, 7-5, 6-2! #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/0qeasy9VQ4
— WTA (@WTA) 28 de marzo de 2017
“When I was down, I wasn’t thinking about anything, nothing about the score,” Halep said. “I just wanted to fight. I didn’t give up, and I believed in my chance. I was maybe a little bit lucky because I came back from match point down, but still I fought for this.”
Halep will be rewarded for her efforts with another battle in the next round, this time against Britain’s No.1, Konta.
“It will be tough. She’s in a good form now, she’s near Top 10. And she plays great. It’s going to be a tough one, but here every match is tough so I don’t expect an easy one.
“I have my chance here to try my best and try to win, and of course tomorrow will help me to recover. Then I will go on court with confidence.”
MIAMI, FL, USA – No.2 seed Karolina Pliskova took down an on-form Mirjana Lucic-Baroni to book the first spot into the Miami Open semifinals, notching a 6-2, 6-4 victory after an hour and 12 minutes.
The win sends her into the Miami semifinals for the first time, where she awaits the winner between No.12 seed Caroline Wozniacki and Lucie Safarova.
She also gets her hard-earned revenge on the player who knocked her out of the Australian Open, where she fell 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to the Croatian in the quarterfinals.
.@KaPliskova seals the first set 6-3! #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/QmSdSzhHFj
— WTA (@WTA) March 28, 2017
“I think I played much better here than I was playing [in Melbourne],” Pliskova said in her post-match press conference. “Also, the conditions here are different, and she was playing better tennis there because it was faster. It suited her better in Australia.
“So definitely I was feeling more confident with this match. I had a different game plan today.”
For her part, Lucic-Baroni – who was into her second Miami quarterfinal and the first since the tournament became a Premier Mandatory – made a strong start to the match, which featured lots of short rallies and plenty of first-strike tennis.
Lucic-Baroni’s fearless returning helped her neutralize powerful Pliskova serve during the early exchanges, but she wasn’t able to back it up with her own serves. She hit nine double faults during the opening set – including on set point – and was broken four times to surrender the first set in 28 minutes.
Not a bad way to save break point @KaPliskova! ? #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/drHjF0D8tI
— WTA (@WTA) March 28, 2017
The Croat continued to attack Pliskova’s serve emphatically and was rewarded with the first break of the second set, building up a 4-2 lead as her service game began to click.
But with her serve under fire, Pliskova relied on her other weapons – her big forehand and her improved court movement – and bailed herself out of trouble. The Czech reeled off four games in a row to erase Lucic-Baroni’s lead and close out the match.
“The difference was in the first set,” Lucic-Baroni told WTA Insider afterwards. “I started out great but then I couldn’t find my serve. The more I was making mistakes the worse I was getting.
“I was able to calm down and fix it in the second, but then I just had a lot of bad luck after 4-2. But she played great, a pretty flawless match. It was still pretty close, but it just didn’t go my way today.”
.@KaPliskova is first through to the @MiamiOpen Semifinals!
Skips past Lucic-Baroni 6-3, 6-4! pic.twitter.com/XybPo6IfNJ
— WTA (@WTA) March 28, 2017
With the win Pliskova is through to her fourth semifinal of 2017, and she’ll face either Safarova or Wozniacki for a spot in the final.
“Lucie obviously I know pretty well,” Pliskova assessed. “It will not be something really surprising for me there. I will be really confident coming into this one but it’s Czech against Czech so anything can happen.
“Obviously against Caroline, we played in Doha also, so a little bit different conditions than here. I would expect tough one because I know she has been playing quite good here in last few years.”
An interview with Elina Svitolina after her win in the quarterfinals of the Kremlin Cup.
Jarmila Wolfe has announced that she and her husband are expecting a baby.
The Australian revealed the news on social media.
This is one of my favorite post I could share with y'all! With joy and pride we would love to share that there will be a little Wolfe soon ❤ pic.twitter.com/JNEIpeNSeL
— Jarmila Wolfe (@tennis_jarkag) March 28, 2017
Unsurprisingly, she was immediately deluged with congratulations.
Congratulations Jarka and Adam! We can't wait to meet the little Wolfe ? https://t.co/6cZdpqGDTN
— TennisAustralia (@TennisAustralia) March 29, 2017
Wolfe retired from tennis at the start of 2017.
SINGAPORE – Johanna Konta has been overwhelmingly voted as 2016 WTA Most Improved Player Of The Year.
Konta has enjoyed her best season to date, starting at the Australian Open, where she became the first British woman to reach a Grand Slam semifinal since Jo Durie in 1983. She went on to match Durie in ranking as well as result, finally ending the drought of British women in the Top 10 after reaching the final of the China Open, a Premier Mandatory event.
In between, Konta captured her first WTA title at the Bank of the West Classic, stunning former No.1 and Stanford champion Venus Williams in three scintillating sets. In 10 matches against Top 10 players, Konta won six encounters, and also has a 12-2 record in tie-breaks – the second best on the tour this season.
Her achievements have not gone unnoticed and she received 40 votes, ahead of Monica Puig with five, Kiki Bertens with three and Laura Siegemund with one.
Thank you everyone who voted!!!! https://t.co/jYI9R9pz2s
— Johanna Konta (@JoKonta91) October 21, 2016
WTA Most Improved Player Winners
2016: Johanna Konta
2015: Timea Bacsinszky
2014: Eugenie Bouchard
2013: Simona Halep
2012: Sara Errani
2011: Petra Kvitova
2010: Francesca Schiavone
2009: Yanina Wickmayer
2008: Dinara Safina
2007: Ana Ivanovic
2006: Jelena Jankovic
2005: Ana Ivanovic
Complete listing of the historical WTA Awards.
Angelique Kerber and Simona Halep have been drawn in the same group for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, which starts on Sunday.
The German, who will finish the year as World No.1, is seeded top for the tournament and she has avoided an early meeting with defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska.
Kerber, who is bidding to qualify from the round robin stage of the WTA Finals for the first time, has been drawn in the Red Group, alongside Halep, the winner of three titles in 2016, Dominika Cibulkova, whose late-season from carried her into the tournament and Madison Keys, who has reached a career high of World No.7 this year.
Radwanksa, who defeated Petra Kvitova in last year’s final, leads the White Group, which also features Garbiñe Muguruza, who won her first-ever Grand Slam at the French Open in June. Karolina Pliskova, who was defeated by Kerber in the final of the US Open, is the final known player in the group, with one place yet to be determined.
That spot will be filled by the Brit Johanna Konta unless Svetlana Kuznetsova wins the Kremlin Cup. The Russian plays Elina Svitolina in the semi-final in Moscow later on Friday.
Read: Kerber, Radwanska Lead Red & White Groups In WTA Finals Round Robin Draw
Highlights from the quarterfinal clash between Venus Williams and Angelique Kerber.