Miami: Hradecka vs. Bouchard
Lucie Hradecka takes on Eugenie Bouchard in the first round of the Miami Open.
Lucie Hradecka takes on Eugenie Bouchard in the first round of the Miami Open.
Elina Svitolina roared into the Top 8 of the Road to Singapore leaderboard thanks to her victory in the Taiwan Open.
Cruising to the title, the top seed beat Peng Shuai, 6-3 6-2 in Sunday’s final in Taipei City. The success moves her up from No.17 all the way up to No.8.
“I’m No.13 in the world,” she said after the final. “So you expect players higher in the rankings to be able to raise their level in tight situations. It happened today at a good moment.”
Should Svitolina maintain this current form, the youngster could find herself making her debut at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. The Ukrainian barely missed out on a spot among the Greatest Eight last year, but made up for the disappointment by reaching the final in her first appearance at the Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai.
Over in Russia, Kristina Mladenovic’s stunning success in the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy has seen her rise 339 places to No.13 in the Road to Singapore.
The 23-year-old was awarded 470 ranking points for her thrilling 6-2 6-7(3) 6-3 win over Yulia Putintseva on Sunday, her first WTA title secured in her fourth final. Her defeated opponent moved into the Top 20 – up to 18th from 64th.
“The wait was definitely worth it,” said Mladenovic after her win. “To clinch my first WTA final here, especially at a Premier event, I feel really happy right now.”
Click here to check out the full Road to Singapore leaderboard.
An interview with Simona Halep after her second round win at the Miami Open.
Kristina Mladenovic talks about winning her maiden WTA title at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
Agnieszka Radwanska takes on Alizé Cornet in the second round of the Miami Open.
Eight-time Miami Open champion Serena Williams will headline a stacked field in South Florida this year, including Angelique Kerber and Karolina Pliskova, a host of former champions and the entire Top 10.
An interview with Elena Vesnina after her second round win at the Miami Open.
Great Britain open their Fed Cup campaign this week in Estonia – and Johanna Konta says they won’t be underestimating anyone as they look to progress from the Europe/Africa zone.
TALLINN, Estonia – Johanna Konta fought back from set a down to seal Great Britain’s place in the Fed Cup promotion play-off on Saturday.
The World No.10 and Heather Watson helped the British team beat Portugal 3-0 on Wednesday and Latvia by the same score on Thursday before facing Turkey in the final Pool C match today.
Watson, the World No.72, comfortably overcame Ipek Soylu 6-0 6-1 in the opener but says the match was deceptively hard.
“The score was 6-0 6-1, but it felt a lot closer than that in the games and she’s a good player but today I just felt that I was pretty flawless,” she explained after the match.
High ?! @HeatherWatson92 celebrates her brilliant win over Turkey in the @FedCup #BackTheBrits ????? pic.twitter.com/Q45lpUi0m9
— British Tennis (@BritishTennis) February 10, 2017
Konta was made to work harder for her success. After taking a 5-3 lead in the first set against Cagla Buyukakcay, Konta lost four straight games to hand the World No.86 the opening set.
But the 25-year-old raised her game after that setback to close out a 5-7 6-4 6-3 win and victory in the tie ahead of the final doubles match.
“I’m just really happy to come through that,” she said. “It wasn’t easy and she definitely played herself into the match and to give us the opportunity to go into the play-off tomorrow, I’m very happy for us and the team.”
? fight back complete! @JoKonta91 battles past Buyukakcay 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 to keep the 100% record going #BackTheBrits ?? pic.twitter.com/Df1g6uSzzA
— British Tennis (@BritishTennis) February 10, 2017
Britain will face either face Hungary or Croatia for the prize of a World Group II play-off in April.
TALLINN, Estonia – Great Britain are through to the Fed Cup World Group II play-offs after a nerve-wracking tie against Croatia, with Heather Watson and Johanna Konta emerging victorious in the deciding doubles rubber.
“I’m absolutely ecstatic,” team captain Anne Keothavong told the LTA after the tie. “It’s been a real emotional rollercoaster, but the way the girls performed today and throughout the whole week, I’m just so proud of them.
“It wasn’t easy today against Croatia with it coming down to the deciding doubles. It was so tight, everyone was on the edge of their seats. But they fought their hearts out and played with so much passion out there. I’m so proud of them.”
Watson, who didn’t drop a set all week long against Turkey, Latvia and Portugal, kept her streak intact against Croatia as well, sweeping past Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-4 in the hour-and-20-minute opener.
But with Great Britain one win away from clinching the tie, 19-year-old Ana Konjuh stunned World No.10 Konta to keep Croatia alive, 6-4, 6-3.
A last-minute team change by team captain Keothavong had Watson and Konta back out on court for the deciding doubles rubber, replacing the undefeated Jocelyn Rae and Laura Robson against Konjuh and Darija Jurak.
Konjuh and Jurak took the opening set in just 26 minutes against to earn a lead against the British pair, but they rallied back to a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory to book Britain’s spot in April’s World Group II play-offs.
“It’s safe to say we are all very happy,” Watson said to the LTA, grinning with her teammates afterwards. “That was really tough, all of our matches today were. Croatia are a strong country, and I think we all played great tennis all the way from start to finish.”
Konta added, “It was tough going back out after having lost my singles rubber, but having all the girls supporting me – Laura and Jocelyn, they made a lot of noise courtside – it helped.
“And we can’t forget all those other ties before this one. The fact that we were able to win our group undefeated, that’s a massive achievement for us.”
SQUAD. So proud to be a part of this team! Playoffs here we come ???? pic.twitter.com/LS05qz8yXm
— Laura Robson (@laurarobson5) 11 de febrero de 2017
More to follow…