Tennis News

CHARLESTON, SC, USA – Mirjana Lucic-Baroni took down the hometown favorite Shelby Rogers in three sets to reach the semifinals at the Volvo Car Open.

35-year-old Lucic-Baroni – the oldest player left in the draw – first played in Charleston in 2001, the same year her opponent Rogers was a ball girl at this very tournament. The Croat had never been past the round of 16 on the green clay, but on Friday night she mounted a spirited comeback to oust Rogers from her home tournament, 6-7(7), 6-1, 6-1.

“It was beautiful in a way,” Lucic-Baroni said in her post-match press conference. “It was difficult playing against the crowd, because Shelby is from here. It’s normal. It’s always tough, but I felt they were very respectful. They were cheering for their home girl, and it’s totally normal.

“The wind was what was really difficult today. It was incredibly hard, and the fact that I came out yesterday and today playing some great tennis and winning in these conditions, it’s incredible, really, really good effort.

.@Shelby_Rogers_ saves set point and claims the first set 7-6(7)! #VolvoCarOpen pic.twitter.com/MNRXGG6ySb

— WTA (@WTA) 7 de abril de 2017

Just one point made the difference for Rogers as she took the rollercoaster opening set under blustery conditions – which Lucic-Baroni described as, “I would rather play with a live lion running around in normal conditions than play in today’s weather.”

The Charleston-native leveraged the vocal home support to inspire an early comeback as she found herself down a break with Lucic-Baroni serving for the set at 5-4. She dodged a Lucic-Baroni set point to take it to a tiebreaker, then denied the Croat another one as she edged through to take the opening set.

But the big-hitting Lucic-Baroni refused to fold, and reeled in the errors from her all-or-nothing game to shut out Rogers from the next two sets. She didn’t allow Rogers a single break opportunity as she broke the American five times in a row to snatch a dizzying ten games in a row before claiming the match – and her spot in the semifinals – in two hours and thirteen minutes.

Third Semifinal of 2017!

Lucic-Baroni downs Rogers 6-7(7), 6-1, 6-1 at @VolvoCarOpen! pic.twitter.com/Ir5ELxURsr

— WTA (@WTA) 7 de abril de 2017

“I was just trying to fight for every point,” Rogers reflected in her post-match press conference. “Like it was definitely back and forth. I thought we had a very good level. It was super entertaining; and bad luck, I wish I could have kept it up.

“But a lot of positives to take from that, and you know, moving forward into the clay season, this week’s been great for me, and so many good things to move forward and build on.”

Meanwhile, Lucic-Baroni had nothing but praise for her opponent, lauding her to the adoring Charleston crowd.

“You guys should be so proud of Shelby,” she said. “She’s such a wonderful girl, amazing tennis player with a super bright future and present as well. You should really be proud, she represents [Charleston] beautifully.”

BIEL/BIENNE, Switzerland/BOGOTA, Colombia – The Ladies Open Biel Bienne will make its debut on the WTA circuit this week. The second annual tournament in Switzerland is played on indoor hard-courts. While the Claro Open Colsanitas continues the spring, clay court season. Since it’s upgrade to a WTA-level event in 1998, the Colombian tournament has evolved into one of the most prestigious sporting events in all of Latin America.

1) The Swiss are out with a vengeance.
Three Swiss players are playing in Biel/Bienne this week. Belinda Bencic, former World No.7 was given a wildcard into the tournament, while Rebeka Masarova is back at home after making her debut to the women’s tour at Gstaad in 2016 – beating former World No.1 Jelena Jankovic in the first round. Finally, Viktorija Golubic who went on to win the tile in Gstaad, is also in action.

2) Strycova leads in Swiss field.
Top seed Barbora Strycova will aim to win her second career title in Biel/Bienne after strong results at the Miami Open in singles and doubles. Her last title came in 2011 at the Tournoi de Québec – another indoor hardcourt event. 

3) Babos, Niculescu anchor quarter of contrasts.
There are few match-ups more fun than those that provide a contrast in styles, one of which we may get if No.3 seed Timea Babos and No.8 seed Monica Niculescu advance into the last eight. Niculescu leads their head-to-head 3-2, but Babos won both of their 2016 encounters.

4) Carla Suárez Navarro back on form after injury.
Suárez Navarro looks nearly back to her best after an injury-addled start to 2017, she will come into Biel as the No.2 seed after reaching the quarterfinals in Monterry last week.

5) Vinci gets KrisPlis rematch in Biel/Bienne.
Roberta Vinci was a game away from knocking out Kristyna Pliskova at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships before Karolina’s twin sister stunned the Italian veteran in three sets. The two face off again in the first round in Biel/Bienne, Vinci the No.4 seed.

6) Kiki Bertens will start in Colombia as the No.1 seed.
The Dutchwoman reached her career high in February, cracking the World’s Top 20. She is set to play 20-year-old Nina Stojanovic in the first round.

7) Irina Falconi is back to defend her title in Bogota.
The World No.105 has has struggled with injury since winning her maiden WTA title last spring, but she will be fighting to defend it this week. The American faces Slovenian Dalila Jakupovic in the first round.

8) Errani to face streaking Alexandrova.
Former French Open finalist Sara Errani will begin her red clay swing in earnest down in Bogota, but will first have to get past the on-fire Ekaterina Alexandrova. The young Russian comes to Colombia on the back of 10 straight wins and two ITF titles in China and France.

9) Siniakova aims to bring doubles success to singles court in Bogota.
20-year-old Katerina Siniakova started the season with a singles title in Shenzhen, and has since shown her best tennis on the doubles court with Lucie Hradecka, reaching finals at the BNP Paribas Open and the Volvo Car Open last week. The Czech will aim to rediscover her singles form in Bogota, where she will be the No.2 seed.

10) Can Arruabarrena reclaim her Colombian crown.
Lara Arruabarrena won the Claro Open Colsanitas in 2012, and has shown some improved hardcourt form at the Miami Open, where she upset Madison Keys en route to the fourth round. The No.4 seed in Bogota, she opens against a qualifier.

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia – With the toils and warmth of the Australian summer drifting into the distance, and after a frenetic Fed Cup weekend, the manic month of February on the WTA calendar has begun, with many of the top female stars heading to Russia for the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.

Four of the WTA’s Top 20 took their place in the singles draw this week – Grand Slam winner Ana Ivanovic, Slam finalists Caroline Wozniacki and Roberta Vinci, and top-seeded Belinda Bencic – and three have successfully negotiated their way into the last eight. Let’s analyze the four Friday match-ups which will attempt to wow the home Russian crowd…

[1] Belinda Bencic (SUI #11) vs. [5] Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS #26)
In her first tournament as the No.1 seed, Belinda Bencic certainly struggled early-doors in her opener against Annika Beck. But, as top players do even on an off day, the Swiss battled through in straight sets, 7-6(3), 6-3.

At just 18, Bencic already has 11 victories over Top-10 opponents – most recently over Angelique Kerber in last weekend’s Fed Cup – and now sits on the verge of making that breakthrough into the Top 10 herself. Two more wins this week would propel the Swiss past Carla Suárez Navarro and into the No.10 spot for the first time in her young career.

First though, she’ll have to get past home favorite Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in Friday’s quarterfinals, after the Russian defeated Carina Witthoeft, 6-1, 7-5, in the second round.

Bencic and Pavlyuchenkova have clashed twice before, with the meetings split one apiece. The latter won most recently in Washington in 2015, while Bencic triumphed on the Rome clay in three sets the year before.

Dominika Cibulkova (SVK #66) vs. Daria Kasatkina (RUS #63)
Eighteen-year-old Russian Daria Kasatkina is certainly raising some eyebrows in the tennis world right now, with many billing her as a potential elite player for the next decade.

She’s leaping up the rankings: at the end of 2014, she sat at No.370; by 2015’s close, she had sprung up to No.72. As a lucky loser at the US Open last year, she won through to the third round. Then, in Moscow she came through qualifying to reach the semis.

After scoring her first Top-10 win in Auckland (over Venus Williams), Kasatkina is at it again at home in Russia, storming through to the last eight to face former World No.10 Dominika Cibulkova.

Cibulkova, the 2014 Australian Open finalist, has been the dangerous, unseeded landmine in tournament draws for a year or so now, after her ranking dropped through injury. The Slovakian inflicted another blow on Caroline Wozniacki’s stuttering start to 2016, with a 6-4, 7-5 win on Thursday.

This should be a fascinating match-up between two players of similar ranking but with hugely different experiences on a tennis court to date. Both bring controlled aggression on their groundstrokes so it’ll be intriguing to see who can rein in the errors to gain the upper hand from the baseline.

[Q] Kateryna Kozlova (UKR #177) vs. [3] Ana Ivanovic (SRB #20)
Moving to the draw’s bottom half, 21-year-old World No.177 Kateryna Kozlova is undoubtedly the week’s surprise package thus far. The Ukrainian qualified for the main draw and now finds herself in the quarterfinals after impressive wins over Barbora Strycova and Elena Vesnina.

After loitering around on the ITF circuit for the past few years, she now finds herself up against one of the game’s iconic names. After storming back up the rankings in 2014, Ana Ivanovic had a disappointing year at the showpiece events in 2015; excluding a run to the semis at Roland Garros, she only won one more match at the other three majors combined.

She started well at the Australian Open but endured a difficult third-round contest with Madison Keys, as British coach Nigel Sears collapsed during play and had to be taken to hospital. The Serb was subsequently beaten in three sets by the young American.

But Sears is back in business now and so is his charge, as Ivanovic dealt well with talented Russian Margarita Gasparyan in the second round in St. Petersburg. Ivanovic will likely have too much experience and firepower for the young Ukrainian, as they match-up for the first time on Friday.

Timea Babos (HUN #51) vs. [2] Roberta Vinci (ITA #16)
After that captivating run to the US Open final last year, Roberta Vinci wouldn’t have been thrilled to exit Melbourne in the third round to Germany’s Anna-Lena Friedsam. So the Italian will be looking to have a strong couple of months now to build on the back end of 2015, starting in St. Petersburg.

This is a tussle between two high-quality doubles players, who have actually met in a Grand Slam final, back in 2014 at Wimbledon (where Vinci and Sara Errani defeated Babos and Kristina Mladenovic in straight sets). Both are comfortable playing all over the court, which should produce a match full of variety. Vinci will look to unsettle Babos’ power game though with her slice, as she famously did to Serena Williams in New York.

World No.51 Babos will be at a new career-high ranking whatever happens next week, after a good win over No.9 seed Monica Niculescu in the second round. She had a decent run in Shenzhen before the Australian Open too, reaching the semis.

Vinci leads the head-to-head between them 3-1, winning their last encounter on the Bucharest clay in 2015.

Who’re your picks to make the semifinals?

Join us in St. Petersburg on Friday and watch all four quarterfinals from the inaugural St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy on WTA Live powered by TennisTV.

World No.8 Agnieszka Radwanska knows what it’s like to be a teenage queen.

The Pole won her first WTA title at the age of 18 in 2007, and reached both her first Grand Slam quarterfinal and the world’s top 10 the next season. A decade later, WTA teenagers were in the spotlight on Sunday as Daria Kasatkina defeated Jelena Ostapenko to win the first all-teenaged final at a WTA event since 2009 at the Volvo Car Open.

For Radwanska, who turned professional at the age of 16, game recognizes game.

“Now I know what my opponents must have felt like back then. I have to say, the younger players on tour right now are dangerous,” Radwanska wrote in a Straits Times column this week. “We talk about it among ourselves. ‘The kids are coming!’ I think the new generation of players are just better than earlier in my career. They really play smart. From a young age, they’re already pushing to play tournaments and matches. They’re sacrificing a lot but that means they’re very good when they’re 16 or 17.”

Recognizing that she is now closer to the end of her career than the beginning, the 28-year-old reflected on playing a full schedule over the course of her years on the circuit, and how growing up in tennis has evolved.  

“When I was a junior, I played tournaments and went to school at the same time, and I went step by step. I had a pretty normal life, only unlike my friends I didn’t have much time for myself….I’ve been on tour for so long. I haven’t had any breaks. I’ve had a couple of surgeries but I always had those during the off-season and I’m always ready for the majors. I’ve played 43 Grand Slams in a row.”

She added: “My goal now is to maximize the time I have left on tour, and that means being as efficient as possible in my schedule by making the most of my opportunities.”

In the lead-up to the Oct 22-29 BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, the eight singles players from last year will pen a monthly exclusive column for The Straits Times. The second installment features 2015 champion Agnieszka Radwanska — read it in full here.