Top seed Angelique Kerber begins her Australian Open title defense against Lesia Tsurenko with Garbiñe Muguruza looming in the last eight; which young gun drew No.2 seed Serena Williams?
In today’s SAP Stat Of The Day, Elise Mertens notched a couple of huge career milestones at the Hobart International.
Dominika Cibulkova recalls her best memories from the Australian Open.
A round-up of Tuesday’s first-round action at the Australian Open.
Liang Chen and Yang Zhouxuan take on Chan Yung-Jan and Chan Hao-Ching in the first round of the Australian Open.
MELBOURNE, Australia – Grand Slam champions abound on Day 3 of the Australian Open, with two of 2016’s three major winners – World No.1 Angelique Kerber and French Open champion Garbiñe Muguruza – hoping to advance into the third round in Melbourne. We preview all the day’s matchups right here at wtatennis.com.
Wednesday, Second Round
[13] Venus Williams (USA #17) vs Stefanie Voegele (SUI #112)
Head-to-head: Venus leads, 2-0
Key Stat: Voegele won her first Grand Slam main draw match since the 2015 Australian Open on Monday (d. Kurumi Nara)
The former World No.1 was given all she could handle in a tough first round against Kateryna Kozlova, and was feeling confident after knocking out her younger opponent in straight sets.
“Girl, I don’t know,” she joked with Sam Smith during the on-court interview. “I know how to play tennis.”
She certainly proved that after holding off the Ukrainian youngster, and will try to show more of that level against Voegele, a former World No.42 who is inching closer towards the Top 100 after over two years in the wildnerness.
Venus and Voegele will open play on Rod Laver Arena, and the American will likely look to keep rallies short as the heat could possibly become a factor should the match run long.
[1] Angelique Kerber (GER #1) vs Carina Witthoeft (GER #89)
Head-to-head: Kerber leads, 2-0
Key Stat: Kerber is trying to defend a Grand Slam title for the first time in her career.
Angelique Kerber enjoyed a strong finish to the first match in her Australian Open title defense on Monday, edging past Lesia Tsurenko, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2.
“I was trying just to going for it in the third set, just trying to play my game,” she said in her post-match press conference. “I think that was the key for the match today.”
In the second round she takes on countrywoman Carina Witthoeft, whom she played twice at Wimbledon in the last two years. Their most recent encounter featured a first-set tie-break, the only set in which Witthoeft won more than one game.
Either way, Kerber won’t be taking too much into their next match.
“It’s the second round. I’m not looking too much about my opponents. I think she played a good match here. I know her very well; I think it will be a good match.
“But for me it’s important to go out there playing my match again, not thinking too much about my opponent.”
[7] Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP #7) vs Samantha Crawford (USA #162)
Head-to-head: First meeting
Key Stat: Muguruza shook off injury concerns in her first-round win against Marina Erakovic
The reigning French Open champion may not be at 100%, but has nonetheless channeled those niggling injuries into a glowing start to 2017, reaching the semifinals of the Brisbane International and sweeping aside Marina Erakovic in her first match in Melbourne.
“I was happy to win the first set, and then I just felt a little bit uncomfortable,” she said of her state of mind on Margaret Court Arena. “I just thought, take some precaution because of what happened in Brisbane. I took a medical timeout and became a little bit unfocused on the court. It took me a couple of games to get into the match again.”
Once she did, she didn’t let go, winning the final five games of the match, and blamed typical first-round jitters on compounding her physical concerns.
“I think this match was definitely more mental in certain situations, so I’m pretty pleased. I had to really forget about that and try to bring the best I had there.”
Muguruza next faces young American Samantha Crawford, who burst onto the scene last year when she herself reached the semifinals in Brisbane. Her own injuries have stunted her progress since, but the 2012 US Open junior champion is a clean ballstriker when playing her best.
Around the grounds…
No.11 seed Elina Svitolina opens play on Margaret Court Arena against Julia Boserup, followed by No.8 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova’s second round match against Aussie qualifier Jaimee Fourlis.
Women’s doubles also gets underway on Wednesday, with top seeds Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic taking on Belinda Bencic and Ana Konjuh. Venus and Serena also debut as the No.15, and all four women in the hunt for No.1 are in action, including Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Elena Vesnina, with partners Lucie Safarova and Ekaterina Makarova, respectively.
World No.1 Angelique Kerber survived another second-set hiccup on her 29th birthday to overcome Carina Witthoeft in straight sets at the Australian Open.
EASTBOURNE, England – Dominika Cibulkova capped off a fantastic week on the English seaside by winning her career-first grass court title at the Aegon International Eastbourne, blasting past Nottingham champion Karolina Pliskova 7-5, 6-3.
Watch live action from Eastbourne this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
Cibulkova, who was forced to miss much of the 2015 season after undergoing Achilles surgery, seems to have firmly put her injury woes behind her. The resurgent Slovak was into her fourth final of the year at Eastbourne – including a run to the title in April at the Katowice Open. In fact, she’s tied only with Serena Williams for most finals appearances so far this year.
Things started off a little complicated for the 2014 Australian Open finalist as she went down a break right away. However, the swirling seaside winds wreaked havoc on Pliskova’s normally imperious service games, restoring parity and making for a topsy-turvy first set that saw them trade breaks three times. Cibulkova finally came away with the fourth and decisive break in the final game to take the first set 7-5.
With both players more acclimated to the conditions, the second set was more tightly drawn until Cibulkova clinched the break off a blistering backhand passing shot for a 3-1 lead. She tamped down a late surge from Pliskova to hold serve in a marathon 11-minute game to bring herself to 5-2 and within striking distance of the title.
Watching the ball sail long, Cibulkova could hardly contain her emotions after winning her second WTA title of the year.
POME!
First grass court title for Dominika @Cibulkova!? #AegonInternational https://t.co/US4Bnd6Qlo
— WTA (@WTA) June 25, 2016
“It’s very hard to describe, this has been my best week on grass and it just feels – it just happened and I can’t believe it,” Cibulkova said. “I was playing really well today but the conditions were really hard for me and my opponent. It was a great week for me.
“This is my second time here and I’m gonna come back many more years.”
Despite missing out on the Eastbourne title, Pliskova — who earlier this month won the title at the Aegon Open Nottingham and captured the doubles title at the Aegon Classic Birmingham — can’t complain about her grass court preparations.
“I’m really happy with the way I played this year on grass, with Wimbledon coming so I hope to have better results there,” she said after the match. “I have at least one title and now a final so it’s not that bad.”
With the win, Cibulkova is projected to grab a coveted Top 8 spot on the Road To Singapore Leaderboard, jumping from No.12 to No.7 after Monday’s rankings. She will now be ranked No.18, back into the WTA Top 20 for the first time in almost two years.
Congrats Dominika @Cibulkova!
Lift that #AegonInternational trophy ? https://t.co/aSeg4Wfdh8
— WTA (@WTA) June 25, 2016
Catch up with all of the second-round results from Day 4 of the Australian Open.
LONDON, Great Britain – The 2016 WTA Pre-Wimbledon Party presented by Dubai Duty Free was all about elegance and extravagant outfits and although it was obvious that the WTA stars invested a lot of thought and energy into looking special, some players took things up a notch with attention-grabbing designs that are bound to make history when it comes to fashion at tennis red carpet events. Among them was Heather Watson, who left nothing to chance when it comes to British weather, making sure to have on hand an umbrella matching her dress, so that an unexpected rain wouldn’t ruin her glamorous look.
Our contributor Marija Zivlak of Women’s Tennis Blog got in touch with Brett Mettler, Creative Director at Mettler London and the designer behind Watson’s intriguing olive green latex look.
Dress: @brettmettler ??
Shoes: @SOPHIAWEBSTER
Hair: @alessiomatta ??
Makeup: @Lisa_Benefit ?
Car: @JaguarUK ? pic.twitter.com/VQs4ore2DU— Heather Watson (@HeatherWatson92) June 24, 2016
For the second year in a row you are designing Heather’s WTA Pre-Wimbledon Party dress. How did you two start working together?
I was invited to a party by my brother-in-law Dom Inglot (member of the British Davis Cup team) and I met Heather there. We started chatting and hit it off immediately! She is such a playful and friendly person and we started having fun, talking about style, outfits etc. Inevitably the conversation came around to how we might be able to do something fun and exciting for one of her public appearances and with the 2015 Pre-Wimbledon Party on the horizon, we decided to focus on that.
Can you tell us something about the creative process behind the 2016 WTA Pre-Wimbledon Party dress design?
With the 2015 blue and pink chiffon dress, Heather wanted something playful, light and with a lot of movement to it. That was the starting point for the concept. This year’s dress, she wanted something really different. She wanted something a little more risqué and edgy but still very playful.
A lot of my own experience lies in using latex in a high fashion way, trying to bring it to a different audience through light and fun colors, cuts and formats. It seemed a great overlap for us to explore, so I started coming up with some latex concepts and we worked through a few iterations to make sure that it was something Heather could get excited about.
Are there some elements of the outfit that are Heather’s input?
Absolutely. As with anything I do for clients, I wanted the dress to reflect her personality and accentuate her best assets. Heather is such a complete package in terms of beauty; it is quite a tricky thing to know where to start from! But last year’s dress really let her legs do their thing because they are so lean and long and so we knew that this year, we would do the same. Sophia Webster’s shoes are so sensational that we wanted to give them their room to shine as well.
Heather was also keen to make sure that we changed the color palette, but of course it had to work with her striking skin tone. We felt the olive color really did that well. Finally, Heather really wanted something that drew attention to her back and shoulders, so the design features around those areas were there to draw attention.
Whose idea was to include an umbrella in the look?
That was all Heather! It was genius! She knew the color the dress would be, so she found an umbrella that obviously went with the whole get up, but it perfectly captured her playful character. She had been getting fed up with rain delays over the previous week or so, and it was raining on the day, so instead of letting it get her down, she decided to have fun with it.
I think it was the perfect accessory and I think everyone at the Party really got into it. To be honest, I wish it had been my idea!
Did you expect that the outfit would turn out to be one of the biggest fashion hits at the WTA Pre-Wimbledon Party?
You never really know to be honest. You always hope, but we knew that this year, going out in latex was always going to be a point of conversation. It was either going to push the envelope, or push the envelope too far. I think we got it just right: unique and cheeky, but playful and elegant. I am glad that it got such huge and positive interest and of course I need to thank Heather for being such a wonderful character and model and also for being bold enough to go for the concept.
You completed postgraduate studies at London College of Fashion. How have you become a Latex Specialist?
My BA in Fashion Womenswear was at Central St. Martins and my final collection there in 2011 included latex. I got into latex before them, around 2008, through some friends who modelled in it. I thought it was such a striking material but one that by and large had a poor reputation with very few designers exploring all its possibilities. I also wanted to really see how latex could be incorporated with non-latex materials to create more exciting outfits and looks.
Since 2008 I have worked with some of the biggest names in latex and took that to my stints at Alexander McQueen and Gareth Pugh, and I am really excited generally to see how else I can bring it to a new audience. It really does makes you feel sexy though, so I recommend everyone have at least one signature latex piece in their closet: that pair of leggings or jacket that sets a look off!
Have you and Heather already discussed some looks for future red carpet appearances?
Of course, but you will have to wait for the next red or purple carpet to see what we’ve cooked up!
– Photos courtesy of Getty Images