Sydney: Bencic vs. Lucic-Baroni
Belinda Bencic takes on Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in the first round of the Apia International Syndey.
Belinda Bencic takes on Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in the first round of the Apia International Syndey.
NANCHANG, China – No.8 seed Han Xinyun avoided an early exit at the Jiangxi Open with a battling win over qualifier Junri Namigata on a sweltering opening day.
Watch live action from Nanchang this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
Success has proved hard to find this summer for Han, who arrived in Nanchang with only one win in her past five tournaments. And it looked like more disappointment was on the cards when Namigata raced through the opening set.
However, Han had other ideas, pinching a tight second set to ensure a tense finale. She continued to sail close to the wind in the decider, coming within a couple of points of defeat before eventually prevailing, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5.
“I’ve been trying to get used to the weather,” Han said. “I didn’t feel in good form in the very beginning and was just trying to hang in there at the end. It wasn’t my best tennis today but I won and now I can look forward to the next round.”
There she will face compatriot Duan Ying-Ying, who eased past Marina Melnikova, 6-2, 6-2. Also advancing was Risa Ozaki, who wisely kept her time on court to a minimum, swatting aside lucky loser Han Na-Lae, 6-3, 6-1. The No.7 seed’s reward is a meeting with Nicha Lertpitaksinchai, after she defeated fellow Thai qualifier Peangtarn Plipuech, 6-2, 6-4.
Watch Venus Williams’ practice session on Day 3 of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
The Australian Open started and ended with Serena Williams, who not only won her seventh Australian Open title and returned to World No.1, but also won her 23rd Grand Slam title – breaking the Open Era record she’d heretofore shared with Stefanie Graf.
“It’s such a great feeling to have 23,” she said after defeating sister Venus Williams in the final. “It really feels great. I’ve been chasing it for a really long time. It feels like a really long time. When it got on my radar, I knew I had an opportunity to get there, and I’m here. I’m here.
“It’s a great feeling. No better place to do it than Melbourne.”
After tying Graf at Wimbledon, No.23 certainly got on her radar and was in imperious form Down Under, winning the title without losing a set through seven matches.
“My first Grand Slam started here, and getting to 23 here, but playing Venus, it’s stuff that legends are made of. I couldn’t have written a better story.
“I just feel like it was the right moment. Everything kind of happened. It hasn’t quite set in yet, but it’s really good.”
The legend lives on for Serena, and it certainly helped her earn her the mantle of January’s WTA Player of the Month!
Final Results for January’s WTA Player Of The Month
1. Serena Williams (46%)
2. Venus Williams (42%)
3. Johanna Konta (8%)
4. Karolina Pliskova (4%)
2016 WTA Player of the Month Winners
January: Angelique Kerber
February: Carla Suárez Navarro
March: Victoria Azarenka
April: Angelique Kerber
May: Garbiñe Muguruza
June: Serena Williams
July: Simona Halep
August: Monica Puig
September: Petra Kvitova
October: Dominika Cibulkova
How it works:
Finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com
Venus Williams’ rise back to the Top 10 last year laid to rest a lot of the big questions surrounding the former World No.1 – except for one.
After her resurgent 2015 season – which saw her claim titles at Auckland, Wuhan and the WTA Elite Trophy at Zhuhai and be named WTA Comeback Player Of The Year – the biggest question now is whether or not the seven-time Grand Slam winner can add an eighth major title to her already impressive career haul.
It’s been a long road for Williams since the last time she won a Grand Slam, at the 2008 Wimbledon Championships. She’s gone from World No.2 to – at her lowest point – No.137, then found her way back to the Top 10. She’s fought through injuries and an energy-zapping chronic illness to end her title drought and reestablish herself at the top of the game – but she’s nowhere near satisfied.
“It’s a great thing to be Top 10 now with the level of the game, but I’m still very hungry. I’m ready for more,” Williams said in Zhuhai. “I’ve had so many experiences in tennis and I still expect a lot from myself. So I’m very happy to be moving forward, but I also want to continue, and not stop here.”
First up for Venus is the Australian Open. Though she’s made the quarterfinals or better in eight of her last 15 attempts, the Happy Slam remains one of the toughest majors for Williams. Her best result, a final, came in 2003.
The Melbourne field will be stacked with younger players gunning for a chance at the top, but Williams has been down this road before. It’s not the first time critics have tried to write her off, and it’s not the first time she’s silenced them, either.
“It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do, everyone is willing to write you off,” Williams said.
“No one thought I would win Wimbledon in 2005 – I was 24 years old, and in sports people always think you’re done. But you’re not done until you say you’re done. I won that title that year, and it meant everything to me.
“I believed in myself.”
Simona Halep was forced to withdraw from her St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy quarterfinal with Natalia Vikhlyantseva, citing a recurrance of the left knee pain suffered in Australia.
An interview with Simona Halep after her win in the quarterfinals of the Apia International Sydney.
Kristina Mladenovic had Saturday’s shot of the day at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
Monica Puig takes on Samantha Stosur in the quarterfinals of the Apia International Sydney.