Kerber Cruises Past Radwanska, Into First Career Championship Match At WTA Finals
World No.1 Angelique Kerber eased into her first WTA Finals championship match, knocking out defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska
World No.1 Angelique Kerber eased into her first WTA Finals championship match, knocking out defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska
Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina take on Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza in the semifinals of the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
Angelique Kerber moved confidently into the Wimbledon quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Misaki Doi on Monday.
SINGAPORE – Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova were in high spirits as they reflected on their win over Lucie Safarova and Bethanie Mattek-Sands, which made them the doubles champions at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
“We were coming here so motivated to have this trophy,” Makarova admitted in their post-match press conference. “We came so early, because two years ago we came quite late – we had just two days for practice.”
“Not enough,” Vesnina interjected.
“Yeah, we came one week before [this year’s tournament began], and were ready, and really wanted this trophy,” Makarova continued. “We’re so happy that we did it today.”
They were quick to pay tribute to their vanquished opponents, and the role they played in making the match such a special occasion.
“We [have] always had tough matches against Lucie and Bethanie,” Vesnina said. “We know that it has to be [a] good match from us and we have to… up our level of the game, because otherwise we won’t beat them. It was really good quality tennis today in the final.”
Vesnina and Makarova’s win meant that Sania Mirza finishes the year as Doubles World No.1. The champions wondered whether she might want to thank them for their part in her ranking – or whether she was still smarting from her semifinal loss.
“Congrats to Sania, by the way,” Vesnina said with a smile. “She should give us some gift, I think. We still beat her in the semifinal so she’s upset.”
The new champions were also keen to talk about why they think their partnership works – despite the two players being polar opposites.
“We are different a little bit, but I think that [the partnership] is working because we are different,” Makarova suggested. “Yeah, I’m more quiet and Lena is more –
“I’m talking all the time!” interrupted Vesnina, and her partner agreed. “She’s lefty; I’m a right-hander. Left-handed people, you know that they’re thinking with a different part of the brain and I’m thinking with a different [part of mine]. So that’s why we’re different, but we are still together.”
“Yes – but we are still good to each other,” Makarova added.
Unsurprisingly, the pair are planning a break between Christmas and New Year – but are expecting that they will reunite in January to begin their 2017 campaign.
“For sure we will play Australian Open together, yeah; maybe the tournament before,” Makarova confirmed.
“Now we want to enjoy this moment. We want to have a holiday. She goes to Zhuhai, so her season is not finished yet. We wish you will all big good luck there -same way as here.
“Then definitely, yeah, we will be ready for Australia.”
No.5 seed Simona Halep overcame defeat in a tense first set tie-break to end No.9 seed Madison Keys’ eight match winning streak on grass to reach the last eight at Wimbledon.
WTA Insider | In the WTA Finals championship match Live Blog, Dominika Cibulkova upsets World No.1 Angelique Kerber in straight sets.
SINGAPORE – Dominika Cibulkova has climbed to a career-high ranking of World No.5 after stunning Angelique Kerber, 6-3, 6-4, to win the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
The Slovakian began the tournament as World No.8 and looked set to make an early exit when she lost her first two round robin matches.
However, after beating Simona Halep to reach the semifinals, she recorded a victory over Svetlana Kuznetsova before upsetting the Australian Open and US Open champion to claim the title.
The win moves her up to fifth, leapfrogging Karolina Pliskova, Garbiñe Muguruza and Madison Keys, who were all eliminated at the round-robin phase.
Had Cibulkova won her first two round-robin matches, she would be just over 100 points behind Simona Halep, who remains as World No.4.
Kerber secured her status as year-end World No.1 thanks to Serena Williams’ withdrawal from the tournament and received her award in Singapore.
Meanwhile, in the doubles rankings, Sania Mirza hangs on to top spot despite her and Martina Hingis’ semifinal exit in Singapore.
Had Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic or Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova won the tournament, the Indian’s 81-week reign as No.1 would have ended, but Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina’s triumph means she holds on to secure the 2016 WTA Year-End World No.1 Doubles Ranking, presented by Dubai Duty Free. Garcia is just 225 points behind her.
.@MirzaSania secures #WTA Year-End Doubles World No.1 presented by #DubaiDutyFree! pic.twitter.com/rCCtVtAIFB
— WTA (@WTA) October 30, 2016
LONDON, England – Tuesday afternoon at the All England Club saw the WTA’s finest take center stage. The on-court entertainment did not disappoint, and neither did the press conferences afterwards.
Serena Williams downplays her peerless serve…
“My serve is usually really good. I don’t know how it came about, though. Like, I’m not as tall as all the other players. So it’s strange that I have such a strong, hard serve.
“But I have to say what I think really is my game is my mental toughness because just not only to be able to play, to win, but to be able to come back when I’m down. Both on the court and after tough losses, just to continue to come back and continue to fight, it’s something that takes a lot of tenacity.”
Elena Vesnina on hatching a plan to topple the World No.1…
“First of all, you need to be consistent with Serena. You don’t need to give her a lot of free points. You have to be very, very strong mentally, and, as I said, put pressure on her on the baseline, to show her you can actually beat her.
“I was watching her final against Angelique in Australian Open on the court. It was great atmosphere over there. I saw how Angelique, she was sticking into her game from the first till the last. She was not giving up. Yeah, maybe Serena didn’t play her best tennis, and that was the key, and Angelique used her chances on that moment. Maybe that’s going to be the key for me as well.”
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova reflects on her first quarterfinal at Wimbledon…
“I’ve always been saying that I’ve never liked grass and I’ve always been quite negative in terms of grass and playing at Wimbledon. But I think right now I’ll change my mind!”
Venus Williams on her journey back to a Grand Slam semifinal…
“The road was six years. They go by fast, thankfully. But I’ve been blessed. Been really blessed to have an opportunity to be here, had an opportunity in the past to do this. And I don’t have any regrets about anything that has taken place in between. It’s been a journey, but it’s something I’ve had to do and it’s made me stronger.
“The good part is I’ve always felt like I had the game. So this is always a plus when you know you have the game. So you just have to keep working until things fall into place. It’s never a given, everyone plays well. I mean today, she played so well and there were so many times where we were just dead even it felt like. It’s never a given. She could have easily won that match as well. So just grateful.”
Angelique Kerber on her recreating her Melbourne magic…
“When I arrived in Paris, I was feeling much more pressure. I did it actually by myself, to put a lot of pressure on me. Also, I was not handling all the off court things so well. It was too much of everything, I think.
“When I arrived here, I was telling myself, just like in Australia, Just be relaxed, playing round by round, not making things actually too much complicated, not putting pressure on myself.
So that was actually what I changed, what I learn also from Paris. Just being also focusing on the tennis thing, on my practice, being more relaxed.”
Carolina Garcia takes on Samantha Stosur in the group stage of the Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy
Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova dashed Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza’s hopes of defending their Wimbledon doubles title with a dominant quarterfinal win on Thursday.