Tennis News

Naomi Osaka reached the first WTA final of her career Saturday in Tokyo at the Toray Pan Pacific Open thanks to an improved performance in longer rallies later in her 1-6 6-3 6-2 win over Elina Svitolina.

Svitolina surrendered just one game in the opening set of the Toray PPO Tennis semifinal, breaking Osaka twice. SAP Coaches View shows that Osaka won 36% of 3-6 shot rallies, and just 33% of rallies longer than 6 shots in that first set.

In the decisive third set, Osaka did significantly better on those longer rallies. She won 52% of the medium rallies, lasting 3-6 shots.

Osaka showed even more improvement on the longest rallies, winning 71% of the points lasting longer than 6 shots. That’s a vast improvement over her 33% in the first set.

The powerful Osaka also did well on the shortest points of the match, firing seven aces. She has hit a tournament-best 25 aces this week.

The SAP Coaches View combines scoring information direct from the chair umpire with tracking data from HawkEye to allow for an in depth look at five different aspects of a match. Each tracking option can be filtered to narrow the focus to specific situations within a match, such as break points. This information is available directly to coaches in real-time during a match on their SAP tablet and also available to them online after matches.

“Rally hit to” tracking shows where each shot during a rally lands on the opponent’s side of the court. The display, which also shows rally length, differentiates between forehands and backhands. This data can be filtered by a particular score or to only show winners, unforced errors, service returns, the last shot of a rally or the third shot (first rally ball hit by the server).

These tools show that Osaka’s improvement on longer rallies was key to her advancing for a WTA final for the first time.

WUHAN, China – Johanna Konta defeated Carla Suárez Navarro in the third round the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open, in a match featuring two players battling for a spot among the Top 8 to qualify for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.

The win positions Konta 246 points out of the Top 8 and she could narrow the gap to 86 points should she advance to the semifinals. While the cutoff for the Top 8 will be a moving target, the narrow gap certainly indicates that a Top 8 finish for Konta is within striking distance.

While the focus centers on the Road to Singapore leaderboard at this time of year, Konta also has a chance to make her Top 10 debut on the WTA rankings this week – if she is able to reach the finals at Wuhan with other results fall in her favor.

Currently ranked No.13, Konta faces a tough road to the finals with a quarterfinal matchup against Petra Kvitova and a potential semifinal against the winner of Simona Halep vs. Madison Keys.

It has been 32 years since the Top 10 included a British woman when Jo Durie graced the Top 10 (weeks of August 20, 1984) at No.10 before dropping out after a first round loss at the 1984 US Open. Only three British woman have found their way to the Top 10: Virginia Wade (career-high of No.2), Sue Barker (career-high of No.3) and Durie (career-high of No.5).

Konta is scheduled to play Beijing next week and Hong Kong the following week. She is not entered into a tournament in the final week of the season.

Road to Singapore leaderboard Update

Wednesday, September 28th

Two third round matches in singles and all doubles matches were postponed due to rain. These matches are scheduled to be played on Thursday, along with the quarterfinals in both singles and doubles. Here is a look at the latest update:

SINGLES:

Qualified: Angelique Kerber, Serena Williams

Next to Qualify: Simona Halep can secure her spot in Singapore by reaching the semifinals in Wuhan. She will play Madison Keys in the quarterfinals on Thursday. If Keys defeats Halep, the Romanian, could still qualify this week, but will need several results to fall in her favor.

Looking ahead, Karolina Pliskova (final) and Agnieszka Radwanska (title) have a chance to qualify this week as well.

Current Projected Top 8 (Remaining 6 Spots)

Contenders for Top 8 in Action (Current projected cut off is 3,051; points trailing the current projected cutoff)

DOUBLES:

Qualified: Garcia/Mladenovic, Hingis/Mirza, Makarova/Vesnina

Next to Qualify: It is possible for as many as three of the Current Top 8 teams to qualify this week, depending on results; however, they will need to have at least reach the semifinals with other results falling in their favor.

Current Projected Top 8 (Remaining 5 Teams)

Contenders for Top 8 in Action: The current projected cut off is 3,270 (points trailing the current projected cutoff)

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.

It’s semifinal Friday at the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open! And Chris Oddo is previewing both matchups right here at wtatennis.com.

Friday

Semifinals

[4] Simona Halep (ROU #5) vs. [14] Petra Kvitova (CZE #16)
Head-to-head: Halep leads, 3-0
Key Stat: Halep has won 24 of her last 27 matches

Two of the hottest players on tour will tangle for a spot in the prestigious Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open final on Friday, as Simona Halep and Petra Kvitova meet for the fourth time overall and second time in 2016. Halep has been absolutely on fire since Wimbledon, winning 24 of 27 matches while grabbing titles in Bucharest and Montreal, and the Romanian just locked up her third consecutive appearance at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global with her straight-sets win over Madison Keys. Halep is the only player remaining in the draw who has yet to drop a set in Wuhan but she’ll have her hands full with the suddenly scorching Petra Kvitova. The Czech was hovering around the .500 mark after Wimbledon but since then she has regained her daunting power game and won 18 of 23 matches. The only thing missing from Kvitova’s late-season turnaround? A final. Kvitova has reached multiple finals on tour in every year since she emerged as an elite player in 2011, but thus far this year she hasn’t been able to break through. It has already been a banner week for Kvitova, who notched her fourth career win over a reigning world No.1 when she defeated Angelique Kerber in a three-hour and 20-minute marathon in the round of 16. But she knows she’ll have to produce more electric tennis if she is to get past Halep for the first time. “It’s a new day and I will do everything possible, try my best,” Kvitova said of her winless past against Halep. “I lost to her last time so I have something to work on for tomorrow. I know how well she’s playing so I need to be ready.”

Pick: Kvitova in three

[9] Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS #10) vs. [10] Dominika Cibulkova (SVK #12)
Head-to-head: Cibulkova leads, 4-3
Key Stat: Kuznetsova owns a 17-6 record in three-set matches in 2016.

Svetlana Kuznetsova’s career resurgence continues at full throttle in 2016. By reaching the semifinals with a win over Agnieszka Radwanska, Kuznetsova is guaranteed to move into the WTA’s Top 8 for the first time since May 24, 2010. The 31-year-old has been a warrior all season, displaying rejuvenated fitness and a replenished passion for grinding it out on a weekly basis on tour. Kuznetsova has captured nearly half of her matches in deciding sets (17 of her 35 wins) and because of her hard work the Russian now finds herself contending for a coveted slot at this year’s BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. The St. Petersburg native could find herself in the Top 8 in the RTS Standings by reaching the final, or even higher if she takes the title in Wuhan. On Thursday Kuznetsova saved a match point to defeat No. 3-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska for her fourth Top 10 win of the season. Also homing in on a Singapore spot is the ever feisty Dominika Cibulkova. The Slovakian survived double-duty on Thursday, defeating No.5-seeded Karolina Pliskova and Barbora Strycova to reach her seventh semifinal of the season. Cibulkova started the week at No.7 in the Road To Singapore leaderboard standings, and she could bolster her bid for a first appearance in Singapore with a strong finish in Wuhan. It’s not something that Cibulkova wants to dwell on, however. “Right now I’m not thinking about it,” the Slovak told WTA Insider after she won the Eastbourne title this summer. “In 2014 I was very close, and that’s what made me very intense and want it too much. I was over-motivated and it didn’t happen. So, I’m not thinking about it.” With so much on the line, Kuznetsova and Cibulkova’s first meeting since 2011 will likely come down to which player can execute best under pressure. The margins will be thin—they have met four times on hardcourts, with each player winning twice.

Pick: Cibulkova in three

By the Numbers:
1 – Kvitova is the only former Wuhan champion remaining in the draw.
53 – Career titles owned by the four semifinalists (Kvitova, 17, Kuznetsova, 16, Halep, 14, Cibulkova, 6).
10-1 – Kvitova’s career record at Wuhan.
5 – Kuznetsova has won her last five hardcourt semifinals.