Google Play App Download

Tennis News

From around the world

WTAi Draw Analysis: Doha

WTAi Draw Analysis: Doha

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

The Qatar Total Open draw is out and next week’s Premier 5 tournament sees the return of Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber, defending champion Lucie Safarova, and one of the hottest players of the last five months, Agnieszka Radwanska.

Kerber gets back to work: Since her maiden win at the Australian Open, Kerber has been back in Germany, where she played two Fed Cup singles matches in Leipzig and then hit the local media circuit — nice shot, Angie — before pulling out of last week’s Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships due to a right thigh injury.

Now the World No.2 returns to the tour as the top seed in Doha, a tournament that has been a mixed bag through her career. As the only player this year to make two finals, Doha offers a solid test for Kerber’s consistency. She reached the final in 2014 – falling to Simona Halep – but has won just one match in five other appearances.

Kerber has a bye in the first round and will open against either Varvara Lepchenko or Zheng Saisai. Petra Kvitova, Garbiñe Muguruza, and Belinda Bencic are the top eight seeds in her half of the draw.

Lucie Safarova returns from illness: After an incredible season that saw her win the biggest title of her career here in Doha last year – and go on to make her first major final at the French Open – Safarova’s season ended with a whimper. Diagnosed with a bacterial infection that left her hospitalized after the US Open, Safarova skipped Australia to continue healing. Doha will be her first tournament of the season.

Safarova will drop out of the Top 10 on Monday but she’s seeded No.7 in Doha. Drawn into the bottom half opposite No.2 seed Simona Halep, she has a first round bye and will play either Lucie Hradecka or Cagla Buyakakay. That’s as nice an opener as she could hope for in this loaded draw.

Radwanska hopes to pick up where she left off: Up to No.3 on Monday, Radwanska took some time off after the Australian Open, where she did well to make the semifinals before losing to Serena Williams. That 6-0, 6-4 loss was a tough one to take, but it doesn’t change the fact that no one has been on a hotter streak over the last six months than Radwanska. Since the US Open she’s won four titles – including the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global – and has just one loss so far this season.

Last week’s withdrawal from Dubai due to a lower leg injury was surprising, but it’s also encouraging to see Radwanska manage her schedule to protect her body. After an opening round bye she’ll face either Annika Beck or a qualifier.

Belinda Bencic

Bencic puts her consistency on the line: Given how many events she’s played in 2016, there’s a fair argument to be made that Belinda Bencic has been the most consistent player on tour this year. Set aside a surprise second round loss to Samantha Crawford at the Brisbane International and a loss last week to Jelena Jankovic following a brutal turnaround from St. Petersburg, and Bencic has been the WTA’s most reliable performer.

Bencic has already played six events this season (including Fed Cup) and goes into Doha with 12 wins already under her belt, just one short of Kerber’s tour-leading 13 wins. Her run to the St. Petersburg final propelled her into the Top 10 for the first time and she’s a clear title contender this week. She’ll open against CoCo Vandeweghe or a qualifier in the second round.

Looking for a kickstart: After the 0 for 8 run of the seeds last week in Dubai, quite a number of players turn to Dubai still searching for a kickstart to their seasons. No.2 seed Halep, No.4 seed Muguruza, and No.5 seed Kvitova. All three have played three tour events each this year and have won five matches between them (Halep – 2, Muguruza – 2, Kvitova – 1).

Kvitova has the toughest opening draw. She plays either Kristina Mladenovic or Dubai finalist Barbora Strycova. Halep plays either Dubai semifinalist Caroline Garcia or a qualifier. Muguruza opens against either Nao Hibino or Yaroslava Shvedova.

From a rankings perspective, Halep in particular is under fire. She failed to defend her title last week in Doha and will need to defend Indian Wells and a semifinal in Miami when the tour turns to the North American hard courts next month. A good run in Doha would pick up some much needed points while also giving her a boost of confidence for her upcoming events.

Simona Halep

Eugenie Bouchard takes a wildcard: The Canadian, currently ranked No.61, had an encouraging start to the season. She made the Shenzhen Open quarterfinals and her first final in over a year at the Hobart International. A tough draw saw her bow out early at the Australian Open, with a straight set loss to Radwanska in the second round.

She pulled out of the Rio Open last week citing a change of schedule – she played the NBA Celebrity All-Star game last Friday – took a wildcard into Doha, where she will make her main draw debut. She is entered in Kuala Lumpur next week. She opens against a qualifier and could play Elina Svitolina in the second round and Kerber in the third round.

Projected quarterfinals: Kerber vs. Kvitova, Muguruza vs. Bencic, Radwanska vs. Safarova, Halep vs. Suárez Navarro.

First round matches to watch: Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. Julia Goerges (a rematch of last week’s rout in Dubai), Karolina Pliskova vs. Margarita Gasparyan, Andrea Petkovic vs. Ekaterina Makarova, and Timea Bacsinszky vs. Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.

Source link

News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

With Serena Williams and fiancé Alexis Ohanian expecting their first child, stars from the tennis world and beyond have been congratulating the 23-time Grand Slam winner.

Source link

Schiavone Wins Seventh Title In Rio

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Former World No.4 Francesca Schiavone showed flashes of the tennis that took her to a maiden Grand Slam title at the 2010 French Open, edging past American Shelby Rogers, 2-6, 6-2, 6-2, to win her seventh career title at the Rio Open.

“I feel very emotional right now,” she said during the trophy ceremony. “It was a very tough match, and I want to congratulate Rogers. She is a young player and she grew a lot in the circuit.”

Schiavone looked down and out when she fell behind against a set and a break to Rogers, who was in just her second WTA main draw since last fall’s Coupe Banque Nationale, but the wily veteran cruised through the second set and raced out to an idential 5-2 lead in the final set before treating the Rio crowd to a tense ending.

“I want to thank everybody who made this fantastic tournament possible,” Rogers said in her runner-up speech. “It was definitely one of the best weeks of my life. I hope I can come back next year.”

Though she lost her first eight career WTA finals, the Italian has been 7-3 since breaking the duck back in 2007 (Bad Gastein), and her win in Rio is her first in just under two years (Marrakech); she will return to the Top 100 on Monday’s rankings.

“I’m really happy to be here today. I wrote this speech this morning,” Schiavone said, addressing the crowd in Portuguese, “regardless of the result, because I wanted to share my joy with you.

“Today is a happy day and I’m very emotional because Brazil is such a wonderful country. Your smile fulfilled my days here and I wish you the best for the Olympic Games.

“I want to thank everybody who helped me, and now it´s time to enjoy.”

Source link

News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

The final day of April’s Fed Cup weekend is underway, and Australia and Italy were among the first teams to clinch victories over Serbia and Chinese Taipei, respectively, keeping their spots in World Group II. 

Check out more highlights from Sunday’s action after a topsy turvy opener.

Romania d. Great Britain, 3-2  – World Group II Play-Offs, Constanta, Romania

Simona Halep restored order after a chaotic opening day in her hometown, avenging a Miami Open loss to Johanna Konta, 6-1, 6-3. Halep’s win put Romania on course for Irina-Camelia Begu to clinch the tie over Heather Watson, 6-4, 7-5, and remain in World Group II in 2018.

Halep was a mere points from victory over Konta in Crandon Park – the Brit went on to claim her maiden Premier Mandatory title two rounds later – and picked up where she left off yesterday at the Tenis Club IDU, hitting 17 winners and breaking serve five times to earn the win in one hour and 11 minutes.

“I expected on clay [for the match] to be like this,” Halep said after the match. “I did everything: I stayed focused and I was very motivated after yesterday. I’m really motivated to win this tie. I feel we’re dominating now.”

Begu was similarly solid in the finals singles rubber, and though Great Britain nabbed an entertaining doubles win over Halep and Monica Niculescu, Romania edged through in the end.

Germany d. Ukraine, 3-2 – World Group I Play-Offs, Stuttgart, Germany

Elina Svitolina kept up her flawless form against World No.1 Angelique Kerber, but it wasn’t enough for Team Ukraine, who fell in the face of an unstoppable Julia Goerges at the Porsche Arena.

After Goerges recovered from a set down to oust the reigning Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships winner on Saturday, the former Stuttgart champion edged past Lesia Tsurenko in straight sets to help clinch their place in World Group I next year.

Still, it was a solid week for Svitolina, who has now won her last four matches against the US Open champion.

“Kerber struggled to find any rhythm against an opponent who took her chances with greater success, particularly from the baseline,” noted FedCup.com’s Jeff Kavanagh. “Svitolina also committed less than half of the unforced errors of her opponent in the second set – 6-16 – and will feel mightily satisfied at a job well done against a player ranked 12 places above her in the world.”

More to come…

Source link

Radwanska Safely Through In Doha

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

DOHA, Qatar – No.3 seed Agnieszka Radwanska moved safely into the third round of the Qatar Total Open on Tuesday with a straight set win over qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko.

Watch live action from Doha & Acapulco this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

On a blustery afternoon, Radwanska had to withstand a spirited display from the World No.75, before eventually coming through, 6-4, 6-4.

As one of the game’s elite, Radwanska has played much of her tennis down the years at the Khalifa Tennis and Squash Complex during the prime-time evening slot. It is an arrangement that has suited her well, the Pole reaching the semifinals on four occasions.

However, she began her latest title tilt in conditions not ideally suited to her eye-pleasing repertoire of strokes. “I think we all have to get used to different conditions. It was also windy. So it wasn’t the easiest time to play and maybe it wasn’t the prettiest match, but the most important thing is that I won and I’m very happy about that.”

It has been a fine start to 2016 for Radwanska, who has built on the momentum of her victory at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global by winning in Shenzhen and then reaching the semifinals at the Australian Open.

“I had a great start to the year, obviously, and I had a good rest after Australia. But I’ve been working hard since so I can play the same tennis here and do as well as in other years.”

Despite her lack of recent competitive action – she sat out Poland’s Fed Cup tie and withdrew from Dubai because of a leg injury – Radwanska delivered a typically tidy display – decorated by the odd touch of brilliance – hitting 17 winners and the same number of unforced errors.

Radwanska will next face either Monica Niculescu or former World No.1 Jelena Jankovic.

“They’re both very good, very solid opponents and it’s going to be another great challenge for me,” Radwanska said. “I’m going to watch the match, have some rest and be ready for tomorrow.”

Also coming through a tough second round assignment was Petra Kvitova, who defeated in-form compatriot Barbora Strycova, 7-6(2), 6-4.

Last week in Dubai, Strycova made it all the way to the final and she delivered another reputation-enhancing showing. Kvitova was an early casualty in Dubai, and must have feared the worst when Strycova served for the opening set. But the No.5 seed dug deep – fending off a couple of set points – to pinch it on a tie-break.

Despite an improved showing in the second set, Kvitova’s 18 winners were still offset by 30 unforced errors, leaving her with room to improve in the next round. “It was pretty close in the first set – she had a couple of set points – but I was just trying to take it point by point,” Kvitova said.

The result extends Kvitova’s unbeaten run against fellow Czech’s to 18 matches, her last defeat coming against Lucie Hradecka in Madrid nearly four years ago.

“It was a really important win for me today. Not just for the tournament but also the season – I hope this match will help me.”

Source link

Radwanska Passes Niculescu Test

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

DOHA, Qatar – World No.3 Agnieszka Radwanska recovered from a double break down to see off Monica Niculescu, 7-5, 6-1.

“I think she has the best hands on tour, very tricky player and very uncomfortable to play against,” Radwanska said of her opponent during her on-court interview. “I knew it was going to be tough and a long one. What can I say? She really made me play my best tennis, so I’m very happy to win that match in two sets.”

Grabbing the opening set, Radwanska played impeccable tennis throughout, striking 31 winners to just 15 unforced; Niculescu wasn’t too far behind with 24 winners and 32 errors.

“I think when you play someone like Monica, you know there will be a lot of weird shots all around the court, and every shot is going to be different.

“She had a lot of highlights herself!”

In her six appearances at the Qatar Total Open, Radwanska has reached the quarterfinals or better five times, but is still looking for her first final in Doha.

Asked about the increasing parity that the WTA has seen in 2016, the reigning BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global champion theorized that the upsets are part of what makes her tour so fun to watch.

“I think this is women’s tennis; you never know what’s going to happen! Every day, we’re playing different, but it makes us interesting. We’re always fun to watch, a lot of different scores, a lot of surprises on the way to the final.

“That’s the way we play!”

Up next for Radwanska is the winner of the third round between No.9 seed Roberta Vinci and wildcard Cagla Buyakakcay, who upset defending champion Lucie Safarova in her opening match.

Source link