Indian Wells: Shot Of The Day (Friday)
Agnieszka Radwanska has Friday’s shot of the day at the BNP Paribas Open.
Agnieszka Radwanska has Friday’s shot of the day at the BNP Paribas Open.
TOKYO, Japan – Former champion Caroline Wozniacki required nearly three hours to see off No.4 seed Carla Suárez Navarro in the second round of the Toray Pan Pacific Open on Wednesday.
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For the first hour and a half of an absorbing contest, Wozniacki seemed on course for a relatively straightforward victory. However, just as she had 24 hours earlier against Belinda Bencic, the Dane was forced to overcome a mid-match hiccup before eventually triumphing 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-4.
“This was such a tough match, we played for such a long time and we really both deserve to be here as winners as the standard was very high,” Wozniacki said. “Luckily I’m the one here and I’m happy to get through.”
Suárez Navarro looked to have turned the match in her favor when she reeled off four straight games to pinch the second set. However, the match took another twist at the start of the third set, a sudden rain delay stopping the Spaniard in her tracks.
On the resumption, Wozniacki reasserted her dominance to build an ultimately decisive lead. “I won the next three games after the rain and managed to regroup. She was on a bit of a roll so it came at a good time.”
Wozniacki, who went all the way to the title in 2010, will meet either Yulia Putintseva or Magda Linette in the quarterfinals.
More to follow…
Denisa Allertova takes on Angelique Kerber in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open.
SEOUL, South Korea – Kirsten Flipkens has hit her share of hot shots in the past; her tweener at the Connecticut Open was part of August’s Shot of the Month.
But the Belgian upped her flair and brought it to the Asian Swing; after a long rally with Dalian champion Kristyna Pliskova, Flipkens turned the tables on Karolina Pliskova’s twin sister with a behind-the-back backhand passing shot.
She went on to win the match, 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.
Check out the video right here on wtatennis.com!
An interview with Petra Kvitova after her win in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open.
INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – 2015 French Open semifinalist played stupendous tennis in the final set of a tense match to defeat former World No.5 Eugenie Bouchard, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2.
Watch highlights, interviews and more video from Indian Wells right here on wtatennis.com!
“I’m really happy about the way I played in the third set,” Bacsinszky told Andrew Krasny during the on-court interview, “it was like the first set a little bit.”
The first game foreshadowed the nearly two-and-half hour battle that was to come, as Bacsinszky broke on her fifth break point opportunity, and though the Canadian, who was looking to build on her tour-leading 15 WTA match wins, eventually steadied herself on serve, the Swiss star ultimately sealed the set.
Taking a nasty spill to start the second, Bacsinszky needed a lengthy medical timeout to address multiple cuts; Bouchard spent the time talking tactics with coach Thomas Högstedt and taking practice serves. The 2014 Wimbledon finalist broke serve for the first time soon after and went on to level the match with a second service break.
“I think Genie played really well, especially in the second; she pushed me a lot to make errors.”
Undaunted, Bacsinszky grabbed the initiative in the decider and never let go, relying on her laser sharp backhand and 31 winners overall – to only 25 from Bouchard – to serve out the win.
“I’m really glad I found a solution at the end.”
After the match, the former World No.10 thanked hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, who was in the crowd during the match, for helping to inspire her to push through the pain.
“The Great One was watching here, and he knows how it feels to get hurt in a hockey match. I fell right in front of him so I thought, ‘It’s all right; I have to show him I don’t feel the pain.'”
In order to back up her 2015 run to the quarterfinals, Bacsinszky will need to beat Daria Kasatkina – one of three 18-year-olds currently in the Top 50 – who saved a match point to defeat Monica Puig, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(2).
When you're comming from a Hockey Country ?? & you meet The Great Wayne Gretzky ??! @OfficialGretzky #ZKYnameEnding pic.twitter.com/DFDrnx38nB
— Timea Bacsinszky (@TimeaOfficial) March 13, 2016
Earlier in the day, No.9 seed Roberta Vinci rebounded from a thrilling second round win over Margarita Gasparyan – a match that needed a final set tie-break – to ease past BMW Malaysian Open champion and No.17 seed Elina Svitolina, 6-1, 6-3.
The 2015 US Open finalist burst out of the gate by winning the first four games, keeping her side of the stat sheet clean (20 winners to 11 unforced) while the Ukrainian youngster – who recently hired former No.1 Justine Henin as a coaching consultant – struggled with consistency, hitting 17 winners but 25 unforced errors.
“I played a great game today, so consistent, focused, aggressive,” Vinci said after the match, explaining, “Against her you have to play like this. She’s a great player, she has a good rally. But I think, well, I just played so good.”
The secret to her late-blooming success?
“I don’t have a secret. Just play and stay focused every single day. Stay calm in the court and outside the court, and just enjoy the life.”
Up next for Vinci is Magdalena Rybarikova, who outlasted No.7 seed Belinda Bencic, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
Ashleigh Barty has the shot of the day in the final of the ALYA Malaysian Open.
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.
Ashleigh Barty has rocketed herself into the Top 100 after her win at the Alya Malaysian Open but she was not the only one who had a good week.
Caroline Wozniacki takes on Agnieszka Radwanska in the semifinals of the Toray Pan Pacific Open.