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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Fed Cup stalwarts Barbora Strycova and Karolina Pliskova clinched an unassailable 3-1 lead for defending champs Czech Republic over Spain.

Here’s a full run down of the World Group I ties as they unfolded on Day 2:

Czech Republic 3-1 Spain

Pliskova kicked off the first reverse singles rubber against Garbiñe Muguruza after both emerged victorious in their opening matches on Saturday.

Playing at home in Ostrava, Pliskova had plenty of reason to feel confident after winning four of her last five matches over the reigning French Open champion.

After an hour on court, the Czech powerhouse put down the hammer on Muguruza, winning almost twice as many points and breaking serve five times for a 6-2, 6-2 win.

“My tennis was much better than it was yesterday so I enjoyed it more today,” said last year’s US Open runner-up. “I think she [Muguruza] doesn’t like a fast game because she likes to dictate.

“I was serving well and you cannot do much about it if someone is serving well.”

Next up was Strycova, who played a critical role in clinching the Czech team’s third straight Fed Cup title over France. Up against Lara Arruabarrena, the veteran smacked a whopping 33 winners to just 21 unforced errors to assure victory with a 6-4, 7-5 triumph.

“This one was very tough for me,” Strycova said after the match. “I was leading 5-2 and two match points; I felt like I wasn’t doing anything wrong, but I couldn’t take the extra step. I tried some different things at the end and it worked!”

“I’m very glad that we got through,” remarked Czech captain Petr Pala. “Even in the first match the score looked quite easy but it was quite tight in the beginning and Karolina put in a great performance and showed she is a great Fed Cup player.

“The second match was tighter. Barbora was using the crowd and the crowd helped us a lot. It wasn’t an easy decision for us to play her today because normally she would play doubles.”

Standing between the Czechs and a fourth straight final will be either the USA or Germany.

Switzerland 3-1 France

Timea Bacsinszky turned the tables on St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy champion Kristina Mladenovic to help lead Switzerland into a second straight Fed Cup semifinal.

Bacsinszky recovered from a tumble to keep Mladenovic from a second straight win over the weekend with an impressive 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-5 win to make the Swiss team anything but neutral.

“I looked really unlucky this week with the medical timeouts, but I fell and injured my knee,” she said after the match. “That took me away from tennis for three months last year and so I needed an extra check. In the moment, it’s tough becuase you care about your health, see the whole year and don’t want to be injured. But I’m ok.

Leading 5-2 in the final set, Mladenovic quickly leveled the decider but the Olympic Silver medalist closed the door in front of her home fans.

“I was just telling myself how privileged I am to play a match like this, and wasn’t focused on who was going to win. I’m just so lucky to be playing tennis in front of my country, carrying the Swiss flag.

“It could have gone either way because she played so well at the end. But we both deserved to win because it was such high quality.”

In the critical fourth rubber, Belinda Bencic dismissed substitute Pauline Parmentier, 6-3, 6-4, to book an encounter against surprise semifinalists, Belarus.

Belarus 4-1 Netherlands

In a battle of underdogs teams, Belarus roared through the final three rubbers of the tie oust the Netherlands for an emphatic win in Minsk.

After Kiki Bertens helped level the tie on Saturday, Aliaksandra Sasnovich stunned the 2016 French Open semifinalist, 6-3, 6-4 to turn the tie on its head.

Armed with the momentum, Belarus played Aryna Sabalenka, a 19-year-old playing in just her second Fed Cup tie – and only her second singles rubber. Recovering from her loss to Bertens, Sabalenka dispatched Michaella Krajicek, 7-6(5), 6-4 to clinch her country’s first semifinal in Fed Cup history.

More to come…

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This Week: Doha

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Preview the action at the Qatar Total Open in Doha, where 470 ranking points are at stake for the winner.

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Serena Hits Back At Haters… Literally

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Women hear a lot of obnoxious things in their daily lives. World No.1 Serena Williams is ready to do something about it.

In conjunction with her fabulous cover story for Glamour Magazine, Serena starred in a video in which she hit back – literally – at some of the sexist things she and so many women have heard in their every day lives.

“Today I’m here to express some of the frustrations that I have about the obnoxious things that men sometimes say about women,” Serena says in the video. “I’m doing this for all womenkind. I’m kinda doing it a little bit for me, on the low.”

So what are some of the comments that drew Serena’s ire, compelling her to thwack a tennis ball at her padded-up co-star Alec?

– You’re really talented…for a girl.
– You should smile more!
– It’s okay that you’re upset. Girls are supposed to get emotional!
– You get really loud when you play, like really loud.
– Stop being so dramatic!
– So how much time do you spend picking out your competition outfits?
– Do you think you could ever beat a guy, just once?
– Only guy’s sports are worth watching.

Yeah. Don’t say those things. Especially to Serena.

Watch the full video here.

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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

DUBAI, UAE – Kristyna Pliskova is quickly rising out from under the shadow of twin sister and World No.3 Karolina as the Czech lefty scored a big upset at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, dispatching No.16 seed Roberta Vinci, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.

“All week I felt pretty bad in practice, so I’m happy I made it through this match,” she said after the match. “It wasn’t easy at all.”

As Karolina was reaching her maiden Grand Slam final at last summer’s US Open, Kristyna was making a breakthrough of her own at the WTA 125K Series event in Dalian, following that up with her first career title at the Tashkent Open. Ranked just shy of her career-high of No.55, Pliskova earned a comeback victory over Vinci, a runner-up in Flushing back in 2015.

“It’s much slower on the Center Court and the balls aren’t flying that much. Plus, she’s a tricky opponent.”

Vinci appeared in control as she served for the match in the second set, but Pliskova broke back and rode the momentum into a decisive three-set victory after just under two hours on court. With a serve as big – if not bigger – than her sister’s, the 24-year-old struck nine aces throughout and maintained an impressive 82% winning percentage behind her first serve, losing just two points in the decider.

“I was trying to fight all match, but sometimes you have a few bad games. She was solid, serving well. I resolved to be more aggressive and that’s when she started making a few more mistakes.”

Up next for Pliskova is a potentially tough challenge in either ASB Classic champion Lauren Davis or lucky loser (and Taiwan Open semifinalist) Mandy Minella.

“I’m happy to still be in the tournament and to fight for another win.”

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News | WTA Tennis English

News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

BUDAPEST, Hungary – Top seed Timea Babos kicks off her Hungarian Ladies Open campaign with a solid victory in front of her home crowd, knocking out Turkish wildcard Ipek Soylu in straight sets to move into the second round.

“I’m just happy to play here at home,” Babos enthused after the match. “It’s very special for me, it motivates me a lot – I’m very happy to have this first win.”

With the support of the vocal home fans, Babos powered her way to a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Soylu, breaking her serve five times and needing just an hour and twenty minutes to advance.

“Already for the first round to have such a great crowd and such a big number of fans, it’s an amazing feeling. Hopefully this week I can continue that, and playing singles and doubles will bring out plenty of people.”

Besides being Babos’ first victory in Budapest since 2013, it’s also the Hungarian’s first main draw win of the year after a disappointing string of first-round losses stretching back to October 2016.

“It was not an easy season so far for me,” Babos reflected. “I started to play better at the St. Petersburg Ladies Open, but I played a lot of Top 30 players. I lost some tough three-setters.

“But then I had Fed Cup, which helped a lot. I played very, very consistent and I beat some Top 30 players and started to feel better.”

Annika Beck

Also in action, No.8 seed Annika Beck had to fight against the home crowd on her way to the quarterfinals against Hungarian wildcard Fanny Stollar.

Yesterday, Stollar thrilled the local fans by notching her first ever WTA main draw victory against Danka Kovinic, but the No.282 was unable to back it up and fell to Beck, 6-2, 6-0.

“It was a very good match and she started off pretty well,” Beck said afterwards. “I backed off a bit at the start and fought my way through the games. I got on top of her and was able to finish it off, even with the score it was still a close match since the games were close.”

“It’s my first quarterfinal of the year, I’m just happy I can keep up the good results and have more success on the court.”

Lucie Safarova

Joining Beck in the quarterfinals is No.2 seed Lucie Safarova, who needed just 56 minutes to sweep past Hsieh Su-Wei, 6-2, 6-1. The 2015 French Open finalist took an early lead in both sets, opening with a break in each to control the match and battle past the No.102 Taiwanese.

“It’s always nice to play the tournaments which are close to home so more friends and family can come,” Safarova said. “This week my coach’s family and little kids are here. Those are my friends! It’s nice and I’m enjoying it.”

Rounding out the quarterfinals are No.3 seed Julia Goerges, who defeated Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-2 in less than an hour, and Belarusian qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich, who scored another upset to knock out No.6 seed Pauline Parmentier, 7-6(3), 6-4.

Julia Goerges

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