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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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Shenzhen Player Party Highlights

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

How did Agnieszka Radwanska, Petra Kvitova and Eugenie Bouchard feel about glamming up for the Shenzhen Open player party? See highlights from the big night 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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Hingis & Mirza Win 25th Match In A Row

Hingis & Mirza Win 25th Match In A Row

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

BRISBANE, Australia – Just days into the new season and they’ve already hit another milestone – Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza won their 25th match in a row at the Brisbane International on Friday.

Watch live action from Brisbane, Shenzhen & Auckland on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

Hingis and Mirza, the No.1-ranked team in the world and top seeds at the Premier-level tournament, faced some resistance – Andreja Klepac and Alla Kudryavtseva, the No.4 seeds, jumped out to an early 2-0 lead and, after dropping the first set, were a game away from winning the second set up 5-4.

But Hingis and Mirza did all the right things at all the right times and closed it out, 6-3, 7-5.

“I think we’re off to a great start in the new season,” Hingis said. “We never really felt like we finished in 2015 – I played the Indian league and Sania played IPTL, so we still kind of kept our routine.

“We’re really happy to have the possibility to be in another final, and win another title.”

Hingis and Mirza’s 25-match winning streak, which has brought them five titles in a row at the US Open, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Beijing and the WTA Finals, is the longest winning streak since Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci’s 25 in a row in 2012 – the Italians also won five titles in a row, at Barcelona, Madrid, Rome, the French Open and ‘s-Hertogenbosch (the winning streak was snapped at Wimbledon).

“It’s been a long time since we’ve lost, but it’s never easy to start a new season, especially when you’re coming off such a great season. Everyone’s gunning for us – we’re the hunted,” Mirza commented.

“We’re just taking it one match at a time, staying positive, and picking up from where we left off.”

To find the last doubles team to win more than 25 matches in a row you have to go all the way back to the 1994 season, when Gigi Fernández and Natasha Zvereva rattled off 28 victories in a row.

The other semifinal, which took place later in the day, saw German wildcards Angelique Kerber and Andrea Petkovic take out Anabel Medina Garrigues and Arantxa Parra Santonja, 2-6, 6-3, 10-2.

Hingis and Mirza will face the all-German team for the first time in the final Saturday night.

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Gavrilova Wins One For Australia

Gavrilova Wins One For Australia

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Daria Gavrilova’s Australia Green brought home the Hopman Cup title, sweeping Ukraine and ending the country’s 17-year wait for the trophy.

The newly-minted Australian – who last year was voted WTA Newcomer Of The Year – won the hearts of the exuberant home crowd with her gutsy performance against Elina Svitolina in the final. After winning the first set 6-4, Gavrilova found herself trailing behind 6-1 in the second-set tiebreak.

She went on to win seven straight points to secure the victory.

“I just literally told myself to settle down, just stop thinking of everything,” Gavrilova said after the win. “Just think about how to win every point.

“I just played free.”

Gavrilova’s Australia Green partner Nick Kyrgios went on to secure the title in the mixed-team event, beating Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3, 6-4 in the men’s singles rubber.

Though the Hopman Cup is Gavrilova’s first trophy for Australia, she’s earned herself another accolade, a rite of passage for every Australian athlete: an Aussie nickname. The crowd calls her “Dash” – a play on “Dasha,” the Russian nickname for “Daria,” and also a nod to the 21-year-old’s aggressive and unrelenting style of play.

“It means so much,” Gavrilova said of playing in the Hopman Cup.

“It’s just amazing that I got to represent Australia here.”

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