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Safarova Crashes Out Of Moscow As Pavlyuchenkova Battles Through

Safarova Crashes Out Of Moscow As Pavlyuchenkova Battles Through

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Lucie Safarova crashed out of the first round Kremlin Cup in straight sets at the hands of Daria Gavrilova.

The Czech, fit again after struggling with injuries throughout 2016, also failed to make to the second round in Beijing at the beginning of October and succumbed to a 6-2, 6-2 loss.

The match started evenly, with the first five games going with serve before the 2015 French Open finalist’s effort disintegrated, losing seven games in a row to hand Gavrilova the first set and a 3-0 love lead in the second.

Safarova failed to craft a single break point throughout and dropped serve once more in the final game of the match as the Australian skipped into the second round.

“Lucie had a hard time getting used to [the surface],” Gavrilova said after the match.

“I tried to play more long rallied, but she was making a lot of mistakes in her second or third shots. She didn’t perform her best today.”

She plays Carla Suárez Navarro in the next round.

Meanwhile, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova had to fight hard to overcome Katreina Siniakova 7-6 (2), 5-7, 7-5.

The Russian raced into a 5-1 lead in the opening set but was pegged back by the 20-year-old, who twice broke Pavlyuchenkova when she was serving for the set. However, the No.7 seed regained her composure in the tiebreaker to move ahead.

Pavlyuchenkova started the second set brightly but, after taking a 3-0 lead, her serve let her down and Siniakova won four straight games to turn the encounter on its head. Despite Pavlyuchenkova’s best efforts to get back on level terms, her serve let her down and Siniakova levelled the match.

In the final set, Siniakova took a two-break lead but Pavlyuchenkova dug deep to level the match and avoided a tiebreaker by breaking the Czech’s serve at 6-5.

Jelena Jankovic emerged victorious in a topsy-turvy match with Jelena Ostapenko, who failed to hold serve throughout.

After exchanging breaks, Jankovic found some stability on serve, confirming a hold with an ace before a pair of unforced errors gave her an advantage. Though Ostapenko broke back, she was unable to find her serve and a second hold from the Serb gave her the first set 6-3.

Ostapenko’s woes continued in the second set as she once again failed to hold once but was able to make inroads on the Jankovic serve. The Serb held to go 3-1 up and was able to continue breaking Ostapenko until she secured a place in the second round.

Elsewhere, Alizé Cornet eliminated Shelby Rogers in straight sets. The first set was a tight affair, with the pair exchanging breaks in the fifth and sixth games before the 26-year-old saved two set points to take the tiebreak 8-6.

She immediately went a break up in the second set and though the American broke back, Cornet regained her advantage to confirm her place in the next round.

Ekaterina Makarova overcame American qualifier Nicole Gibbs 7-5, 6-1. Both players routinely broke one another in the first set and the 23-year-old lost three straight games, having been serving for the set.

Makarova made no mistake from there, roaring into a 4-0 lead in the second and she sailed into the second round.

Finally, Julia Görges beat Dankta Kovinic 7-6 (3), 6-3, Anna Blinkova came from a set down to overcome Anastasija Sevastova 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (10), Ana Konjuh defeated Barbora Strycova 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 and Kristina Mladenovic marched past Anna Kalinskaya 6-4, 6-2. Finally, Lesya Tsurenko was forced to retire after losing the first set 6-3 to Yulia Putintseva.

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Stephens Strikes Gold In Charleston

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

CHARLESTON, SC, USA – No.7 seed Sloane Stephens was a point from a one-set deficit against 2011 Volvo Car Open finalist Elena Vesnina, but the young American turned the tide in emphatic style, capturing her third title of the season, 7-6(4), 6-2.

Watch highlights, interviews and more video from Charleston right here on wtatennis.com!

Stephens had lost her only prior encounter with Vesnina back in 2013, but appeared to have weathered the storm after falling behind an early break to take a 5-2 lead in the opening set. Vesnina had to win two matches in qualifying just to reach the main draw, however, and was far from finished as she clawed back to win four games in a row and even hold set point behind a barrage of winners.

The 2013 Australian Open semifinalist nonetheless held her nerve and, saving her best tennis for the ensuing tie-break, reclaimed the initiative and never looked back, breaking serve twice more to clinch the victory on her fourth championship point.

“I just said to myself, ‘You have to fight for every point and compete.’ She’s a great player, so I knew I had to stay in every point,” she told ESPN’s Pam Shriver after the match.

“When I got a couple of opportunities, I took them, so that was great.”

Stephens has now won three titles in 2016, starting with the ASB Classic in Auckland and the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco. The 23-year-old will take her Charleston victory to Europe to start the red clay season in earnest at the Mutua Madrid Open.

“I love red clay, so starting in Madrid, I think I’ll have a lot of fun and just look forward to the French Open.”

Later on in press, Stephens credited a change in mindset with helping her reverse a string of disappointing results in Charleston, a tournament where she had only ever won one main draw match in five career appearances.

“Obviously coming into here I have a lot of anxiety coming into this tournament because I’ve never done well here. I just thought, you know, I’m just going to go have fun. I have nothing to lose. I’ve only won one match here ever, and just go out and play and have fun because I mean it’s just another week, and after this I’ll have a nice little break. I’m going to go to Europe.

“I don’t have anything to lose. My life is great. It’s tennis. And this is what I do every week. So I kind of just changed my mindset, and that worked. So I should just do that every week.”

For Vesnina, losing felt pretty close to winning after seven match wins from the qualifying draw; starting the season having to play Grand Slam qualifying for the first time since the 2005 US Open, the Russian veteran has enjoyed a career renaissance since Australia, nabbing wins over Simona Halep and Caroline Wozniacki in Doha, Venus Williams in Miami, and Sara Errani on Saturday.

“This final is like a win,” she said in her post-match press conference. “I know that there’s only one winner, and for us, for all the athletes there’s only one place, No.1, but here, today, I feel like I’m a winner because I played so many matches from qualies. I was just counting, I had like eight matches in singles and two in doubles, so ten matches in one week. That’s quite a lot.

“I’m just really happy about my run here, and let’s see how it’s going to be the rest of the year. But I’m really looking forward to that because I think it’s going to be good.”

In the doubles final, French Connection Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic won their first title of the season; the Frenchwomen announced their partnership at the end of 2015 in anticipation of the Olympic Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, and after two finals at the Apia International Syndey and the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, the two struck gold in Charleston, taking out top seeds Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova, 6-2, 7-5.

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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MELBOURNE, Australia – CoCo Vandeweghe played impeccable tennis to continue a career-best run, dispatching No.7 seed Garbiñe Muguruza, 6-4, 6-0 to reach the Australian Open semifinals.

“It’s amazing to be in a semifinal,” she said in her post-match press conference. “But, you know, not satisfying. I want to keep going, keep playing. There’s more things to do out on a tennis court that I’m hoping to achieve.”

Vandeweghe might have been forgiven for having a letdown less than 48 hours after defeating World No.1 and defending champion Angelique Kerber in the previous round.

But with the help of coach Craig Kardon, it was clear the unseeded American came to play from the outset, earning break points in the very first game against Muguruza, who was playing in her first major quarterfinal since winning Roland Garros.

“I thought I took care of the things that I could control, which is the most important thing: not letting outside factors affect anything that was happening.

“It’s kind of weathering the storm a little bit, knowing what Craig and I talked about before the match: the game plan is going to work, and believing in it, not wavering from it, which I’m very proud of myself for doing, especially early in the first set when I was kind of squandering quite a few break points.”

The first set came down to one break of serve, which Vandeweghe converted and never looked back, losing just one more game in one hour and 23 minute masterclass.

“Maybe I play better nervous and scared. I don’t know. I think I don’t shy away from a challenge necessarily. I never have. Growing up, I’ve always just been wanting to prove people wrong in a lot of different regards.

“I think it’s more that I take it as an enjoyable challenge. It’s what I want to do. It’s where I want to be. To face the best players is definitely an accomplishment, to say for myself that I’ve gotten to the point that I’ve beat and face these top players.”

By the end of the match, she hit 31 winners to 20 unforced errors, handcuffing the typically aggressive Muguruza, holding the Spaniard to only 14 winners against 16 errors.

“I was surprised,” Muguruza said after the match. “I think she played unbelievable. Three times we played in the past, she didn’t show this level.

“Her serve, her shots were there. She barely missed. So it was a pretty good performance from her.”

Standing between Vandeweghe and her first Grand Slam final is No.13 seed and former No.1 Venus Williams, who is playing her first Australian Open semifinal since 2003.

“It’s a dream to play someone you grew up watching. To play an unbelievable player, future Hall of Famer in Venus, and to be on the court with her, I’ve only experienced it one time before.

“But to do it at this stage of a Grand Slam is kind of crazy. I mean, I can’t really put it into words. Not only when I was younger, it was unknown if I even wanted to play tennis, because I was playing basketball as well, but it was kind of, like, you see that, you see it happening, but you more see yourself there. You don’t see who the opponent is on the other side when you get there.

“To definitely have two Americans against each other in the semifinal I think is pretty cool.”

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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MELBOURNE, Australia – No.2 seeds Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova survived a tense three-setter against the newly formed pairing of Andrea Hlavackova and Peng Shuai to win their second Slam in a row, winning the 2017 Australian Open women’s doubles title, 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-3.

“We were celebrating like five-year-old kids out there,” Mattek-Sands said after the match. “I mean, it still feels amazing to win it. It’s a Grand Slam. When we got the trophy, we saw our names written on it. We know we get it written on there again. It’s just special.

“So many great teams are on there. We played a lot of great teams to get to the finals. Part of it is really enjoying the journey, enjoying each match. Really, the celebrations kind of go quick. We’re going to make sure we enjoy this moment for a little bit.”

Mattek-Sands and Safarova have been the team to beat since last summer, when they won what was then their third Grand Slam title at the US Open and rode an 18-match winning streak into the final of the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.

“We go out there and have a blast. I mean, I think our first one here in 2015, I hadn’t played a lot of doubles the year before. Lucie and I had never played together as a team. We came out strong. I think it really has clicked from the beginning. It really hasn’t stopped. I think it’s gotten better.

“Lucie is one of my best friends off the court. We talk about life. We talk about tennis. I think more life stuff. But there’s a little tennis in there every once in a while.”

The American in particular had a career-best year in doubles last season, winning the elusive Sunshine Double at the BNP Paribas Open and the Miami Open with CoCo Vandeweghe and Safarova, respectovely, and became the top-ranked doubles player after starting 2017 with a win at the Brisbane International with Sania Mirza.

Dropping just one set en route to the final, Mattek-Sands and Safarova looked more confident after each victory, dancing through off-days with the help of fitness guru Shuan T.

Across the net on Friday’s final was a familiar foe in Hlavackova, who was playing her second straight final in Melbourne, but with a new partner in Peng Shuai. Hlavackova and Peng had played together just five times heading into the first Slam of the season, but had an impressive record with three titles already under their belt, including the Shenzhen Open in the first week of the year.

Making their major debut as a team, Hlavackova and Peng earned back-to-back wins over top teams in No.3 seeds Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina in the quarterfinals, and top seeds Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic. Coincidentally, Vesnina, Garcia and Mladenovic were the only three women who could have usurped Mattek-Sands’ No.1 ranking, and their losses guaranteed her the top spot befor taking the court for the final. 

Hlavackova and Peng exchanged breaks with Team Bucie to kick off the match, eventually edging through a 53-minute first-set tie-break and appearing on course for a big win on Rod Laver Arena.

“I think we were improving throughout the first set,” Safarova said. “I felt like our game was throughout the match getting better and better. We stick together. We were positive. Never doubted that we would be able to pull it out.”

But Mattek-Sands and Safarova dug in their heels, racing out to a double break lead to start the second and continued breaking serve to stay ahead and level the match.

“I think we really balance each other out,” Mattek-Sands added. “We talk a lot during points, on the changeovers. It’s all positive. I know there was a couple games we were up 40-love and we lost them. It’s easy to think you had an opportunity and you missed it. But it’s not the case.

“We play every point new, fresh, and we play our game.”

The decider came down to one break, which the American/Czech duo earned in the fourth game and held on in a marathon fifth game to remain in the lead and eventually serve out the win in two hours and 14 minutes.

“It’s not like you would expect it, but after what we’ve been through, I also feel like our game got better and better,” Safarova said. “I believe we are one of the best teams out there.

“If we play our game, we are positive, keep like sticking together, pulling it out, I think we are going to hopefully get even more.”

After the trophy ceremony, Mattek-Sands and Safarova dusted off their dance moves to thrill the Aussie crowd one more time:

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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MELBOURNE, Australia – No.11 seed Marta Kostyuk captured her maiden major title on Saturday, ousting top seed Rebeka Masarova, 7-5, 1-6, 6-4 in the Australian Open girl’s singles final.

“I was more excited yesterday when I go through the semis,” she admitted in her post-match press conference.

Masarova made a breakout run last spring when she defeated Amanda Anisimova to win the the junior French Open crown, and arrived in Australia aiming to wrest the No.1 ITF ranking from Anastasia Potapova, who did not play this week.

Kostyuk, by contrast, was playing her third season on the junior circuit and had posted consistent, if unremarkable, results at the biggest events – making back-to-back quarterfinal appearances at Eddie Herr and the Orange Bowl.

But things started to change last spring when she began working with manager Ivan Ljubicic, a former ATP pro who coaches Roger Federer.

“I improved a lot, and I feel it. Maybe the biggest improvement period was in May when Ivan invited me to practice in Monte Carlo for ten days. And after that I won Grade Two.

“After that I start to work on my serve a little more and practice more and more. That’s when I signed with Ivan and start to practice in Cannes, in Kiev, so everywhere. It was fine. And I’m trying to work hard.”

Currently coached by her mother, Kostyuk credited Ljubicic with helping her rise so quickly, and with helping her meet Federer during her stay in Melbourne.

“He did a lot. He give me a bit of his experience and big tennis. And I met finally Roger today. He congratulated me. And I took a photo with him, so I was very excited.”

The 15-year-old took a 5-2 lead to start Satuday’s final, only to see Masarova save four set points and level the opening set. Undaunted, the Ukrainian reeled off eight of the final 10 points to take a one set lead.

Still, Masarova was undoubtedly in the match by then, and made her presence known in the second set, breaking four times to force a decider.

“I won first set, but it was very tight, like it was 5-2. I had four set points, and I finished just on the score 6-5,” she explained.

“Maybe when we start to play second set, her consistency was like a bit more than mine, and she was more in the game. And I just lost a little bit of this.

“When I started to play second set, I just started to think how it was good that I almost won. And that what didn’t really helped me.”

The pair exchanged four straight breaks to begin the final set, with Kostyuk ultimately breaking in the crucial ninth game to serve out the biggest title of her young career in one hour and 55 minutes.

“Maybe when score was 3-1, I just stopped thinking and started to play again, so I was ready for the third set.”

The doubles final took place 24 hours prior and saw No.3 seeds Bianca Andreescu and Carson Branstine defeat the Polish pair of Maja Chwalinska and Iga Swiatek.

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