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Sakkari Downs Schmiedlova In Istanbul

Sakkari Downs Schmiedlova In Istanbul

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

ISTANBUL, Turkey – Greek qualifier Maria Sakkari notched the biggest win of her career in the first round of the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup, knocking out the No.1 seed Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in straight sets for her first ever Top 50 win.

Watch live action from Stuttgart & Istanbul this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

No.34-ranked Schmiedlova, who was playing as the top seed at a WTA event for the first time, was looking to reverse a disappointing run of form that has seen her win just one WTA match in 2016.

Meanwhile, the on-the-rise Sakkari has been knocking on the door all year, coming within a few points of a breakthrough twice previously. At the Australian Open, she made it through qualifying to reach the second round in her first appearance at the event, where she pushed the No.10 seed Carla Suárez Navarro to three sets. At the San Antonio 125K event she struck again, coming within two points of knocking out top-seeded Daria Gavrilova.

In the red clay of Istanbul’s Garanti Koza Arena, it seemed like Sakkari would be made to wait again; Schmiedlova quickly broke Sakkari’s serve in the first game, then consolidated comfortably for a 2-0 lead.

But instead of shrinking away, the 20-year-old qualifier turned up the pressure, varied the pace of her heavy groundstrokes and rattled off six straight games to take the set and leave the top seed reeling. Schmiedlova managed to get on board in the second set, but it wasn’t enough as Sakkari continued to attack the Slovak’s vulnerable second serve – she didn’t win any second serve points in the first set and only three all match long. Sakkari closed the match winning 6-2, 6-3.

“It´s the best win of my career. I am so happy,” Sakkari said after the match. “I like playing in Turkey. It feels like home here, people make me feel very welcome. I’m looking forward to my next match and hope to continue to play well.”

Sakkari will go on to play Hsieh Su-Wei in the next round. The Taiwanese player defeated Karin Knapp, 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-1.

No.8 seed Johanna Larsson also advanced to the second round after a stern challenge from Ukrainian qualifier Maryna Zanevska, who took her to within one point of defeat, 6-2, 2-6, 7-6(5). Zanevska held two match points while serving at 6-5 in the third set, but Larsson broke her to send the match into a tiebreaker, emerging victorious after a tense two hours and forty minutes.

Local favorite Cagla Buyukakcay cruised against Russian qualifier Marina Melnikova, winning 6-3, 6-3 in her opening match. She commemorated the win by delighting the crowd with a quick post-match hitting session, signing dozens of autographs and, of course, taking several selfies.

Cagla Buyukakcay

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Goerges: Guided By New Voices

Goerges: Guided By New Voices

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

A change will do you good. For Julia Goerges, it was time for a new voice. After finishing the 2015 season ranked No.50, her highest season-ending rank since her breakout 2011-2012 seasons, the 27-year-old German ended her seven-year partnership with coach Sascha Nensel and brought on Michael Geserer. The decision has paid off and as the European clay court season begins, Goerges is shaping up to be one of the more dangerous unseeded player in the draws.

Goerges knew Geserer from club tennis in Germany, where he had been coaching her club team in Regensburg. Geserer made his mark by coaching Germany’s No.1 male player Philipp Kohlschreiber for years but had since chosen to step away from the tour to focus on family.

“I was playing for this club for the last two years, and I’m still playing,” Goerges told WTA Insider in March. “He was coaching me on the bench there for some matches. I’d gotten to know him for a bit longer before, and I really liked his way of saying things, very calm and has a good plan behind it. He sees a lot of good things, and tactically-wise he’s also very good.

“I thought I was going to ask him, but I didn’t really expect a yes because I knew he doesn’t want to travel anymore because he has two kids and a wife at home, so it’s not easy. I said, ‘Ok, why not ask? You can only get a no!’ He thought about it, and luckily, he changed his mind.”

Julia Goerges

In order to give Geserer as much time at home as possible, Goerges also brought on a second coach, Mathias Mischka, who works with her eight weeks out of the year. The entire team lives just five minutes from each other in Regensburg, 50 minutes outside of Munich. Goerges relocated to Regensburg from Hamburg during the off-season.

“It’s not very new for me because my mom was originally from there. It’s kind of like my childhood area! It’s very exciting and we all live close together so it’s very nice. We don’t need to travel to train somewhere, so we’re able to stay home. It’s very focused.”

Goerges’ signature seasons saw her reach a career-high ranking of No. 15 in 2012 and put together a stunning run to the title at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in 2011; Stuttgart remains her biggest title to date.

Gifted with incredible power off the ground and on serve, she struggled with her consistency in the ensuing years and failed to replicate her earlier results. But after making the fourth round at two majors last season (Australian Open, French Open) Goerges found herself back on the right path. Which is why her off-season decision to swap coaches came, at first blush, as a surprise.

“I was working with my team before for seven years, and I thought this was a time when I needed to change something because I’d just turned 27, and I think I still have some good years ahead of me, and that’s the best time to change something – in the middle of your best age of your career.

“After seven years, I think you need to hear a different voice sometimes. I said, ‘Ok, I’ll take this new path, and looking for a new team.’ I took the right decision, in my opinion, because it’s always good to have a new team around, one you can put your trust into and it’s working pretty good, I can say.”

Goerges started the season by making her first final since 2012, losing to Sloane Stephens at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand. She’s also notched quality wins over Svetlana Kuznetsova at the Dubai Duty Free Championships and Samantha Stosur at the Miami Open. This week she joined the flurry of Germans into the second round of Stuttgart with a 6-4, 6-0 win over Alizé Cornet. Working with Geserer and Mischka hasn’t transformed her game, but it’s reinvigorated her emotionally.

Julia Goerges

“It’s probably not that different, but sometimes it’s just the voice that makes it different,” she said when asked about the differences between teams. “It’s probably the same things that we’re working on, but a new voice gets to other parts in the brain.

“I’m completely feeling like a new human being. I’m much more positive and forgiving myself of a lot of mistakes, what I haven’t done in past years. That’s something that’s working well.

“With a final at the beginning of the year, I think nobody expected that to happen in the first week. I know that I’m capable of playing in finals, but for it to happen in the first week of the year was a nice bonus. We’d been working together for just six weeks during the off-season, and it’s nice to have a good result like this. Also, with the doubles now, it’s kind of all working together, because even those doubles matches are helping me for singles.”

Tennis players will be quick to tell you that winning is winning. It doesn’t matter at what level of tournament or whether it’s in singles or doubles. For Goerges, her pairing with Karolina Pliskova in doubles has led to quick success too. The two have yet to win a title but since pairing last fall in Asia they made the quarterfinals in Wuhan and Beijing, the Australian Open semifinals – losing to eventual champions Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza – and the Indian Wells final. It’s a partnership that could see the two book a spot into the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global at the end of the season.

Karolina Pliskova, Julia Goerges

“I asked Kaja last year in Canada or Cincinnati if she wanted to play Wuhan and Beijing. She was always waiting for her sister to combine for doubles and play. I said, ‘If you want to play, we can. If not, I’ll look for someone else.’ At the end, we said we would play Wuhan and Beijing. We made the quarters of both and only lost to the No.2 and No.1 teams in the world.

“We had a lot of fun. She’s a very lovely girl and she’s very relaxed, which I like because it’s always about good communication in doubles and good connection. I have to be around positive energy, and it’s not easy if you’ve been playing singles for a while and go back into doubles. So you really have to have someone who can keep you up.

“Off the court, we get along very well and that’s something that makes me think I’ve found a really, really good partner. We just want to play the big tournaments this year, and if we do well and have a chance to go to the [WTA Finals], we’ll play some more. So far, we’ve taken it very seriously in the two events this year. We’re just enjoying it and having a very good time together, on and off the court.”

After an off-season that saw her focus primarily on fitness, Goerges says she’s much calmer on the court these days. She has confidence in her physicality and her ability to hang in the rally, which allows her to be more patient. At her worst, Goerges can pull the trigger early and recklessly in the rally, spraying the ball mightily with her fluid but extreme forehand grip. At her best she’s an all court player, something she’s been focusing on getting back to.

“For me, it’s important to find the balance between being aggressive and being a solid player. I have the capability to play with a lot of spin on my ball, which makes it a bit different for the other girls because a lot of women are playing flat, flat, flat, and hard, hard, hard.

“For me, it’s important to get the spin on the ball, have the control over the ball, and really mixing it up between flat and aggressive with spin. This is something where I say, ‘If I really play well, I don’t make many mistakes, but am still being aggressive at the same time, which makes it really tough for the opponent to have a good depth on the ball. But at the same time, I can really flatten out the ball as well.’

Goerges plays her second round match in Stuttgart against sixth-seed Roberta Vinci on Thursday.

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.

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Buyukakcay Keeps Istanbul Dream Alive

Buyukakcay Keeps Istanbul Dream Alive

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

ISTANBUL, Turkey – On Friday afternoon, Cagla Buyukakcay created a little piece of history when she swatted aside No.6 seed Nao Hibino in the quarterfinals of the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup.

Watch live action from Stuttgart & Istanbul this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

In a display of poise and passion, Buyukakcay delighted a bumper crowd with a 6-1, 6-2 victory that sees her become the first Turkish player to reach the semifinals of a WTA tournament.

After her first-round match, Hibino admitted to being a relative novice on the clay and it was a chastening experience against a visibly motivated opponent. Slipping and sliding to all corners of the court, the Japanese player was powerless to stop Buyukakcay romping through the opening set.

A pin-point backhand brought an early break in the second and from there Buyukakcay rode a wave of emotion all the way to the winning post.

“I’m so happy to be in the semifinals at home. Before I was feeling pressure at home and this year I’m enjoying the atmosphere,” Buyukakcay said. “For my career, obviously it’s important to compete at a high level and have good wins. It was one of my best performances and I’m happy it was at home – I’m even more hungry for the next match.”

There she will face another unseeded player, Stefanie Voegele, who defeated Kristina Kucova, 7-5, 6-2, in the following match on court.

“I don’t have anything to lose out there,” Buyukakcay added. “Of course I will do my best and I hope to reach the final. She has beaten some great players, so for sure it will be tough.”

Also through to the last four is No.5 seed Danka Kovinic, who overcame a disastrous start to see off qualifier Maria Sakkari, 1-6, 6-1, 6-2. “Since last year I think I was in seven quarterfinals and finally I am in a semifinal,” Kovinic said. “I didn’t start very well – a lot of unforced errors and she didn’t miss – but after I tried to make more pressure on her, my balls were deeper on the baseline and I think that was the key.

“The third set was a battle, a lot of pressure but maybe I was a bit lucky. But I stayed positive and did not make a lot of mistakes at the end of the match.”

Meeting Kovinic for a place in the final will be Kateryna Kozlova after she defeated Anastasija Sevastova, 6-2, 6-3, in the evening session.

Kateryna Kozlova

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Notes & Netcords: April 25, 2016

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

THE WINNERS

Reigning Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber won her second title of the season at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, dispatching qualifier and countrywoman Laura Siegemund, the tournament’s Cinderella story, 6-4, 6-0.

“I was just trying to enjoy the atmosphere, the fans and to play here again in the finals,” Kerber said. “So, I was trying to relax a little bit but also in the same moment to be focused. It helped me yesterday, so I was trying and hoping that it will help me today as well!”

Though Siegemund finished the match with more winners (22 to 16), Kerber played her counterpunching style to perfection, hitting just nine unforced errors in 80 minutes to win the final 10 games of the match.

It was nonetheless a stellar week for the 28-year-old veteran, who will bound up nearly 30 spots to a career-high ranking of No.42; more importantly, she leapfrogs four of her compatriots to become the No.4 German woman on the WTA rankings – putting her in pole position to round out the national team who can be sent to the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Read the full story and watch highlights here.

Meanwhile, unseeded Cagla Buyukakcay’s fairytale week at the TEP BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup came to a thrilling conclusion when the hometown favorite recovered from a set down to defeat No.5 seed Danka Kovinic, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Set to crack the Top 100 for the first time in her career, Buyukakcay was making history with every win this week in Istanbul, becoming the first Turkish woman to reach a WTA semifinal, then a final, and against Kovinic, the first Turkish WTA titlist in history.

“It’s an incredible week for me to win the title at home, to break into the Top 100 with this tournament, to play against someone with my crowd,” she said after the match. “This is a tournament I’ve been playing since 2005, when I was 15, and I saw the best players at this tournament when I was young. So I dreamed of winning the title since then; it’s very special for me.”

Read the full story here.

GAME, SET, MATCH: WTA Insider

Game: Angelique Kerber turns the page.

Kerber’s successful title defense at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix capped off a five-week run of play that saw her put her post Australian Open malaise behind her and re-assert herself as a force on clay. After two opening round losses after winning her maiden Slam, the German has now made the semifinals or better at her last three events. Her Stuttgart title builds her lead at No.1 on the Road to Singapore, nearly 500 points clear of No.2 Victoria Azarenka.

Kerber is the first to admit clay has never been her favorite. But that began to change last year when her titles in Charleston and Stuttgart kickstarted what has been a career-best 12 months. Kerber has yet to maintain her success in the early part of the clay season through to Paris. She has made the quarterfinals just once at the French Open and in the last two years she has won just one match combined in Madrid and Rome. So long as she’s healthy and stays aggressive from the baseline, there’s no reason Kerber can’t be a force on the red dirt.

 Hear from Stuttgart champion Kerber in this week’s WTA Insider Champion’s Corner.

Set: Cagla Buyukakcay historic on home soil.

Home court advantage doesn’t always ring true in tennis. Playing at home can be paralyzing given the pressure to perform. But this week saw both singles champions win their home tournaments, with No.118 Cagla Buyukakcay becoming the first Turkish woman to win a WTA title. The 26-year-old was 0-7 at the Istanbul Cup before last week but she made good on her wildcard to snag five wins en route to the title. The win vaults her into the Top 100 for the first time at a career-high No.82.

Match: Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic stop SanTina.

The French duo is riding an eight-match win streak after winning their second consecutive title, edging out No.1s Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza 2-6, 6-1, 10-6 to win the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. Garcia and Mladenovic have been flying since the tour turned to clay, winning their first title at the Volvo Car Open, winning the decisive doubles in France’s 3-2 win over the Netherlands at Fed Cup, and now beating the game’s best in Stuttgart.

As for Hingis/Mirza, the duo have not won a title since having their 41-match win streak snapped by Daria Kasatkina and Elena Vesnina at the Qatar Total Open.

Hingis and Mirza are now in the midst of a four tournament title drought. Time to panic? Not really. The pair went five tournaments without a title last year, mostly on their worst surface of clay. They went on to win Wimbledon, the US Open, and the WTA Finals.

RANKING MOVERS:
Notable singles ranking movers for the week of April 25, 2016.

Cagla Buyukakcay (TUR), +36 (No.118 to 82): Turkey’s Buyukakcay owns this week’s biggest ranking jump after her fairytale run at the TEP BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup ended with the hometown favorite becoming her country’s first WTA titlist. She now sits at a career-high No.82.

Laura Siegemund (GER), +29 (No.71 to 42): Another Cinderella story unfolded at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, which saw Siegemund upset player after player to reach her first WTA final and vault to a career-high No.42.

Danka Kovinic (MNE), +13 (No.60 to 47): Kovinic also posts a career-high ranking this week after reaching her second WTA final at Istanbul.

Petra Kvitova (CZE), +1 (No.7 to 6): Kvitova’s run to the Stuttgart semifinals causes the only Top 10 shuffle of the week, leapfrogging Simona Halep to reach the No.6 spot.

UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS

GP SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem
Rabat, Morocco
International | $226,750 | Clay, Outdoor
Monday, April 25 – Saturday, April 30, 2016

J&T Banka Prague Open
Prague, Czech Republic
International | $226,750 | Clay, Outdoor
Monday, April 25 – Saturday, April 30, 2016

Mutua Madrid Open
Madrid, Spain
Premier Mandatory | €4,771,360 | Clay, Outdoor
Sunday, April 30 – Saturday, May 7, 2016

Internazionali BNL d’Italia
Rome, Italy
Premier | – | Clay, Outdoor
Monday, May 9 – Sunday, May 15, 2016

TOP 20 PLAYER SCHEDULES
1. Serena Williams – Madrid, Rome
2. Agnieszka Radwanska – Madrid
3. Angelique Kerber – Madrid, Rome
4. Garbiñe Muguruza – Madrid, Rome
5. Victoria Azarenka – Madrid, Rome
6. Petra Kvitova – Madrid, Rome
7. Simona Halep – Madrid, Rome
8. Roberta Vinci – Prague, Madrid, Rome
9. Maria Sharapova
10. Belinda Bencic – Madrid, Rome
11. Carla Suárez Navarro – Madrid, Rome
12. Flavia Pennetta
13. Svetlana Kuznetsova – Prague, Madrid, Rome
14. Venus Williams – Madrid, Rome
15. Timea Bacsinszky – Rabat, Madrid, Rome
16. Lucie Safarova – Prague, Madrid, Rome
17. Elina Svitolina – Madrid, Rome
18. Karolina Pliskova – Prague, Madrid, Rome
19. Ana Ivanovic – Madrid, Rome
20. Sara Errani – Madrid, Rome

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
Best wishes to those celebrating birthdays this week:

Jarmila Wolfe (AUS) – April 26, 2016
Misaki Doi (JPN) – April 29, 2016
Sara Errani (ITA) – April 29, 2016
Shahar Peer (ISR) – May 1, 2016

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RTS Update: Clay Court Gains

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Angelique Kerber’s glorious homecoming in Stuttgart provided an emphatic answer to any lingering questions over her ability to wear the mantle of Grand Slam champion. 

And strong showings on the clay over the coming weeks, at two of the calendar’s most prestigious stop offs, will further underline her status among the game’s elite, not to mention her championship credentials for the campaign’s second major, Roland Garros.

On the face of it, Kerber’s counterpunching game is ideally suited to clay, but surprisingly it was not until last April that she first lifted a WTA title on the surface. This triumph in Charleston was swiftly followed by another in Stuttgart, and her defense of this title rightly pushes her to the forefront of the contenders for the other major honors.

Up first is the Premier Mandatory Mutua Madrid Open. Staged at the Caja Mágica, the event’s recent honor roll is a Who’s Who of the game’s elite, with Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Petra Kvitova leading the way.

Yet it is another name that arguably starts as favorite. While Kerber sits pretty atop the Road To Singapore leaderboard, Victoria Azarenka can lay claim to being the season’s most consistent performer.

The Belarusian, a WTA Finales ever-present between 2009 and 2013, looks well set to  secure her return after a trophy-laden couple of months. Titles in Brisbane, Indian Wells and Miami have sent Azarenka shooting up the leaderboard, trailing Kerber now by fewer than 500 points.

With 1,000 up for grabs in Madrid, and a further 900 at the following week’s Internazionali BNL d’Italia, in Rome, there is ample opportunity for the early pacesetters to forge further ahead or get sucked back into the pack.

Among those eager to reel them in is Agnieszka Radwanska. By her own admission the Pole has never taken to clay, although a semifinal run in Stuttgart suggests that her fortunes on the surface may be about to change.

One player who is no stranger to success at this time of year is reigning Roland Garros champion Serena Williams. By her own very high standards, it has been a slightly disappointing start to the year for WIlliams, and her bid for silverware in the Spanish and Italian capitals is sure to be one of the more captivating storylines.

Click here to see the full Road To Singapore leaderboard standings heading into Madrid.

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CNN Open Court: That Backhand

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Carla Suárez Navarro among the game’s most elegant players, but recently she has proven there is substance to go with this style. CNN Open Court caught up with the Spaniard ahead of her home event.

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Insider Podcast: Hola Madrid

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

On this Dropshot Edition of the podcast, WTA Insider Senior Writer Courtney Nguyen previews the Mutua Madrid Open draw. Will Victoria Azarenka pick up where she left off and assert her dominance on clay? Or will it be the tour’s Road to Singapore leader Angelique Kerber build on her title at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix to breakthrough in Madrid’s altitude? If the two most dominant players on tour this season don’t end up with the final, who is poised to play the spoiler?

Joining the podcast to help preview the action is René Denfeld, contributing writer for The Tennis Island, who is also in Madrid for the week.

Nguyen on Azarenka’s clay court preparation: All eyes are on Victoria Azarenka, 24-1 on the season. I was encouraged by what she said today during All-Access Hour, how this was her first clay court preparation with her new team, and hearing some new advice from her team – new voices. I think the numbers through the season on the hardcourts have shown that she is playing some of her best tennis. She’s serving better than she ever has in her career, and on return she’s right up there alongside the numbers she was posting in her peak years of 2012 and 2013. In all ways, you think this is Azarenka’s season, which is a weird thing today when Angelique Kerber has won Stuttgart and the Australian Open.

Denfeld on comparing Azarenka’s season to Kerber’s: Kerber put in a tremendous run at the Aussie Open, taking out the two biggest favorites along the way, and backing up a title for the first time in her career. What Kerber’s done really well over the last six months is learn from experiences in terms of dealing with pressure. But in terms of consistent performance over the last four months, I put Victoria Azarenka ahead of her, and everyone in Germany is going to throw rocks at me when I come back!

Nguyen on Agnieszka Radwanska’s confidence on clay: It’s interesting because when I’ve talked to Aga about her clay issues, it’s always a curious thing because she says, ‘I grew up on clay; this was the surface I played on.’ But then once she started to play on tour, 90% of the tournaments were on hardcourts. She made those adjustments and faster courts became her strength. When I ask her to drill down on the adjustments she made or what makes clay a challenge for here, she never points to the power deficiency issue, or the technical issue, that the ball sits up. She always points to movement; she’s said, ‘I like sliding on hardcourts, but for some reason, I don’t like sliding on a clay court. I need to be able to run to win matches, and if you take the ability to run away from me, it exposes my game.’

Denfeld on Simona Halep: Of all the seeds, I think this might be the most key tournament for Halep, because I’m a little confused as to the state of Simona at the moment. She said she felt fine and that her ankle felt good; I’m just curious what this tournament holds for Halep. She says she has no expectations, and for me that’s tough to judge, because with no expectations, what does a first round loss mean? She had some good results in the US, and then that curious end against Laura Siegemund, having breathing problems. It created more questions than answers, but it would be good to see some results to resolve them.

Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or on any podcast app of your choice and reviews are always helpful, so if you like what you’ve heard so far, leave us one. You can also get new episode alerts by following us on Twitter @WTA_Insider.

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Muguruza Shines Under Madrid Spotlight

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MADRID, Spain – No.3 seed Garbiñe Muguruza closed out a decisive 6-2, 7-5 win over Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, winning her first round match at the Mutua Madrid Open in just over 90 minutes on Court Manolo Santana.

Watch live action from Madrid this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

“Of course I was a little bit nervous and tense because the first matches are always complicated,” Muguruza told press after the match.

:In Madrid we have this extra pressure because I’m here at home. Perhaps you’re a little bit more nervous because of that. But my first feeling is that I’m satisfied for winning the match, fighting, as I fought a lot.”

Coming off of another successful Fed Cup outing and a run to the quarterfinals of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, Muguruza is quite comfortable on clay – despite her breakout Wimbledon fortnight less than a year ago – and used that experience to take the ascendency on Schmiedlova, who has only won one WTA main draw match thus far in 2016.

Hitting 22 winners to the Slovak’s five, Muguruza closed off more than her fair share of points at the net, venturing forward 12 times and converting eight of those advances. Schmiedlova, by contrast, hit 28 unforced errors and seven double faults, though she pushed the former World No.3 to play her best tennis in the second set.

Still in her first full season as a top ranked player, the Spanish youngster admitted she is still navigating the waters of the big leagues, but feels she is acquitting herself well.

“I think it’s difficult. It’s something that requires you to play very well, not only tennistically talking, but in everything you do. You have to put everything in.

“I’m very happy to be up there and very fortunate to be there. I’m discovering how to handle it the best possible way. To feel more confident, comfortable.

“Right now I’m feeling well.”

Up next for the two-time French Open quarterfinalist is Irina-Camelia Begu, who outlasted Eugenie Bouchard, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 late on Sunday evening.

“Every time I go out there and play a game I’m very competitive and I want to win. It doesn’t matter if I defend points or not.”

Around the grounds, Daria Kasatkina fought valiantly through injury concerns and an inspired opponent in qualifier Patricia Maria Tig, but ultimately fell to the Romanian, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2. Sabine Lisicki made short work of another qualifier, Monica Puig, as the German emerged in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3. On the bubble to qualify for the Rio Olympics, Lisicki saw herself get bumped from her country’s Top 4 when Laura Siegemund reached the final of Stuttgart two weeks ago, and will need to put together some solid results of her own to reassert her presence on the national team. Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova set up a second round encounter with Camila Giorgi when she defeated Lesia Tsurenko, 6-2, 6-1 – Tsurenko herself was playing with a heavily strapped right thigh.

American qualifier Louisa Chirico turned heads with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Monica Niculescu; the Romanian veteran had pushed Petra Kvitova to the brink in Stuttgart, but Chirico had all the answers in the one hour, 35 minute match. Winning 70% of her first serve points and breaking serve six times, the 19-year-old New York native could next play 2008 French Open champion Ana Ivanovic in the second round. Get to know the young American in a new interview from WTA Insider.

Volvo Car Open finalist and qualifier Elena Vesnina began her red clay campaign with a 7-5, 6-0 win over Jelena Ostapenko, who was hoping to build on her run to the semifinals of the Katowice Open after a runner-up finish in Doha. Vesnina will next play defending champion Kvitova, who eased past Lara Arruabarrena, 6-3, 6-2, in just over an hour. A two-time winner in Madrid, Kvitova reached the semifinals of Stuttgart continued looking comfortable on clay on Sunday, striking 29 winners to 27 unforced errors against the Spaniard, who pushed Angelique Kerber to a third set tie-break a few weeks ago in Charleston.

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Madrid Tuesday: Hola Halep

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MADRID, Spain –  Simona Halep leads the pack on the last day of second round action at the Mutua Madrid Open.

Tuesday, Second Round

[6] Simona Halep (ROU #7) vs Karin Knapp (ITA #75)
Head-to-head: Halep leads 1-0
Key Stat: Knapp (122 minutes) has spent twice as long on court as Halep (58 minutes) in Madrid

The 2014 Madrid finalist’s season has so far unfolded in fits and starts: Halep posted solid quarterfinal appearances at Indian Wells and Miami, as well as second round exits at Doha and Stuttgart. She’s nonetheless adjusted well to the altitude and conditions in Madrid and dropped just three games in her opening match.

“It was a good match, a good start for me,” Halep said. “I had a good start because I was confident, and practicing very well the last few days here.”

By contrast, Halep’s opponent has spent much of her season dealing with a right knee injury, and has only played three matches so far this year. Though each one ended in a first round loss, Knapp has showed her grit in the last two, taking her opponents to three sets. But Halep is the first Top 20 player Knapp has had to face, and she might be too much for the recovering Italian.

The matchup could ultimately come down to Halep’s health, which has been a source of woe for the Romanian in 2016. Though she’s still recovering from the breathing difficulties and ankle injury that sent her crashing out of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, she showed none of those symptoms during her 58-minute demolition of Misaki Doi in the last round. A repeat performance against Knapp would see her advance comfortably to the round of 16.

Samantha Stosur (AUS #23) vs [11] Lucie Safarova (CZE #13)
Head-to-head: Safarova leads 11-3
Key Stat: Safarova has won all three of their encounters on clay

Lucie Safarova and Samantha Stosur are two players familiar with each other: they’ve played 14 times previously, and their latest encounter is probably still fresh in their memory. They played a few days ago in the final of the J&T Banka Prague Open – Safarova came back from a set down run away with the match and the title, her first on clay since 2005.

Both of them made the change from Prague to Madrid with ease, despite the less than ideal turnaround time: after their Saturday final in Prague, the two shared the same flight to the Spanish capital and played their opening matches at the Mutua Madrid Open on Sunday.

“It’s gonna be a late night tonight, and I know Lucie and I are on the same flight,” Stosur said after their final. “We’ll both be in the same boat but that’s the way it goes sometimes.

“It’s not ideal preparation, but to be in a final – you’d take that any day.”

With both of them fighting fatigue, Stosur is eager to grab a chance at redemption against her Czech nemesis. She had Safarova under pressure in their Prague final, and without the effect of the partisan home crowd she could seal the victory.

Also in action: Laura Siegemund made headlines at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix when she made a run from the qualifying rounds all the way to her career-first Premier-level final. She already looks set to repeat the streak: the German qualifier knocked out No.9 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in her first main draw match. Standing in the way of her next fairytale run is Mirjana Lucic-Baroni. Meanwhile, No.8 seed Carla Suárez Navarro – the only Spaniard left in the draw – will have to hold her nerve in front of the home crowd as she takes on Sabine Lisicki on Court Manolo Santana. Ekaterina Makarova and No.10 seed Timea Bacsinszky open the day session at Pista 4.

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