Charleston: Bouchard vs. Dulgheru
Eugenie Bouchard takes on Alexandra Dulgheru in the first round of the Volvo Car Open.
Eugenie Bouchard takes on Alexandra Dulgheru in the first round of the Volvo Car Open.
Sloane Stephens takes on Daria Gavrilova in the third round of the Volvo Car Open.
An interview with Elena Vesnina after her quarterfinal win at the Volvo Car Open.
THE WINNERS
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.
“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,” Stephens said after the match.
“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 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.”
Read the full story and watch highlights here.
Meanwhile, Dominika Cibulkova captured her first WTA final since 2014 at the Katowice Open, taking out three-time finalist Camila Giorgi, 6-4, 6-0. Cibulkova was in her second final of 2016 – having narrowly missed out on the Abierto Mexicano Telcel title to Sloane Stephens.
“You have to go by small steps, and this is just a small step for me to get to where I want to be,” said Cibulkova, who missed much of 2015 recovering from an Achilles injury. “I proved that through the last matches – how I finished them – that I’m a really good player and this is how I want to play.”
Read the full story here.
GAME, SET, MATCH: WTA Insider
Game: Sloane Stephens’ Premier Milestone.
From being match point down to Daria Kasatkina in the quarterfinals to tournament champion on Sunday, Stephens’ run to her biggest career title at the Volvo Car Open was as much of a rollercoaster as her 2016 season, which has been all about the boom or bust. Stephens has played six tournaments this year. In three she lost in her opening match (Australian Open, Indian Wells, Miami), in the other three she went on to win the title (ASB Classic, Abierto Mexicano TELCEL, and Volvo Car Open). When Sloane Stephens wins, she wins in bunches.
Prior to this year, Stephens carried a dismal 1-5 record in Charleston, a frustrating clip given how much she loved the tournament, the city, and playing on clay. This year, Stephens knocked off three quality Top 40 players in Daria Gavrilova, Daria Kasatkina, and Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber (Kerber retired due to a viral illness) en route to the final, where she was pushed to the limit in the first set before defeating Elena Vesnina 7-6(4), 6-2.
Set: Dominika Cibulkova’s Slow Climb.
Cibulkova has been playing well above her ranking this year. More often than not she’s been the most dangerous unseeded player at the tour’s biggest events so far. Her romp to her first title since 2014 was no big surprise at the Katowice Open. Cibulkova dropped just one set all week and capped off her semifinal and final wins with second set bagels. This was a dominant and deserved week for Cibulkova, who is up to No.38 in the rankings.
Match: Angelique Kerber and Lara Arruabarrena put on a show.
It wasn’t a match many people saw, but Kerber’s 6-2, 5-7, 7-6(3) win over Arruabarrena was some inspired stuff from both women, particularly the Spaniard. Ranked No.80, Arruabarrena looked to be primed for a quick exit after the first set, which was no surprise given her road to Charleston:
Sunday (Osprey's ITF)
Semis 2 sets???
Final 3 sets???
??–8 hours–> Charleston 3am
Monday (Charleston WTA)
1R 3 sets???Tomorrow 2R… ?
— Lara Arruabarrena (@laraarrua) April 5, 2016
Arruabarrena found a way to raise her level and gave Kerber everything she had for the next two hours, as the two slugged it out on a cool night on the green clay. In the end it was Kerber’s resilience and experience that brought her over the finish line, but this was a performance to remember for Arruabarrena. It was one of the best matches of the year.
For matches like this i play tennis
A shame i lost but i had such a figther at the other site of the net. Best of luck for @AngeliqueKerber— Lara Arruabarrena (@laraarrua) April 6, 2016
RANKING MOVERS:
Notable singles ranking movers for the week of April 11, 2016.
Elena Vesnina (RUS), +34 (No.85 to 51): Vesnina’s run to the final of the Volvo Car Open gives her the biggest ranking jump of the week and puts her within reach of the Top 50. Vesnina, a finalist in Charleston in 2011, had to play through qualifying just to reach the main draw.
Dominika Cibulkova (SVK), +15 (No.53 to 38): Cibulkova claimed her first title of the year – and her first since 2014 – at the Katowice Open this week and earned a 15-point ranking jump, putting her back into the Top 40.
Sloane Stephens (USA), +4 (No.25 to 21): Stephens grabbed her third title of the year at the Volvo Car Open and keeps inching higher and higher up the rankings – this week she’s up to No.21.
Daria Kasatkina (RUS), +3 (No.35 to 32): 18-year-old Kasatkina reached her first Premier-level quarterfinal on clay this week in Charleston, sending her up three spots to No.32. Even more significantly, the jump gives her a greater chance of being seeded at the French Open.
Agnieszka Radwanska (POL), +1 (No.3 to 2): Radwanska and Angelique Kerber continue their tug-of-war with the No.2 spot – they’ve traded it off four times in the last four ranking runs.
UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS
Claro Open Colsanitas
Bogotá, Colombia
International | $226,750 | Clay
Monday, April 11 – Sunday, April 17, 2016
Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
Stuttgart, Germany
Premier | $693,900 | Clay, Indoor
Monday, April 18 – Sunday, April 24, 2016
TOP 20 PLAYER SCHEDULES
1. Serena Williams
2. Agnieszka Radwanska – Stuttgart
3. Angelique Kerber – Stuttgart
4. Garbiñe Muguruza – Stuttgart
5. Victoria Azarenka
6. Simona Halep – Stuttgart
7. Petra Kvitova – Stuttgart
8. Roberta Vinci – Stuttgart
9. Maria Sharapova
10. Belinda Bencic – Stuttgart
11. Carla Suárez Navarro – Stuttgart
12. Flavia Pennetta
13. Svetlana Kuznetsova – Stuttgart
14. Venus Williams
15. Lucie Safarova – Stuttgart
16. Elina Svitolina – Bogotá
17. Timea Bacsinszky
18. Karolina Pliskova – Stuttgart
19. Ana Ivanovic – Stuttgart
20. Sara Errani
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
Best wishes to those celebrating birthdays this week:
Elizaveta Kulichkova (RUS) – April 12, 1996
Richel Hogenkamp (NED) – April 16, 1992
Taylor Townsend (USA) – April 16, 1996
Sloane Stephens takes on Elena Vesnina in the final of the Volvo Car Open.
KEY INFORMATION:
Tournament Level: Premier
Prize Money: $795,707
Draw Size: 28 main draw (4 byes)/32 qualifying
Qualifying Dates: Saturday, April 16 – Monday, April 18
First Day of Main Draw: Monday, April 18
Singles Final: Sunday, April 24, 1.30pm CEST
Doubles Final: Sunday, April 24 (after singles final)
MUST FOLLOW SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS:
@WTA
@WTA_Insider – WTA Insider, Senior Writer Courtney Nguyen
@PorscheTennis – official tournament handle
Get involved in conversations with the official hashtags, #PTGP and #WTA.
TOURNAMENT NOTES:
· Defending champion Angelique Kerber returns to action after retiring from the Charleston semifinals with a viral illness.
· The only other former winner in the draw is Julia Goerges, who triumphed in 2011. Former finalist Ana Ivanovic (2014) has also made the trip to southern Germany.
· Agnieszka Radwanska is top seed and playing her first match since pulling out of her home event, the Katowice Open, with a reoccurrence of a long-standing shoulder injury.
· For the complete draw click here.
WILDCARDS:
Julia Goerges (GER), Anna-Lena Friedsam (GER)
WITHDRAWALS:
Belinda Bencic, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Madison Keys
An interview with Carla Suarez Navarro after her win in the first round of the Porsche Grand Prix.
It took her about three tries, but Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova successfully completed the WTA Frame Challenge. How well did she do? That’s a different story…
Highlights from the first and second round action at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
STUTTGART, Germany – The first major red clay tournament is about to reach its exciting conclusion with an all-German final to be contested between defending champion Angelique Kerber and Laura Siegemund – so here are 10 Things To Know about the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix final.
Laura Siegemund (GER #71) vs. (2) Angelique Kerber (GER #3)
Head-To-Head: First meeting
1) History has already been made.
Since the tournament moved to Stuttgart from Filderstadt in 2006, there have never been two German women in the final, but with eight of the Top 9 Germans competing at their home tournament, perhaps the odds should have been more in their favor. While Kerber won the title in 2015 and started the season with an Australian Open crown, few tipped Laura Siegemund to come through qualifying and dismantle three Top 10 players (Simona Halep, Roberta Vinci, and Agnieszka Radwanska) without dropping a set.
2) Siegemund is playing career-defining tennis.
Unexpected as it might have ultimately been, there were certainly signs a run like was possible from Siegemund. Unseeded at the Australian Open, she upset former No.1 Jelena Jankovic to reach her first Grand Slam third round; the 28-year-old made a seamless transition to clay back in Charleston, upsetting 2015 finalist Madison Keys en route to the quarterfinals. Through seven matches in Stuttgart, Siegemund has yet to drop a set (14-0).
3) Kerber is close to her Melbourne form…
A brief lull following her Grand Slam triumph led to early losses at the Qatar Total Open and the BNP Paribas Open, but the World No.3 has been largely back at her best since the Miami Open, where she reached the semifinals. A viral illness halted her title defense in the semifinals of the Volvo Car Open, and her 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 win over Petra Kvitova on Saturday took her into her first final since the Australian Open.
4) …but will remain at No.3 on the WTA rankings.
Retiring in Charleston returned the No.2 ranking to Agnieszka Radwanska, who had briefly wrested the spot from Kerber after Indian Wells. Radwanska’s run to the semifinals keeps the No.2 ranking out of reach for now, but with neither defending too many points through Premier tournaments in Madrid and Rome, the race will be on for who will have their own half of the French Open draw across from 21-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams.
5) Kerber takes control of the Road to Singapore standings.
Outside the Top 2 on the 52-week rankings, Kerber continues making strides on the Road to Singapore standings; despite losing the top spot to Victoria Azarenka following the former No.1’s Sunshine Double, Kerber has made up lost ground while the Belarusian led her country to a win over Russia in Fed Cup. With a tour-leading 25 matches, Kerber is looking for her second title of 2016 in four finals after starting the year in back-to-back finals in Sydney and Melbourne.
6) Siegemund is up to a career-high ranking…
Starting the week as the No.8 German, Siegemund has leapfrogged countrywomen Mona Barthel, Julia Goerges, Anna-Lena Friedsam, and Sabine Lisicki to tentatively move into the Top 50 for the first time in her career at No.42. An even bigger leap could be in store should she win the title, but cracking the Top 4 in her country’s ranks has major implications for the upcoming Rio Olympic Games.
7) …and has experience in finals.
This may be her first WTA singles final, but Siegemund has had plenty of success on the ITF Circuit throughout her career, winning a whopping 11 Challenger titles – all on clay – since 2006 (though 10 have come in the last five years). Siegemund also reached four WTA doubles finals in 2015, winning three, with three different partners, and on three different surfaces (the Topshelf Open with Asia Muhammad, the Brasil Tennis Cup with Annika Beck, and the BGL BNP Luxembourg Open with Mona Barthel).
8) Kerber has hustled, Siegemund has flowed.
Through their main draw wins, Kerber has managed to spend 13 more more minutes on the court despite having a first round bye and the fact that Siegemund played an extra match. Siegemund’s most competitive set came in the first round against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who surged ahead in the second set before the veteran closed out the Russian, 6-0, 7-5.
9) Kerber on clay.
The French Open is the only Grand Slam tournament where Kerber is yet to reach at least the semifinals, making one quarterfinal in 2012. Her first career clay court titles came back-to-back last spring, when she captured the Volvo Car Open and Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. Kerber has never won a title on outdoor red clay, reaching only one final (Bogota, 2010).
10) Money, money money.
The winner of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix title is set to take home 104,477 euros (or about 117,259 USD). Siegemund has already made just under a third of her career prize money in 2016 alone, while Kerber leads the season Prize Money rankings with 3,006,134 USD.
