Wuhan: Cibulkova Interview
An interview with Dominika Cibulkova after her win in the quarterfinals of the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open.
An interview with Dominika Cibulkova after her win in the quarterfinals of the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open.
CoCo Vandeweghe discusses her support system and former mentor Vic Braden in her post-match press conference at the Australian Open.
MIAMI, FL, USA – The Miami Open gets underway on Tuesday, with a couple of inter-generational battles headlining the order of play on Grandstand and Court 1.
Tuesday, First Round
Grandstand
[WC] Laura Robson (GBR #504) vs. Kirsten Flipkens (BEL #65)
Head-to-head: Flipkens leads 1-0
When Laura Robson came off court nursing her wrist following a humbling first-round defeat to Kirsten Flipkens at the 2014 Australian Open, even in her worst nightmares she cannot have envisaged what was to follow. Two years of injury woe have derailed one of the game’s brightest young talents, leaving her kicking her heels at home as junior and domestic rivals have stepped into the limelight. Using her protected ranking at Indian Wells, Robson played well for a set before losing to eventual quarterfinalist Magdalena Rybarikova.
In Miami, she renews acquaintances with Flipkens, whose similarly anachronistic game could stymie the Brit’s search to rediscover her competitive groove. Since reaching the quarterfinals at Miami, semifinals at Wimbledon and coming within touching distance of the Top 10 in 2013, Flipkens has been forced to battle her own demons. Having dropped out of the Top 100 last year, the Belgian has been enigmatic this time around, promising showings in Auckland and Monterrey punctuated by several early exits.
Court 1
Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR #59) vs. Daria Kasatkina (RUS #36)
Head-to-head: first meeting
With superb groundstrokes, excellent movement and an impressive temperament, Daria Kasatkina has all the tools to make it to the top of the game. This much was obvious when she shocked Venus Williams in the opening week of the new season to make the tennis world really stand up and take notice. Since then Kasatkina has gone from strength to strength, reaching the third round at the Australian Open, the semifinals at St. Petersburg and, just last week, a quarterfinal at Indian Wells.
On her Miami debut, she takes on Kateryna Bondarenko, another upwardly mobile player – albeit at a very different stage in her career. Since returning to the tour following the birth of her first child a couple of years ago, Bondarenko has been making up for lost time, building on a strong finish to 2015 with credible showings at several big events, highlighted by her run through qualifying to the fourth round at Indian Wells.
Also on court…
Preceding Robson and Flipkens on Grandstand will be a couple of home hopes, Madison Brengle and Nicole Gibbs, who take on Camila Giorgi and Yulia Putintseva, respectively. On Court 1, Barbora Strycova faces Anna-Lena Friedsam, and Margarita Gasparyan meets Annika Beck.
MELBOURNE, Australia – 2016 semifinalist Johanna Konta raced through a much-anticipated collision with former World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki, 6-3, 6-1, to return to the second week at the Australian Open.
“Against someone like Caroline, she’s not going to give it to you,” she said in her post-match press conference. “You really do have to earn it and win it till the very last point. I’m just very happy I was able to keep that pressure on.”
Konta rode a seven-match winning streak into the third round in Melbourne, having captured her second career WTA title at the Apia International Sydney last week.
“I think I had a longer streak a couple years ago. Still got awhile to go till then,” she said, referring to a 16 match winning streak she compiled in the summer of 2015 between the ITF and WTA circuits. “But I’m very pleased with how I’ve just been able to problem solve in the last matches that I’ve played, really play myself into matches where I felt I started slowly, and, like today, maintain the level.
“I’ve played against some very good players. To be able to come through that, I’m very pleased.”
Contrasted against the Brit’s meteoric rise was Wozniacki across the net; the Dane had been the model of consistency for much of the last decade before an injury-addled 2016 took her as low as No.74 in the WTA rankings.
A run to the US Open semifinal served as a springboard for the No.17 seed, who returned to the Top 20 by year’s end and was looking to interrupt Konta’s run with a big win to start the season.
The first six games were hotly contested, but each went with serve before the Brit broke through on her third break point of the opening set, winning eight straight games to take a set and 5-0 lead.
“I know this may sound like a broken record, but I do try very hard to always make sure I really take the good and the things I can improve on from every match that I play and reinvest it into the next match. Whenever a similar situation arises, I make sure that’s in my bank and I can use my experience from that.
“I think hopefully I’m getting a little wiser.”
Undaunted, Wozniacki got on the board and pushed Konta through a tense final game before the No.9 seed clinched victory in one hour and 17 minutes.
“She played really well. She served really well, returned deep. She was going for the lines. It was going in. You could see she had the confidence,” the Dane said after the match.
“I’m looking forward to the season. It’s a better start than last year. We just have to go from here, go back and grind and then come back and play again.
“There’s lots of tournaments ahead. That’s what I’m looking forward to.”
Up next for the top-ranked Brit is 2015 Australian Open semifinalist Ekaterina Makarova; the No.30 seed survived a titanic ecounter with reigning BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global champion and No.6 seed Dominika Cibulkova, 6-2, 6-7(3), 6-3.
“Every time we play, we have a battle,” Konta said of her Russian rival. “I think last year was 8-6 in the third. I remember that was a high-level match from both of us. That was really a great match to be a part of.
“She had a great match against Dominika Cibulkova. Dominika is not an easy player to beat, and she was able to do that. She’s playing obviously great tennis.
“I think she really enjoys playing here. She always seems to do well on these courts. I’m looking forward to it. We’ll deal with whatever challenges come up the next day.”
Johanna #Konta to play Ekaterina #Makarova in 4R #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/Vo0kVY08pP
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 21, 2017
MIAMI, FL, USA – Daria Kasatkina continued her productive trip stateside with victory in a see-saw encounter against Kateryna Bondarenko on the first day of the Miami Open.
Watch live action from Miami this fortnight on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
In the opening months of 2016, Kasatkina has been making great strides up the rankings, gatecrashing the Top 40 for the first time after her quarterfinal run in Indian Wells.
The young Russian carried this form into the early stages of her first-round meeting with Bondarenko, breaking three times to wrap up the first set in 27 minutes. When she then broke in the opening game of the second, a routine victory looked on the cards.
However, such thoughts were soon parked as Bondarenko capitalized on some uncharacteristically sloppy mistakes to level to contest in emphatic fashion. In the decider Kasatkina struck first, before exhibiting tremendous poise to hold onto her own serve in a titanic sixth game and close out a 6-2, 1-6, 6-2 victory.
“I started the match well, but in the second set I started to give her some chances and she came back,” Kasatkina said. “It was really tough to get the momentum back, but I did it and I’m very happy because it’s my first time in Miami.”
Twelve months ago, Kasatkina, then ranked well outside the Top 200, had just qualified for an ITF Circuit event on the other side of Florida, in Palm Harbour. Since then her rise has been rapid, but the 18-year-old is eager for the perks of an even loftier ranking: “Nothing really changed – because I’m still not seeded! It’s just a ranking. If I was seeded I would get a bye, but it’s one more match I have to play.”
Her reward is a meeting with No.5 seed Simona Halep on Thursday. “She’s great player for sure so it will be difficult, but I will watch matches with my coach and we will talk about how to play her.”
Among the other early winners were Barbora Strycova, Teliana Pereira and Zhang Shuai. Strycova needed less than an hour to see off Anna-Lena Friedsam, 6-2, 6-0, while Zhang was nearly as swift in dispatching junior Wimbledon champion Sofya Zhuk, 6-1, 6-2.
In the tournament’s opening match on Grandstand, Pereira had more difficulty winning her all-Brazilian clash with Beatriz Haddad Maia, eventually prevailing 7-6(2), 6-1.
With World No.1 Angelique Kerber out of Oz, can No.2 Serena Williams reclaim the top spot at the Australia? Find out how right here on wtatennis.com.
MIAMI, FL, USA – Alizé Cornet is back to her winning ways with a confident start to her Miami Open campaign. With her 6-4, 7-5 victory against Galina Voskoboeva, the Frenchwoman sets up a second round clash against World No.2 Agnieszka Radwanska.
Watch live action from Miami this fortnight on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
Cornet, who was facing up to six months out of action due to a back injury she sustained early in the season, was in full flight against the recovering Kazakh, who overcame 22 months of injury rehab to make her WTA comeback in Acapulco.
“I really missed playing tennis this past six or seven weeks,” Cornet said after the match. “It was actually pretty unexpected that I would come here and win my first match.”
The Frenchwoman was off to a dominating start against Voskoboeva despite the tough conditions in Miami. The wind and humidity made it tough for both players to hold serve – by the end there were 10 breaks of serve in the match.
The pair traded breaks early on, but it was Cornet that got her nose ahead in the opening set with a 4-2 lead. Though the Kazakh was able to narrow the gap, Cornet stayed steady and took the first set 6-4.
Although she offered up a stiffer resistance in the second set, Voskoboeva’s errors – especially from the forehand side – began to creep higher and higher. Cornet took advantage and turned up the pressure, rushing to the net to end points early. Despite flubbing a match point at 5-4, Cornet sealed the match at her second opportunity, notching her first win since the Australian Open.
“I’m just happy to be healthy and to move again and just to enjoy playing tennis,” Cornet said. “I think this injury gave me a good lesson and I really appreciate even more my time on court now.”
Earlier in the day, Britain’s Heather Watson had a smoother road to the second round. Petra Cetkovska was also making her way back to the tour after being plagued by injury woes for the past two years. She was no match for the inform Brit, though, who dropped just one game in her 6-1, 6-0, 47-minute win.
A pair of Americans made their way to the second round as well after recording straight set wins over qualifiers – Irina Falconi defeated WTA veteran Francesca Schiavone 7-5, 6-1 while Vania King took out Lourdes Domínguez Lino 6-4, 6-4.
Caroline Garcia withstood a stern test from Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, needing to come back from a set down before advancing 2-6, 6-1, 6-3. Julia Goerges and Yanina Wickmayer are also through.
It was a crazy bet to play in this @MiamiOpen, and this win is pretty unexpected ! Feels good to be back ? #missedit pic.twitter.com/EyJICTFdjI
— Alize Cornet (@alizecornet) March 23, 2016
MELBOURNE, Australia – CoCo Vandeweghe ended No.1 Angelique Kerber’s title defense at the Australian Open on Sunday, defeating the German 6-2, 6-3 in the Round of 16 to make her first quarterfinal in Melbourne. Ranked No.35 and set to rise to a career-high ranking after the tournament, the big-hitting American bullied Kerber off the court with her power, firing 30 winners to 20 unforced errors in just 68 minutes.
.@CoCoVandey with the dab!#AusOpen pic.twitter.com/yEayki4q6k
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 22, 2017
1. This result was in the cards.
On paper, this was a significant upset. In actuality, you could see it coming from a mile away.
There’s no way around it: Kerber was still trying to find her form in Melbourne. She came into the tournament with just three matches under her belt – two of them losses – and though she successfully navigated the first week of play, she was never convincing.
The defending champion needed three sets to get past Lesia Tsurenko in the first round and Carina Witthoeft in the second round, relying on her physical defense to grind out matches against players who tried to hit her off the court.
“This is tennis, and you have good days and bad days. For sure today was not my best day.” -#Kerber#AusOpen pic.twitter.com/oyEqc9kIIB
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 22, 2017
That defense finally found its match against the ballistic ball-striking from Vandeweghe. The American is into her second Slam quarterfinal after scoring strong wins over Roberta Vinci, Pauline Parmentier, Eugenie Bouchard, and now Kerber. Her serve has been cranking and her backhand in particular has dominated her matches. Kerber’s defense alone would not be enough to unwind Vandeweghe on her day.
The German needed her serve — which has not been at the level it was last year — as well as good depth and width on her groundstrokes. Instead, she sent back a buffet of short balls in the middle of the court, which were automatic for Vandeweghe.
On improving: “I usually sit down and think of three positives from the match and three negatives from the match.'” -#Vandeweghe#AusOpen pic.twitter.com/Pjm2fA312L
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 22, 2017
2. CoCo’s confidence carries her through.
The American insists that sometimes she “fakes it until she makes it”, an allusion to the idea that she’s not always as confident as she may seem on court. But there’s no denying that Vandeweghe talks as big of a game as she plays and that swagger seems to translate into tremendous clarity on court. Since the start of 2016, Vandeweghe has won 5 of her 6 meetings against Top 10 players.
Next, she gets a shot to avenge that one loss to Muguruza in Cincinnati last summer.
“I go out there expecting to win.” ✔️
Goal achieved, @CoCoVandey #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/YyQ7MuwliA
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 22, 2017
After coming back from a break down in the third set to beat Bouchard in the third round, Vandeweghe shrugged off any implication that the win was a particularly significant one. After converting match point against the World No.1 and defending champion, she calmly looked to her box and nonchalantly shrugged.
The message is clear from the 25-year-old Californian: this is what she expects of herself and this is what she knows she can do.
On Sundays, we slow-mo with @serenawilliams. #ausopen pic.twitter.com/QMPRf0H3VA
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 21, 2017
3. The No.1 scenario is simple.
Serena Williams can retake the No.1 ranking if she wins the Australian Open title. She plays her Round of 16 against Barbora Strycova on Monday.
MIAMI, FL, USA – No. 5 seed Simona Halep found her form in time to halt a late surge from Daria Kasatkina and book her spot in the third round of the Miami Open.
Watch live action from Miami this fortnight on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
Kasatkina’s run to last week’s Indian Wells quarterfinals turned heads, but on Thursday night against the dominant Romanian she just couldn’t come up with the same brand of giant-slaying tennis that has seen her climb up the rankings.
But right as it seemed like Halep would have a smooth path to victory, the Russian took advantage of her momentary lapse in the second set to begin to mount a comeback.
“I think I complicated it a bit in the end of the match,” Halep admitted afterwards. “I did a few mistakes and I was rushing a little bit.
“I did everything – I win and lose the points. That was it.”
With a 5-2 lead for Halep in the second set, a handful of unforced errors from the Romanian gifted Kasatkina a hold to stay in the match. The Russian took off from there, taking the next two games and looking ready to send the match into a deciding set.
Halep had other ideas though, and proved why she scored more hardcourt wins last year than any other player by finding another gear in time to stop the surge and clinch the victory, 6-3, 7-5. Halep’s 24 winners were too much for Kasatkina, who hit just 10 winners to 41 unforced errors.
Despite the near-scare, the Romanian had nothing but praise for her 18-year-old opponent:
“She’s a young player, she plays really well,” Halep said. “She has time to improve her game.”
Halep sets up a third round clash against Julia Goerges, who came back from a set down to upset the No.26 seeded Samantha Stosur, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.
MELBOURNE, Australia – Johanna Konta will play the biggest match of her career on Wednesday when she faces six-time champion Serena Williams in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. By all accounts, the 25-year-old doesn’t even see it that way.
Konta, who is riding an eight-match winning streak after taking the Apia International Sydney title, has won her last 18 sets of tennis. Her serve, a weapon that has emerged as the cornerstone of her game, has been broken just twice in Melbourne. There’s no reason for Konta to be short of confidence going into her first career meeting against Serena, but the humble Brit’s approach to her tennis these days is what sets her apart from the pack.
Look no further than the final game she played to beat Ekaterina Makarova, 6-1, 6-4 in the Round of 16 on Monday. Serving to close out the match, Konta found herself down 0-40, a point away from finding herself back on serve against the talented Russian. She saved the first break point with an unreturnable first serve, the second with a forehand winner, and the third with an ace, cool as you like. Four points later, the match was over.
Closing out matches, handling one’s nerves with so much on the line, these are the marks of a resilient competitor. Just 48 hours earlier, 19-year-old Jelena Ostapenko had No.5 seed Karolina Pliskova on the ropes and twice failed to serve out the match, blowing a 5-2 lead and losing. The young Latvian immediately copped to her nerves, saying she was impossibly tight as she stared down the biggest win of her career. Konta, serving for a spot in her second career quarterfinal, didn’t even flinch.
So how did Konta do it? Here’s her eloquent response from the interview room after the match:
Q. You said the other day that you were surprised how you close out sets and matches as if it was any routine service game. Where do you draw that confidence in those big moments?
JOHANNA KONTA: I think more than anything it’s more trying to disassociate myself from the importance of the moment. I think it’s more keeping things in perspective and not panicking if I were to lose that service game or that point.
I think just keeping things in good perspective and just having trust in myself that however the match will swing, I will always be there to give my best and to always try to leave it all out on court and fight till the very end.
So nice to finally meet @JoKonta91 fun chat & Jo has great vision & a positive attitude to the future of her tennis. Exciting times pic.twitter.com/06HjbPn2gG
— Jo Durie (@Jodurie) January 23, 2017
Q. When you talk about disassociating yourself from the big moments, obviously a lot of players struggle to do it, and I’m sure you struggled to do it five years ago. Why is that so difficult for most players? Why was it difficult early on to kind of be able to not be overwhelmed by the importance of moments in a match?
JOHANNA KONTA: I think it’s difficult, because you have also got to put things in perspective. Everyone you see playing has been playing since they were a little girl. And it’s no secret that to get to whatever sport or even whatever area of life, if you want to be part of the elite and if you want to get to the top of your field, there will be numerous sacrifices you’ll need to make.
And I think when you get to a position where you might see a glimmer of what you have dreamed of as a little girl or what you hoped for, what you’ve worked so hard for, it can feel kind of an all-or-nothing moment or what if I never get this chance again?
I think it’s more a bit of possibly fear of being able to replicate the position you’re in more than anything, but then I think that’s where you have also got to have a good perspective on things, and you’ve got to keep, I guess, the simple things in mind of what’s important to you.
Are you healthy? Is your family healthy? Do you have people around you that you love? Do you have people around you that love you?
I know it might sound really mundane and simple, but I guess you’ve got to go back to things that have got substance, and then in the end just trust in the work that you do, if it’s in the cards for you that you will get another opportunity or you won’t. I think [you have to] really love the sport for what it is and be grateful for the opportunities that it brings you, not necessarily what you wish it would.
Q. Going back to the separating yourself from the importance of the moment, in that nanosecond where the little voice in your ear goes, Psst, it’s match point, what is the trigger that you can shut that voice out, and how long does that take for it to become automatic?
JOHANNA KONTA: I don’t think it’s about necessarily, for me personally, anyway, about shutting it out. It’s more accepting that, Oh, I have got a little bit of tension. Or accepting that my mind might be yapping away, not necessarily fighting against it, but relaxing into it and saying, It’s absolutely normal to think like this.
I think it’s then easier for your motions to take over more than anything because you’ve got to trust the tennis in you, the motions in you, years and years of playing that I’m all of a sudden not going to forget how to serve. I have been doing it, I don’t even know how long, so I think it’s more just having that trust in the repetitions that you’ve had over the years.
Konta’s transformation over the last 18 months has been one of the most confounding stories in the women’s game. How does a player, one who was once a terrible closer who would let her emotions impede her game, suddenly learn to set it all aside and trust the tennis within her? Experience and maturity certainly play a role, as does Konta’s work with a sports psychologist.
But the rapidity of the change and her unwavering commitment and belief in herself is remarkable and a fantastic example to players up and down the rankings. Asked whether she believed she could beat Serena, Konta dismissed the premise of the question.
“I believe in my own ability,” she said. “I believe in the good things that I bring to the court, and I believe in my ability to fight till the very end.
“Now, there’s that and then there’s also an opponent out there, and this one’s going to be Serena Williams. I think it’s about playing, me going out there and doing what I want to do against her, and it will be about just staying focused on that. And if that brings me good things on that day, and if that puts me in a position to come through, then that’s great.
“But I’ve got to focus on the work and not think of whether I can or cannot beat her. I just need to stay on the work.”
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.