Tennis News

Sania Mirza has overcome tremendous adversity to become a World No.1 in women’s doubles and a trailblazer for Indian tennis. Co-ranked atop the doubles rankings with partner Martina Hingis, Mirza has captured three of the last five major tournaments – not including the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. She and Hingis became the first players to outright qualify for Singapore in singles or doubles earlier this spring.

Last week, Mirza released her first book, an autobiography entitled Ace Against The Odds. Published by Harper Sport, the doubles star recounts her rise to the top of women’s tennis, and all the obstacles she had to face along the way.

Pick up your copy of Ace Against The Odds today on Amazon, and let us know what you think of the book!

Every week on wtatennis.com we bring you 10 Things To Know about the week – who is playing, where and much more. This week the Road To Singapore goes through Stanford, Washington DC and Bastad…

1. Vintage Venus Williams is Stanford top seed.
No.1 seed Venus Williams, two-time champion (2000, 2002) and five-time runner-up (1998-1999, 2004-2005, 2009) at Stanford is back in action after coming off a semifinal finish at Wimbledon.

2. Newlywed Dominika Cibulkova seeks a second crown…
2013 Champion and No.2 seed Dominika Cibulkova is back to earth after her fairytale fortnight at Wimbledon. She’s looking to make another deep run in Stanford, following a nine-match winning streak by clinching the title at Eastbourne and reaching the quarterfinals at Wimbledon.

3. …while British No.1 Johanna Konta makes her Stanford debut.
At this time last year, Britain’s Johanna Konta was ranked in the 120s and playing ITF events leading up to her big breakthrough later in the fall. Now, she sits at a career-high ranking of No.18 and is making her Stanford debut.

4. Kerber makes her Bastad comeback…
World No.2 Angelique Kerber returns to Bastad for the first time in five years. The German is coming off her second Grand Slam final appearance at Wimbledon. She gets Swedish wildcard Cornelia Lister in the first round.

5. … but three former champions are also back in the hunt.
Three former Bastad finalists are back in this year’s main draw: Mona Barthel (2014 champion, 2015 runner-up), Polona Hercog (2011, 2012 champion), Johanna Larsson (2011, 2013 runner-up, 2015 champion).

6. And Kiki Bertens is still red hot.
No.3 seed Kiki Bertens will be looking to continue her clay-court success in Bastad, as the 24-year-old Dutch woman won her second WTA title at Nurnberg before reaching her first Grand Slam semifinal at Roland Garros. She’s also fresh off a run to the final in Gstaad.

7. Cagla Buyukakcay looks to make her mark.
Turkey’s No.1 Buyukakcay is one to watch in Bastad: she won her first WTA career singles title at her home tournament in Istanbul this year, also qualifying her for her first Grand Slam main draw at Roland Garros, reaching the second round

8. Can Sloane Stephens make it four?
Defending champion and No.2 seed Sloane Stephens returns to Washington DC where she captured her first WTA title in 2015. Now, the American has won three more titles – Auckland, Acapulco and Charleston – all this year. Can Stephens defend her title and make it four titles in 2016?

9. Another young American looms in the draw…
Unseeded Shelby Rogers is sitting at a career-high ranking of No.59 after reaching her first Grand Slam quarterfinal at Roland Garros, where she took out three seeds (No.17 Pliskova, No.10 Kvitova, No.25 Begu).

10) Find out where you can watch live action this week.

MIAMI, FL, USA – It was a bad day in the opening round of qualifying for two of Britain’s hopes in the Miami Open as Katie Swan and Naomi Broady fell at the first hurdle.

British No.3 Broady lost 7-5, 6-4 to New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic in what was expected to be a close match with only 15 places between the pair in the WTA rankings.

It was a similarly tight affair in the match between Swan and Risa Ozaki, the Japanese winning 6-3, 6-3, although the discrepancy in the rankings of over 250 places meant that this was somewhat of a more expected result.

Not the result I was hoping for…had a lot of chances but still loved being out there!! Let's keep it going ??? #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/QlTC5BdUSq

— Katie Swan (@Katieswan99) March 20, 2017

Elsewhere, WTA Insider reported a popular victory for 15-year-old Anastasia Potapova over rising Greek star Maria Sakkari and in-form second seed Magda Linette survived a second set blip to overcome Asia Muhammad in three tight sets.

There were also notable wins for Donna Vekic (d. Kayla Day 4-6, 6-2, 6-4), Varvara Lepchenko (d. Silvia Soler-Espinosa 7-5, 6-1), Madison Brengle (d. Sachia Vickery 6-1, 6-2) , Mona Barthel (d. Jaqueline Cristian 6-1, 6-1) and Francesca Schiavone (d. Kateryna Kozlova 6-3, 6-0).