Tennis News

LUCERNE, Switzerland – Barbora Strycova will begin the Czech Republic’s bid to reach a third consecutive Fed Cup final when she takes on Switzerland’s Timea Bacsinszky on Saturday afternoon.

With the lynchpin of his all-conquering side, Petra Kvitova, absent, Petr Pala will look to Strycova and Karolina Pliskova to pave the way to yet another victory. Both players have been part of the Czech set-up for several years now and even teamed up for the decisive doubles victory in last year’s final against Russia.

Although Strycova has tasted defeat in her last three singles rubbers, she will take comfort in her fine record against her opening day foe; in three career meetings against Bacsinszky, Strycova has never conceded a set, winning the most recent of these, at last year’s US Open, for the loss of just five games.

“I don’t know if it’s a huge confidence [boost] but it is a little bit because last year I played her,” Strycova said. “The other two matches were many years ago so I don’t count that. It’s going to be a different match tomorrow because the whole crowd are going to push her to play her best tennis. I have to be ready for that.”

Pliskova, meanwhile, takes a near-perfect Fed Cup record into her singles meeting with World No.129 Viktorija Golubic. In eight Fed Cup matches, Pliskova’s sole defeat came at the hands of Maria Sharapova, and in February’s first-round tussle with Romania she dealt with the contrasting challenges of Simona Halep and Monica Niculescu before claiming the crucial third point alongside Strycova in doubles.

Eight hundred kilometers away, in Trélazé, France will play host to the Netherlands in the weekend’s other semifinal. Despite their impressive victory over Russia in the previous round, the Netherlands will start as underdogs against a strong French side attempting to reach its first final since 2005.

French captain Amélie Mauresmo has elected to open the tie with Caroline Garcia, who will face Dutch No.1 Kiki Bertens. Garcia sits over 50 places higher in the rankings than Bertens, and the gap in the second singles rubber is even wider, pitting World No.28 Kristina Mladenovic against No.139 Richel Hogenkamp.

After their heroics in Moscow, Mauresmo is wary of looking past the Dutch: “It [the Dutch winning in Moscow] was definitely a surprise and it keeps us on our toes,” Mauresmo said.

Mauresmo’s team also includes Alizé Cornet and the in-form Pauline Parmentier, who are scheduled to play together in Sunday’s doubles. “I’m very lucky in this tie,” Mauresmo added. “In some ties I had easier choices to make. The four girls came into this week either with a lot of wins behind them, great confidence on the surface or coming out of doubles wins.”

BOGOTA, Colombia – No.5 seed Irina Falconi captured her first WTA title in historic fashion, becoming the first American woman to win the Claro Open Colsanitas as she recovered from a break down in the final set to defeat Sílvia Soler-Espinosa, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.

Playing in her first career WTA final, Falconi had already earned the biggest win over the week when she took out No.4 seed Lara Arruabarrena in the semifinals, and looked on course for a seamless victory when she took the first set. But Soler-Espinosa, who had only won one WTA main draw match before Bogota, wouldn’t go down without a fight, leveling the match with a 6-2 set of her own and engineering an early break in the decider.

Six points from defeat down 3-4, 0-30, Falconi earned the break back and broke serve to win the title on her third championship point.

Starting the week at No.92, Falconi is tentatively set to return to the Top 70, close to her career-high ranking of No.64.

More to come…

STUTTGART, Germany – Petra Kvitova made a flawless start to her clay court campaign, dismissing Louisa Chirico in 55 one-sided minutes to secure a spot in the second round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.

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

In recent years, Stuttgart has not been the happiest of hunting grounds for Kvitova, who has stumbled at the first hurdle on her past two visits. This time, though, she delivered a near-perfect performance, dishing out a 6-0, 6-0 defeat to set up a meeting with Monica Niculescu or Caroline Garcia.

A display decorated with 29 winners – and offset by just 11 unforced errors – began with a salvo of thumping groundstrokes and a quick-fire hold. In the next game the No.5 seed displayed the other side of her game, a beautifully disguised drop shot leaving Chirico wrong-footed and an immediate break behind.

Chirico came close to getting on the scoreboard on several occasions, but each time she threatened to do so, Kvitova found the perfect response. The final stand came at 3-0 in the second set, Kvitova having the final say in a 10-minute game Kvitova thanks to another delightful touch around the net.

Moments later she put the American out of her misery, skipping around a second serve to unleash one final winner.

More to follow…

INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – The BNP Paribas Open draw featured a full slate of intriguing second round possibilities, few more than No.5 seed Dominika Cibulkova’s against Jelena Ostapenko. The reigning BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global champion carved out a thrilling 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win over the rising Latvian to book a third round meeting with Kristyna Pliskova.

“It was a really big fight,” she told WTA Insider after the match. :I feel like I had to fight for every single ball because I wasn’t feeling great on the court. It’s hard to feel great against a player who doesn’t give you rhythm. I won’t say I was struggling but I had some hard times today; I tried to stay really strong and positive, fight for every single ball. I appreciate this win a lot becuase it was a tough one.”

A former Wimbledon junior winner, Ostapenko came perilously close to handing a then-unbeaten Karolina Pliskova her first loss of the season at the Australian Open, and has been ranked as high as No.33 since reaching her first Premier 5 final at last year’s Qatar Total Open.

Ostapenko finds the angle on the backhand! #BNPPO17 pic.twitter.com/YlDvjXhAb5

— WTA (@WTA) March 11, 2017

The teenager showed her full arsenel of power shots as day turned to night on Stadium 3, hitting 33 winners to 30 unforced errors through three sets, but was undone by her serve – hitting 10 double faults to just two aces in a match that was dominated by return.

“This match wasn’t how I wanted it to be; I can play much better, but it also depends on the opponent. I knew it was going to be a hard one, so it didn’t surprise me. I just had to fight for every single ball. I was glad with how I finished the match; I felt like myself in a few moments like those.”

Cibulkova, by contrast, had something to prove after losing her last two matches in three sets, one in the semifinals of Doha to Pliskova, and another to Ekaterina Makarova at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

The best of @Cibulkova. #BNPPO17 pic.twitter.com/TgQqEYRl9J

— WTA (@WTA) March 11, 2017

Dealing with the pressure of defending her breakout 2016 season, the Slovak was forced to dig deep during the two hour, 11 minute epic, shurgging off a shaky serving day of her own to hit six winners to just two unforced errors in the final set to ease into the round of 32.

“It doesn’t matter how you play in practice, but I’d been practicing well. I had a few days off after Dubai and had a great week of practice. We changed a few things and I was feeling really great.

“I was going for my shots more in practice, playing more aggressively. Even if I made a mistake, my coach would remind me to be even more aggressive with my footwork and keep pressing.”

Dominika @Cibulkova books a spot in @BNPPARIBASOPEN Third round!

Ousts Ostapenko 6-4, 4-6, 6-3! pic.twitter.com/ptJ6ngAvib

— WTA (@WTA) March 11, 2017

Standing between her and a spot in the second week is the left-handed Pliskova, who is starting to come out from the shadow of sister Karolina, who kicks off her Indian Wells campaign against Olympic champion Monica Puig later tonight.

“It takes time for me to adjust to lefties,” Cibulkova said of her next match. “I have a strategy when I play them, and I try not to flip my patterns and think too much about it. I just have to return the same way, but mind the bounce. I’ve never played her before, and so it’ll be a different one. This match should give me a good feeling, and the confidence to handle a match like this and to win it.”

Pliskova roared past No.33 seed and 2016 quarterfinalist Daria Kasatkina, 6-0, 6-3, hiting five aces to advance in 64 minutes.

“I know how I can play and this wasn’t even my best,” Pliskova told WTA Insider. “I’m not that surprised to win, but I’m still happy because it was an easy score.

“I felt, especially in the second set after she called her coach, that she was trying to put every ball in. The second set was dangerous because if I missed a few shots she wasn’t. But still, I play fast, and it’s tough to put everything in – especially on the serve!”

Asked about playing Cibulkova, Pliskova debated whether to ask her sister for advice.

“I never played her, but I will maybe ask Karolina. Maybe she will tell me something, but she has a bad record against her too. Maybe I’ll just stick to my plan. Last time she won, but last three times she lost, so maybe I won’t even ask her!” she laughed.

Taking a break from the desk to catch a fun contrast in styles out on Stadium 5. Power rolling so far. #BNPPO17 pic.twitter.com/IKYxczKiJr

— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) March 11, 2017

Still, it’s been a banner day for the top players despite the underdog heavy draw; all but two of the 16 seeds in action advanced. No.8 seed and Singapore semifinalist Svetlana Kuznetsova knocked out Sweden’s Johanna Larsson, 7-6(3), 6-4; she’ll next play No.26 seed Roberta Vinci, who earned a win over unseeded American Madison Brengle.

Coming through the toughest match of the day was No.10 seed Elina Svitolina, who extended her winning streak to 14 matches on Friday with a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(3) win over China’s Wang Qiang. It won’t get any easier for the Ukrainian, who next faces former doubles partner and No.24 seed Daria Gavrilova; the Aussie eased past 2009 US Open semifinalist Yanina Wickmayer, 6-2, 7-6(5).

? on the backhand from @ElinaSvitolina! #BNPPO17 pic.twitter.com/9taBockf62

— WTA (@WTA) March 10, 2017

No.17 seed Barbora Strycova won a rematch of last year’s Dubai final over Sara Errani, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2; awaiting her in the third round is No.19 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who cruised past Estonian qualifier Anett Kontaveit, 6-4, 6-4.

Congratulations, Ms. Bacsinszky. Nice win today. And that was kind and thoughtful of you to make that little girl's day ?@TimeaOfficial pic.twitter.com/w09NF8wBMi

— EustaceTarwater (@EustaceTarwater) March 10, 2017

Indian Wells will also play host to a battle of surprise French Open semifinalists; No.15 seed Timea Bacsinszky reached the final four on the terre battue in 2015 and will play No.18 seed Kiki Bertens, who made the semifinals last year. Bacsinszky defeated Monica Niculescu, 7-5, 6-2, while Bertens handed an unhappy birthday present to newly 20-year-old Belinda Bencic, 6-2, 6-2.