Brisbane: Shot Of The Day (Wednesday)
Garbiñe Muguruza has Wednesday’s shot of the day at the Brisbane International.
Garbiñe Muguruza has Wednesday’s shot of the day at the Brisbane International.
AUCKLAND, New Zealand – Julia Goerges powered through to the ASB Classic final on Friday, but the second semifinal – pitting Caroline Wozniacki against Sloane Stephens – was stopped due to rain.
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The first semifinal wrapped up before the skies opened, though Goerges did serve up a storm against Tamira Paszek – the German lost just six points in her first seven service games, eventually dropping serve mid-way through the second set but regrouping to close out the Austrian qualifier, 6-4, 6-2.
With the win, Goerges moves through to a WTA final for the first time in almost four years – her last WTA final came at Dubai in 2012 (falling to Agnieszka Radwanska). She’s 2-3 lifetime in WTA finals.
“I must say it feels very good to be in a final again after such a long time,” Goerges said. “But overall it was a very, very good match from my side – played very aggressively, served decently in the first set. Second set wasn’t a good first serve percentage, but it was a very, very good match from me.”
The former World No.15 will have to wait until Saturday morning to find out her opponent in the final, though, as the second semifinal – pitting No.3 seed Wozniacki against No.5 seed Stephens – was cancelled for the day due to rain. Stephens had opened up a 5-2 lead when the rain started to fall.
Here’s a taste of what Stephens was bringing to the table, courtesy of the WTA Twitter account:
Passingggg Shot! #WTA pic.twitter.com/QNEXyIkTC2
— WTA (@WTA) January 8, 2016
Sloane in the zone! @SloaneStephens hitting all the shots right now. #WTA pic.twitter.com/G1YfcgwEWy
— WTA (@WTA) January 8, 2016
Angelique Kerber takes on Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the quarterfinals of the Brisbane International.
Chapter four of tennis’ history as a modern day Olympic sport was written in Sydney as the Games entered the new millennium and a new generation of stars looked to make their mark…
Sydney, Australia, 2000
Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Center
Hardcourt
The Olympic motto inscribed above the player’s entrance to the Sydney Olympic Tennis Center reads “Citius, altius, fortius”, and it is fitting that the player who moved faster, jumped higher and hit stronger than any other in 2000 was the one with a gold medal draped round her neck at the end of the Games.
Looking back, it is strange to think that going into the 2000 season there were question marks hanging over Venus Williams. Since breaking through at the 1997 US Open, Williams had struggled to deliver the results her talent deserved, watching her rivals – Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport and even sister, Serena – take home the major prizes.
This all changed in 2000 as Williams finally shook off her tag as tennis’ nearly woman by winning Wimbledon and the US Open. On the back of these triumphs, she arrived Down Under riding high on a 26-match winning streak and, despite not being on top of the rankings, was definitely the player to beat.
Her principal rivals for gold in Sydney were compatriots Lindsay Davenport and Monica Seles as the United States looked to continue its dominance of tennis at the Games.
However, for Davenport, who struck gold four years earlier, the Games would end early, when a foot injury forced her to withdraw prior to her second round-match with Rossana de los Ríos.
Seles, meanwhile, eager to make up for the disappointment of a quarterfinal exit in Atlanta, was in fearsome form, racing past her first four opponents and into the semifinals. Waiting for her there was Williams.
In four previous meetings between the two, Seles has won a solitary set and her fortunes were not about to change; despite a mid-match walkabout on serve, Williams always had the upper hand, eventually winning in three.
The final itself proved to be something of an anticlimax.
Few expected 18-year-old Elena Dementieva to make it that far, and for the first set she looked in a state of shock herself. By the time she did settle, it was too late, Williams had found her groove and was racing off towards the finish line.
The harder the Russian tried, the better Williams played. Whatever she attempted – inside out forehands, down the line backhands all came back with interest – merely succeeded in inspiring the American.
Before long match point had arrived, and moments later Williams was dancing round the court, racquet in one hand, flag in the other. A memorable end to a memorable summer.
——
Olympic Memories: Atlanta
Olympic Memories: Barcelona
Olympic Memories: Seoul
Play will begin at Rio’s newly built Olympic Tennis Center on Saturday, but before then the WTA’s finest have been limbering up…
Venus Williams won gold in Sydney and was working hard ahead of her record-equalling fifth Olympics.
And after practice Venus was only too happy to fulfil her sisterly duties.
Fresh from her title run in Stanford, World No.13 Johanna Konta is a dark horse in the singles.
While British No.2 Heather Watson will hope to improve on her second-round showing at London 2012.
No.2 seed Angelique Kerber was all smiles ahead of her second Olympics.
Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova and Daria Kasatkina were also hard at work on the practice courts.
Kasatkina is one of just three teenagers in the singles draw in Rio.
Dominika Cibulkova’s hopes of qualifying for a debut appearance at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global came down to the wire. The Slovak needed to win the Generali Ladies Linz to assure herself a spot among the Greatest Eight, and did just that.
“It was really important for me that I won there,” she said in Singapore. “It’s not every day that I’m coming to a tournament and I have to win it to get somewhere, and then I actually won the whole thing.
“It was just a great week for me, and all happened so quickly. In two days I flew here.”
Cibulkova turned around a tough start in the round robin stage to stun 2014 finalist Simona Halep in straight sets, and overcame a 1/16 longshot of qualifying for the semifinals to knock out Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semis before overcoming World No.1 Angelique Kerber in the championship match.
“I cannot find the right word in English, but in the first match I played against Angelique, that gave me confidence that I can beat her,” she said of avenging her round robin loss in the final.
“My game is good enough to beat the World No.1. I was going into this final with these thoughts and I was feeling it from the first point until the last point.”
By beating the Australian Open and US Open champion, Cibulkova assured herself of a career-high ranking and a Top 5 finish for 2016, a place she sees as a launch pad for even greater success.
“Right now I don’t doubt myself anymore. I never doubted myself this year at all. I always had my coach to motivate me, to put the bigger goals for me. That was something I was dealing with; I never saw myself as such a great player, or a consistent player, somebody who could be Top 5.
“My coach said, ‘Domi, you had a great half of the season, but you’re able to have a great second half of the season. You just have to still stay focused and work hard. You can be Top 5 at the end of the year’.
“I really, really believed him for the first time in my life. I believed, ‘Okay, this is something I can do, I want to do.’
“I’m not saying I was coming to this tournament to win it, but when I was so close before the finals, I was convinced that I can beat Angie today.”
That new sense of determination paid off in Singapore, and it certainly helped her earn her the mantle of October’s WTA Player of the Month!
Final Results for October’s WTA Player Of The Month
1. Dominika Cibulkova (55%)
2. Agnieszka Radwanska (33%)
3. Angelique Kerber (12%)
2016 WTA Player of the Month Winners
January: Angelique Kerber
February: Carla Suárez Navarro
March: Victoria Azarenka
April: Angelique Kerber
May: Garbiñe Muguruza
June: Serena Williams
July: Simona Halep
August: Monica Puig
September: Petra Kvitova
How it works:
Finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com
The third edition of the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global featured first-time champions in singles and doubles, a new year-end singles World No.1 in Angelique Kerber and the crowning of Sania Mirza as the top doubles player of the year. The 2016 Finals also set records off the court thanks to an unprecedented increase in social media engagement.
Dominika Cibulkova’s unexpected run to the final on her tournament debut was experienced by more fans than ever. Compared to the 2015 tournament, Facebook video views were up 571%, engagement on WTA-operated social media platforms increased by 247% and wtatennis.com referrals from social media improved by 167%.
The upsurge in engagement was driven by a ‘social first’ content strategy featuring on and off-court action, humorous player videos, match reporting, opinion editorials, innovative design and behind the scenes video on Facebook Live, Instagram Stories and Snapchat. The best-performing content pieces included the moment Cibulkova won title, a Facebook Live fan Q&A with Indian superstar Mirza, Svetlana Kuznetsova’s on-court haircut and live coverage of the iconic photoshoot, draw and gala dinner.
The increase in exposure was not just limited to web platforms with the 2016 Finals yielding a 4% increase in global TV household reach compared to 2015, thanks to increased exposure in Russia, Germany and Austria.
In addition to Cibulkova’s upset victory over Kerber, Olympic gold medalists Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina broke Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova’s 18-match winning streak to lift the Martina Navratilova WTA Finals Doubles Trophy. Mirza finished as year-end World No.1 doubles player for a second consecutive season. Mirza has held the No.1 ranking for 83 consecutive weeks.
Melissa Pine, Vice-President of WTA Asia-Pacific and Tournament Director of the WTA Finals, said, “The Road to Singapore this year has been yet another exciting race to the finish line and the tennis action at the WTA Finals has truly reflected the top quality level of play among the greatest eight of 2016. We are thrilled with how the fans in Singapore and around the world have warmly embraced the event as well as shown their enthusiasm for women’s tennis.”
It’s time to crown the 2016 WTA Shot Of The Year!
Each WTA Shot Of The Month winner has been placed into one of two groups:
• Voting for Group A and Group B will close Sunday, November 20 at 11:59pm ET
• The two shots from each group that receive the most votes will then be placed into a final group
• Final Group voting opens Monday, November 21 and ends Monday, November 28 at 11:59pm ET
• The 2016 WTA Shot of the Year winner will be announced Tuesday, November 29
Group A
January: Caroline Wozniacki
February: Agnieszka Radwanska
March: Agnieszka Radwanska
April: Monica Niculescu
May: Simona Halep
Angelique Kerber’s stunning maiden Grand Slam victory in Melbourne set the tone for a rollercoaster 2016 WTA season, but she wasn’t the only name to make her mark Down Under as Victoria Azarenka, Monica Puig and Svetlana Kuznetsova highlighted the first few weeks of WTA action during the Australian Swing.
The Rise of Angelique Kerber
Following a career-best season in 2015 – where she picked up four titles and finished the year at No.10 – Angelique Kerber stayed on course in Australia, but even she had no idea what was to come.
After being blown off the court by an inspired Victoria Azarenka in the final of the Brisbane International and being forced to withdraw from the Apia International Sydney in the second round due to a gastrointestinal illness, the German went straight to Melbourne for the first Grand Slam of the year.
Kerber, who’d she’d previously never advanced past the fourth round of the Australian Open – saved match point in her first match against Misaki Doi and went on to put together a clinical run to the final, where she locked horns with Serena Williams.
She stunned the tennis world by defeating the then-World No.1 in a thrilling three sets and lifting her maiden Grand Slam title, ending a 17-year major title drought for German tennis and cementing her place at the top.
Vika’s Red-Hot Australian Summer
Australia has been Victoria Azarenka’s home away from home for several years, but this time it was in Brisbane, not Melbourne, where the two-time Australian Open champion made her mark.
Starting the year ranked No.22, Azarenka tore through the draw at the Brisbane International without dropping a set. In fact, the Belarusian lost just 17 games en route to the first title of the year, a feat which still stands as the fewest games lost in winning a WTA title in 2016.
She went on to reach the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, her best result there since 2014, and picked up another two titles before succumbing to injuries – a back injury in Madrid, a right knee injury during the French Open – and finally putting an end to her season following the announcement of her pregnancy.
Puig and Kuznetsova Foreshadow 2016 Brilliance
In Sydney, a pair of surprising names who reached the final at the second Premier-level event of the year.
Puerto Rican qualifier Monica Puig, then ranked No.94, reached the second WTA final of her career after posting wins over a trio of Top 30 players, Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, Samantha Stosur and Belinda Bencic (via retirement). She faced Svetlana Kuznetsova, who’d just pulled off her biggest win since 2009 over No.2-ranked Simona Halep in the semifinals.
Even though Kuznetsova went on to drop just two games in her dominant victory over Puig, the pair’s surprise run to the Sydney final served as a preview for what was in store for Puig and Kuznetsova later in the season.
Elsewhere, Agnieszka Radwanska continued where she left off at the 2015 WTA Finals, returning to the home of her best tennis in Asia and picking up a title at the International-level Shenzhen Open. Sloane Stephens also took home the ASB Classic in Auckland and Alizé Cornet won in the Hobart International.
– Photos courtesy of Getty Images
World No.9 Madison Keys is into the semifinals of the Olympic tennis event in Rio on her debut appearance. Earlier this week, the American sat down with the New York Times to discuss her beauty and health regimen and how she keeps it up despite traveling the world week in and week out.
For Keys, who is constantly under the sun, skin care is the most important thing:
The first thing I put on is sunscreen. I do it within 15 minutes of waking up so I’m protected by the time I’m out the door.
I use moisturizer only at night — Philosophy Hope in a Jar. Two or three times a week, I do a Caudalíe face mask. It’s a purifying one because I have combination skin, and I’m sweating so often. It can be really tough to keep clear skin, especially if you’re wearing a visor. It’s just sitting on your head, and you break out underneath it. It can be a disaster.
And here’s her sage approach to diet and exercise:
“I have to eat pretty healthy to stay in shape, but a big part of my diet is having that occasional dessert. My favorite is Ben & Jerry’s Half Baked ice cream. But I have to watch it. I’m lactose intolerant, so sometimes I’ll do the Ben & Jerry’s lactose-free line.
For a tennis player, the toughest part of training is the off-season. That’s when we’re doing tons of tough fitness — maybe two to three hours in the gym. Obviously as you get closer to the tournaments, you spend more time on the court. Right now, I’m spending two and a half to three hours on the court every day.”
Check out her New York Times feature to hear what the Olympic semifinalist has to say about hair care, her go-to makeup, acupuncture and more.