Tennis News

TOKYO, Japan – Katerina Siniakova advanced to the quarterfinals of the Japan Women’s Open Tennis after a marathon victory over Louisa Chirico on Wednesday.

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Top seed Misaki Doi’s surprise exit has left the top half of the draw wide open and, despite an almighty struggle to cross the finishing line, Siniakova refused to let her own challenge be derailed.

Leading by a set and 5-2, Siniakova appeared to be cantering to victory. Chirico, though, refused to go down without a fight, breaking three times in the next five games to take the match the distance.

The deciding set followed a similar pattern, the Czech squandering a 5-3 lead before finally closing out a 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(3) victory after one minute shy of three hours on court.

Also advancing to the last eight were a couple more unseeded players, Varvara Lepchenko and Jana Cepelova. Lepchenko upset No.4 seed Johanna Larsson, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, while Cepelova eased past qualifier Jang Su Jeong, 6-3, 6-1.

Earlier, there were wins for Naomi Osaka, Yulia Putintseva and Magda Linette in their rain-delayed opening round matches.

Osaka produced a clinical display to see off Anett Kontaveit, 6-0, 6-2, in under an hour, while Linette, last year’s finalist, was every big as impressive in a 6-1, 6-0 win over Erika Sema. No.3 seed Yulia Putintseva was kept on court slightly longer, defeating Maria Sakkari, 6-4, 6-3.

TOKYO, Japan – Jana Cepelova ended home hopes at the Japan Women’s Open Tennis with a hard-fought victory over Kurumi Nara in Friday’s quarterfinals.

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Nara, the final Japanese representative in the draw, started brightly but it was Cepelova that finished the stronger to run out a 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 winner.

After losing three straight games to drop the first set, Cepelova soon fell a break behind in the second. Rahter than dwell on this setback, the Slovakian used it as a turning point, winning four of the next five games to level the match.

Her dominance continued into the decider a couple of early break giving her stranglehold she would not relinquish.

Since coming through qualifying to reach the third round of Wimbledon, Cepelova’s form has been mixed; clay court outings in Gstaad and Bastad both ended in the first round before she fell in the final round of qualifying for the US Open.

Now she is through to her first quarterfinal at a WTA tournament since last summer, where she will face No.7 seed Christina McHale after she battled past Viktorija Golubic, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.

Meanwhile, in the top half of the draw, Katerina Siniakova will take on the highest-ranked player left in the draw, No.6 seed Zhang Shuai.

Siniakova followed up her marathon encounter against Louisa Chirico with a far more straightforward 6-2, 6-4 win over Alison Riske. Zhang was made to work harder, recovering to beat Varvara Lepchenko, 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-3. 

QUÉBEC CITY, Canada – French teenager Oceane Dodin thrilled the Coupe Banque Nationale crowd by capturing her first WTA title with a 6-4, 6-3 win over American Lauren Davis in the final.

“It was a very tough match, very difficult,” Dodin said after the win. “She plays very well, and runs everywhere! I’m just trying to improve my game so I’m there for every point, focus on my serve. That helped me so much in this match.”

Dodin twice reached the second round of major tournaments in 2015, but coming into this week in Québec, the fearless Frenchwoman had never won a main draw match outside the Grand Slams – though she did reach the semifinals of a WTA 125K Series event in Limoges.

“It’s very special for me. This is a very nice tournament; I feel like I’m in France because the people are very friendly and supportive of me! Everyone was with me today and that helps so much when it’s a tough score.”

Victoire de Océane Dodin 6-4 et 6-3! Championne 2016 de la @CoupeBN. 1ère victoire dans un tournoi de la #WTA #rcqc pic.twitter.com/ukPdaQUmno

— Jean-Philippe Martin (@JPMartin_RC) September 18, 2016

But the 19-year-old got on a roll once she upset No.5 seed Naomi Broady, dropping just one more set en route to the title. Hitting 31 winners to just 26 unforced errors against Davis on Sunday, Dodin converted six of 10 break point chances and brought her aggressive ground game to net a whopping 26 times – winning 16 of those points. Up a set and a break, things started to tighten, but Dodin kept in front until the very end.

“After the first set, I started thinking, ‘One set and you’re going to win this tournament,’ so I started getting a little bit nervous and at 3-0, 40-0, I was like, ‘Oh my god!’ She made a little comeback, so at the end I was very nervous.

“I was thinking, ‘You can’t play a third set, so you absolutely have to win the second.’ My coach has helped me so much with the mental side, and I saw him like, ‘Go, go, go!’ So I’m very happy with myself.”

With the win, Dodin is set to crack the Top 100 for the first time in her career, and is the first teenager to win a WTA title in 2016. She received congratulations from countrywoman Caroline Garcia soon after:

1e titre WTA pour Oceane Dodin !!! @CoupeBN ??? Bravo Océ et bienvenue dans le top 100 !!!
4e titre @WTA pour la ?? en 2016 !
Correct ????

— Caroline Garcia (@CaroGarcia) September 18, 2016

Despite the loss, it was still a great week for Davis, who reached her second career WTA final in the last two months, having also finished runner-up at the Citi Open. Back in the Top 100 herself, Davis is opting to skip the Asian swing, planning instead to play the slate of indoor tournaments in Europe, primarily Linz and Luxembourg, before season’s end.

“I’ve gotten a lot of matches under my belt, and so I’m feeling a lot of confidence. Going into next season, I’m looking forward to playing even better.”

While youth prevailed in singles, it was a battle between four experience doubles players as top seeds and two-time Grand Slam champions Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka outlasted Russians Alla Kudryavtseva and Alexandra Panova in a pair of tie-breaks, 7-6(2), 7-6(2).

“With the no-ad scoring and super tie-breaks, it’s very rare to get an easy match on the WTA tour these days,” Hlavackova said after the win. “So that experience helped today; we didn’t have a good record in tie-breaks, super tie-breaks, or no-ads before Québec, so we took this tournament to try to change that. We did, and we’re very happy about it.”

Hlavackova and Hradecka now move up to No.5 on the Road to Singapore leaderboard, with a good chance of qualifying for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global for a second straight year.

“We’ve played together for so long that not every week can be perfect. But this week was proof that if you’re having fun, you have good results. I hope we can take this momentum into Asia.”

So nice to make hat-trick in doubles titles this year,finally adding one ? with my partner @lucik2105 @CoupeBN @WTA pic.twitter.com/MBegMtfrUa

— Andrea Hlavackova (@AndreaHlavackov) September 18, 2016

THE WINNERS

Christina McHale produced a stirring comeback to defeat Katerina Siniakova in the final of the Japan Women’s Open Tennis and lift her maiden WTA title.

A semifinalist 12 months ago, McHale looked in store for another near-miss when she trailed Siniakova by a set and a break. However, a timely rain delay and a run of eight straight games turned the match on its head as the American closed out a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory.

“I don’t even want to put my trophy down – I just want to hold it all the time,” McHale said during the trophy presentation. “I’ve been coming to this tournament for a few years now and I really love it here.”

Read the match recap here.

French teenager Oceane Dodin thrilled the Coupe Banque Nationale crowd by capturing her first WTA title with a 6-4, 6-3 win over American Lauren Davis in the final.

“It’s very special for me. This is a very nice tournament; I feel like I’m in France because the people are very friendly and supportive of me! Everyone was with me today and that helps so much when it’s a tough score.”

Dodin twice reached the second round of major tournaments in 2015, but coming into this week in Québec, the fearless Frenchwoman had never won a main draw match outside the Grand Slams – though she did reach the semifinals of a WTA 125K Series event in Limoges.

Read the match recap here.

RANKING MOVERS:
Notable singles ranking movers for the week of September 19, 2016.

Oceane Dodin (FRA), +39 (No.132 to 93): Following her maiden WTA title at the Coupe Banque Nationale, Dodin made her Top 100 debut and sits at a career-high of No.93..

Lauren Davis (USA), +21 (No.104 to 83): Québec City finalist also made a big leap, jumping up 21 spots to return to inside the Top100.

Katerina Siniakova (CZE), +12 (No.65 to 53): Despite coming up just short in the final at the Tokyo International, Siniakova earned a 12-spot ranking jump to reach her career highest ranking.

Christina McHale (USA), +11 (No.53 to 42): McHale claimed her maiden WTA title in Tokyo, and along with it she earned a spot back inside the Top 50.

Shuai Zhang (CHN), +9 (No.49 to 40): Zhang’s run to the semifinals in Tokyo puts her new ranking at No.40, inching closer to her career-high of No.30 back in 2014

UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS

Toray Pan Pacific Open
Tokyo, Japan
Premier | $885,500 | Hard
Monday, September 19 – Sunday, September 25
Defending champion: Agnieszka Radwanska

Guangzhou International Women’s Open
Guangzhou, China
International | $226,750 | Hard
Monday, September 19 – Saturday, September 24
Defending champion: Jelena Jankovic

Korea Open Tennis
Seoul, Korea
International | $226,750 | Hard
Monday, September 19 – Sunday, September 25
Defending champion: Irina-Camelia Begu

TOP 20 PLAYER SCHEDULES
1. Angelique Kerber – Wuhan
2. Serena Williams – Wuhan
3. Garbiñe Muguruza – Tokyo, Wuhan
4. Agnieszka Radwanska – Tokyo, Wuhan
5. Simona Halep– Wuhan
6. Karolina Pliskova – Tokyo, Wuhan
7. Venus Williams – Wuhan
8. Carla Suárez Navarro – Tokyo, Wuhan
9. Madison Keys – Tokyo, Wuhan
10. Svetlana Kuznetsova – Wuhan
11. Victoria Azarenka
12. Dominika Cibulkova – Tokyo, Wuhan
13. Johanna Konta – Wuhan
14. Timea Bacsinszky – Wuhan
15. Roberta Vinci – Guangzhou, Wuhan
16. Petra Kvitova – Tokyo, Wuhan
17. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova – Tokyo, Wuhan
18. Samantha Stosur – Tokyo, Wuhan
19. Elena Vesnina
20. Elina Svitolina – Tokyo, Wuhan

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
Best wishes to those celebrating birthdays this week:

Chan Hao-Ching (TPE) – September 19, 1993
Sabine Lisicki (GER) – September 22, 1989
Andreea Mitu (ROU) – September 22, 1991
Klaudia Jans-Ignacik (POL) – September 24, 1984
Monica Niculescu (ROU) – September 25, 1987

INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – Zhang Shuai came out on top after being a set and 4-2 down against No.20 seed Caroline Wozniacki, winning a marathon three-hour-and-twenty-four minute match to advance to the third round at the BNP Paribas Open.

Watch highlights, interviews and more video from Indian Wells right here on wtatennis.com!

The surging Zhang, who ended last season ranked No.186 and has risen over 100 spots since, announced her presence to the tennis world at one of its biggest stages when she defeated the then-World-No.2 Simona Halep at the Australian Open on her way to the quarterfinals. She’s been skyrocketing since and owns a 15-2 win-loss record across all levels this year.

Coming out against the heavy favorite and 2011 champion Wozniacki, Zhang knew she’d have to come up with the best tennis of her career to get the upset, and that seemed like a tall order after the Dane calmly grabbed the first set 6-4.

The players traded five consecutive breaks of serve to start out what would become a rollercoaster second set. Wozniacki finally held first, getting a 4-2 lead and looking for all intents and purposes like she would eventually close out the match in straight sets. But Zhang, who was making every game into a battle, had other ideas. She broke once again and sent the set into a tiebreaker. They stayed toe-to-toe until Wozniacki finally blinked, Zhang converting her seventh set point to close out the hour-and-twenty-seven-minute-long game.

Wozniacki grabbed another big lead in the third set, breaking twice to get ahead 4-1 and get within striking distance of the third round. So long and late into the night, the crowd at Stadium 4 played their own part in the match, an enthusiastically vocal Chinese contingent chanting against Wozniacki’s loud legion of supporters. They powered Zhang to get herself back in it, though, as clawed her way back game by game until she hit her first ace to level the match at 4-4.

The Danish player just wouldn’t let go, hitting her first ace in reply to grab the next game. But even three hours into the match, Zhang was still able to find another gear. Despite Wozniacki saving three match points, Zhang emerged victorious in the marathon match, winning 4-6, 7-6(8), 7-5.

“So excited, so tough match,” Zhang said after the match. “Any time everybody play against her, always tough to win because she’s very strong mentally and very good at defense.

“She was a big challenge to me because I was not really aggressive, not really stronger. But I have to be stronger if I want to win.”

Next up for Zhang is Victoria Azarenka, who dropped just five games against Zarina Diyas on her way to the third round, 6-3, 6-2.