Tennis News

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia – Playing in her home country, No.5 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova won a thrilling first round encounter with qualifier and former Top 20 player, Klara Koukalova, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

Down 0-3 to start the match, the 24-year-old won six of the next seven games to take the opening set, but it came down to the wire against the Czech veteran, who had beaten her in their last two meetings.

“She started really well; actually she played really good the whole match,” the Russian said in her on-court interview. “She played three matches in qualifying, so I think that was the key for her. I had a really slow start and didn’t feel in good shape, but the only thing I did was fight.

A new event on the WTA calendar, Pavlyuchenkova was impressed by some of the in-match entertainment, including an intricate light show to announce the players.

“That was amazing. Maybe that’s why I had a slow start,” she said with a laugh. “I was still thinking and looking around.

“The crowd was amazing, as well. I love playing at home. It’s Russia!”

The Russian was equally effusive in her praise of the event before main draw action began at the gala dinner.

“It’s good for Russian tennis and great for Russian fans to have another WTA tournament in this country. St Petersburg is a beautiful backdrop for this event. I’m very happy to be here and proud to welcome players from all over the world to my home country.”

Clocking in at just over two hours, Pavlyuchenkova booked a spot in the second round, where she’ll play German youngster, Carina Witthoeft.

“I’m really old already, 24! But it’s not about age. I think she’s good. She’s fresh, and didn’t have a bad start to the year. I have to be really focused and play a lot better than today.”

Earlier in the day, Witthoeft had dispatched qualifier and former World No.26 Tamira Paszek, 6-3, 6-3. Fellow qualifier Kateryna Kozlova had better luck, upsetting Fed Cup heroine Barbora Strycova, 6-3, 6-4. No.9 seed Monica Niculescu had few problems taking out local wildcard Natlia Vikhlyantseva, 6-0, 6-3, and Yanina Wickmayer set up a second round with No.2 seed Roberta Vinci when she beat Jelena Ostapenko, 6-4, 6-3.

Rising Russian starlet Margarita Gasparyan played the final match of the night in St. Petersburg, dismissing Bojana Jovanovski, 6-1, 6-2.

ST PETERSBURG, Russia – No.2 seed Roberta Vinci is through to her first WTA Premier final at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy after pushing past Ana Ivanovic in straight sets, 7-5, 6-4.

Watch live action from St. Petersburg & Kaohsiung this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

The No.4 seeded Serbian started the match strong off the blocks – she grabbed the first break of the match and raced to a strong 3-0 lead. But Vinci mounted her comeback by relying on her deadly slice backhand and timely trips up to the net, taking the first set 7-5.

Vinci and Ivanovic stayed deadlocked in the second set until Vinci broke again for a 4-3 lead. In the last game of the match, Ivanovic buried a drop shot into the net to give the Italian match point before Vinci sealed the match, winning the set 6-4.

Overall Vinci just played a cleaner game – she hit 18 winners just 12 unforced errors to Ivanovic’s 27 and 29 – and was lethal at the net, winning 19 of her 22 net points played.

“It was an incredible match, tough in the beginning with the 3-0 down in the first set,” Vinci said after the match. “But I think I play good games, aggressive.

“It’s always difficult to play against Ana. She plays so flat, so quick. But I’m happy.”

With the win, Vinci is into her first final since the 2015 US Open and is looking to add a tenth singles title to her career haul.

The 33-year-old Italian is set to face off against No.1 seed Belinda Bencic, who overcame the rising Russian Daria Kasatkina in the second semifinal. This will be the pair’s first meeting.

“Probably I’m gonna watch some games, but of course will be a tough match,” Vinci said of her potential opponents in the final. “They both play such a good game. They are so young but good ranking for both. So, will be tough but I’m in the final.”

Two of the youngest players in the Top 70, 18-year-olds Bencic and Kasatkina were facing off for the first time at the WTA level.

“Dasha is a very good friend,” Bencic said after the match. “I’m happy that we still can be friends off the court even though on the court we fight against each other. I think that’s the way it should be.”

Both players coming off of late night session quarterfinal matches yesterday, with Bencic’s battle with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova ending after midnight and Kasatkina’s match against Dominika Cibulkova finishing after 1 am.

A bit of lingering sluggishness was evident at the start of the match as both players traded early breaks and holds, keeping the match level at 4-4 before Bencic broke to take the set at 6-4.

Kasatkina created many break opportunities in the match but was only about to capitalize on one out of the 10, and Bencic was able to close out comfortably in straight sets 6-4, 6-3.

The win not only books Bencic’s ticket in to the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy final, it also guarantees her spot into the Top 10 for the first time in her career.

“This is a huge moment for me!” Bencic enthused after the win. “To be in the Top 10, it was always like a dream, from very small kid – now I reached it! This is a big day for me.”

That's right @BelindaBencic…

Top 10! #WTA pic.twitter.com/w5VAZfhvmc

— WTA (@WTA) February 13, 2016

CHARLESTON, SC, USA – 19-year-old Jelena Ostapenko stunned No.11 seed Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in three sets to reach the final at the Volvo Car Open, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.

With the victory Ostapenko is through to her third career final – and her first on clay – where he’ll face fellow-19-year-old Daria Kasatkina.

“It’s really nice to be in the third final, but first final on clay court, and especially here in Charleston,” Ostapenko told press after the match. “I’m really looking forward for tomorrow’s match.

“[Daria] kind of defensive player, and I think clay is her favorite surface, but I’m just going to try to stay consistent and be aggressive at the same time and just play my game.”

We're going three!

Mirjana Lucic-Baroni battles back to force a decider over Ostapenko 3-6, 7-5! #VolvoCarOpen pic.twitter.com/2g3oMKIpc5

— WTA (@WTA) 8 de abril de 2017

Just one point made the difference between Ostapenko and Lucic-Baroni during the tense, two-hour-and-seven-minute encounter. The Latvian employed her aggressive, fearless tennis against Lucic-Baroni, changing the direction in the ball and keeping her opponent on the run with her heavy groundstrokes.

Ostapenko was serving for the match at 5-4 in the second, but Lucic-Baroni had other ideas and the Croat put together a mammoth struggle to deny Ostapenko and break her serve.

Jelena Ostapenko edges Lucic-Baroni 6-3, 5-7, 6-4!

Sets All-Teen @VolvoCarOpen Final vs @DKasatkina! #VolvoCarOpen pic.twitter.com/ugpZVK2IAh

— WTA (@WTA) 8 de abril de 2017

She unleashed a barrage of winners against the Latvian, who had no response as Lucic-Baroni grabbed the next two games to take the match into a decider. But Ostapenko tamped down her nerves in the third and found her calm to make her way into her first final of 2017.

“I actually was quite emotional in the second set when I was 5-3 up and I couldn’t finish the set, but she liked when I was emotional,” Ostapenko admitted. “It kind of gave her confidence till then.

“In the third set I was just trying to be calm because I think it was tougher for her because I didn’t show any emotions, and it helped me, so I won the third set.”

Every week wtatennis.com brings you 10 Things To Know about the week – who is playing, where and much more. This week the Road To Singapore goes through Dubai and Rio de Janeiro…

1) Dubai is a significant stop on the Road To Singapore.
The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships is a Premier event and part one of the WTA’s fortnightly tour of the Middle East – part two is the Qatar Total Open. There’s over $2 million on the line, with the winner pocketing $465,480 and 470 points for the Road To Singapore leaderboard.

2) A strong line-up has made the trip to Dubai.
Even with a couple a high-profile withdrawals, four Top 10 players – and 10 of the Top 20 players in the world – are in Dubai, with the Top 8 seeds being Simona Halep, Garbiñe Muguruza, Carla Suárez Navarro, Petra Kvitova, Belinda Bencic, Karolina Pliskova, Roberta Vinci and Svetlana Kuznetsova.

3) Halep is looking to get back on track.
Defending champion Halep arrives in Dubai on the back of an indifferent start to 2016. After a surprise semifinal loss to Kuznetsova in Sydney, the Romanian suffered an even bigger shock at the Australian Open, crashing out to qualifier Zhang Shuai in the first round. She then split her two singles rubbers on Fed Cup duty against the Czech Republic, beating Kvitova but falling to Pliskova. Will she get back on track in Dubai?

4) Back-to-back titles no easy task.
Halep is looking to become just the third player to defend their title at Al Garhoud Street. The other two are Venus Williams (2009-10) and Justine Henin (2003-04, 2006-07).

5) If Kvitova clears early hurdles, watch out.
Kvitova has failed to win back-to-back matches here in four of her five appearances, in 2009 (to Julia Schruff), 2011 (to Ayumi Morita), 2014 (to Suárez Navarro) and 2015 (to Suárez Navarro). But in her only other try she went all the way to the title, in 2013 (beating Caroline Wozniacki, Ana Ivanovic and Agnieszka Radwanska along the way).

6) Welcome to the club, Belinda.
By reaching the final last week in St. Petersburg, Belinda Bencic guaranteed herself a place inside the Top 10 for the first time in her career. Bencic is the 116th player to break into the elite bracket since computer rankings were introduced in 1975.

7) Halfway across the globe, the Latin American spring kicks off in Rio.
The Latin American leg of the tour kicks off this week with the Rio Open. Headlining the draw is home favorite and No.1 seed Teliana Pereira, who will be joined by Johanna Larsson, Danka Kovinic and Christina McHale.

8) Pereira hungry for WTA hat-trick.
Last April, Pereira became the first Brazilian in 27 years to win a WTA title when she triumphed at the Claro Open Colsanitas, in Bogotá. Eager to prove this was no flash in the pan, title number two soon followed at Florianopolis’ Brasil Tennis Cup. Will she score a hat-trick in Rio?

9) Hunting down Maria’s record.
No, not that Maria. In Bogotá, Pereira is the third Brazilian in the Open Era to win a WTA title, after Maria Bueno (who won three) and Neige Dias (two). A Brazilian winning in Brazil is even rarer, though. Pereira is just the second Brazilian in the Open Era to win a WTA title on home soil – Dias achieved the feat once, doing it over in Guaruja in 1987.

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