Tennis News

NEW YORK, NY, USA – Even before Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza’s headline-grabbing split, the doubles draw at this year’s US Open promised to be the most open in recent memory.

The surprise and sudden parting of Hingis and Mirza elevated rivals Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic to top seeds, although arguably not favorites. Fast forward a few weeks and hierarchy is no clearer on the eve of the opening round at Flushing Meadows.

Garcia and Mladenovic, who will start on Thursday, were handed what on paper appeared to be a relatively straightforward opening assignment against Kurumi Nara and Naomi Osaka – a rookie partnership not famed for their success in doubles. Nevertheless, with the French duo badly out of form – they have mustered together a total of just four wins since lifting the Roland Garros crown at the start of the summer – nothing is a formality.

Beyond that, the draw has been relatively kind; indeed, should they recover the joie de vivre that carried them through an all-conquering clay court season, a place in the last eight beckons.

There they are seeded to meet Mirza and her new partner, Barbora Strycova. In their first tournament, the two hit the ground running, collecting a title that would also give Mirza sole ownership of the No.1 ranking.

Hopes of more success were boosted by Strycova’s early singles exit, leaving the No.7 seeds’ opening week schedule clear to focus on avoiding a similar fate at their first major in unison.

Hingis is also in the top half, and also competing alongside a player smarting from a surprise loss flying solo: CoCo Vandeweghe. However, the draw has been less generous, placing them in a section containing several regular pairings, starting with Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Kveta Peschke.

Should they come through the early rounds unscathed, a potential quarterfinal showdown with 2013 winners and recent Olympic silver medalists Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka awaits.

The title favorites are arguably to be found in a bottom half of the draw containing No.2 seeds Chan Hao-Ching and Chan Yung-Jan, Wimbledon finalists Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova, and former champions Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina.

Seeded No.5 this time, Makarova and Vesnina find themselves in a relatively unthreatening section, the stiffest competition likely to come from Vania King and Monica Niculescu. The Chan sisters, who fell in the quarterfinals 12 months ago, appear equally well-placed to reach the second week.

Since coming so close to tasting Wimbledon glory, Babos and Shvedova have made a couple of solid if unspectacular showings on the North American hardcourt circuit, leaving them relatively fresh for New York. They will begin with a potentially tricky assignment against crowd favorite CiCi Bellis and Julia Boserup.

Also in their section are a number of experience pairings, including Kiki Bertens and Johanna Larsson, No.8 seeds Julia Goerges and Karolina Pliskova, and two-time major winners Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova.

NEW YORK, NY, USA – Anastasija Sevastova claimed the biggest shock thus far at the 2016 US Open, holding her nerve to defeat World No.3 Garbiñe Muguruza, 7-5, 6-4. The win came hours after Caroline Wozniacki had a renaissance of her own on Arthur Ashe Stadium, turning back the clock to take out No.9 seed and longtime rival Svetlana Kuznetsova in straight sets following a slow start.

In the latest Daily Dispatch from Flushing, hear more from Muguruza and Sevastova in their own words as the WTA Insider team analyze the upsets from Day 3, and make their picks for the most exciting matches on Thursday’s order of play:

Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn or on any podcast app of your choice to ensure you never miss an episode when they go live. Reviews are always helpful, so if you like what you’ve heard so far, leave us one. You can also get new episode alerts by following us on Twitter @WTA_Insider.

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NEW YORK, NY, USA – Caroline Wozniacki’s US Open revival gathered further momentum as she brushed aside Monica Niculescu to reach the fourth round.

Having arrived at Flushing Meadows with little form to speak of, Wozniacki has been one of the stories of the opening week, following up her upset of No.9 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova with another impressive showing. The two-time finalist dissected Niculescu’s unorthodox game to win, 6-3, 6-1.

As she did against Kuznetsova, the Dane delivered a tidy performance, her sprightly movement betraying no signs of the ankle injury that sidelined her for much of the spring. After trading a couple of early breaks, Wozniacki struck again to edge 3-1 ahead, maintaining this advantage – despite a fraught final service game – to close out the set.

The Romanian had failed to take a set from Wozniacki in their six previous meetings and never looked like breaking this spell, quickly slipping 3-0 behind. With the former No.1 prevailing in the battle of wills from the baseline match point soon arrived, Niculescu surrendering as a drop shot drifted tamely wide.

See you next week @CaroWozniacki! She's into round four after a straight-set victory vs. #Niculescu. #usopen @Chase https://t.co/yLiBQzy6JP

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) 2 September 2016

“I think it’s fun to play against her but also really frustrating because she makes you feel like you can’t play tennis,” Wozniacki said. “You have to be mentally prepared to grind it out. It wasn’t pretty, but I got a good workout running after her drop shots. I just need to step in and hit the ball and go for it. Otherwise, I have no chance.”

Meeting Wozniacki for a place in the quarterfinals will be Madison Keys, who kept alive hopes of a maiden Grand Slam title by producing what she described as the comeback of her career. Trailing Naomi Osaka 5-1 in the final set, the No.8 seed looked dead and buried only to capitalize on some finishing line nerves to somehow turn the match around.

Serving for the match at 5-2, Osaka missed a presentable forehand volley that left her fighting back the tears. And while she regrouped admirably to force a tie-break, her moment had passed, Keys powering towards a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(3) victory.

“Was that the greatest comeback of your career?”
“For sure, hands down.” –Madison Keys #usopen

— Nick McCarvel (@NickMcCarvel) September 2, 2016

NEW YORK, NY, USA – Week 1 is in the books at the US Open, and catch up with all the best moments on Day 6’s Daily Dispatch from the WTA Insider Podcast.

Save for a three-set struggle from No.5 seed Simona Halep, all the big names progressed into the second week with relative ease on Saturday, include World No.1 Serena Williams, No.4 seed Agnieszka Radwanska, No.6 seed Venus Williams, and No.10 seed Karolina Pliskova, who reached the fourth round at a major for the first time in her young career.

Analyzing the week that was, the WTA Insider team looks ahead to Day 7, and whether there might be an upset or two on the table come Sunday.

Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn or on any podcast app of your choice to ensure you never miss an episode when they go live. Reviews are always helpful, so if you like what you’ve heard so far, leave us one. You can also get new episode alerts by following us on Twitter @WTA_Insider.

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After a disappointing year of injuries and inconsistencies, Ana Ivanovic took to Twitter on Tuesday, announcing her intention to skip the remaining tournaments in 2016 so that she may be fully fit for the upcoming 2016 season.

Check out her full statement: 

A difficult decision that I had to take. pic.twitter.com/XMUtOORCIG

— Ana Ivanovic (@AnaIvanovic) September 6, 2016

Ivanovic had enjoyed a career renaissance in 2014 and had a strong start to 2015, peaking at No.5 just before the toe injury mentioned in her statement. Though she went on to reach the semifinals of the French Open that year, the former No.1 hasn’t made it past the third round in any of the last seven major tournaments. She last played at the US Open, where she fell in the first round to Denisa Allertova, 7-6(4), 6-1.

The Serb spoke with WTA Insider before the start of the Open on her season, career, and the concept of luck in tennis; catch up on that interview below:

NEW YORK, NY, USA – No.10 seed Karolina Pliskova is into her first Grand Slam semifinal after a commanding victory over 18-year-old Ana Konjuh at the US Open.

Both were making their Grand Slam quarterfinal debut – in fact, neither had been past the third round at any Slam before the fortnight – but experience won out for Pliskova, who had little trouble moving past Konjuh in the 57-minute, 6-2, 6-2 romp.

“I was kind of nervous this morning, before the match,” Pliskova said of playing in her first major quarterfinal. “But always when I get on the court I just forget about everything and I’m not nervous anymore.”

“And I’m just trying to play tennis. Maybe I will think about all what I have been playing last few weeks after the tournament, but right now I just don’t want to, you know, put it in too much inside me. I just want to play.”

.@KaPliskova wins 100% of her first serves en route to a first-set victory over #Konjuh. #usopen @Chase https://t.co/o3RAc1pG59

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 7, 2016

The victory is especially affirming for the Czech, who’s been a dangerous player at the WTA level for the past two years since her breakthrough, but could never translate that big game onto the big stage.

“To be honest, the Grand Slams before, I wasn’t feeling bad in any of them,” Pliskova said after her third round press conference, the first time ever she’d reached the second week of a Slam. “But just somehow the game on the court wasn’t the way I wanted it to be.

“I was just a little bit tight, I wasn’t playing my tennis, wasn’t aggressive enough. If I’m not playing my game, I cannot beat those players like this. I cannot be the one who is running.”

Pliskova didn’t need to do much running against Konjuh, the lowest-ranked and youngest player in the quarterfinals. The Czech is famous for her huge serve – in fact she’s been the WTA’s ace leader for two years – but Pliskova kept her biggest weapon reigned in. She hit just three aces, much lower than her eight-a-match average, but was still lethal on serve, winning 92 percent of points behind her first serve during the match – 100 percent in the first set.

The 18-year-old Konjuh also wields a powerful serve, which she showed off during her impressive takedown of Agnieszka Radwanska in the last round. But the Croat struggled to hold onto it against the big-hitting Pliskova, who broke her twice at the outset of the match to go up 4-0 in the first set, then twice at the end of the second.

Pliskova closed out the match with back-to-back aces to reach her first Grand Slam semifinals.

Ace the day! @kapliskova dominates #Konjuh 6-2, 6-2 in just 57 minutes to make her first slam semifinal @mbusa https://t.co/mKjBWbbXqo

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 7, 2016

Despite the one-sided loss, Konjuh only takes the positives away from her Grand Slam experience.

“You know, I cannot be sad after all of this,” Konjuh reflected in her post-match press conference. “Good luck to her. She’s having great season so far, and, you know, I’m cheering for her.”

“But overall, I’m happy with my results here. When I came here I could only imagine playing the quarters. I think it’s been a great tournament.”

Pliskova awaits the winner in the night match between Serena Williams and Simona Halep to play for a spot in the final.

DALIAN, China – World No.145 Grace Min fought back from a set down to defeat top seed Wang Qiang in Friday’s quarterfinals at the Dalian Women’s Open.

Watch live streaming from Dalian all week right here.

The latest upset in a week full of surprises saw Min battle some early nerves before coming through, 5-7, 6-2, 6-3, in two hours and 22 minutes.

Min has spent much of the season piling up the win on the ITF Circuit, and looked a little out of her depth early on, dropping serve to love in the first game. This deficit did not last for long and while she was unable to rescue the set, she dominated the next two to secure a semifinal meeting against Misa Eguchi.

Unlike Min, Eguchi kept her time on court to a minimum, swatting aside last year’s runner-up, Julia Glushko, 6-2, 6-0.

In the bottom half of the draw, Kristyna Pliskova overpowered Aleksandra Krunic, 6-2, 6-4, in under an hour, while Han Xinyun recovered from a disastrous start to defeat Wang Yafan, 0-6, 7-5, 6-4.

NEW YORK, NY, USA – One hundred and twenty-seven matches, 292 sets, 2680 games and 17,520 points over thirteen rainy, windy and occasionally sunny days. And that was just the singles. While numbers never tell the whole story, when it comes to the 2016 US Open, they certainly make for a good read…

8,628,207 – The $3,500,000 cheque Angelique Kerber received for picking up her second Grand Slam took her 2016 winnings to $8,628,207. Her previous best total annual total was $2,139,358 (2013).

65,797 – Hugh Grant, Anna Wintour and Vanessa Williams were among the 65,797 attending the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on the middle Sunday – a single-day attendance record.

309 – Serena Williams’ third-round win over Johanna Larsson was her 307th at a Grand Slam tournament, overtaking Martina Navratilova for sole ownership of the Open Era record. Two further victories, took her total to 309 – a number not matched by any player, male or female.

186 – However, Serena’s semifinal defeat to Karolina Pliskova meant that her was unable to overtake Stefanie Graf’s record of 186 consecutive weeks at No.1. Her replacement, Kerber, is the first German to hold top spot since Graf in March 1997.

182 – The number of minutes needed by Kateryna Bondarenko and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to win their second-round thrillers over Zheng Saisai and Kristina Mladenovic, respectively – the longest matches of the tournament.

126 – The speed in miles per hour of the fastest serve of the fortnight, hit by Serena.

81 – Serena’s 120mph bombs helped her win 81% of her first service points.

72 – At Wimbledon, Venus Williams matched Amy Frazier’s Open Era record of 71 Grand Slam appearances. The evergreen American moved out in front on her own when she stepped on Arthur Ashe to face Kateryna Kozlova. Sister Serena, though, is hot on her tail, taking her tally to 65 this fortnight.

52 – Jelena Jankovic has now played in 52 consecutive Grand Slams. The Open Era record of 62 is held by Ai Sugiyama.

46 – Caroline Wozniacki jumped 46 spots from No.74 to No.28 in the rankings after her run through to the semifinals.

34 – Kerber broke serve 34 times en route to the title.

33 – The longest rally of this year’s tournament was 33 shots and came in the second set of the second-round encounter between Elina Svitolina and Lauren Davis. Eventually it was Svitolina that emerged triumphant, although not before the pair had another epic exchange, this one lasting 32 shots in the fifth game of the third set.

22 – There were 22 Americans in this year’s singles draw – 12 more than any other country. 

20 – At the start of the tournament there were 20 players aged 30 or older. By comparison, there were only eight teenagers.

16 – At just 16 years and 336 days old on the opening Monday of the tournament, Kayla Day was the youngest player in New York.

11 – Runners-up Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic won 11 consecutive sets in the doubles draw. They had the chance to make it a perfect 12 in the final against Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova only to be broken when serving for the match.

6 – The number of players at this year’s tournament who were yet to be born when Venus made her US Open debut in 1997: CiCI Bellis, Kayla Day, Sofia Kenin, Ana Konjuh, Naomi Osaka and Nadia Podoroska. 

2 – Kerber is the first player not named Serena to win multiple majors in a calendar year since Justine Henin did so in 2007.

1 – Runner-up Pliskova was only one year old the last time a Czech player (Helena Sukova) reached a US Open final, in 1993.