Miami: Caroline Wozniacki Vs Varvara Lepchenko
Highlights from the Day 3 matchup at the Miami Open between Caroline Wozniacki and Varvara Lepchenko.
Highlights from the Day 3 matchup at the Miami Open between Caroline Wozniacki and Varvara Lepchenko.
Camila Giorgi had Saturday’s shot of the day at the BNP Paribas Open.
Venus Wiliams takes on Beatriz Haddad Maia in the second round of the Miami Open.
The biggest stars in women’s tennis – and a handful of sports legends – descended on Indian Wells this week for the BNP Paribas Open.
Seeing triple? The BNP Paribas Open unveiled a mural of defending champion Simona Halep.
How about a double dose of Daria? Daria Kasatkina and Daria Gavrilova were on hand to help with the WTA draw ceremony.
What a moment! Venus Williams returned to Indian Wells after a 15-year absence.
As the WTA’s biggest stars took to the courts, there were several stars in the stands there to take in the action. Boxing legend Mike Tyson and his family, Kiki and Milan, cheered on Serena Williams…
…and hockey’s “The Great One” Wayne Gretzky cheered on fellow Canadian Eugenie Bouchard.
The colorful Jelena Jankovic is a big fan favorite, and you can see why they love her as she signed autographs and posed for pictures at the USANA booth.
Garbiñe Muguruza takes on Anastasija Sevastova in the second round of the Toray Pan Pacific Open.
Elina Svitolina paid a visit to Miami’s colorful and artsy Wynwood Walls for a photo shoot during the Miami Open – check it out here!
INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – The BNP Paribas Open draw has been shaved down to 16, and on a blockbuster Tuesday at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, the quarterfinals will be set. Here’s a look at the match-ups.
Tuesday, Fourth Round
[1] Serena Williams (USA #1) vs. Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR #70)
Head-to-head: Williams leads 2-0
Key Stat: Williams’ last loss to a player outside the Top 50 was in 2014 (Charleston, Cepelova).
World No.1 Serena Wiliams showed signs of nerves and rust early in her third round match with Yulia Putintseva, but by the time it was over she looked like a player who was dead set on winning this title for the first time in 15 years. Still, Williams would like to rid herself of the slow starts that have created problems for her over the last few years. “I know last year I had a lot of slow starts, but I feel like I have done better this year,” Williams told the media on Sunday. “I had a slow start in this one, too, but it’s getting better. It just goes to show there is always something I can improve on. I’m always looking to improve on things.” On Tuesday she’ll look to improve her career record at Indian Wells to 21-1 when she meets qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko. The Ukranian reached the round of 16 for the first time at Indian Wells by surviving a third set tie-break with Lesia Tsurenko. Williams has won their two previous meetings, both in straight sets.
Pick: Williams in two
[3] Agnieszka Radwanska (POL #3) vs. [19] Jelena Jankovic (SRB #20)
Head-to-head: Radwanska leads, 6-3
Key Stat: Jankovic is bidding for her 50th Top 10 win today.
In a year that has been characterized by its unpredictability on the WTA Tour, Agnieszka Radwanska has been one of the steadier performers, making at least the semifinals in all three events she has played. Will she make it four in a row? Radwanska certainly owns the upper hand in her head-to-head with 2010 BNP Paribas Open champion Jelena Jankovic. The Serb took their first two meetings but since then Radwanska has won six of seven. The 2014 runner-up eased past Monica Niculescu in straight sets on Sunday and told reporters she’s yearning for the BNP Paribas Open title after the match. “Of course I was here in the final and really close to hold the trophy,” Radwanska said. “So this is another year to try. Obviously I am really trying every year to get the title. I really want to have that trophy at my home.” To reach the quarterfinals, Radwanska will have to maintain the hot hand against a hot opponent. San Diego resident and self-proclaimed California girl Jankovic comes in on a roll, having dropped just five games in her two rounds thus far.
Pick: Jankovic in three
[5] Simona Halep (ROU #5) vs. Barbora Strycova (CZE #37)
Head-to-head: Tied, 1-1 (Halep leads 1-0 at Tour-level)
Key Stat: Not since 1991 (Navratilova) has a WTA player successfully defended the Indian Wells title.
Though Serena Williams is the prohibitive favor in any WTA draw she enters, last year’s champion Simona Halep believes that the BNP Paribas Open is up for grabs. “I think the tournament is open and anyone can win it,” she told reporters at a media roundtable before the event started. “Many players are playing well now and young players are coming that are playing well.” The Romanian’s title defense has been going swimmingly thus far. After blitzing Vania King in her first match, she rolled past a world-class opponent in difficult conditions on Sunday night, braving the wind and the powerful game of Ekaterina Makarova to earn a straight-sets win. Halep’s opponent in the round of 16 has been playing good tennis herself. Barbora Strycova stunned Garbiñe Muguruza at the Australian Open to reach the second week, and last month she went all the way to the Dubai final before falling to Sara Errani. Is the 29-year-old Czech in good enough form to derail an in-form Halep? She certainly has the game, and the experience, to do it.
Pick: Halep in three
[8] Petra Kvitova (CZE #9) vs. [WC] Nicole Gibbs (USA #95)
Head-to-head: Kvitova leads 2-0
Key Stat: Gibbs has never won a set from a Top 10 player.
Petra Kvitova is still trying to find her form in the California desert. Meanwhile, a rising American qualifier is hitting her stride right before our eyes. Nicole Gibbs notched her career-best win against Madison Keys in the second round here, and will be looking to take down a bigger fish in two-time major champion Kvitova. But Gibbs knows she’s got her work cut out for her. “I have played her a couple times before also on some big stages: center court at New Haven and at US Open,” Gibbs told media after her straight-sets win over Yaroslava Shvedova on Sunday. “But I do feel like I’ve gotten to see what her level is like. Both matches have definitely been in her favor but competitive, so I’m just looking to hopefully get a bead on her serving early in the match.” Kvitova, who is hoping to match her career best result at Indian Wells, knows of the challenges that Gibbs can present. “I think she’s a very good mover,” Kvitova said. “She can catch a lot of balls and put back everything. I will have to be ready 100 percent, and really have to fight again.”
Pick: Gibbs in three
-Chris Oddo, wtatennis.com contributor
The introduction of Open Tennis in 1968 meant amateur and professional players could compete on the same stages – bringing an end to the hypocrisy of ‘shamateurism’ – but it didn’t do much for the women who played the sport. In fact, in the first couple of years the gulf in prize money offered to men and women only grew. Adding insult to injury, there were few opportunities for the women to shine on their own terms. Tournaments were joint but far from equal.
Matters came to a head in the summer of 1970, when Jack Kramer’s prestigious Pacific Southwest event proposed paying the men more than eight times as much as the so-called ‘fairer sex’ – even though the intended women’s field was packed with stars.
Enter Gladys Heldman, the savvy founder and publisher of World Tennis magazine. Devoted to the sport and a passionate advocate of the women who played it, Heldman counseled Billie Jean King, the powerbroker among the players, against a boycott of Kramer’s event. Instead, when Kramer would not budge on prize money, Heldman arranged for the Houston Racquet Club to host a women-only tournament.
Riding the winds of societal change, the initial $5,000 purse was to come from ticket sales to women’s groups associated with tennis in the city. Heldman also persuaded her friend Joseph Cullman III, an avid tennis fan and chairman of tobacco giant Philip Morris, to provide an additional $2,500 in return for naming rights for his Virginia Slims brand.
For the new Virginia Slims Invitational, Heldman set about recruiting players who signed weeklong $1 contracts with her company. More than just a symbolic act, this approach protected the tennis club from any lawsuit that might be launched by the tennis establishment.
Despite threats from the United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA) that they would be banned from competing at Grand Slams and lose their national rankings, nine women signed up: King, Rosie Casals, Nancy Richey, Judy Dalton, Kerry Melville Reid, Julie Heldman, Kristy Pigeon, Peaches Bartkowicz and Valerie Ziegenfuss.
They became known as the Original 9.
“I felt a sense of both fear and exhilaration,” recalled King, four decades on. “We knew we were making history and we had such a strong sense of purpose. I just kept thinking about the vision we had for the future of our sport. We wanted to ensure that any girl in the world that was good enough would have a place to go and make a living playing tennis.”
Any fears were not unfounded, for the rebels did suffer consequences: The two Australians in the group, Dalton and Melville Reid, were forced out of their national championships, for instance. Dalton – who would finish runner-up to Casals at Houston – was even prevented from using her Slazenger racquet for two years.
Still, so pleased was Virginia Slims with the Houston spectacle that its sponsorship skyrocketed; the resulting 21-event World Tennis Women’s Pro Tour offered a total prize purse of some $336,100 in 1971. It was a politically fraught time for the sport as a whole, with the USLTA mounting a rival circuit that relied heavily on the talents of the young Chris Evert and foreign stars such as Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong and Virginia Wade.
Ultimately, though, the marketing savvy of Virginia Slims and the determined promotional efforts of the players saw the Slims roadshow win the PR battle. In 1973 the sport’s rival factions cast aside differences and the WTA was formed. For the first time, all of the top women would present a united front and the tour hasn’t looked back since: the 2016 edition of the WTA’s Road to Singapore will travel through 33 countries with 56 events, plus the four Grand Slam tournaments, players competing for more than $137 million in prize money.
“Today’s players are living our vision,” King said. “In 1970, and even a few years after we signed the $1 contract with Gladys, people never believed women’s tennis would be a global sport and that players would be making the money they make today. But it is a reality and I know today’s players will continue our dreams for future generations in tennis and inspire other women’s sports as well.”
— Adam Lincoln
MIAMI, FL, USA – No.7 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova overcame a slow start and an inspired Taylor Townsend to beat the American qualifier, 6-4, 6-2, joining No.10 seed Johanna Konta, who beat Pauline Parmentier, 6-4, 6-0 in the fourth round of the Miami Open.
Townsend has long been a talented prospect, having won the 2013 Australian Open junior title and finishing runner-up to Belinda Bencic at that year’s Wimbledon Championships. Qualifying for the main draw and upsetting Roberta Vinci in her previous match, the American looked on course for another upset as she took the first break from Kuznetsova in the opening set.
“I’d never played her before, but still, to face her it’s a bit different,” she told WTA Insider after the match. “It took me time to adjust to her game. I got broken right away, and I was serving against the sun, so it was a little bit difficult.”
But Kuznetsova is in good form herself, reaching the final at last week’s BNP Paribas Open; relaxed and focused, the Russian took four straight games to reclaim the break and the opening set from Townsend, who put up quite a fight in the final game before dropping serve.
“She plays good tennis, different than other girls. I took time to adjust, changed my strategy, and in the end it worked pretty well. But she’s very talented.”
.@TaylorTownsend is still fighting! #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/mjVHUCAPvJ
— WTA (@WTA) March 26, 2017
The 2006 champion and 2016 finalist raced ahead to start the second and never looked back, despite some impressive variety from the 20-year-old.
Up next for Kuznetsova is either former No.1 Venus Williams or qualifier Patricia Maria Tig, who stunned No.22 seed and Top 20 debutante Kristina Mladenovic in the preceding round.
“It’s a great match-up, and it’s great to play Venus again, one more time. We’re both having great results, so I’m looking forward to that match.”
Absolutely INCREDIBLE get from @SvetlanaK27! ??? #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/HUGwo3qNiD
— WTA (@WTA) March 26, 2017
Earlier in the day, Konta worked through a tense opening set to roll through against Parmentier.
“I’m happy to have come through that,” Konta said after the match. “Although the scoreline doesn’t show it in the second set, I still had to work hard within every single point. I really tried hard not to take my foot off the gas and stay focused on what I wanted to achieve.”
The Frenchwoman has displayed impresisve tennis of late, and nearly beat World No.1 Angelique Kerber in Indian Wells.
.@JoKonta91 slaps away the backhand! #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/DKRY56Taqr
— WTA (@WTA) March 26, 2017
“She’s been very strong with her forehand, and her serve is actually quite a big weapon, as well. I was quite happy with how I could neutralize it and look towards having good variety on my returns. I also made it difficult for her to find her spots on the forehand; I didn’t give her too many opportunities to set up, because when she does, she can be very tough to play.”
With 19 winners to just five unforced errors to advance, it was night and day for the British No.1 on Sunday after her tough opening round win over Aliaksandra Sasnovich, which went deep into a third set.
.@JoKonta91 comes flying out of the blocks in the second! #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/Iy5BofgqVJ
— WTA (@WTA) March 26, 2017
“The bonus of getting through any match is having the opportunity to play again. I have another opportunity to get better and to perform well.
“Those stats obviously look better on paper, and that’s good to hear. There’s other moving factors in a match, but I was still very happy I was able to stick with my plan and not divert from that in any way.
“Each match puts forward different challenges, so it’s hard to compare and decide which has been my best performance. My first round was very good, for example, because I could get through a difficult situation. Today was a cleaner match, so in that sense, it was also a good performance.”
.@JoKonta91 is flying through the second set! ? #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/qLxVIX2SNl
— WTA (@WTA) March 26, 2017
Standing between Konta and a second straight quarterfinal in Miami will be the winner of No.8 seed Madison Keys and Lara Arruabarrena.
“I played Madison in Beijing last year. I think I played Lara once before, but not for many years. We all know Madison has a big game, so if I end up playing her, I’ll be expecting to play someone with a lot of weight of shot. I haven’t watched Lara play too much, but she’s been around a while and won a title at the end of last year. She’s a tough player, so either way it’ll be a tough match.”
.@JoKonta91 reaches @MiamiOpen Round of 16!
Cruises past Parmentier 6-4, 6-0! pic.twitter.com/5VqbM7wsYO
— WTA (@WTA) March 26, 2017
SEOUL, South Korea – Spain’s Lara Arruabarrena spoiled the all-Romanian party when she knocked out Patricia Maria Tig in an emphatic straight sets, dropping just three games on her way to the Korea Open final, 6-1, 6-2. She’ll take on another Romanian, Monica Niculescu, for the title.
It’s the first WTA final of the year for the No.90-ranked Spaniard, who will enjoy a much-needed boost after spending much of 2016 toiling at the ITF level and in qualifying rounds. In fact, it’s her first final since her victory at the WTA 125K event in Cali back in 2013.
Arruabarrena was dominant in the opening set, breaking Tig three times and allowing her to win only barely 11 points in the 21-minute opener. The Romanian found her footing in the second and brought up six break points on Arruabarrena’s serve, but the Spaniard brushed them aside to advance to the final after just 58 minutes.
Up next for the 24-year-old is the No.5 seeded Niculescu, who is playing her first event since reaching the third round at the US Open.
Much like her opponent, Niculescu needed barely an hour to move past her semifinal opponent Zhang Shuai 6-0, 6-4.
Zhang recovered admirably from her opening set shutout, pushing Niculescu and trading breaks with her three consecutive times. She was a game away from forcing a decider, but Niculescu rallied to claim the decisive break.
It’s also the first final of the year for Niculescu, who entered Seoul having yet to advance past a round of 16 stage.