WTA Frame Challenge: Hao-Ching Chan & Yung-Jan Chan
Together the Chan sisters are a world class doubles team, but today on the WTA Frame Challenge it’s Hao-Ching vs Yung-Jan. Find out which sister came out on top!
Together the Chan sisters are a world class doubles team, but today on the WTA Frame Challenge it’s Hao-Ching vs Yung-Jan. Find out which sister came out on top!
A long-awaited off-season is on hold for an elite squad from the Czech Republic, who fly to France in the hopes of winning a fifth Fed Cup title in the last six years. Karolina Pliskova and Petra Kvitova lead the team through what will be one last ride following a full fall schedule in Asia.
“It’s the last two matches of the year. There is no other choice,” Pliskova said after playing her last round robin match at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. “I’ll just get ready. There is one week between, so I’ll just rest a little bit and forget about tennis for few days.
“Then back to the work for that last week of tennis this season.”
It was even less of a break for Kvitova, who captured her second title of the season at the Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai.
“I don’t think I’m that tired,” she told WTA Insider in the latest edition of Champions Corner. “I just feel my entire body is sore, so I’ll need to take a few days off to get ready for the Fed Cup tie. I’m really looking forward, but it’s a little bit difficult. I’m a little bit tired, but winning always helps me recover faster.
“I’ll be flying to Prague, and then taking a car to go to Strasbourg, so that’ll be fun. I’m looking forward to seeing the team. We have a great team, so I can’t wait to be with them over there. It’ll be the last week of the season, so it’s great to have it then, as well.”
Kvitova was in Zhuhai alongside countrywoman Barbora Strycova, and both discussed that special bond the team has forged throughout the week.
“All the Czech players, we know how to be teammates in the week where there is Fed Cup,” Strycova said. “Three weeks a year we are so close together. I can’t describe it because it’s like a routine for us that we do everything together in those weeks.”
Coached by Petr Pala, the Czechs have won 15 of 16 ties dating back to 2011, when the team won their country’s first Fed Cup trophy since 1988.
“I’m looking forward to the final,” Kvitova said. “I love playing Fed Cup and playing for my country. The final is always special; we’re playing away, which isn’t great for us, since France will have the home crowd advantage. We know how to play, and that the fans will support them. It’ll be about us, and whichever team is better prepared will win.
“I think we’re only small favorites to win the tie; they have a great doubles team, and even the singles players, Kiki and Caro, are playing well. It’ll be a difficult tie, but we do have a more experienced team, from all the finals we’ve played. The motivation is always there.”
The teams have faced off just twice in the last ten years, with the Czechs winning the most recent encounter in 2015. Caroline Garcia leads a French contingent captained by former World No.1 Amélie Mauresmo, and is well-aware of just how formidable the Czechs can be in this format, joking that the country could easily field two teams based on its strong roster.
“Caro is funny! I never really thought like that,” Kvitova said with a smile, before breaking down their secret to success.
“I think we’re not only good players, but also good people. We’re never fighting with each other; we act as a team, and I think that’s very important. None of us make trouble, and we all work well together. If one of us needs to schedule a massage, we talk all talk and decide who gets to go first; it’s the same with practice schedules.
“Communication is very important for a team. We also have great people around us; they’re all boys, so there’s always a lot of fun throughout the week. Our stringer is DJ, and they’re all doing what they can to keep things relaex. The practices are very easy and never too stressful.
“Everything is working when you’re playing well, and everything is easier than when you’re not. We’re on a good way right now and I hope we continue like that.”
When that off-season finally does come, Kvitova plans to spend a vacation with none other than teammate Lucie Hradecka, who will likely be on hand for a potentially decisive doubles rubber against France.
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.
Karolina Pliskova and Barbora Strycova win the deciding doubles rubber for the second straight year, capturing a fifth Fed Cup title in the last six years over home team France.
COMPTON, CA, USA – Former World No.1s Venus Williams and Serena Williams returned to their hometown of Compton, California last weekend to strengthen childhood ties to the city where they first played tennis.
“You always remember those places, like where we went to elementary school, the courts we practiced at, even our old home,” Venus told the LA Times. “And just places you used to go. And of course things change over time. Places move. Shops close. Streets change. But it’s still the same place.”
The Williams sisters made use of their eponymous charity fund to bestow a five-year endowment on what will be the Yetunde Price Resource Center, which will help those affected by violence and trauma. The center was named for their eldest sister, who was killed in 2003.
“We definitely wanted to honor our sister’s memory because she was a great sister, she was our oldest sister and obviously she meant a lot to us,” Serena said. “And it meant a lot to us, to myself and to Venus and my other sisters as well, Isha and Lyndrea, that we’ve been wanting to do something for years in memory of her, especially the way it happened, a violent crime.”
Saturday was dedicated to the refurbishing of Lueders Park tennis courts henceforth known as the Venus & Serena Williams Court of Champions.
Check out a full interview with the Williams sisters here, along with some of the best photos from the weekend below:
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.
TAIPEI, Taiwan – Ashleigh Barty continued her impressive progress through the draw at the OEC Taipei WTA Challenger with a straight-set win over fellow qualifier Junri Namigata on Wednesday.
Fifty-four minutes was all it took for Barty to wrap up a 6-2, 6-3 victory and set up a quarterfinal against No.6 seed Evgeniya Rodina.
Despite only turning 20 earlier this year, Barty is embarking on her second ascent of the tennis ladder. After a glittering junior career, she enjoyed instant success in the senior ranks, reaching three major doubles finals alongside fellow Australian Casey Dellacqua.
However, the stresses of life on tour soon took its toll on her teenage mind and body, prompting a 17-month hiatus. She has played sparingly since returning – a bone stress injury disrupted the momentum from an encouraging grass court campaign – but looked in fine form against Namigata, two breaks in the opening three games setting her on course for a comfortable victory.
Rodina overcame a slow start against Dalila Jakupovic, eventually triumphing, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1. Also advancing to the last eight in Taiwan were Olga Govortsova and Vitalia Diatchenko. Govortsova saved two match points to defeat Julia Boserup, 5-7, 7-6(5), 7-5, while 2014 champion Diatchenko saw off Miyu Kato, 7-5, 6-4.
Elina Svitolina has announced a coaching shake-up, parting ways with coach Iain Hughes:
The 22-year-old Ukrainian has also been working with former No.1 Justine Henin since February, bringing the Hall of Famer on as a coaching consultant. Neither have confirmed whether that relationship will continue in 2017.
Svitolina’s announcement comes on the heels of her career-best season, after making the final of the WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai to finish the season at her career-high ranking of No.14 and winning a fourth career title in Kuala Lumpur.
This season she became the only woman to beat both reigning No.1s this year, beating Serena Williams at the Olympics and Angelique Kerber at the China Open.
BRISBANE, Australia – No matter who wins Saturday’s final at the Brisbane International, one player will walk away with a drought-busting win. No.22 Victoria Azarenka is in her first final since Doha and aiming for her first title since Cincinnati in 2013, nearly two and a half years ago. Looking to stop her is No.10 Angelique Kerber, who will try and snag her first win in six tries over Azarenka.
The first week of the year began with much hand-wringing over the withdrawals and retirements of the Top 3 seeds in the tournament, with defending champion Maria Sharapova, World No.2 Simona Halep, and No.3 Garbiñe Muguruza exiting the tournament under a cloud of injury. It will end with a rematch of the best women’s match of 2015, when Azarenka got the better of Kerber in the third round of the US Open, winning 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 in a grueling match.
“We always bring the best out of each other, I think,” Azarenka said. “I mean, I hope we do. It was a pretty amazing match, so I hope we can put on a good show. I think the final deserves that.”
Azarenka has been in blistering form all week. She has dropped just 13 games in four matches, posting two bagel sets along the way. Her run in Brisbane most assuredly puts her on the shortlist of favorites at the Australian Open – she is, after all, a two-time champion in Melbourne – but Azarenka doesn’t want to get ahead of herself.
“I’m feeling pretty good right now,” she said. “I’m not saying anything besides that. It’s irrelevant. Tomorrow is a match. I’m looking forward to that. I never jump ahead. It can seem so close, yet so far. Done those mistakes before, and I’ll stick to being present.”
Kerber has looked just as sharp this week. Aside from dropping the first set of her tournament to Camila Giorgi, Kerber has been untouchable, notching wins over Giorgi, Madison Brengle, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and Carla Suárez Navarro. Most notably Kerber has unveiled a more aggressive gamestyle. A change of strings during the off-season – she now uses a Yonex hybrid and natural gut – has given her more pop on her groundstrokes.
“I was working a lot in the last few weeks on this, so I’m trying to transform it to the matches,” Kerber said of her newfound aggression. “It works good right now. Of course I must take the decision and just go for it and not hope that the other one will miss. I will try to make the points by myself.”
Looking towards Saturday’s final, the big focus point will be Kerber’s serve. Azarenka is one of, if not *the* best returner in the game when she’s at her best. Much of her 5-0 record against the German is a result of her ability to dominate Kerber’s second serve. Kerber hopes her off-season work on her serve will pay off now.
“I worked a lot in my off-season on my serve, and I’m feeling that the serve is also a little bit faster,” she said. “Also I’m trying to go for it with my second serve, not only pushing the ball. Of course that needs time. I think I’m on the good way. I’m feeling better on my serve.”
So will we see another three-set epic on Saturday? Kerber’s 2015 was defined by her participation in the year’s best matches. Earlier in the week Kerber’s compatriot and doubles partner Andrea Petkovic – the two are into the doubles final against Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza – was asked why her friend always finds herself embroiled in dramatic matches against the game’s best.
“I think one part of her game style is that she plays fast but just not too fast to make the other girls play well,” Petkovic said. “She’s too good for the lower-ranked players, but for the top players I think she [hits] exactly the pace they need to play really well.
“But Angie is somebody, when she gets challenged, she gets the best out of her as well. So I think these two things coming together just make for Hollywood, popcorn, great movie nights.”
Come back on Saturday as WTA Insider live blogs the final from Brisbane. The final begins at 7:30pm local time, 9:30am GMT.
Victoria Azarenka takes on Roberta Vinci in the quarterfinals of the Brisbane International.
The Shenzhen Open takes a look back at Agnieszka Radwanska, Petra Kvitova and Eugenie Bouchard’s first matches of the 2016 season – watch highlights and interviews from the WTA stars here.
Serena Williams heads into 2017 with one clear goal in mind; after capturing her 22nd Grand Slam title at this year’s Wimbledon Championships, the American is just one major win away from wresting the Open Era record from Stefanie Graf.
“Wimbledon was good for me,” she said in an exclusive interview with BeIN Sports. “Obviously, I was really excited to win that this year. I had a lot of tough matches, but I went in there and played the best I could.
“We went in with a wonderful gameplan,” she added, referring to coach Patrick Mourataglou, who was also present for the interview, “and it worked out.”
With Graf’s record so close, where might Serena ultimately land among the greats of the game? BeIN Sports posited 30 for one already considered by many to be the greatest of all time.
“30 is a lot, but my goal is just to go out there, do the best I can and be happy. The only way for me to do that is to win every single match; that doesn’t always happen and that’s something you have to understand and learn to deal with over the course of your career.
“But there is no number for me; I just want to go out there and win.”
Click here to check out the full interview with Serena.
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.