Tennis News

Lucie Safarova crashed out of the first round Kremlin Cup in straight sets at the hands of Daria Gavrilova.

The Czech, fit again after struggling with injuries throughout 2016, also failed to make to the second round in Beijing at the beginning of October and succumbed to a 6-2, 6-2 loss.

The match started evenly, with the first five games going with serve before the 2015 French Open finalist’s effort disintegrated, losing seven games in a row to hand Gavrilova the first set and a 3-0 love lead in the second.

Safarova failed to craft a single break point throughout and dropped serve once more in the final game of the match as the Australian skipped into the second round.

“Lucie had a hard time getting used to [the surface],” Gavrilova said after the match.

“I tried to play more long rallied, but she was making a lot of mistakes in her second or third shots. She didn’t perform her best today.”

She plays Carla Suárez Navarro in the next round.

Meanwhile, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova had to fight hard to overcome Katreina Siniakova 7-6 (2), 5-7, 7-5.

The Russian raced into a 5-1 lead in the opening set but was pegged back by the 20-year-old, who twice broke Pavlyuchenkova when she was serving for the set. However, the No.7 seed regained her composure in the tiebreaker to move ahead.

Pavlyuchenkova started the second set brightly but, after taking a 3-0 lead, her serve let her down and Siniakova won four straight games to turn the encounter on its head. Despite Pavlyuchenkova’s best efforts to get back on level terms, her serve let her down and Siniakova levelled the match.

In the final set, Siniakova took a two-break lead but Pavlyuchenkova dug deep to level the match and avoided a tiebreaker by breaking the Czech’s serve at 6-5.

Jelena Jankovic emerged victorious in a topsy-turvy match with Jelena Ostapenko, who failed to hold serve throughout.

After exchanging breaks, Jankovic found some stability on serve, confirming a hold with an ace before a pair of unforced errors gave her an advantage. Though Ostapenko broke back, she was unable to find her serve and a second hold from the Serb gave her the first set 6-3.

Ostapenko’s woes continued in the second set as she once again failed to hold once but was able to make inroads on the Jankovic serve. The Serb held to go 3-1 up and was able to continue breaking Ostapenko until she secured a place in the second round.

Elsewhere, Alizé Cornet eliminated Shelby Rogers in straight sets. The first set was a tight affair, with the pair exchanging breaks in the fifth and sixth games before the 26-year-old saved two set points to take the tiebreak 8-6.

She immediately went a break up in the second set and though the American broke back, Cornet regained her advantage to confirm her place in the next round.

Ekaterina Makarova overcame American qualifier Nicole Gibbs 7-5, 6-1. Both players routinely broke one another in the first set and the 23-year-old lost three straight games, having been serving for the set.

Makarova made no mistake from there, roaring into a 4-0 lead in the second and she sailed into the second round.

Finally, Julia Görges beat Dankta Kovinic 7-6 (3), 6-3, Anna Blinkova came from a set down to overcome Anastasija Sevastova 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (10), Ana Konjuh defeated Barbora Strycova 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 and Kristina Mladenovic marched past Anna Kalinskaya 6-4, 6-2. Finally, Lesya Tsurenko was forced to retire after losing the first set 6-3 to Yulia Putintseva.

Keys answered both questions decisively in 2016: Yes, she can.

My story began in Rock Island where I dreamed of playing on the big stage. Now I want to win it all @Nike #justdoit pic.twitter.com/PlaXuSIm1j

— Madison Keys (@Madison_Keys) July 21, 2016

Keys capped off an achievement-laden season by becoming the seventh player to qualify for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. While her two breakout results last year, where she made the Australian Open semifinals and Wimbledon quarterfinals, grabbed bigger headlines, Keys’ 2016 campaign was a truer encapsulation of her talent and potential. Starting the season at No.18, Keys proceeded to make the second week of all four Slams, becoming one of just four women to pull off the feat this season. Outside of the Slams she made the quarterfinals or better at eight of 12 events, highlighted by finals at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome and the Rogers Cup in Montréal. By comparison, Keys made just two quarterfinals last year.

Keys also picked up another title on grass by winning the Aegon Classic. With the Birmingham title, Keys became the first American woman to make her Top 10 debut since Serena Williams in 1999. When the dust settled, Keys finished the regular season with a 46-15 record, an impressive improvement over her 31-18 tally in 2015 and 27-22 in 2014.

“Sometimes it just takes a little bit of time for things to click and sink in,” Keys said. “Sometimes it’s just how someone words something one time, then it just makes sense to you. I definitely think working with Thomas [Hogstedt] has been a huge benefit for me.” Keys hired Hogstedt, who previously coached the likes of Li Na, Maria Sharapova, and Caroline Wozniacki, earlier this spring.

“But I also think it’s a process. It’s being ready to handle the situation has been a big thing for me. I think I’m putting myself in those positions and handling them a lot better. That just gives me more confidence. The more I’m in those tough situations, the better I feel about them.”

Indeed, her ability to come through in tough matches has been the biggest improvement in her season. Keys is 17-5 in three-set matches this season, compared to a sub-.500 mark of 6-10 last year. She still struggles with her rhythm and decision-making in matches, but this year she’s been able to limit the dips to brief spells.

“You look at my scores and there’s lulls and stuff but I feel like before it would spiral really quickly,” Keys said. “Now I’m stopping it and getting better at that. I think it’s that confidence of knowing ‘Don’t panic, you can do this.’ I think the biggest thing is knowing that those thoughts of panic are probably going to go into your brain and just accepting it. So that’s been the biggest thing. Not fighting it and trying to think I’m going to have the perfect mentality the entire time. That’s not going to happen. So just knowing it and accepting it has been a huge thing for me.”

After starting the season with a left forearm injury, Keys has seen the hard work in the gym and on the practice court pay off. She is stronger and faster than she’s ever been and the body that would let her down has stood tall throughout the season. The ability to trust her body has freed her up to focus on her game, which continues to improve as she matures. There’s a self-assuredness about Keys this season, a swagger that wasn’t there before. Winning matches and winning them on a consistent clip breeds belief.

.@Madison_Keys joins @FearlesslyGirl as their new ambassador–> https://t.co/aJdHCUVWgv #IAmFearlesslyGIRL pic.twitter.com/x07qQZ0QUJ

— WTA (@WTA) August 24, 2016

“I feel like I’ve definitely gained confidence in myself,” Keys said. “I think especially that I’ve had a lot of matches this year where I wasn’t playing my best tennis, and I was in some bad spots, but being able to figure that out. I think that’s given me just a lot of personal confidence.”

SINGAPORE – Svetlana Kuznetsova is a woman of many talents. Top 10 tennis player, designer, polyglot, rapper and now hairdresser.

Midway through the final set of her round-robin encounter with Agnieszka Radwanska, Kuznetsova realized something was not quite right: her haircut.

Trailing 2-1, the Russian took out her frustration with scissors, lopping off her ponytail during the changeover. The change had the desired effect, too, inspiring Kuznetsova to break back in the following game and go on to win the match.

Kuznetsova is not the first player to get an impromptu trim in the heat of battle. At last year’s ATP World Tour Finals, Andy Murray famously took a pair of scissors to his unruly mane…