Tennis News

KEY INFORMATION:
Tournament Level: Premier
Prize Money: $795,707
Draw Size: 28 main draw (4 byes)/32 qualifying
Qualifying Dates: Saturday, April 16 – Monday, April 18
First Day of Main Draw: Monday, April 18
Singles Final: Sunday, April 24, 1.30pm CEST
Doubles Final: Sunday, April 24 (after singles final)

MUST FOLLOW SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS:
@WTA
@WTA_Insider – WTA Insider, Senior Writer Courtney Nguyen
@PorscheTennis – official tournament handle
Get involved in conversations with the official hashtags, #PTGP and #WTA.

TOURNAMENT NOTES:
· Defending champion Angelique Kerber returns to action after retiring from the Charleston semifinals with a viral illness.
· The only other former winner in the draw is Julia Goerges, who triumphed in 2011. Former finalist Ana Ivanovic (2014) has also made the trip to southern Germany.
· Agnieszka Radwanska is top seed and playing her first match since pulling out of her home event, the Katowice Open, with a reoccurrence of a long-standing shoulder injury.
· For the complete draw click here.

WILDCARDS:
Julia Goerges (GER), Anna-Lena Friedsam (GER)

WITHDRAWALS:
Belinda Bencic, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Madison Keys

SINGAPORE – How did Angelique Kerber come away the winner of the three-set epic against Dominika Cibulkova in her BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global opener?

On this installment of My Performance, Kerber explains how keeping a positive mentality – and staying aggressive – helped power her to victory in the two-hour-and-seventeen-minute thriller.

Another key to Kerber’s victory: her composure during the big moments, as SAP revealed in this Stat Of The Day.

SINGAPORE – Angelique Kerber needed three sets, but got the job done against No.7 seed Dominika Cibulkova, 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-3, to move into second place in the Red Group at the BNP Pairbas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.

Relive all the action, including play-by-play analysis, stats, and quotes from the first match from Singapore!

SINGAPORE – World No.4 Simona Halep always preaches the need to be “strong in the legs”. Turns out she’s not just talking about tennis.

A day after notching scoring a strong 6-2, 6-4 win over Madison Keys in her opening match at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, a relaxed Halep was back on the practice courts at Singapore Indoor Stadium. In addition to a more relaxed attitude, it seems the Romanian is picking up a few more Australian habits from coach Darren Cahill.

New recruit for @afl Women's League with @Adelaide_FC? Great outside speed ?? @Simona_Halep will be in Adelaide for December training ? pic.twitter.com/VTGH0v9rLU

— Darren Cahill (@darren_cahill) October 24, 2016

Did that land on the roof of the Marina Bay Sands? Not bad.

Interestingly, Cahill also confirmed Halep’s pre-season plan to train in Adelaide ahead of the start of the 2017 season. That’s a notable change to her past preferences, which have favored staying home in Romania. Halep has floated the idea of doing her pre-season outside of Europe and it’s a smart decision to opt for Australia. Not only is Cahill based there, but training in the Aussie heat can only help her chances at the Australian Open in January.

But meanwhile, there’s still work to be done. Halep faces World No.1 Angelique Kerber in the second round of group play on Tuesday. Halep can secure her spot in the quarterfinals if she can score a straight-set win.

RABAT, Morocco – Top seed Timea Bacsinszky showed off some of the grit that saw her reach the semifinals of last year’s French Open in the semifinals of the GP SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem, taking out Timea Babos, 6-4, 7-5.

Watch live action from Rabat & Prague this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

The Swiss has been impressive all week in Rabat, but withstood a fierce challenge from the No.5 seed, who leveled the second set at love as theLo former World No.10 tried serving for the match. Bacsinszky made no mistake in her second chance, earning her first WTA final berth of the season in an hour and 46 minutes.

Her opponent in Saturday’s final will be New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic; saving a match point in the second set tie-break, the World No.186  outlasted Dutch powerhouse Kiki Bertens, 2-6, 7-6(7), 7-5. Edging ahead 5-3 in the final set, Bertens engineered one last twist in the topsy turvy match, saving two match points of her own and pushing perilously close to another tie-break before Erakovic converted on her third match point.

“I think I just kept trying to find my game in the first set,” the former No.39 said after the match. “I felt like I was lacking a little bit of rhythm, but I just kept trying and trying. In tennis, anything can happen, so you just keep working. Kiki is playing well, and it was a good level of tennis. It’s nice to win today but it’s also nice to win matches like these where you fight very hard and it pays off.”

Into her fifth career WTA final, Erakovic is enjoying her best week since a knee injury curtailed her progress at the end of last year.

“I really like Morocco. It’s a great place; I’ve come here before and I really enjoyed it. It’s great to be in another final, especially since I had a very tough year last year and I’ve been trying very hard to come back and to rehab all of the injuries. It’s nice to see these kinds of things after that.”

The doubles final brought Friday’s play to its conclusion as No.4 seeds Aleksandra Krunic and Xenia Knoll upset top seeds Tatjana Maria and Raluca Olaru, 6-3, 6-0.

Congratulations doubles team of Xenia #Knoll & @KrunicAlex for their 2016 win in #Rabat pic.twitter.com/SiRQZBgqAu

— TennisTV (@TennisTV) April 29, 2016

More to come…