Halep Unlocks Keys Comeback
No.5 seed Simona Halep overcame defeat in a tense first set tie-break to end No.9 seed Madison Keys’ eight match winning streak on grass to reach the last eight at Wimbledon.
No.5 seed Simona Halep overcame defeat in a tense first set tie-break to end No.9 seed Madison Keys’ eight match winning streak on grass to reach the last eight at Wimbledon.
Lesia Tsurenko takes on Kristina Mladenovic in the final at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel.
After picking up titles in the Middle East, Karolina Pliskova and Elina Svitolina seem to have all the momentum as the tour heads to Indian Wells and Miami. But how do their performances stack up against the year’s other top performers?
In this edition of WTA Insider Heat Index, Senior Writer Courtney Nguyen weighs in on who’s hot and who’s not after a fortnight in Dubai and Doha.
For more on the Heat Index and the methodology behind it, click here.
1. Serena Williams (Rank: No.1; RTS: No.1; Previous HI: 1)
2017 record: 8-1
Titles: Australian Open (January)
Recent activity: None.
Key Stat: Did not lose a set in Melbourne.
Serena has not played an event since winning her record-setting 23rd major title at the Australian Open in January, but given her propensity for party crashing some public courts, I’m guessing she’s still healthy and in good spirits. That bodes well for the upcoming Sunshine Double swing through Indian Wells and Miami.
2. Karolina Pliskova (Rank: No.3; RTS: No.3; Previous HI: 2)
2017 record: 15-2
Titles: Brisbane International (January), Qatar Total Open (February)
Recent activity: Doha champion.
Key Stat: The first woman to win two titles this season.
The World No.3 has looked virtually unbeatable in 2017. When it comes to quality wins, no one has been better. Two months into the season and Pliskova already has wins over Dominika Cibulkova, Caroline Wozniacki, Garbiñe Muguruza, and Elina Svitolina.
3. Elina Svitolina (Rank: No.10; RTS: No.2; Previous HI: No.8)
2017 Record: 17-2
Titles: Taiwan Open (February), Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships (February)
Recent activity: Taiwan Open champion, Dubai champion.
Key Stat: Currently on a 13-match winning streak since the Australian Open.
This is what we were waiting for. After tallying five career titles on the International level and improving her year-end ranking year over year, Svitolina put it all together in Dubai to win the biggest title of her career and make her Top 10 debut. With her third straight win over Angelique Kerber, she ended the German’s quest to retake the No.1 ranking and followed it up with a cool performance to beat Caroline Wozniacki in the final.
4. Caroline Wozniacki (Rank: No.14; RTS: No. 5; Previous HI: Unranked)
2017 record: 15-5.
Titles: None.
Recent activity: Runner-up in Doha and Dubai.
Key Stat: Wozniacki already has 15 wins this year. Her 15th match win last year came at the US Open in September.
Is Woz back? It sure does seem that way. The Dane made back-to-back finals in February in Doha (l. Pliskova) and Dubai (l. Svitolina) and she’s continued the fantastic run of form that’s kicked in since the start of the US Open last fall. In fact, if you isolate the ranking points earned since the start of the US Open, Wozniacki is at No.3 behind Kerber and Pliskova. Wozniacki has beaten just one Top 10 player so far this season, a win over Agnieszka Radwanska in Doha, but with less than 200 points to defend from no until the US Open, there’s no doubt a return to the Top 10 — Top 5? — is coming soon.
5. Johanna Konta (Rank: No.11; RTS: No.6; Previous HI: No.2)
2017 record: 15-3
Titles: Apia International Sydney (January)
Recent activity: Went 3-1 in Fed Cup (l. to Konjuh)
Key stat: Konta’s win over Radwanska in the Sydney final was her first over a Top 5 player in over a year.
Konta took her good form into Fed Cup and helped earn Great Britain a chance at promotion to the World Group. A foot injury prevented her from making her debut in the Middle East in Dubai, but with plenty of rest before the upcoming hard court swing, Konta should be in good form.
6. Angelique Kerber (Rank: No.2; RTS: No.9; Previous HI: No.6)
2017 record: 7-5
Titles: None
Recent activity: Dubai semifinalist.
Key stat: Kerber is 0-5 vs. Top 35 players.
After a disappointing January, Kerber showed signs of life in Dubai, playing cleaner, more aggressive tennis to make her first semifinal of the year. The quality was a step in the right direction. I still maintain it’s too early to write off the woman who won two hard court Slams last year. Now, if she continues to struggle through March…then it’s time to have the discussion.
7. Dominika Cibulkova (Rank: No.5; RTS: No.5; Previous HI: No.11)
2017 record: 8-6
Titles: None
Recent activity: Doha semifinalist.
Key stat: Made back-to-back semifinals in St. Petersburg and Doha.
The Middle East swing was a mixed bag for Cibulkova. She lost to eventual champion Pliskova in Doha, but in Dubai she was confounded once again by Ekaterina Makarova, who also beat her at the Australian Open. But much like Kerber, the level of tennis she played was an improvement on what we saw in January and she’s put in extra work with her mental coach to help her deal with the expectations of being a Top 5 player. She started to feel like herself again after Doha, and that’s good news for her tennis.
8. Agnieszka Radwanska (Rank: No.6; RTS: No.16; Previous HI: No.5)
2017 record: 7-5
Titles: None
Recent activity: Lost in Round of 16 in Doha (l. Wozniacki) and Dubai (l. Bellis)
Key stat: Has not won back-to-back matches in her last three events.
After solid outings in her first two tournaments of the year, the World No.6 has struggled to find her confidence and feel. Remember, this is a player who made the semifinals or better of her first four events last season. Her inability to solve 17-year-old CiCi Bellis in Dubai was a shocker. She’s frustrated and searching.
9. CoCo Vandeweghe (Rank: No.22; RTS: No.7; Previous HI: No.7)
2017 record: 8-3
Titles: None
Recent activity: Went 2-0 at Fed Cup; first round loss to Alison Riske in Dubai.
Key stat: Vandeweghe beat Kerber and Muguruza at the Australian Open. It was just the second time in her career she’s beaten two Top 10 players at a tournament (2014 Rogers Cup, Ivanovic and Jankovic).
The question for Vandeweghe after the Australian Open wasn’t whether she had Slam-winning tennis inside her — the quality during the Melbourne fortnight was top-notch — but whether she could maintain a consistent level. Indian Wells and Miami should serve as better litmus tests.
10. Kristina Mladenovic (Rank: No.30; RTS: No.14; Previous HI: Unranked)
2017 record: 8-4
Titles: St. Petersburg
Recent activity: Beat Pliskova in Dubai, semifinalist in Acapulco (tournament ongoing).
Key stat: Her win over Pliskova was her first Top 5 win since 2015.
Mladenovic will be the first to tell you her tennis can reach the highest of highs and, at times, head-scratching lows, but it makes her game all the more compelling. After winning her first title in St. Petersburg, Mladenovic scored a big win over Pliskova only to lose to No.76 Wang Qiang in straight sets the next day. Regardless, she’s been consistently dangerous early this season.
11. Garbiñe Muguruza (Rank: No.7; RTS: No.10; Previous HI: No.4)
2017 record: 9-5
Titles: None
Recent activity: Went 1-2 during Middle East swing.
Key stat: Two of her four tournaments this season has ended in a retirement.
The primary reason surrounding Muguruza’s notable drop in the Heat Index is injury related. She picked up a left Achilles injury in Doha, which forced her to retire from a match in Dubai for the second time this season. In January she retired from the Brisbane semifinals due to an abductor injury. It’s a disconcerting trend for the Spaniard, just two months into the season.
12. Venus Williams (Rank: No.13; RTS: No.4; Previous HI: No.10)
2017 record: 7-2
Titles: None
Recent activity: None
Key stat: This time last year, Venus was also 7-2. She lost in the first round of Auckland and the Australian Open before winning seven straight matches at Fed Cup and en route to the Taiwan Open title.
With the surges from Wozniacki and Mladenovic into this edition of the Heat Index, Venus drops two spots. She did not play a tournament in February, so I’m looking forward to seeing how she’s feeling in Indian Wells next week. If it’s anything like what we saw in Melbourne, it will be a treat.
LONDON, England – Tuesday afternoon at the All England Club saw the WTA’s finest take center stage. The on-court entertainment did not disappoint, and neither did the press conferences afterwards.
Serena Williams downplays her peerless serve…
“My serve is usually really good. I don’t know how it came about, though. Like, I’m not as tall as all the other players. So it’s strange that I have such a strong, hard serve.
“But I have to say what I think really is my game is my mental toughness because just not only to be able to play, to win, but to be able to come back when I’m down. Both on the court and after tough losses, just to continue to come back and continue to fight, it’s something that takes a lot of tenacity.”
Elena Vesnina on hatching a plan to topple the World No.1…
“First of all, you need to be consistent with Serena. You don’t need to give her a lot of free points. You have to be very, very strong mentally, and, as I said, put pressure on her on the baseline, to show her you can actually beat her.
“I was watching her final against Angelique in Australian Open on the court. It was great atmosphere over there. I saw how Angelique, she was sticking into her game from the first till the last. She was not giving up. Yeah, maybe Serena didn’t play her best tennis, and that was the key, and Angelique used her chances on that moment. Maybe that’s going to be the key for me as well.”
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova reflects on her first quarterfinal at Wimbledon…
“I’ve always been saying that I’ve never liked grass and I’ve always been quite negative in terms of grass and playing at Wimbledon. But I think right now I’ll change my mind!”
Venus Williams on her journey back to a Grand Slam semifinal…
“The road was six years. They go by fast, thankfully. But I’ve been blessed. Been really blessed to have an opportunity to be here, had an opportunity in the past to do this. And I don’t have any regrets about anything that has taken place in between. It’s been a journey, but it’s something I’ve had to do and it’s made me stronger.
“The good part is I’ve always felt like I had the game. So this is always a plus when you know you have the game. So you just have to keep working until things fall into place. It’s never a given, everyone plays well. I mean today, she played so well and there were so many times where we were just dead even it felt like. It’s never a given. She could have easily won that match as well. So just grateful.”
Angelique Kerber on her recreating her Melbourne magic…
“When I arrived in Paris, I was feeling much more pressure. I did it actually by myself, to put a lot of pressure on me. Also, I was not handling all the off court things so well. It was too much of everything, I think.
“When I arrived here, I was telling myself, just like in Australia, Just be relaxed, playing round by round, not making things actually too much complicated, not putting pressure on myself.
So that was actually what I changed, what I learn also from Paris. Just being also focusing on the tennis thing, on my practice, being more relaxed.”
Qualifier Ashleigh Barty’s party rolled on as she beat Nao Hibino to win the ALYA Malaysian Open – her first singles title.
Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova dashed Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza’s hopes of defending their Wimbledon doubles title with a dominant quarterfinal win on Thursday.
The Wuhan Open team have wished their two-time champion Petra Kvitova a happy birthday and a swift recovery in a cute Twitter clip.
February was packed with plenty of amazing shots – we narrowed it down to the five best.
In the end, it was Angelique Kerber – who is set to return to No.1 after the BNP Paribas Open. The German sucessfully campaigned for the honor at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, even earning the praise of Hot Shot Queen Agnieszka Radwanska. En route to the semifinals in Dubai, the left-handed Kerber threw down the gauntlet by landing a stab volley with her right hand, forcing the error from Mona Barthel .
Click here to watch all of February’s finalists.
Final Results for February’s WTA Shot Of The Month presented by Cambridge Global Payments
1. Angelique Kerber (41%)
2. Kristina Mladenovic (22%)
3. Caroline Wozniacki (20%)
4. Daria Kasatkina (11%)
5. Karolina Pliskova (6%)
2017 WTA Shot of the Month Winners
January: Agnieszka Radwanska
How it works:
Five shots are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com
INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – The BNP Paribas Open draw featured a full slate of intriguing second round possibilities, few more than No.5 seed Dominika Cibulkova’s against Jelena Ostapenko. The reigning BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global champion carved out a thrilling 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win over the rising Latvian to book a third round meeting with Kristyna Pliskova.
“It was a really big fight,” she told WTA Insider after the match. :I feel like I had to fight for every single ball because I wasn’t feeling great on the court. It’s hard to feel great against a player who doesn’t give you rhythm. I won’t say I was struggling but I had some hard times today; I tried to stay really strong and positive, fight for every single ball. I appreciate this win a lot becuase it was a tough one.”
A former Wimbledon junior winner, Ostapenko came perilously close to handing a then-unbeaten Karolina Pliskova her first loss of the season at the Australian Open, and has been ranked as high as No.33 since reaching her first Premier 5 final at last year’s Qatar Total Open.
Ostapenko finds the angle on the backhand! #BNPPO17 pic.twitter.com/YlDvjXhAb5
— WTA (@WTA) March 11, 2017
The teenager showed her full arsenel of power shots as day turned to night on Stadium 3, hitting 33 winners to 30 unforced errors through three sets, but was undone by her serve – hitting 10 double faults to just two aces in a match that was dominated by return.
“This match wasn’t how I wanted it to be; I can play much better, but it also depends on the opponent. I knew it was going to be a hard one, so it didn’t surprise me. I just had to fight for every single ball. I was glad with how I finished the match; I felt like myself in a few moments like those.”
Cibulkova, by contrast, had something to prove after losing her last two matches in three sets, one in the semifinals of Doha to Pliskova, and another to Ekaterina Makarova at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
The best of @Cibulkova. #BNPPO17 pic.twitter.com/TgQqEYRl9J
— WTA (@WTA) March 11, 2017
Dealing with the pressure of defending her breakout 2016 season, the Slovak was forced to dig deep during the two hour, 11 minute epic, shurgging off a shaky serving day of her own to hit six winners to just two unforced errors in the final set to ease into the round of 32.
“It doesn’t matter how you play in practice, but I’d been practicing well. I had a few days off after Dubai and had a great week of practice. We changed a few things and I was feeling really great.
“I was going for my shots more in practice, playing more aggressively. Even if I made a mistake, my coach would remind me to be even more aggressive with my footwork and keep pressing.”
Dominika @Cibulkova books a spot in @BNPPARIBASOPEN Third round!
Ousts Ostapenko 6-4, 4-6, 6-3! pic.twitter.com/ptJ6ngAvib
— WTA (@WTA) March 11, 2017
Standing between her and a spot in the second week is the left-handed Pliskova, who is starting to come out from the shadow of sister Karolina, who kicks off her Indian Wells campaign against Olympic champion Monica Puig later tonight.
“It takes time for me to adjust to lefties,” Cibulkova said of her next match. “I have a strategy when I play them, and I try not to flip my patterns and think too much about it. I just have to return the same way, but mind the bounce. I’ve never played her before, and so it’ll be a different one. This match should give me a good feeling, and the confidence to handle a match like this and to win it.”
Pliskova roared past No.33 seed and 2016 quarterfinalist Daria Kasatkina, 6-0, 6-3, hiting five aces to advance in 64 minutes.
“I know how I can play and this wasn’t even my best,” Pliskova told WTA Insider. “I’m not that surprised to win, but I’m still happy because it was an easy score.
“I felt, especially in the second set after she called her coach, that she was trying to put every ball in. The second set was dangerous because if I missed a few shots she wasn’t. But still, I play fast, and it’s tough to put everything in – especially on the serve!”
Asked about playing Cibulkova, Pliskova debated whether to ask her sister for advice.
“I never played her, but I will maybe ask Karolina. Maybe she will tell me something, but she has a bad record against her too. Maybe I’ll just stick to my plan. Last time she won, but last three times she lost, so maybe I won’t even ask her!” she laughed.
Taking a break from the desk to catch a fun contrast in styles out on Stadium 5. Power rolling so far. #BNPPO17 pic.twitter.com/IKYxczKiJr
— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) March 11, 2017
Still, it’s been a banner day for the top players despite the underdog heavy draw; all but two of the 16 seeds in action advanced. No.8 seed and Singapore semifinalist Svetlana Kuznetsova knocked out Sweden’s Johanna Larsson, 7-6(3), 6-4; she’ll next play No.26 seed Roberta Vinci, who earned a win over unseeded American Madison Brengle.
Coming through the toughest match of the day was No.10 seed Elina Svitolina, who extended her winning streak to 14 matches on Friday with a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(3) win over China’s Wang Qiang. It won’t get any easier for the Ukrainian, who next faces former doubles partner and No.24 seed Daria Gavrilova; the Aussie eased past 2009 US Open semifinalist Yanina Wickmayer, 6-2, 7-6(5).
? on the backhand from @ElinaSvitolina! #BNPPO17 pic.twitter.com/9taBockf62
— WTA (@WTA) March 10, 2017
No.17 seed Barbora Strycova won a rematch of last year’s Dubai final over Sara Errani, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2; awaiting her in the third round is No.19 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who cruised past Estonian qualifier Anett Kontaveit, 6-4, 6-4.
Congratulations, Ms. Bacsinszky. Nice win today. And that was kind and thoughtful of you to make that little girl's day ?@TimeaOfficial pic.twitter.com/w09NF8wBMi
— EustaceTarwater (@EustaceTarwater) March 10, 2017
Indian Wells will also play host to a battle of surprise French Open semifinalists; No.15 seed Timea Bacsinszky reached the final four on the terre battue in 2015 and will play No.18 seed Kiki Bertens, who made the semifinals last year. Bacsinszky defeated Monica Niculescu, 7-5, 6-2, while Bertens handed an unhappy birthday present to newly 20-year-old Belinda Bencic, 6-2, 6-2.
Madison Keys makes her 2017 debut and Venus Williams takes on the BNP Paribas Open’s longest tenured player. We break down today’s key second-round matchups at WTATennis.com.
Saturday, Second round
[2] Angelique Kerber (GER # 2) vs. Andrea Petkovic (GER # 79)
Head-to-head: Kerber leads, 7-3
Key Stat: Kerber will begin her 21st week at No.1 on the Monday after Indian Wells.
As a result of Serena Williams’ injury withdrawal, Angelique Kerber will make her return to the top of the WTA rankings following Indian Wells no matter how she fares. But the German is adamant about not letting this good news cause any complacency in her tennis. She’s here to compete, and to hopefully kickstart a season that hasn’t panned out exactly the way she would have liked in the first two months. Kerber is 7-5 on the season, but she has yet to reach a final and she has gone 2-5 against the Top 50. “I was coming here to win matches,” Kerber told reporters on Wednesday. “This is what I love and this is what I was practicing for the last weeks. This is more what I’m focusing on. I will try and really stay with my focus because this is my priority and I will try now not to think about getting No.1 again.”
Kerber is set to square off with compatriot Andrea Petkovic for the 11th time on Saturday. The pair will meet for the first time since 2015, when Kerber won a straight-setter in the Charleston semis.
Pick: Kerber in three
[12] Venus Williams (USA # 13) vs. Jelena Jankovic (SRB # 51)
Head-to-head: Jankovic leads, 7-6
Key Stat: Jankovic is making her record 16th appearance at the BNP Paribas Open.
A pair of legendary thirtysomethings will lock horns for the 14th time on Saturday for a spot in the third round when Venus Williams and Jelena Jankovic continue a rivalry that started over a decade ago in the quarterfinals at the 2005 Bank of the West Classic in Northern California. A lot of time has passed since then, but Williams (36) and Jankovic (32) continue to turn back the clock with brave tennis, big personality and an unquenchable lust for the competition that exists on tour. Williams made her return to Indian Wells for the first time in 15 years last season but was upset in her first match by Japan’s Kurumi Nara. She’d like to extend her stay a little longer this time, but she’ll have her hands full with Jankovic, who took the pair’s last hardcourt meeting at Hong Kong in 2015.
While Williams may still be re-familiarizing herself with the playing conditions in the desert, Jankovic has played some of her best tennis here. She won the title in 2010 and reached the final in 2015.
Pick: Williams in three
[20] CoCo Vandeweghe (USA #22) vs. Lucie Safarova (CZE # 40)
Head-to-head: Safarova leads, 2-1
Key Stat: After finishing 2016 with five consecutive losses, Vandeweghe is 8-3 in 2017.
American CoCo Vandeweghe was a set away from her first career Grand Slam final before she fell to Venus Williams in a thrilling three-setter at the Australian Open semifinals this winter. Now she’s looking to make some noise on her home soil, but the California native will have to get past a very accomplished veteran if she hopes to reach beyond the third round for the first time. Lucie Safarova has been playing very solid tennis this season, and has a final at Budapest and an 11-5 record to show for it. She has taken her last two meetings with Vandeweghe, both on hard courts, but the American is a more confident player than she ever has been before.
Pick: Safarova in three
[9] Madison Keys (USA # 9) vs. Mariana Duque-Mariño (ESP # 112)
Head-to-head: Keys Leads, 1-0
Key Stat: Keys has never been past the third round at Indian Wells.
Madison Keys will make her return to the tour after missing the first two months due to a minor wrist surgery. Keys has also been reunited with former coach Lindsay Davenport, and the pair will move forward hoping to recreate the success that they achieved in 2015, when the American reached her only career Grand Slam semifinal at the age of 19. For her first hurdle she’ll face Spain’s Mariana Duque-Mariño, a 27-year-old qualifier who earned her first ever BNP Paribas Open main draw win on Thursday when she defeated Romania’s Patricia Maria Tig.
The matchup is a good one for Keys, but how quickly can the 22-year-old shake off the rust that surely exists? In her first match since last October Keys will need to be sharp—Duque Mariño has already won two rounds of qualifying in addition to her first-round win and she’ll be hungry for the upset.
Pick: Keys in two
By the Numbers:
36 – The age of Venus Williams, who is the oldest player in this year’s BNP Paribas Open draw.
20 – Amount of weeks that Kim Clijsters and Angelique Kerber have spent at No.1 as of today. Kerber will pass Clijsters when she begins her second stint at the top of the rankings on Monday March 20th.
47 – Number of BNP Paribas Open matches won by Lindsay Davenport, which is most all-time. The American also holds the record for most final appearances with six.
28 – Agnieszka Radwanska leads all players in this year’s draw with 28 wins at Indian Wells. She’ll bid for her 29th against Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo today.