Halep Soars Over Schiavone
Simona Halep hit the ground running after lengthy rain delays, dropping just two games to former French Open champ Francesca Schiavone to race into the third round at Wimbledon.
Simona Halep hit the ground running after lengthy rain delays, dropping just two games to former French Open champ Francesca Schiavone to race into the third round at Wimbledon.
With the first full weekend at Wimbledon on the menu since 2004, check out the best matches set to take place as the first week comes to a close.
Angelique Kerber moved confidently into the Wimbledon quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Misaki Doi on Monday.
The Championships at Wimbledon kicked off with Serena Williams chasing history and several others gunning for the No.1 spot.
The biggest upset of the tournament came early on in the second round as Jana Cepelova sent French Open champion Garbiñe Muguruza crashing out.
Venus Williams turned heads for more than just her strawberry-red hair: the five-time champion was in vintage form throughout the fortnight.
These rain tarps become a regular sight during the first week of the Championships as English summer rain derailed the schedule time and time again.
18-year-old Ana Konjuh’s grit won over many hearts during her second-round battle against Agnieszka Radwanska: she held match points over the No.3 seed before an ankle injury halted her progress.
Serena Williams also faced an early scare against Christina McHale, who took her to three sets, but pulled off a spectacular comeback to advance.
All the bad weather from week one lead Wimbledon organizers to make the nearly-unprecedented decision to allow play on Middle Sunday.
But the show must go on, and play continued under the roof of Centre Court as 12 seeds advanced to the fourth round.
Russia was well represented in the round of 16 with four players advancing, including Ekaterina Makarova.
The United States also had four players in the fourth round: Sloane Stephens missed out on becoming the fifth by a hair after a roller-coaster battle against Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Through all of the ups and downs, a familiar sight: Serena Williams, back in to the semifinals of Wimbledon for the tenth time.
In fact, this marks the eleventh time that both Serena and Venus have reached the semifinal stage at the same Slam. The last time it happened was here at Wimbledon in 2009.
Dominika Cibulkova almost had to postpone her wedding – scheduled on the same day as the Ladies’ Singles final – when she advanced to the quarterfinals.
But Elena Vesnina did her part to keep the Cibulkova nuptials on schedule, knocking out the Slovak to advance to her first ever Grand Slam semifinals.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was another surprise quarterfinalist, but didn’t have enough in the tank against the World No.1.
Angelique Kerber is back into a Grand Slam semifinal in emphatic fashion: she hasn’t dropped a set all tournament long.
She beat out the No.5 seed Simona Halep for her spot in the final four.
Serena and Venus Williams advanced to their first Grand Slam final in four years with a hard-fought win over Julia Goerges and Karolina Pliskova on Friday.
THE WINNERS
It was a tightly drawn match from start to finish, but Serena Williams outgunned Angelique Kerber in straight sets to win her seventh Wimbledon title – a record-tying 22nd Grand Slam title.
Playing in their second Grand Slam final of 2016, the No.4 seed Kerber came out on fire against the World No.1, and neither player gave an inch. But when it was all said and done it was Serena, again, who clinched the match and The Championships, 7-5, 6-3.
With 22 major titles under her belt, Serena is now tied with Steffi Graf for the most Grand Slam titles in the Open Era. She now sits just two behind Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24.
“It’s been incredibly difficult not to think about it. I had a couple of tries this year and I lost to two incredible opponents – one of them being Angelique!
“But it makes the victory even sweeter, to know how hard I’ve worked for it.”
Read the full story and watch highlights here | As It Happened: Game by game analysis from WTA Insider
Not content to with just one Wimbledon crown, hours after her win in singles Serena was back out on Centre Court to join Venus Williams in the final of Ladies Doubles.
The sisters extended their doubles dominance and improved their record to 14-0 in Grand Slam finals by taking the title, powering past Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova 6-3, 6-4.
“It was really special to be out there again, to win Wimbledon in doubles. We love it, we love playing doubles, we love being together,” Serena said after the match.
“I had just enough time to change and get the ankles re-taped. It was fine. I didn’t want to warm down.”
Read the full story here.
Finally, Britain enjoyed a local champion as Heather Watson’s Wimbledon ended on the best possible note, triumphing on the final day of the fortnight in mixed doubles. She partnered with Finland’s Henri Kontinen to defeat doubles specialists Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Robert Farah, 7-6(5), 6-4.
Watson became the first British woman to win a Wimbledon Championship of any kind since Jo Durie, who also captured a mixed doubles crown in 1987. Virginia Wade remains the last women’s singles winner back in 1977.
Read the full story here.
RANKING MOVERS:
Notable singles ranking movers for the week of July 11, 2016.
Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) +47 (No.96 to 49): The week’s biggest ranking jump belongs to Shvedova, who reached her first Wimbledon quarterfinal.
Elena Vesnina (RUS) +26 (No.50 to 24): Vesnina had to wait a long time to reach her first ever Grand Slam semifinal – it took her 42 tries – but the feat earned her a spot back inside the Top 25. Even more impressive: she started the year ranked No.122 in mid-February.
Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) +4 (No.14 to 10): Kuznetsova’s run to the fourth round of Wimbledon earns her four very important ranking points, putting her back in the Top 10 for the first time since 2010.
Angelique Kerber (GER) +2 (No.4 to 2): Although she didn’t walk away the Wimbledon champion, Kerber grabbed a sweet consolation prize. The German returns to World No.2, her career-highest ranking.
Find out how the Road To Singapore shapes up here.
UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS
BRD Bucharest Open
Bucharest, Romania
International | $226,750 | Clay, Outdoor
Monday, July 11 – Sunday, July 17, 2016
Ladies Championship Gstaad
Gstaad, Switzerland
International | $226,750 | Clay, Outdoor
Monday, July 11 – Sunday, July 17, 2016
Bank Of The West Classic
Standford, USA
Premier | $687,900 | Hard, Outdoor
Monday, July 18 – Sunday, July 24
Citi Open
Washington DC, USA
International | $226,750 | Hard, Outdoor
Monday, July 18 – Sunday, July 24
Ericsson Open
Bastad, Sweden
International | $226,750 | Hard, Outdoor
Monday, July 18 – Sunday, July 24
TOP 20 PLAYER SCHEDULES
1. Serena Williams
2. Angelique Kerber – Bastad
3. Garbiñe Muguruza
4. Agnieszka Radwanska
5. Simona Halep – Bucharest
6. Victoria Azarenka
7. Venus Williams – Stanford
8. Roberta Vinci
9. Carla Suárez Navarro
10. Svetlana Kuznetsova
11. Madison Keys
12. Dominika Cibulkova – Stanford
13. Petra Kvitova
14. Samantha Stosur – Washington DC
15. Belinda Bencic
16. Karolina Pliskova
17. Timea Bacsinszky – Gstaad
18. Johanna Konta – Stanford
19. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova – Stanford
20. Elina Svitolina
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
Best wishes to those celebrating birthdays this week:
Mona Barthel (GER) – July 11, 1990
Abigail Spears (USA) – July 12, 1981
Olivia Rich (AUS) – July 14, 1992
Alisa Kleybanova (RUS) – July 15, 1989
WHITE PLAINS, NY, USA – The USTA announced a major prize money increase for the 2016 US Open. A $4 million boost brings the total purse for the tournament to a record $46.3 million, a 10-percent increase over the 2015 US Open prize money totals.
In all, the US Open will provide the richest purse in tennis history at this year’s event.
Both the men’s and women’s singles champions will earn $3.5 million, the largest payout in US Open history. The average increase per round for the singles competition is 10 percent above the 2015 US Open. Both the men’s and women’s doubles champion teams will earn $625,000, the highest in US Open history, and overall doubles prize money has been increased by 10.5 percent.. The US Open Qualifying Tournament will offer more than $1.9 million in prize money, a 10 percent increase over 2015.
This year’s US Open, scheduled for August 29 through September 11 – with the US Open Qualifying Tournament beginning on August 23 – will feature a number of major enhancements, including a retractable roof over Arthur Ashe Stadium, a new Grandstand Stadium, and a completely redesigned southern campus to ease accessibility and crowding throughout the site.
“We are proud that this year’s US Open will offer the richest purse in tennis history,” said USTA Chairman of the Board and President Katrina Adams. “We continue to invest in all aspects of this world-class event to provide the best services and experiences for the players, our fans, and all of the US Open partners.”
Round-by-round individual prize money for the US Open singles tournaments are as follows:
Singles:
Winner: $3,500,000
Runner-Up: $1,750,000
Semifinalist: $875,000
Quarterfinalist: $450,000
Round of 16: $235,000
Round of 32: $140,000
Round of 64: $77,200
Round of 128: $43,300
Two-time Grand Slam champion Victoria Azarenka has announced the exciting news that she is expecting her first child later this year.
While recovering from the knee injury that sidelined her for Wimbledon, Azarenka and her boyfriend found out they would soon be welcoming a new member to the family.
The former World No.1, who plans to return to the game at some point in the future, made the announcement on Facebook this Friday.
“The WTA Family extends its congratulations to Vika. There is nothing more special than becoming a parent and we look forward to having Vika with her family back on Tour and winning championships next year,” WTA CEO Steve Simon said.
I have some news for you all ☺️ pic.twitter.com/64Kf90tZF6
— victoria azarenka (@vika7) July 15, 2016
STANFORD, CA, USA – No.7 seed Alizé Cornet was taken to the brink in the first round of the Bank of the West Classic, but rallied from a set down to dispatch American Jennifer Brady, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, in two hours and 44 minutes.
Watch live action from Stanford this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
“I always wanted to come here to Stanford, but somehow I was always ending up in Washington, maybe because it was closer!” Cornet joked with Andrew Krasny during her on-court interview.
“But this time I really don’t regret it because I really love this place. It’s amazing, and a lot of champions have won the tournament, so I hope to go as far as I can.”
Playing her first match since reaching the third round of Wimbledon, Cornet fell behind 4-0 in the opening set and couldn’t quite catch up to Brady, who broke serve in a marathon game to put herself one set away from a first-ever WTA main draw win – though she reached the semifinals of a WTA 125K Series event in San Diego last fall.
“I just kept fighting. She was playing really well, big serve and forehand.
“I had some trouble in the beginning of the match; I was really tense and the ball was coming really fast against me. But I just kept trying to hang in there, and try to give my best every point.”
Only one break separated the two in the second set, which Cornet took in another dramatic game to level the match. Racing out to a 5-2 lead in the decider, Brady made one last surge to force the Frenchwoman to serve out her spot in the second round. Clinching the contest with a classic one-two punch, booked a second round meeting with Zheng Saisai, who was the first winner of the day over wildcard Maria Mateas, 7-5, 6-1.
“In the end it was really really close, and I went for it and it worked out, so I’m really happy to be in the second round.”
The night session features an all-Stanford battle between former All-American Nicole Gibbs and Carol Zhao, who helped the university win the 2016 NCAA Championships.
More to come…
STANFORD, CA, USA – Former World No.1 Venus Williams treated the Bank of the West Classic to a topsy-turvy three-setter against Magda Linette, but the top seed found her way against the Pole when it counted, emerging victorious, 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-2, to reach the quarterfinals.
Watch live action from Stanford this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
Playing at the very tournament where she made her WTA debut back in 1994 – and playing as the No.1 seed at a WTA Premier level event for the first time since 2004 (Toray Pan Pacific Open) – Venus assumed the role of the favorite to emphatic effect to start the match, racing through the opening set without dropping serve and edging ahead an ostensibly decisive break to start the second.
Two games from elimination, Linette was coming off just her first WTA main draw win since reaching the quarterfinals of the Katowice Open, but nonetheless turned the tides against the illustrious American, breaking back to force a tie-break.
Venus had lost just one tie-break all year, and though she fell behind 6-2 two in Wednesday night’s sudden death, the five-time Wimbledon winner appeared poised to close out the match fairly quickly as she saved four set points in a row. But Linette held firm to level the match after a second set that lasted just over an hour.
The Pole had one last comeback in her late in the final set; after losing the first four games on the bounce, she nabbed one of the breaks back to put pressure on the Venus serve in the seventh game, one that had proven crucial in the second set. But with sister Serena in the stands, Venus made no mistake the second time around, and eased into the quarterfinals in two hours and 17 minutes.
Up next for the top seed is either qualifier Sachia Vickery or wildcard Catherine Bellis, who caused the upset of the tournament by taking out No.6 seed Jelena Ostapenko in the first round.
More to come…