Dubai: The Player Party
Take a look inside the glamour and excitement of the Dubai Player Party with Dubai Duty Free Ambassadors Caroline Wozniacki and Zhang Shuai!
Take a look inside the glamour and excitement of the Dubai Player Party with Dubai Duty Free Ambassadors Caroline Wozniacki and Zhang Shuai!
WTA Insider | The second round gets underway in earnest on Wednesday at the Rogers Cup; keep up with all the action on the latest Live Blog!
An interview with Anastasija Sevastova after her victory in the quarterfinals at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
MONTRÉAL, Canada – Kristina Kucova’s fairytale run continued in Montréal, where she fought back from a set down against home favorite Eugenie Bouchard to reach her first Premier-level quarterfinal at the Rogers Cup, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
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“It’s unbelievable, I’m very happy,” said Kucova, currently ranked No.121. “Also I’m very tired. But it’s a very good feeling.This is my best moment so far in my tennis career.”
Starting out the match, though, it didn’t look as bright for the Slovakian qualifier as she went down a double break against a Bouchard bolstered by her home crowd. Although she would go on to lose the set 6-3, Kucova showed her grit in the final two games of the set as she fought off five break points before bringing up three of her own.
Dropping the first set has turned out to be a good omen for Kucova as both of her previous main draw matches in Montréal have gone to three sets – against Yanina Wickmayer and then against Carla Suárez Navarro.
“I must give credit to my fitness coach because I feel very good on the condition preparation,” Kucova explained after the match. “I changed fitness coach in the beginning of the year. We worked very hard.
“I feel now on the court that when it’s coming to the third set, I still have energy for that.”
Kucova brought all that energy into the latter stages of the match, where she was able to pounce as Bouchard’s trusty forehand began to repeatedly sail out. The Slovak’s signature two-handed forehands and backhands kept her shots well-disguised, often leaving the Canadian wrong-footed. Now able to read Bouchard’s game and having adjusted to the conditions – a balmy night match on the stadium court, in front of a roaring Canadian crowd – Kucova quickly turned the tables to take the second set.
“I just felt I maybe panicked a little bit, tried to finish the points too soon,” Bouchard said of her dip after the first set. “She was getting a lot of balls back.
“I think it would have been better if I was just a bit calmer mentally. But it happens and I have to learn how to deal with this.”
Kucova kept her momentum going in the third set, where she picked up the crucial break in the sixth game for a 4-2 lead before closing out the match after more than two hours. She struck 16 winners to 28 unforced errors, while Bouchard hit 45 winners and 68 unforced errors.
Up next for Kucova – who is on track to break the Top 100 after reaching her career best result – is British No.1 Johanna Konta. The Brit dispatched lucky loser Varvara Lepchenko 6-3, 6-2 to reach her sixth quarterfinal of 2016.
DUBAI, UAE – Top seed Angelique Kerber needed just over an hour to move into her first semifinal of 2017 at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships after defeating Ana Konjuh in straight sets.
The World No.2 employed her solid brand of tennis against the big hitting 19-year-old, staying calm against Konjuh’s barrage of winners to advance 6-3, 6-2.
“I’m really happy about the match today,” Kerber told press after the victory. “I mean, it was a tough one, because Ana is a tough opponent. She’s going for it. You have to play until the last point so it’s nice to get through in two sets.”
Speed and soft hands from @AngeliqueKerber! ? pic.twitter.com/Ti8X0o1Ej5
— WTA (@WTA) February 23, 2017
Kerber got off to a roaring start, shutting out Konjuh to build up a daunting 4-0 lead.
The Croat stopped the rot with a break of serve, reeling off three straight games to cut into Kerber’s advantage. But a string of double faults – including two in the 5-3 game – and loose errors off the ground handed Kerber the opening set.
Konjuh held her ground in the second, hanging with the World No.2 in the early exchanges and showing flashes of the brilliance that caused her to be named one of the most promising young players of the WTA. Kerber stayed firmly in control, though, and broke twice to reel off four games in a row and close out the match after an hour and fifteen minutes.
“I'm feeling good and really looking forward to play my first Semifinal at @DDFTennis!” -@AngeliqueKerber pic.twitter.com/KlNLPjZ4Sq
— WTA (@WTA) February 23, 2017
Kerber hit a scant seven winners to Konjuh’s 24, but allowed just eleven unforced errors compared to her opponent’s 35.
She’ll play Elina Svitolina for a spot in the final with an eye on the WTA’s top ranking: should Kerber win the title in Dubai she’ll return to World No.1.
“I think it will be a tough match again,” Kerber said. “I think we will have a lot of rallies. I have to be aggressive and just like the last days here. I mean, I have to be really focused on my game, on my rhythm.
“Just trying to enjoy the next match here on the Centre Court, and of course I will try to go out there and to win another match here.”
AUCKLAND, New Zealand – Sloane Stephens did double duty at the ASB Classic on Saturday, completing a semifinal victory over Caroline Wozniacki and then defeating Julia Goerges for the title.
Stephens was leading Wozniacki 5-2 in the first set when rain stopped play on Friday, and when they resumed play on Saturday morning the American held on, edging the No.3-seeded Dane, 6-2, 7-6(3).
And she continued her winning ways later in the day in the final – Stephens, the No.5 seed, reeled off nine of 11 games from 4-5 in the opening set to run away with it against Goerges, 7-5, 6-2.
She held all 10 of her service games in the match, fighting off the only two break points she faced.
“You can never prepare for playing a set and then rain, then finishing the match the next morning and coming back again in the afternoon. You just have to keep going and do your best,” Stephens said.
“Julia had been playing some really great tennis all week, but I knew if I just kept playing solid I could do it. I was pleased the way I was able to pull myself together and come back and play well.
“Just kind of going with the flow – that was pretty much it. Pretty basic.”
Stephens, who has played some of the best tennis of her career during the Australian season in the past – she was a semifinalist at the Australian Open in 2013, after all, famously upsetting Serena Williams along the way – now has two WTA titles, her first coming in Washington DC last summer.
“We have a really long season – I have to play all the way until October – so to win a tournament in the first week of the year is amazing,” Stephens said. “But I’m going to have many more opportunities throughout the year, and I’m looking forward to all of them. It’s easier to look at it that way.”
The American was asked if she was surprised how well she did for the first week of the season.
“I wouldn’t say surprised – I wouldn’t use that word. But the first week of the year you don’t really know what to expect. I felt good coming into the tournament. I was excited – I think that really helped.”
The doubles final took place later in the day, with Belgian duo Elise Mertens and An-Sophie Mestach taking out the Montenegrin-Czech pairing of Danka Kovinic and Barbora Strycova, 2-6, 6-3, 10-5.
2nd #WTA career title for @SloaneStephens! ? https://t.co/ZkqpJIvrTk
— WTA (@WTA) January 9, 2016
Madison Keys takes on Venus Williams in the third round of the Rogers Cup.
Elina Svitolina talks through her win in the semifinals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
SYDNEY/HOBART, Australia – With the Brisbane International and ASB Classic in the books, one week stands between the WTA stars and the Australian Open, giving fans the chance to see how their favorites are shaping up ahead of the first major tournament of the year at the Apia International Sydney and the Hobart International.
Sydney’s top seed is Simona Halep; the World No.2 led the field at the Brisbane International, but was forced to withdraw before her heavily-anticipated second round match with Victoria Azarenka due to a recurring Achilles injury. Looking strong in practice with coach Darren Cahill at the helm, Halep will have to hit the ground running in Sydney, with her first match of the year against Caroline Garcia. Garcia has yet to lose a match in 2016, winning her opening round on Sunday against compatriot Kristina Mladenovic to go with three wins at the invitational Hopman Cup.
Halep’s hopes of coming into the Australian Open with a title under her belt went up significantly when news of Petra Kvitova and Agnieszka Radwanska’s withdrawals hit. Kvitova is still struggling with the GI illness that took her out of Shenzhen while Radwanska, who went on to win the tournament in China, is opting not to push a lower leg injury sustained in practice.
Looming for the Romanian in the quarterfinals, however, is the big hitting Karolina Pliskova. The Czech boomed 14 aces in her first round against wildcard and former No.1 Ana Ivanovic, 6-4, 6-2, and played Halep tough in the final of last year’s Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. Experienced veterans in Svetlana Kuznetsova and Jelena Jankovic are also in Halep’s half of the draw, as well.
The bottom half of the draw features the young and talented Belinda Bencic, who outlasted Halep in the final of last year’s Rogers Cup after defeating World No.1 Serena Williams in the semifinals. A potential quarterfinal opponent for Bencic is Angelique Kerber, who comes to Sydney after a successful week in Brisbane that saw her reach the final. Look out for another youngster in Daria Gavrilova; the hometown favorite just won Australia’s first Hopman Cup title since 1999 with the help of Nick Kyrgios, beating Elina Svitolina in the final.
Over in Hobart, the women’s draw lost top seed Sloane Stephens, who came down with a viral illness after winning her second career title at the ASB Classic, but nonetheless sports several names to know. No.2 seed Camila Giorgi is a threat on any given day with her booming ground game; the Italian is already in the second round after surviving Zarina Diyas in three sets.
In her half of the draw is Dominika Cibulkova; the 2014 Australian Open finalist is still getting her rhythm back after leg surgery took her off the tour for much of last year. She’ll be in for a tough battle against Johanna Konta in the first round; Konta was one of the biggest stories of the second half of the season, rising from relative obscurity to make the second week of the US Open and take out Halep at the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open.
Though unseeded, Eugenie Bouchard played some of her best tennis in months to reach the quarterfinals of last week’s Shenzhen Open. Feeling no pressure, the Canadian is just happy to be back on the court after missing much of the fall due to a concussion.
Which WTA star will gain precious momentum heading into Melbourne?