Vote: March's WTA Shot Of The Month
Kirsten Flipkens, Elena Vesnina, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Venus Williams, and Caroline Wozniacki – who will win March’s WTA Shot Of The Month presented by Cambridge Global Payments? Vote now!
Kirsten Flipkens, Elena Vesnina, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Venus Williams, and Caroline Wozniacki – who will win March’s WTA Shot Of The Month presented by Cambridge Global Payments? Vote now!
DOHA, Qatar – No.3 seed Agnieszka Radwanska survived an onslaught from Italy’s Roberta Vinci as the two put together a veritable highlight reel from start to finish in the quarterfinals of the Qatar Total Open. It was the reigning WTA Finals champion, however, who ultimately emerged victorious, beating the No.9 seed, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Watch live action from Doha & Acapulco this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
“She’s a very tricky player with great hands, so you always expect tricky points from her,” she said during her on-court interview. “I was just trying to be better this time, so I hope you guys enjoyed it and I think it was a great match.”
Coming off a win over another wily veteran in Monica Niculescu in the previous round, Radwanska outdid herself with some throwback tennis on Thursday; she and Vinci came to net a combined 101 times, while the Pole hit 40 winners to just 27 unforced errors. Vinci was not too far behind with 36 winners and 20 unforced.
With more than couple of candidates for Shot Of The Year in one match, Radwanska admitted she sometimes surprised herself against Vinci: “I’m like, ‘Oh my god, that was in?’ But that’s the way I play, and against Roberta, it’s a lot of rallies and tricky shots and different points. Our games are very entertaining.
“I’m just very happy to play those shots. Winning shot of the year makes me so happy. I always appreciate those votes; I’m also happy to hear that my tennis is very enjoyable and entertaining.”
Up next for Radwanska is No.8 seed Carla Suárez Navarro, who confirmed her return to the Top 10 with a straight-sets win over qualifier Elena Vesnina earlier in the day.
“Carla is a great player, very solid from the back. We just played a few weeks ago in Melbourne. I won that one, but it’s never easy against her. It’ll be a nice challenge for me against Carla, and I’ll try my best.”
Radwanska and Vinci certainly broke the internet with their stellar shot-making; check out some of the best points and what some of their fellow players had to say below:
Nice touch, @ARadwanska! ? #WTA https://t.co/8DHWurztuF
— WTA (@WTA) February 25, 2016
Loving this match between @roberta_vinci & @ARadwanska! So much variety tennis & both literally ending every single points at the net?#doha
— Kristina Mladenovic (@KikiMladenovic) February 25, 2016
Behind the back! ?
No big deal for @ARadwanska. #WTA https://t.co/IFwtkRDplA
— WTA (@WTA) February 25, 2016
Ok ladies this is sick tennis.
— Kristina Mladenovic (@KikiMladenovic) February 25, 2016
You've GOT to be kidding me @ARadwanska! ? #WTA https://t.co/StrJrLd5pE
— WTA (@WTA) February 25, 2016
Same. ? pic.twitter.com/I0UZuSE8wj
— WTA (@WTA) February 25, 2016
@WTA @ARadwanska Sick!!!???
— Elena Vesnina (@EVesnina001) February 25, 2016
@WTA @ARadwanska that's just ridiculous!!!?????
— Jarmila Wolfe (@tennis_jarkag) February 25, 2016
ACAPULCO, Mexico – Sloane Stephens needed just 54 minutes to cruise to her second WTA final of the year after an uncomplicated victory over No.8 seed Yanina Wickmayer at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, 6-2, 6-0.
Watch live action from Doha & Acapulco this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
The pair had faced off only once before, with Stephens coming out the victor of a straight forward 6-1, 6-3 match at the Miami Open. This encounter would prove to be no more difficult for the 22-year-old American.
“Obviously playing in the semifinals of any tournament is going to be tough,” Stephens said of her commanding victory. “Fortunately today I played some really solid tennis and played really well. It was a good day for me.”
Stephens set the pace early on, breaking and holding at love to give herself some breathing room at 4-1. The Belgian wasn’t displaying any of the form that saw her come back from two points away from defeat in the first round or upset Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the quarterfinals. Wickmayer was spraying errors off both wings, finally shooting a forehand long to give Stephens set point, which she seal with a powerful forehand.
Stephens played a near perfect second set, overpowering the increasingly frustrated Wickmayer in a 6-0 shutout, not facing a single break point and winning every one of her first serve points.
“I’m feeling good and I’m excited to be back in another final,” Stephens said. “I’m playing well so I’m excited to get back on court tomorrow and compete.”
At this time last year, Stephens was facing a disappointing string of first and second round losses – including one in the first round here in Acapulco. Now in 2016, she’s already got a title under her belt and is into her second final of the year. What’s changed for the 22-year-old?
“I’m just in a different place,” Sloane said. “I’ve played a lot of matches this year already and got some of the confidence going, built up some momentum. I’m just trying to keep that going here in Acapulco.”
Stephens is set to play against 2014 Acapulco winner Dominika Cibulkova in tomorrow’s final. Their head to head is tied at 1-1, with Cibulkova coming away the winner of their most recent encounter at Toronto last year.
Courtney Nguyen, Point: For the second straight season, Carla Suárez Navarro has started the year by playing her best tennis. And yet, 2016 feels different. The Spaniard was the most consistent player in the first half of 2015, making the quarterfinals or better at 10 of her first 11 tournaments. Yet she had no titles to show for it, and most importantly, she struggled mightily at the majors. She lost in the first round of three of the four majors.
With her dominant 6-2, 6-0 win over World No.3 Agnieszka Radwanska, Suárez Navarro has backed up yet another strong start and is one win away from the biggest title of her career at the Qatar Total Open. Her run in Doha comes off a great January, which saw her make the semifinals at the Brisbane International and the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. With a more aggressive mindset and renewed calm – she has been working with a sports psychologist – the Canary Islands native has reversed her trend and is now finding her best tennis at the sport’s biggest events.
On Monday she will rise to a career-high ranking at No.6, just one spot short of her pre-season goal of cracking the Top 5. If she wins the title she will rise to No.2 in the Road to Singapore behind Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber.
As the women around her fell to upset, Suárez Navarro has been been workmanlike in her effort and consistency. She has not dropped a set in her four matches, with wins over Donna Vekic, Timea Bacsinszky, Elena Vesnina, and Radwanska. Not even a scary fall late in the first set against Radwanska could derail her.
But she goes from being largely overlooked at the start of the week, to the underdog in her semifinal, to the overwhelming favorite in Saturday’s final. Suárez Navarro is the first to admit that the nerves can get to her in the big occasions. With 18-year-old Jelena Ostapenko playing her first Premier final on Saturday, Suárez Navarro is the one with the experience. Just last year she made finals at the Miami Open and Italian Open.
But unlike the rest of the women Ostapenko stunned this week, Suárez Navarro knows exactly what to expect against the Latvian. Ostapenko steamrolled her last year in the first round at Wimbledon, 6-2, 6-0, in a loss that sent the Spaniard reeling for the remainder of the season.
“She played really fast, really fast,” Suárez Navarro told reporters in Doha. “She knows how to play tennis. She play also solid here this week, I saw her. But in the final, you never know what going to be happen. A lot of emotions, nervous sometimes. Will be tough.”
“I need to be ready, because I know how she plays. If she plays good, will be tough for me.”
I don’t put much stock in that Wimbledon loss. A junior Wimbledon champion, Ostapenko’s game is well suited for grass and fast surfaces, while it is by far the Spaniard’s worst surface. The Spaniard also came into that tournament exhausted from the first six months of the season. It’s a different story this week.
This is no gimme for Suárez Navarro, but she’s shown no sign of weakness all tournament. In fact, she’s played better and better with every match. Against Radwanska, she held her position on the baseline with ease and took the ball clean and early. As she told the crowd afterwards, she was feeling the ball good. She could put the ball wherever she wanted.
Ostapenko offers a completely different challenge. She hits a big flat ball. She’s far more offensive-minded than Radwanska and the depth and weight of her shot can push her opponents off the baseline. She also can struggle with consistency and rack up errors quickly. If Suárez Navarro can play her game and move Ostapenko deep into the corners, she should be able to outsteady her more erratic opponent.
David Kane, Counterpoint: Jelena Ostapenko came to Doha having won just one main draw match since reaching her first WTA final at the Coupe Banque Nationale in September. Two players out of the main draw, the 18-year-old Latvian was merely gearing herself up for another bout of qualifying at the start of the week.
“First, it was like second round of qualies, and I was just really happy that I got main draw,” she said on Friday. “In my first match, I was just trying to play my best tennis. Match by match, I played better and better.”
Elevating her game for some stiff opposition, Ostapenko earned back-to-back wins over Svetlana Kuznetsova and No.5 seed Petra Kvitova.
“I beat some players in the Top 10, some Grand Slam champions, as well. I get confidence from that. I’m able to see that I can also play on that level.
“It’s better for me because with every match I get more and more confident.”
She outhit Zheng Saisai in the quarterfinals and refused to buckle in the semis, even as she fell behind 5-1 in the first set against Andrea Petkovic. Narrowly losing some tight early games to the German, Ostapenko found her range off her booming forehand – one reminiscent of Ana Ivanovic or even Anna Kournikova – just as her opponent began to struggle with a left thigh injury, retiring after losing seven games in a row.
“I was just trying to stay consistent and to not miss easy balls, because she was playing amazing in the first set. I was just trying to fight for every point and I think it helped me.
“I feel pity for Andrea that she couldn’t finish the match. I hope she recovers better. After when she’s in a good form, we can have a great match.”
Unafraid of big stages, she won main draw matches in her Grand Slam main draw debuts at Wimbledon and the US Open, trouncing Suárez Navarro, 6-2, 6-0, at the former.
“It was a great match for me because it was my first win against a Top 10 player, and grass is my favorite surface. I felt really good there.
“She’s playing really great this week. It’s going to be a tough match tomorrow.”
Her run in Doha already guarantees her of a Top 50 debut, joining fellow 18-year-olds Belinda Bencic and Daria Kasatkina – the largest cohort of teens since 2009. While Bencic and Kasatkina rely more on consistency, Ostapenko is a streaky player, and has been on one heck of a streak in Qatar, dropping just one set in five matches.
Playing one of the biggest matches of her career, she can certainly hit through the Spanish veteran – proving as much at the All England Club – and so the question will be whether the young Latvian will be able to hold her nerve and keep control of her powerhouse game.
As bluntly precise in press as she is on the court, the youngster sees things even more simply.
“I will try to show my best tennis.”
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.
Every week wtatennis.com brings you 10 Things To Know about the week – who is playing, where and much more. This week the Road To Singapore goes through Monterrey and Kuala Lumpur…
1) Dubai champion Sara Errani is in search of her second title of 2016…
Errani endured a tough start to the season, losing in the first round of the Australian Open to rising Russian Margarita Gasparyan and both Fed Cup rubbers to Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic. But it all came together for the Italian veteran in Dubai, as she captured the biggest title of her career and her first on hardcourts since 2008. Top seed at the Abierto Monterrey Afirme, Errani will look to shake off an early loss at the Qatar Total Open to the big-serving Timea Babos and maintain her momentum heading into Indian Wells and Miami.
2) …provided she can get past unseeded and looming Dominika Cibulkova.
The 2014 Australian Open finalist has been trying to return to form since an ankle injury ruled her out for much of last spring. Ranked outside the Top 60 since failing to defend quarterfinal points from 2015, Cibulkova roared into the finals of last week’s Abierto Mexicano Telcel – dropping just one set along the way and narrowly losing an epic three-setter to Sloane Stephens. Back up to No.57, Cibulkova could play Errani in the second round, and leads her 5-3 in overall head-to-head (though they haven’t played since 2013).
3) Can Caroline Wozniacki kickstart her season?
Seeded No.2 in Mexico, Caroline Wozniacki began her season in solid form at the ASB Classic, where she reached the semifinals and fell to eventual champion Stephens. Since then, the Dane has won just two matches, losing in three-sets to Elena Vesnina for only the second time in eight meetings at the Qatar Total Open. Playing Olga Govortsova in the first round, Wozniacki could face big-hitters like Mirjana Lucic-Baroni and Babos early; how will the former No.1 fare?
4) Johanna Konta looks to build on Melbourne momentum.
Australian Open semifinalist Johanna Konta has only won one match outside Melbourne, a first round against Anett Kontaveit in Acapulco. Down 5-1 in the final set to Lucic-Baroni in the next round, the Brit rebounded to 5-5 only to lose, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5. Seeded No.4 in Monterrey and in the Errani half of the draw, Konta is projected to face No.6 seed Alison Van Uytvanck in the quarterfinals, but wildcard and Rio Open winner Francesca Schiavone also looms in her bracket.
5) Might Caroline Garcia go one better in Monterrey?
No.5 seed Caroline Garcia opens against a qualifier, and must have good memories of this tournament in Mexico, having reached the final here 12 months ago – losing to Timea Bacinszky in three sets. Garcia is coming off of a breakthrough run at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships – her best-ever result at a WTA Premier event. Though she dropped her opener against Elena Vesnina in Doha, the Russian went on to upset Simona Halep and Wozniacki en route to the quarterfinals; can the Frenchwoman pick up from where she left off?
6) Medina Garrigues and Parra Santonja are in position for a Mexian sweep.
Anabel Medina Garrigues and Arantxa Parra Santonja have been a force to be reckoned with on the doubles court, reaching the semifinals or better at all but one of their events entered thus far in 2016. Their biggest result came last week when they captured the title in Acapulco, defeating No.2 seeds Kiki Bertens and Johanna Larsson, 6-0, 6-4. Top seeds for a second straight week, can the Spaniards cement their status as Olympic darkhorses with a second title?
7) Red-hot Roberta Vinci is the top seed in Kuala Lumpur.
Roberta Vinci became the oldest woman in WTA history to make her Top 10 debut last week, and played up to her rank in a thrilling quarterfinal encounter with World No.3 Agnieszka Radwanska. Taking a wildcard into the BMW Malaysian Open, Vinci opens against Chang Kai-Chen, with No.6 seed Eugenie Bouchard a potential quarterfinal opponent. In their only prior meeting, Vinci bounced the Canadian, 6-1, 6-0, and has been playing top-flight tennis ever since, reaching the US Open final and winning her first title of the season at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
8) Elina Svitolina aims to continue climbing with Henin in her corner.
The Ukrainian youngster recently added former No.1 Justine Henin to her coaching team, and the results were immediate; unseeded in Dubai, she upset Garbiñe Muguruza in straight sets before reaching the semifinals. Another wildcard entrant in Kuala Lumpur, Svitolina opens against qualifier Miyu Kato, but could play rising Russian Elizaveta Kulichkova, who took out Zarina Diyas to make the quarterfinals of the Taiwan Open.
9) Zheng Saisai is within striking distance of a career-high ranking.
China’s Zheng Saisai had a big week in Doha, eliminating top seed and reigning Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber and nearly ending the then-40-match winning streak of Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza in doubles – all in one day. Zheng backed up the win to reach the quarterfinals, a result that brought her up to No.63 to start this week – two away from her career-high of No.61. Seeded No.8 in Kuala Lumpur, Zheng could play No.3 seed Sabine Lisicki in the quarterfinals; the German has struggled to start the season, winning just two matches in three tournaments.
10) Find out where you can watch live action this week.
Carla Suárez Navarro takes on Jelena Ostapenko in the final of the Qatar Total Open.
CNN Open Court relives Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber’s triumphant homecoming in Leipzig.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova thanks her fans after winning the Abierto GNP Seguros.
CHARLESTON, SC, USA – In the first all-teen WTA final since 2009, Daria Kasatkina knocked out former junior colleague Jelena Ostapenko, 6-3, 6-1, to win her first WTA title at the Volvo Car Open.
“It’s very difficult to describe my feeling now,” she said in her post-victory press conference. “I feel I’m just sleeping and everything is not real. I’m so happy. Really.”
Kasatkina and Ostapenko took back-to-back Grand Slam titles back in 2014, the Russian winning the girls’ French Open while the Latvian swept the junior Wimbledon Championships, and the two have been on a collision course since making their WTA debuts the following year.
Ostapenko was in her third career final after finishing runner-up at the Tournoi de Québec in 2015 and the Qatar Total Open in 2016, and won their only previous tour-level meeting last year at the Aegon International in Eastbourne.
But Kasatkina proved far more at home on clay after earning wins over Olympic champion Monica Puig, good friend Daria Gavrilova, No.10 seed Irina-Camelia Begu, and clay court specialist Laura Siegemund en route to her first final.
“Yesterday evening and all night I couldn’t sleep. I woke up during the whole night like two or three times. I was so nervous, you cannot imagine. I was feeling like, I want to just go on the court and everything, let’s finish, play. I cannot feeling this anymore. But now it was worth it.”
.@DKasatkina turns defense into attack! #VolvoCarOpen pic.twitter.com/f1CRBWoXoG
— WTA (@WTA) April 9, 2017
The pair exchanged early breaks to start the match; Ostapenko won a long sixth game to level the opening set only to see Kasatkina run away with the contest from there, losing just one more game in the 66-minute match.
“I was ready to be on the court five, six hours. Because it’s a final, I have to be ready for everything, but I’m happy that I finished it in, let’s say, an easy way. So I am very happy and proud of myself.
“When I won the last ball, everything like closed and I just feel like I’m dreaming.”
Playing clean, consistent tennis, Kasatkina struck just six winners to the Latvian’s 25, but also only seven unforced errors to Ostapenko’s 38, and converted five of seven break point chances over two sets.
“Today, the tactic was to be a little bit more defensive, go back, spin, slice the ball because it’s clay, and she’s playing really aggressive. Usually she beats aggressive players because she likes this type of game, everything. So we decided that I have to go back and make her tired. It was a good tactic, I think.”
“I was playing good all the days this week,” Ostapenko said after the match. “I beat some great players, but today was really not my day, and I just didn’t feel the ball that well. I was missing too much, and because she was defending during the whole match. It was just probably not my day.
“I think I got a bit more consistent on clay, and I think I improved my serve and I’m moving better, but I still have a lot of things to work on. I think it’s pretty good because now I can climb in the ranking.”
First #WTA Title!@DKasatkina races past Ostapenko 6-3, 6-1 to win @VolvoCarOpen! pic.twitter.com/yYmKy299Qp
— WTA (@WTA) April 9, 2017
The Russian will move back into the Top 30 after the win as she aims to return to Roland Garros as a seed for the second straight year, while Ostapenko returns to the Top 50 following her impressive week and wins over former No.1 Caroline Wozniacki and Australian Open semifinalist Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.
Kasatkina joins an illustrious list of former champions, including Stefanie Graf, Martina Navratilova, Martina Hingis, and Venus Williams. None of that had quite sunk in with the 19-year-old so soon after the match.
“I need to prepare for these things. It never happened to me before. So little bit makeup for the pictures!” she said when asked about a post-victory portrait.
“I don’t realize it yet, so I’m just enjoying it every moment, every second. And really, when I was on the court after the last point, I just wanted the moment to stop because it was one of the best moments in my life.”
.@DKasatkina fights back the tears during champion's speech #VolvoCarOpen pic.twitter.com/g5SW68mjMD
— WTA (@WTA) April 9, 2017
Earlier in the day, World No.1 Bethanie Mattek-Sands took her third title of the year, and second with partner Lucie Safarova, overcoming a tough test from BNP Paribas Open finalists Lucie Hradecka and Katerina Siniakova, 6-1, 4-6, 10-7.
All photos courtesy of the Volvo Car Open.
NEW YORK, NY, USA – One hundred and twenty-seven matches, 292 sets, 2680 games and 17,520 points over thirteen rainy, windy and occasionally sunny days. And that was just the singles. While numbers never tell the whole story, when it comes to the 2016 US Open, they certainly make for a good read…
8,628,207 – The $3,500,000 cheque Angelique Kerber received for picking up her second Grand Slam took her 2016 winnings to $8,628,207. Her previous best total annual total was $2,139,358 (2013).
65,797 – Hugh Grant, Anna Wintour and Vanessa Williams were among the 65,797 attending the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on the middle Sunday – a single-day attendance record.
309 – Serena Williams’ third-round win over Johanna Larsson was her 307th at a Grand Slam tournament, overtaking Martina Navratilova for sole ownership of the Open Era record. Two further victories, took her total to 309 – a number not matched by any player, male or female.
186 – However, Serena’s semifinal defeat to Karolina Pliskova meant that her was unable to overtake Stefanie Graf’s record of 186 consecutive weeks at No.1. Her replacement, Kerber, is the first German to hold top spot since Graf in March 1997.
182 – The number of minutes needed by Kateryna Bondarenko and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to win their second-round thrillers over Zheng Saisai and Kristina Mladenovic, respectively – the longest matches of the tournament.
126 – The speed in miles per hour of the fastest serve of the fortnight, hit by Serena.
81 – Serena’s 120mph bombs helped her win 81% of her first service points.
72 – At Wimbledon, Venus Williams matched Amy Frazier’s Open Era record of 71 Grand Slam appearances. The evergreen American moved out in front on her own when she stepped on Arthur Ashe to face Kateryna Kozlova. Sister Serena, though, is hot on her tail, taking her tally to 65 this fortnight.
52 – Jelena Jankovic has now played in 52 consecutive Grand Slams. The Open Era record of 62 is held by Ai Sugiyama.
46 – Caroline Wozniacki jumped 46 spots from No.74 to No.28 in the rankings after her run through to the semifinals.
34 – Kerber broke serve 34 times en route to the title.
33 – The longest rally of this year’s tournament was 33 shots and came in the second set of the second-round encounter between Elina Svitolina and Lauren Davis. Eventually it was Svitolina that emerged triumphant, although not before the pair had another epic exchange, this one lasting 32 shots in the fifth game of the third set.
22 – There were 22 Americans in this year’s singles draw – 12 more than any other country.
20 – At the start of the tournament there were 20 players aged 30 or older. By comparison, there were only eight teenagers.
16 – At just 16 years and 336 days old on the opening Monday of the tournament, Kayla Day was the youngest player in New York.
11 – Runners-up Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic won 11 consecutive sets in the doubles draw. They had the chance to make it a perfect 12 in the final against Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova only to be broken when serving for the match.
6 – The number of players at this year’s tournament who were yet to be born when Venus made her US Open debut in 1997: CiCI Bellis, Kayla Day, Sofia Kenin, Ana Konjuh, Naomi Osaka and Nadia Podoroska.
2 – Kerber is the first player not named Serena to win multiple majors in a calendar year since Justine Henin did so in 2007.
1 – Runner-up Pliskova was only one year old the last time a Czech player (Helena Sukova) reached a US Open final, in 1993.