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Halep Doubles Up With Niculescu

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MONTRÉAL, Canada – Simona Halep capped off a productive Friday afternoon at the Rogers Cup by teaming up with Monica Niculescu to reach the doubles semifinals.

Watch live action from Montréal this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

A few hours after defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova in the singles quarterfinals, Halep was back out on court alongside Niculescu. If Halep was feeling any fatigue she hid it well, playing her part in a surprise 6-4, 3-6, 10-8 win over No.2 seeds and reigning French Open champions Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic.

The last time Halep made it this far in doubles at a WTA event came alongside Maria Elena Camerin in Linz in 2012, since when she has focused her attention primarily on singles. However, her decision to take a wildcard with fellow Romanian Niculescu to help acclimatize to the North American cement has proven to be an inspired one.

In front of a healthy number of their compatriots on the Banque Nationale court, both players rose to the occasion during an entertaining finale. With Halep imperious from the baseline, they rallied from 7-4 down to complete the upset when Niculescu fired a backhand past the stranded Mladenovic.

“Playing with Monica, she’s very tough and very concentrated during the matches. But she motivates me pretty well,” Halep said. “Today it was a crazy match. The opponents are playing well; they won the French Open, it was a good win for us.”

Meeting them for a place in the final will be Andreja Klepac and Katarina Srebotnik, who saw off Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Heather Watson, 6-3, 4-6, 10-7.

On the other side of the draw, there was another surprise as Christina McHale and Asia Muhammad knocked out top seeds Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza. Early breaks in both sets made the difference in a tight contest as the American duo ran out 6-4, 6-3 winners.

Restoring a sense of order at the Stade Uniprix were No.4 seeds Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina, who moved one step closer to their first title since 2014 with a 7-6(1), 6-0 victory over Australian wildcards Daria Gavrilova and Samantha Stosur.

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A Word With Agnieszka Radwanska

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

During her title run at the Shenzhen Open, Agnieszka Radwanska took some time out to talk about the city, the fans and whether she’ll come back next year. So, will she?

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Coaches View: Halep's Rogers Cup Rally

Coaches View: Halep's Rogers Cup Rally

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Simona Halep was able to win the longer rallies in her 7-6(2) 6-3 victory over Madison Keys to win the title at the Rogers Cup in Montréal.

SAP Tennis Analytics tracks how successful players are on varying rally lengths. During Sunday’s final, Halep won 62% of the rallies that were longer than six shots.

After a tight first set, Halep took control of the second by winning more of the medium-length rallies. After winning just 46% of the 3-6 shot rallies in the first set, Halep won 65% of those points in the second set.

Overall, Halep won 56% of the rallies that were greater than three shots throughout the match.

Rally length is included in the “Rally hit to” tracking on the SAP Coaches View. That particular data shows where each shot during a rally lands on the opponent’s side of the court. The display differentiates between forehands and backhands, and can be filtered by a particular score or to only show winners, unforced errors, service returns, the last shot of a rally or the third shot (first rally ball hit by the server).

For the Rogers Cup final, this data set also shows that Halep not only was winning the longer points, but she was also looking to keep the ball away from the Keys forehand. Halep directed 57% of her shots toward the Keys backhand, and for good reason. During the match, 13 of the 17 winners Keys hit came from her forehand.

The SAP Coaches View combines scoring information direct from the chair umpire with tracking data from HawkEye to allow for an in depth look at five different aspects of a match. Each tracking option can be filtered to narrow the focus to specific situations within a match, such as break points. This information is available directly to coaches in real-time during a match on their SAP tablet and also available to them online after matches.

On Sunday, Halep’s success on the longer points in the match allowed her to win her third trophy in 2016.

SAP

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Errani Survives Jankovic Thriller

Errani Survives Jankovic Thriller

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

SYDNEY, Australia – Sara Errani looked on course for a three-setter during her second round encounter with Jelena Jankovic; the Italian managed to up her game at the right moment at the Apia International Sydney, saving a whopping seven set points to take out the former No.1, 7-6(3), 7-6(8), in two hours and 30 minutes.

The 2012 French Open finalist, Errani had eked out the opening set against an opponent she had beaten in three of their last four meetings. But Jankovic won their last match at the Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai and appeared poised to extend the match to a decider when the Serb raced out to a 5-1 lead.

“Yeah, it was 5-1, but I had many games with 40-Love, 40-15, and advantage, and so it didn’t really feel like 5-1,” Errani said.

“I was just thinking that I was near my best level, and to just try to keep going, play all the points, and finally was 5-All, and 5-5, 6-All, and really tough the tiebreaker.”

Undaunted, Errani saved her best tennis for when her back was against the wall, breaking the 2008 US Open runner-up twice in a row to level the set and overcome the loss of multiple match points to eventually earn the win in straight sets. Speaking to press after the match, Errani admitted that she was expecting a battle from the outset.

“It was very tough, physically. With her all of our matches is like this. We play always long matches, long points.”

Errani next plays the winner of the second round match between a pair of former Top 5 players, Sam Stosur and Daniela Hantuchova.

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Notes & Netcords: August 1, 2016

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

THE WINNERS

Simona Halep won her third title of 2016 with a decisive 7-6(2), 6-3 victory at the Rogers Cup over No.10 seed Madison Keys, moving up to No.3 in the world and increasing her winning streak to 10 straight matches.

“I like being here in Montréal a lot. It feels like being in Europe, like I’ve said many times,” Halep said. “With all the Romanians, I felt like I was at home. Many people were coming every day, not just today. It was an amazing atmosphere down there.

“The man that announced us on the court today said two words in Romanian, so that motivated me a lot. I said that I have to win.”

WTA Insider Live Blog: point-by-point analysis. | Watch highlights here.

Two-time Grand Slam champions Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina reunited after nearly a year apart at the start of the European clay court season, winning their first title of the season at the Rogers Cup, knocking out singles champion Simona Halep and Monica Niculescu, 6-3, 7-6(5).

The Russians, who are a part of the delegation competing at the Olympic tennis event in Rio, are using Montréal as a testing ground for their renewed partnership. The duo has combined for two Grand Slam titles in the past, and now have their sights set on Olympic gold.

“Hopefully it’s going to help us in Rio for sure,” Vesnina said. “We’re playing here in Montréal because everyone wants to get match rhythm, get some wins and some confidence. Doubles is always tricky so it’s good to have some big wins ahead of Rio.”

Read the match recap here.

RANKING MOVERS:
Notable singles ranking movers for the week of August 1, 2016.

Simona Halep (ROU) +2 (No.5 to 3): With her win at the Rogers Cup, Halep inches up two ranking spots to No.3. She started out the year at No.2 and dipped as low as No.7 following a string of disappointing midseason results.

Daria Kasatkina (RUS) +6 (No.33 to 27): The 19-year-old’s breakthrough continued in Montréal last week, where she reached the quarterfinal to climb to a career high ranking of No.27.

Camila Giorgi (ITA) +9 (No.77 to 68): Italian qualifier Giorgi reached the second round at Montreal, bumping her up to No.68.

Kristina Kucova (SVK) +44 (121 to 77): Kucova’s Cinderella run from qualifying to her first WTA Premier-level semifinal in Montréal earned her the week’s biggest ranking jump to a career high spot at No.77.  

UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS

Brasil Tennis Cup
Florianopolis, Brazil
International | $226,750 | Hard, Outdoor
Sunday, July 31 – Friday, August 5

Jiangxi Women’s Tennis Open
Nanchang, China
International | $226,750 | Hard, Outdoor
Monday, August 1 – Sunday, August 7

Olympic Tennis Event
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
– | $0 | Hard, Outdoor
Saturday, August 6 – Sunday, August 14

Western & Southern Open
Cincinnati, USA
Premier | $2,503,250 | Hard, Outdoor
Monday, August 15 – Sunday, August 21

TOP 20 PLAYER SCHEDULES
1. Serena Williams – Olympics
2. Angelique Kerber – Olympics, Cincinnati
3. Simona Halep – Cincinnati
4. Garbiñe Muguruza – Olympics, Cincinnati
5. Agnieszka Radwanska – Olympics, Cincinnati
6. Venus Williams – Olympics
7. Victoria Azarenka
8. Roberta Vinci – Olympics, Cincinnati
9. Madison Keys – Olympics
10. Svetlana Kuznetsova – Olympics, Cincinnati
11. Dominika Cibulkova – Cincinnati
12. Carla Suárez Navarro – Olympics, Cincinnati
13. Johanna Konta – Olympics, Cincinnati
14. Petra Kvitova – Olympics, Cincinnati
15. Timea Bacsinszky – Olympics, Cincinnati
16. Belinda Bencic – Cincinnati
17. Karolina Pliskova – Cincinnati
18. Samantha Stosur – Olympics, Cincinnati
19. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova – Olympics, Cincinnati
20. Elina Svitolina – Olympics, Cincinnati

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Vote: July Breakthrough Of The Month

Vote: July Breakthrough Of The Month

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

BOTM

July was defined by four breakthrough players who brought some impressive performances on and off the court. Which one soared the highest?

Have a look at the nominees for July Breakthrough Performance of the Month and cast your vote before Thursday at 11:59pm ET! The winner will be announced Friday, August 5.

July 2016 WTA Breakthrough Performance of the Month Finalists:

Johanna Konta: The British No.1 continued her breakthrough season at the Bank of the West Classic, winning her first title with an epic three-set win over former World No.1 Venus Williams. Konta’s win over Venus was her second of 2016, and put her in shouting distance of becoming the first British woman to reach the Top 10 since Jo Durie in 1984. Playing at the Rogers Cup, Konta reached the quarterfinals and fell one match shy of that Top 10 debut, but is nonetheless at a career-high ranking of No.13 following a strong summer.

Viktorija Golubic: Golubic rang in the inaugural Ladies Championship Gstaad with a home winner in Switzerland. Knocking out French Open semifinalist Kiki Bertens in three sets, Golubic not only captured her first title but also made her Top 100 debut. 

Laura Siegemund: The German had a full circle moment at the Ericsson Open in Bastad. Six years after making her WTA main draw debut in Sweden, Siegemund capped a successful clay court season with her first title in Bastad, defeating Czech youngster Katerina Siniakova in straight sets.

Kristina Kucova: Kucova became the first qualifier to reach the semifinals of the Rogers Cup since Zi Yan in 2007, turning the tables on Canada’s own Eugenie Bouchard and halting Johanna Konta’s Top 10 dream en route to the final four. A former US Open girl’s singles champion, Kucova at long last made her Top 100 debut.

2016 Winners:

January: Zhang Shuai
February: Jelena Ostapenko
March: Nicole Gibbs
April: Cagla Buyukakcay
May: Kiki Bertens
June: Elena Vesnina

How it works:

Finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com

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