Williams Sisters Return To Wimbledon Final
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.
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.
Lucie Safarova takes on Anastasija Sevastova in the second round of the Taiwan Open.
Top seed Elina Svitolina is through to the Taiwan Open semifinals with a hard-earned win over qualifier Ons Jabeur, Peng Shuai stunned Samantha Stosur in straight sets.
GSTAAD, Switzerland – World No.797 Rebeka Masarova’s dream run at the Ladies Championship Gstaad continued on Saturday with a straight set win over No.5 seed Annika Beck.
Delivering another performance to belie her tender years – and lowly ranking – Masarova prevailed 7-5, 6-2 to set up an all-Swiss semifinal with Viktorija Golubic.
Earlier this summer, Masarova tripped up a couple of highly touted rivals to lift the junior French Open title. It was a performance that earned her a wildcard for the WTA’s return to Swiss soil, a chance she grabbed with both hands by knocking out first former No.1 Jelena Jankovic then Anett Kontaveit in the opening two rounds.
Beck had her chances, but despite serving for the opening set she was unable to avoid becoming the 16-year-old’s third Top 100 victim.
“It’s just amazing that I’ve won another match. I can’t quite believe I’ve beaten three Top 100 players so far this week. I think I played a great match against Annika and I hope I can keep this going in the semis!”
Golubic was made to work far harder in her quarterfinal, eventually subduing Carina Witthoeft, 7-6(4), 7-6(4).
The other semifinal will also feature a Swiss player, after top seed Timea Bacsinszky raced past Johanna Larsson, 6-0, 6-1 in just 56 minutes. Her reward is a meeting with No.3 seed Kiki Bertens, a 6-3, 6-1 winner over Irina Khromacheva.
Three swisswomen in semifinal! WOW! HOPP Schwiiz! @TimeaOfficial #Golubic #Masarova ????? @WTA_Gstaad pic.twitter.com/fHuR4iJjrk
— Davide Valentini (@DavideLiberista) 16 July 2016
GSTAAD, Switzerland – Local favorite Victorija Golubic capped off a dream week by winning her first WTA title at the inaugural Ladies Championship Gstaad. Golubic defeated Kiki Bertens 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 after a two-hour battle to claim the title in her home country.
More to come…
Geschafft!!!!! Viktorija Golubic gewinnt die Ladies Championship Gstaad!!!! #wtagstaad pic.twitter.com/M32RvfI4WI
— Ladies Open Gstaad (@WTA_Gstaad) July 17, 2016
WASHINGTON DC, USA – No.136-ranked Risa Ozaki scored the biggest win of her career in the opening round of the Citi Open, knocking out defending champion Sloane Stephens 6-2, 6-1.
The 22 year old from Japan came into the matchup having won just two WTA-level matches all year long, but put all that disappointment behind her against the No.23-ranked American.
Despite being broken in the opening game, Ozaki turned up the intensity and rattled off the next nine games in a row to leave Stephens reeling, down a set and a break. The American held serve to get her name on the score board at 3-1, but it wasn’t enough to turn around Ozaki’s momentum as she swept the match in just 57 minutes.
“I just played real bad. Nothing more, nothing less,” Stephens assessed after the match. “Today just sucked, it was just one of those days where everything was really bad.”
“Obviously, I’m not the first person to have a bad day and I won’t be the last. Hopefully I can pull myself together and next week will be better than this week. I won’t look too deep into this.”
Ozaki’s win sets up a second-round clash with on-the-rise Brit Naomi Broady, who saw off Irina Falconi in straight sets earlier in the day, 6-3, 6-4.
Giorgi Ousts No.5 Seed Bouchard
The unseeded Camila Giorgi snapped a four-match losing streak in her straight sets upset over No.5 seed Eugenie Bouchard in their Washington DC opener. Even more impressive, Giorgi recorded her first win against the Canadian; she previously hadn’t even won a set against Bouchard in either of their previous two encounters.
Bouchard initially struggled against the pace of the Italian’s high octane game, falling a break down in the opening set.
“My game is based on moving forward as soon as I can,” Giorgi said, speaking to Tennis Channel after the match. “Today it worked, I think, almost everything.”
Facing elimination at a set down and 5-2 in the second, Bouchard gritted out a pair of back to back games to cut into Giorgi’s lead, and even held game point on her serve at 5-4 to try to even the score. But the ultra-aggressive Giorgi saw off her challenge with her usual calm, quick game, climbing back from 15-40 to take the match 7-5, 6-4.
After the match, she immediately grabbed her cell phone to make a very special call.
“I called my dad, my coach,” Giorgi said. “He told me I played a good game, very aggressive. He was happy.”
Giorgi will go on to play Tamira Paszek in the next round. The Austrian No.108 took down American qualifier Lauren Albanese in a comfortable 6-3, 6-4 win.
More to come…
– All photos courtesy of Citi Open and Getty Images
Watch Dominika CIbulkova’s practice session before the start of the Qatar Total Open.
Caroline Wozniacki discusses her experience attending Super Bown LI at the Qatar Total Open.
The qualifier Lauren Davis came through her rain-affected first-round match with a surprise 6-2, 6-3 win over Roberta Vinci.
The WTA World No.18 was 0-2 down twice against Kiki Bertens but fought back to win 6-2, 6-3.