Kasatkina Clears Bencic Hurdle In St. Petersburg
No.8 seed Daria Kasatkina dispatched burgeoning rival Belinda Bencic in straight sets to advance at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
No.8 seed Daria Kasatkina dispatched burgeoning rival Belinda Bencic in straight sets to advance at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
Simona Halep takes on Naomi Osaka in the third round of Roland Garros.
Simona Halep and Martina Hingis paid a visit to the Faberge Museum ahead of the St Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
Today’s SAP Stat Of The Day shows how Kristina Mladenovic was able to capitalize on her chances in her quarterfinal win at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina weathered a rain-delayed match to continue on a collision course toward local favorites Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic.
BOL, Croatia – Ana Konjuh, the Croatian No.5 seed at the inaugural Bol Open 125K, continues to cruise in her home country. She booked her spot into the quarterfinals with a commanding win over Turkish trailblazer Ipek Soylu, 6-2, 6-1.
Watch free live streaming from Bol, Croatia all week right here on wtatennis.com!
Awaiting Konjuh in the quarterfinals is fellow Croat Tereza Mrdeza. A wildcard entry, Mrdeza beat Belgium’s Ysaline Bonaventure, 6-3, 6-3.
Mandy Minella had to pull double duty on her way to the Bol Open 125K quarterfinals. When yesterday’s rain delay interrupted play, Minella’s first round match against Evgeniya Rodina left her down a set but rallying back at 3-6, 4-1. She stormed all the way back to complete the comeback, 3-6, 6-1, 7-5, but her day was not over yet.
Awaiting her in the Round of 16 was the well-rested No.2 seeded American Varvara Lepchenko. She didn’t face a single break point in the first set and quickly grabbed a 6-1 lead, but Lepchenko won the second in a tiebreak to ensure the match went the distance. Despite narrowing Minella’s 4-2 lead to 5-4, the No.2 seed was no match for the on-form Luxembourger, who stormed into the quarterfinals 6-1, 6-7(4), 6-4 after two hours and twenty-three minutes.
Lepchenko wasn’t the only American who faltered today in Bol; despite a strong Day 1 showing, all of the Americans in the draw were defeated today, with Sachia Vickery, Jennifer Brady and Anna Tatishvili all bowing out. Marina Erakovic defeated Vickery 6-4, 6-4; Stefanie Voegele edged Brady 6-4, 4-6, 7-5; and Kristina Kucova downed Tatishvili 6-7(1), 6-2, 6-4.
The two other remaining seeds in the draw, No.7 Polona Hercog and No.4 Nao Hibino, both advanced in straight sets to reach the quarterfinalist. Hercog needed just over an hour to down Bulgarian qualifier Elitsa Kostova 6-1, 6-0, while Hibino overcame a late resistance from Ivana Jorovic on her way to a 6-2, 7-6(5) victory.
When was the last time a Dutch player reached the final? What first is Garbiñe Muguruza hoping to achieve? And just how impressive has Samantha Stosur’s serving been?
Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic cap a near-perfect clay court season by winning their first Grand Slam women’s doubles crown in front of their home crowd in three dramatic sets.
Carla Suárez Navarro, the 2016 champion, has withdrawn from next week’s Qatar Total Open in Doha. World No.8 Svetlana Kuznetsova has also pulled out with a minor abdominal injury.
Suárez Navarro has suffered an injury to her right shoulder and this is the third time it has forced her out of a tournament this year. She also said in January that it had disrupted her preparations for the Australian Open, where she fell in the second round.
Kuznetsova, the two-times runner-up, misses out with what has been described as a minor abdominal strain. The World No.8 said in a statement: “I am sad to announce that I am not able to participate in the Qatar Total Open this year. I recently sustained a minor abdominal injury.
“My doctors have advised me to rest so I can be prepared to get back on the court as soon as possible. Doha puts on an amazing event and I apologize to all the fans that I won’t be joining this year, but I look forward to coming back next year. I extend my best wishes to the organziers.”
With the French Open officially in the books, how do the rankings stand as the tour heads into the third major tournament of the season?
Defending champion Serena Williams remains No.1 for a 174th straight week, a streak that began all the way back on February 18th, 2013, after reaching the final of the Qatar Total Open.
Garbiñe Muguruza is not too far behind at her career-high ranking of No.2, trailing the 21-time Grand Slam champion by 1564 points thanks to her maiden major title at Roland Garros, where she defeated Serena in the final.
Muguruza became the first Spanish woman ranked inside the Top 2 since Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in December 1996; Sanchez-Vicario is also the first and most recent Spanish woman to be ranked No.1 back in 1995.
Ahead of the grass court season, Wimbledon finalists Serena and Muguruza have the greatest number of points to defend, with 2000 and 1356, respectively. World No.3 Agnieszka Radwanska fell to Muguruza in last year’s semifinal and is defending 1195 points, having also made the semifinals of Nottingham and the final of Eastbourne, where she lost to Belinda Bencic.
Bencic is making her return from a lower back injury, one which precluded her from nearly all of the clay court season. The Swiss star reached the fourth round of Wimbledon and the final of the Ricoh Open, and is defending 920 points.
Who made the biggest leaps during the clay court season?
|
PLAYER |
4/4/2016 |
6/6/2016 |
CHANGE |
|
BERTENS, KIKI (NED) |
96 |
27 |
+69 |
|
CHIRICO, LOUISA (USA) |
126 |
74 |
+52 |
|
ROGERS, SHELBY (USA) |
108 |
60 |
+48 |
|
BUYUKAKCAY, CAGLA (TUR) |
120 |
77 |
+43 |
|
CIRSTEA, SORANA (ROU) |
135 |
98 |
+37 |
By reaching the second week of the French Open, Bertens rocketed up into Olympic contention, as did quarterfinalist Tsvetana Pironkova, who now has a chance to qualify for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Yulia Putintseva made her career-best ranking and Top 35 debut by reaching the last eight in Paris, pushing Serena to three sets. Venus Williams also made her return to the Top 10 on the back of her best French Open result since 2010, reaching the fourth round.
Click here to check out the full WTA rankings as of June 6, 2016!