Australian Open: Mattek-Sands/Safarova vs Chuang/Gibbs
Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova takes on Chuang Chia-Jung and Nicole Gibbs in the first round of the Australian Open.
Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova takes on Chuang Chia-Jung and Nicole Gibbs in the first round of the Australian Open.
An interview with Caroline Wozniacki after her win in the semifinals of the Toray Pan Pacific Open.
MELBOURNE, Australia – World No.2 Serena Williams kicked off her quest for a seventh Australian Open crown with a decisive 6-4, 6-3 victory over Belinda Bencic to ease into the second round.
“I think it was pretty good,” Serena said of the match in her post-match press conference. I mean, she’s a really good player. So I think I was able to start out well.”
Serena came to Melbourne with an outside shot of reclaiming the No.1 ranking from defending champion Angelique Kerber – the American must reach the final to remain in contention – but first had to take care of Bencic, a former World No.7 who had beaten her in their last encounter at the 2015 Rogers Cup.
“I feel like she definitely has a lot more power. Obviously she beat me in Canada the last time we played, but I really don’t remember much about that match.”
Bencic used that winning week in Canada as a springboard towards becoming the youngest Top 10 debutante since Caroline Wozniacki in 2009, but injuries almost immediately stunted her progress and caused her to be unseeded ahead of the Australian Open.
#Serena: “Right now I have nothing to lose. I get to travel the world and do what I do best.”
??❤️#ausopen pic.twitter.com/Sf0oOofSRe
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 17, 2017
Knowing this wasn’t a typical first round, Serena put on a solid display throughout the one hour, 21 minute match, though the affair was hardly without its hiccups. The 22-time Grand Slam champion drew first blood to earn a 3-1 lead, only to see Bencic fight back and hold onto level terms until the all-important tenth game, when Serena surged ahead to beak for the set.
The second appeared to be a foregone conclusion as the No.2 seed rode the wave of momentum out to 5-0, but Bencic had one last comeback in store, narrowing the lead to 5-3 before Serena sealed the deal on her second match point.
“I just wasn’t as aggressive as I was during those games. She started playing better. I made a few errors on some key points, but for the most part, I still was going for everything and I was able to close it out.”
Keeping her side of the stat sheet as clean as she could, the former World No.1 hit exactly 30 winners to 30 unforced errors; she looked especially strong on serve with eight aces to four double faults.
Up next for the six-time Australian Open champion is another former rival in Lucie Safarova, who saved a whopping nine match points to defeat Yanina Wickmayer, 3-6, 7-6(9), 6-1 to book a rematch of the 2015 French Open final.
“I knew I had to be really strong.” #Serena through to 2R #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/Z70iPL2JpH
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 17, 2017
Agnieszka Radwanska has Saturday’s shot of the day at the Toray Pan Pacific Open.
MELBOURNE, Australia – Former No.1 Venus Williams continued her progress at the Australian Open, moving into the third round in Melbourne for the 13th time in her career after a comfortable win over Stefanie Voegele.
In contrast to her grueling first-round battle against Kateryna Kozlova, Venus never really looked under pressure against Voegele, easing through in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2.
“Today was a good day, a little less hot first thing in the morning, so it was good to get it in, you know, and have a win early,” Venus told press after her victory.
The Swiss qualifier, ranked No.112 in the world, looked decidedly out of her depth on Rod Laver Arena against the former No.1. A tentative start from Voegele allowed the American to open with a double break of serve and rocket to a 3-0 lead.
With the early nerves out of the way, Voegele managed to grab one of the breaks back with a crisp backhand passing shot, but she wasn’t able to wrench the advantage out of Venus’ grasp. Venus stayed aggressive to wrap up the first set with ease, and continued her form into the second, breaking twice to seal the match in barely over 80 minutes.
The No.13 seed will face either Duan Ying-Ying in the third round after the Chinese player outlasted Varvara Lepchenko 6-1, 3-6, 10-8.
“I don’t know anything about her,” Venus admitted. “I have never seen her play. Zero, like zero. So I’m going to have to see how it goes.
“Like, maybe get a scouting report in the warm-up when we hit the five minutes and kind of see how it feels.”
This is Venus’ 17th appearance at the Australian Open – joint-most among active players, tied with her sister Serena Williams – and with No.4 seed Simona Halep out of the tournament in a first round stunner, Venus’ side of the draw gives her ample opportunity to continue on and make a deep run.
It's #Venus into 3R singles. 1R doubles starts today with sister #Serena #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/FncGAoqXru
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 18, 2017
WUHAN, China – In 2015 Garbiñe Muguruza arrived in China in the midst of a slump. She was compiling a breakthrough season, having made her first Slam final at Wimbledon a few months earlier, but the letdown during the North American hardcourt summer was severe.
China proved to be fertile ground for the Spaniard. It was this time last year that she hired coach Sam Sumyk after a disappointing exit at the US Open and the two went on to make the final at the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open, where she retired with a foot injury to Venus Williams, and then win her biggest title at the time at the China Open. That run served as a springboard for Singapore, where she romped to the semifinals in her BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global debut.
Muguruza’s 2016 season has seen similar, albeit with heightened patterns. In a season that saw her win her first major title at Roland Garros in May, the 22-year-old has struggled with her consistency ever since. She looked to be building momentum over the summer with a strong run to the semifinals of the Western & Southern Open, but a surprising opening round loss to Anastasija Sevastova in New York sent her back to the drawing board once again.
“That loss was tough for me,” Muguruza told reporters during Wuhan’s WTA All-Access Hour on Sunday. “I was sad about that match because I’m always very happy to be in a Grand Slam. That’s the tournament where I like to play and I’m really motivated there, but I played bad.
“I was too nervous. I wanted too much to win. I wanted [it] too much.”
Muguruza has worked hard over the last 12 months to control her negative emotions on court and has come to master an intimidating poker face. But don’t let it fool you. She’s roiling underneath the surface. “Sometimes I feel like there’s certain days where I look like she doesn’t look like maybe is super happy, but it’s because I want [it] too much, and it’s actually going the other way. So I think it’s as bad to want it too much than not to want it too much. It was tough for me.”
To the extent an early exit at a major can have a silver lining, Muguruza said the loss gave her more time to hit the practice court before the Asian swing. Now to see if it pays off. Ranked No.3 on the WTA rankings, Muguruza could face a tough opening test on Tuesday against either Guangzhou finalist Jelena Jankovic or the always dangerous Daria Gavrilova.
“This year I want to do everything I can so I can go on holiday happy,” Muguruza said. “I don’t want to have this on the back of my mind.”
“I feel nothing can be sad this year after winning a Grand Slam. No matter what happens for me, [it] is an incredible year already.”
Ni Hao Wuhan! ?? pic.twitter.com/WtUGbOzwQ5
— Garbiñe Muguruza (@GarbiMuguruza) September 25, 2016
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.
Caroline Wozniacki faces Donna Vekic in the second round of the Australian Open.
WUHAN, China – Irina-Camelia Begu was a point from elimination in the first round of the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open, but roared back to defeat Russia’s Elizaveta Kulichkova, 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-2.
Watch live action from Wuhan this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
Kulichkova is one of a trio of young Russians who made waves in 2016, reaching the third round of the Australian Open alongside Daria Kasatkina and Margarita Gasparyan and reaching a career-high ranking of World No.87. Injuries have curtailed her progress since, but the 20-year-old appeared poised for a big upset over Begu after taking the opening set and serving for the match at 5-3.
Begu broke back and recovered from match point down a few games later to level the match in a tense tie-break. Saving a whopping seven break points in the first game of the decider, the Romanian took control from there to clinch a spot in the second round after two hours and 32 minutes.
Up next for the World No.23 is countrywoman Simona Halep, who narrowly defeated Begu in three sets at the Mutua Madrid Open. Halep is set to play her first match of the Asian Swing after a hamstring injury forced her out of the Toray Pan Pacific Open.
Later in the day, Olympic Gold medalist and Tokyo quarterfinalist Monica Puig took on No.13 seed Roberta Vinci, but fell to the 2015 US Open finalist, 6-3, 6-3. Puig turns 23 this week after a stellar season that saw her become Puerto Rico’s first-ever athlete to win gold at an Olympic Games.
Around the grounds, Yaroslava Shvedova continued her own second-half season resurgence by dropping just four points in the opening set of a 6-0, 6-3 win over China’s own Zheng Saisai. Shvedova and partner Timea Babos could become the fourth team to qualify for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global should they win the title in Wuhan.
“Tennis Dance” performed in opening ceremony of the Wuhan Open, a WTA tournament of 2.4-million-dollar prize money pic.twitter.com/6o7TJXkeH7
— Xinhua Sports (@XHSports) September 25, 2016
Serena Williams discusses her performance in her second-round victory at the Australian Open.
The return of Caroline Wozniacki’s winning smile may be the tournament’s lasting image but the 2016 Toray Pan Pacific Open will also be remembered as Naomi Osaka’s coming out party.
While her talent has never been in doubt, the Japanese teenager has struggled to exhibit it as often as she would like. That all changed during her homeland’s flagship event, as Osaka dismantled Dominika Cibulkova and overpowered Elina Svitolina en route to her maiden WTA final.
Wozniacki – whose own feel-good story promoted her to No.22 – ensured there was no fairytale finish, but she was unable to stop Asian tennis’ star in waiting from becoming the youngest player inside the Top 50.
Many astute observers – including management group IMG – have been keeping a watchful eye on Osaka’s progress for some time. This year alone she has run both Simona Halep and Madison Keys close at majors, and the new World No.47 now looks to have the temperament to make the most of her spectacular shotmaking.
Osaka, though, was not the biggest mover in Monday’s new rankings…
Anastasija Sevastova (+5, No.35 to No.30): Although Sevastova was unable to repeat her US Open upset of Garbiñe Muguruza, by reaching the second round in Tokyo she secured a Top 30 debut.
Lesia Tsurenko (+27, No.80 to No.53): On the other side of the Sea of Japan, Tsurenko continued the form that took her to the second week of the US Open by dethroning Jelena Jankovic in the final of the Guangzhou International Women’s Open. It was the Ukrainian’s second WTA title and puts her just 52 points away from reclaiming a Top 50 spot.
Lara Arruabarrena (+29, No.90 to No.61): Last week’s other title winner, Arruabarrena, did it the hard way coming back from the brink against Louisa Chirico, then winning a rollercoaster final with Monica Niculescu. This ended a four year wait for a second WTA title and also brought a new career-high ranking.
