Acapulco: The Player Party
Watch Belinda Bencic, Andrea Petkovic, Kristina Mladenovic and more WTA stars glammed up for a night out in Acapulco at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel Player Party!
Watch Belinda Bencic, Andrea Petkovic, Kristina Mladenovic and more WTA stars glammed up for a night out in Acapulco at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel Player Party!
STUTTGART, Germany – Reigning Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber won her second title of the season at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, dispatching qualifier and countrywoman Laura Siegemund, the tournament’s Cinderella story, 6-4, 6-0.
Watch live action from Stuttgart & Istanbul this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
Siegemund had played inspired tennis throughout the week, taking out three Top 10 players – including top seed and World No.2 Angieszka Radwanska – and showed few signs of stopping from the outset of Sunday’s final, twice moving ahead by a break in the opening set.
But Kerber has only lost one completed match since Indian Wells (Miami Open, Azarenka) and continued to press her opponent, who was playing in her first WTA singles final, into increasingly more grueling rallies – exposing her fatigue from eight matches in nine days and a left hip issue for which she took a medical timeout early in the second set.
Though Siegemund finished the match with more winners (22 to 16), Kerber played her counterpunching style to perfection, hitting just nine unforced errors in 80 minutes to win the final 10 games of the match.
It was nonetheless a stellar week for the 28-year-old veteran, who will bound up nearly 30 spots to a career-high ranking of No.42; more importantly, she leapfrogs four of her compatriots to become the No.4 German woman on the WTA rankings – putting her in pole position to round out the national team who can be sent to the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Kerber remains at No.3, but her title in Stuttgart was not only her first career title defense, but the win makes her the fastest player to back up a maiden Grand Slam title since Petra Kvitova, who won the Generali Ladies Linz three months after capturing her first Wimbledon title in 2011.
The doubles final took place less than an hour later, featuring Top 2 seeds, Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza against Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic.
Vroom, Vroom ??@AngeliqueKerber enjoys a ride in her new @Porsche! #PTGP https://t.co/BspFDdO9QX
— WTA (@WTA) April 24, 2016
More to come…
Kristina Mladenovic has Wednesday’s shot of the day at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel.
Highlights from quarterfinal action at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
The 2016 Aces For Humanity campaign was launched by USANA and the WTA at the BNP Paribas Open and continued in Stuttgart at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, where every ace hit by a WTA player at Premier-level events translates into a donation to the USANA True Health Foundation, whose mission is to provide the most critical human necessities to those who are suffering or in need around the world. For every ace hit by any player the WTA donates $5, and for every ace hit by a USANA Brand Ambassador, it’s $10.
USANA Brand Ambassadors Eugenie Bouchard, Samantha Stosur, Kristina Mladenovic, Madison Keys, Sloane Stephens, Monica Puig, and Zheng Saisai.
Read more about the campaign here and see below to find out who’s hit the most aces so far!
#AcesForHumanity Fan Giveaway
It’s simple: before each WTA Premier tournament guess how many total aces will be hit.
Next up is the Mutua Madrid Open in Madrid. Last year there was a total of 400 aces hit. It’s now your turn, take your best guess of how many will be hit this year.
How To Enter:
• Follow @WTA and @USANAFoundation on Twitter and before each WTA Premier tournament tweet the number of aces you predict will be hit during the whole tournament (Singles, Main Draw)
• Include the hashtag #AcesForHumanity
• Madrid deadline is May 1st at 11:59pm ET
• The winner will be announced May 9th
Aces For Humanity is a joint WTA and USANA initiative that benefits the USANA True Health Foundation, which provides critical human necessities to those in suffering or in need around the globe.
For full rules on how to enter, click here.
RABAT, Morocco – No.2 seed Ekaterina Makarova grabbed the first win of her clay court campaign, advancing into the second round of the Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Alexandra Dulgheru.
Watch live action from Rabat & Prague this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
The international-level tournament is the WTA’s lone stop in Africa, and has been staged in several cities in Morocco including Casablanca, Fes, Marrakech and finally Rabat.
Makarova, a former Top 10 player who reached the final in 2009 at the tournament’s Fes staging, had little trouble against the Romanian. Dulgheru has struggled recently and hasn’t won a match since January, but she owns the head-to-head record against Makarova with two wins in both of their previous encounters.
The match started out with five breaks of serve in the first six games, and Makarova scoring the lone hold to get ahead at 3-1. The Russian fought off three break points to keep the lead at 5-3, and stayed steady to close out the first set. Makarova cruised in the second set and closed out the match after one hour and thirty-six minutes.
No.5 seed Timea Babos – a finalist last year in the tournament’s Marrakech staging – had a tougher road to the second round, surviving a rollercoaster second set to advance 6-3, 6-7(8), 6-1.
A pair of seeds weren’t so lucky, as No.3 Anna Karolina Schmiedlova and No.6 Annika Beck were sent crashing out of the first round. Kiki Bertens dropped just one game in her 6-0, 6-1 romp over Schmiedlova, and Teliana Pereira eased into the second round with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Beck.
No.1 seed Timea Bacsinszky will wrap up Rabat’s first round action tomorrow when she takes the court against Russian wildcard Anna Blinkova.
PRAGUE, Czech Republic – Lucie Safarova returned to winning ways by battling past Mariana Duque-Mariño at the J&T Banka Prague Open on Tuesday afternoon.
Watch live action from Prague & Rabat this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
Since returning from the bacterial infection that blighted the end of her 2015 campaign and forced her to skip the Australian Open, Safarova has found wins hard to come by. In fact, the Czech had fallen at the first hurdle at all five tournaments since making her comeback.
When she dropped the opening set to Duque-Mariño, another disappointment looked on the cards. However, perhaps buoyed by the home crowd, the No.2 seed fought back to complete a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory in a fraction over two hours.
“I’m so happy because this is my first win this year in singles and obviously it means a lot,” Safarova said. “I was trying to be positive after coming back from this long sickness, but obviously it’s about the wins. That’s why I was so excited.”
Having dropped the first set, Safarova began her comeback midway through the second, a sliding drop shot in response to a net cord bringing the decisive break. She carried this momentum into the decider, breaking once more when Duque-Mariño sent a tired backhand long. The Colombian had her chances to get back into the contest, seeing several chances to draw level slip by in the sixth game as a relieved Safarova held on.
“I fought so hard and it wasn’t easy – I lost the first set but came back well in the second and played really well in the third,” Safarova added. “I hope to continue to play well here because the crowd was fantastic. It’s so nice to play in front of your home crowd and hopefully I can continue to do so for some more matches.”
Fellow Czech Lucie Hradecka is next up after she saw off doubles partner Andrea Hlavackova, 6-4, 6-1.
Victories for Barbora Krejcikova, Barbora Strycova and 2015 champion Karolina Pliskova provided further cheer for the locals on another chilly day. Pliskova began the defense of her title with a straightforward 6-, 6-3 win over Stefanie Voegele, while Strycova saw off Olga Govortsova, 6-3, 7-5, and lucky loser Krejcikova made the most of her second chance by upsetting No.7 seed Dominika Cibulkova, 6-2, 6-2.
ATLANTA, GA, USA – Venus Williams and Eugenie Bouchard will play an exhibition match at the BB&T Atlanta Open, an ATP 250 event, which takes place on hard court in Atlantic Station on July 22-30. The two players will take to the court in the women’s exhibition evening session on Stadium Court on Sunday, July 23.
“Atlanta has such a rich sports and tennis tradition and it’s been over 10 years since I’ve had a chance to play a match there,” said Williams. “I’m looking forward to hopefully playing in front of a big crowd that is also an enthusiastic tennis audience.”
Williams and Bouchard have played twice before with the head-to-head currently tied at 1-1. The American won their first meeting on hard court at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo in 2013 while the Canadian took victory in their most recent encounter, at the Volvo Car Open on clay at Charleston in 2014. Both matches were extended to three sets.
“It’s exciting having the great American champion Venus Williams make her first trip to Atlanta in almost 15 years. She’s an inspiration to tennis fans and players around the world,” said Tournament Director Eddie Gonzalez. “Genie Bouchard is the perfect opponent for Venus, and Atlanta tennis fans will enjoy the professional brand of women’s tennis.”
Tennis legend @Venuseswilliams to play @geniebouchard in exo at #BBTAtlantaOpen!
More: https://t.co/RgRLcMIjNT
?️ https://t.co/nf1e7dae07 pic.twitter.com/XB9DwwjPhh— BB&T Atlanta Open (@BBTatlantaopen) March 6, 2017
PRAGUE, Czech Republic – Lucie Safarova saw off Fed Cup teammate Karolina Pliskova in two tight sets on Friday to reach the final of the J&T Banka Prague Open.
Watch live action from Prague & Rabat this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
After taking a tight opening set, No.2 seed Safarova came from a break down in the second to complete a 6-4, 7-6(4) victory.
In the final she will face Samantha Stosur, after she profited from the last-minute withdrawal of top seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.
More to follow…
It’s time to vote for February’s WTA Player of the Month!
Have a look at the nominees and cast your vote before Thursday at 11:59pm ET! The winner will be announced Friday, March 10.
February 2017 WTA Player Of The Month Finalists
Kristina Mladenovic: The Frenchwoman’s star reached its highest peaks yet in February, kicking off the month with her maiden WTA title at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy. Mladenovic ended February in another final, finishining runner-up at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel. In between, she scored her first Top 5 win of the season against Karolina Pliskova at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
Karolina Pliskova: Speaking of Pliskova, the Czech powerhouse continued her winning ways, becoming the first woman to win multiple titles in 2017 at the Qatar Total Open, where she battled past Dominika Cibulkova and Carolina Pliskova and won four matches in three days.
Elina Svitolina: Svitolina built up an impressive, unbeaten, 13-match winning streak in February, winning her fifth and sixth WTA titles at the Taiwan Open and in Dubai to take home the biggest trophy of her career. The Ukrainian, 22, scored back-to-back wins over former WTA World No.1 Angelique Kerber and Caroline Wozniacki to break into the Top 10.
2017 Winners
January: Serena Williams
How it works:
Finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com