Tennis News

KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan – Venus Williams booked her spot in the Taiwan Open final without dropping a set all tournament long, but the No.1 seed had to overcome a stiff challenge from Yulia Putintseva to get there.

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At the start, it seemed like the match was going to be smooth sailing for the American – Williams broke the No.3 seed early and rushed ahead to a 4-1 lead. But after some words from her coach during the changeover, Putintseva roared to life, winning four out of the next five games to level the score at 5-5.

They stayed toe to toe until a double fault and a mishit forehand from Putintseva gave Williams a break to close out the opening set at 7-5.

Williams and Putintseva started out the second set as evenly matched as they ended the previous one: they traded breaks and holds to keep the score tied at 2-2. But from then the errors began to creep up on Putintseva and Williams closed out the match 7-5, 6-3.

“What a tough opponent today,” Williams said of Putintseva after the match. “She has so much energy.

“It was very difficult to win, but I’m very glad to be in the final tomorrow.”

Awaiting Williams in the final is another opponent who has yet to lose a set: No.2 seeded Misaki Doi. Doi dashed Taiwan’s hopes for a home champion when she brushed aside local favorite Hsieh Su-Wei in commanding fashion, dropping just two games in the 6-0, 6-2 thrashing.

Tomorrow’s final will be the first time Williams and Doi will play each other.

“I’ve never played her before,” Williams said. “I have no idea what to expect.”

“But to be in the final you have to play well, so I’m sure to expect the best tennis from her.”

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia – WTA Doubles Co-No.1s Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza maintained their perfect start to 2016 – and their still-unbroken winning-streak – in the final of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy, winning their 40th straight match over Vera Dushevina and Barbora Krejcikova, 6-3, 6-1.

Dropping just one set through four more victories in Russia, “SanTina” are now within striking distance of surpassing the longest winning streak since 1990, when Jana Novotna and Helena Sukova won 44 in a row; the reigning Wimbledon, US Open, and Australian Open champions still have a way to go to break the ultimate record of 109 – held by Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver in 1983.

“We’re obviously very happy to win another title but now that we’re coming closer and closer to the next target of 44, we can’t help but think about,” Mirza said after the final. 

“But it’s not something we really want to think about; we’re really excited ot be at 40! We didn’t think in our wildest dreams that this was going to happen. I think I can speak on behalf of both of us that we’re going to play every match on merit and try to get to 44.”

Hingis and Mirza were the talk of the pressroom during their week in St. Petersburg, and though they’re trying not to look too far ahead, Mirza hopes to be back next year to defend their title.

“I definitely think it’s an amazing tournament, and I feel the hospitality made it so comfortable. I also think you should give them especially because it’s the first year of the tournament, and to put up such a tournament any year is never easy, so I’d love to come back.”

Top seed at the St. Petersburg ladies Trophy, Belinda Bencic not only walked away with the runner-up trophy to 2015 US Open finalist Roberta Vinci, but the Swiss star became the 116th player in WTA history to make her Top 10 debut.

With her semifinal win over former junior rival and fellow ranking mover Daria Kasatkina, Bencic moved up to No.9 in the world less than three years after capturing back-to-back junior Grand Slam titles at the French Open and Wimbledon, and a little over two years after her WTA-level breakthrough at the 2014 US Open, where she upset former No.1 Jelena Jankovic to reach the quarterfinals.

With six different players made their Top 10 debut in 2015, Bencic is the first to do so this year, and the youngest by four years to join a club where the average age is 26.7.

Bencic is also the fifth Swiss woman to earn a Top 10 WTA Ranking, joining Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere, Martina Hingis, Patty Schnyder, and Timea Bacsinszky – who entered the Top 10 last fall. While Maleeva-Fragniere cracked the Top 10 in May 1984 while representing Bulgaria; she later changed nationalities in 1990 when she was also ranked in the Top 10.

In the last 20 years, 10 players have made their Top 10 debut before their 19th birthday:

Who else made great strides last week in St. Petersburg and Kaohsiung?

Daria Kasatkina (+18, No.63 to No.45): Despite losing to Bencic in the semifinals, the 2014 French Open junior champion continues her stellar start 2016, taking out Kirsten Flipkens and Dominika Cibulkova to break the Top 50 for the first time in her young career.

Hsieh Su-Wei (+16, No.81 to No.65): The two-time doubles Grand Slam champion and former World No.23 in singles had an impressive week at the Taiwan Open, reaching the semifinals and losing to eventual champion Misaki Doi.

Laura Siegemund (+10, No.87 to No.77): Out to prove her run to the third round of the Australian Open was no fluke, the German veterean pulled off a dramatic upset over Kristina Mladenovic to reach the round of 16 in St. Petersburg as a lucky loser.

Misaki Doi (+9, No. 61 to No.52): The woman that nearly derailed eventual Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber in the first round, Doi reached the final in Taiwan, pushing Venus Williams in a hard-fought opening set en route to a career-high ranking.

Anastasija Sevastova (+8, No.103 to No.95): The comeback continues for the former World No.36, who returned to tennis at the start of 2015 after nearly two years away; Sevastova returns to the Top 100 for the first time since January of 2012.

DUBAI, UAE – Caroline Garcia booked the first spot into the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships semifinals after a dominant win against Andrea Petkovic, 6-3, 6-4.

Into her career first Premier-level semifinal, 22-year-old Garcia continued turning promise into achievements as she took on the No.28 Petkovic, who had defeated her in both of her previous encounters.

“It was very difficult conditions, very windy,” Garcia said afterwards. “It’s never easy to play in these conditions so you have to be focused.

“I played pretty aggressive today but you have to against [Petkovic] – she’s a big fighter.”

Garcia broke early in the opening set to go up 3-1, staying toe-to-toe with the big hitting German. Petkovic’s serve, which had been ailing all match long, misfired at the worst time, producing three double faults to give Garcia set points before sending a forehand long to hand the French player the first set.

Garcia once again broke serve and consolidated quickly to start the second set with a 2-0 lead, but this time Petkovic fired back to stop the bleeding, breaking back and holding to level it out at 2-2. Garcia, a regular feature in the doubles draw, was deadly at the net and with her forehand, closing out the match at 6-4.

Petkovic’s second gave her plenty of trouble – she hit 10 double faults during the match – and Garcia masterfully exploited the weakness.

“That’s one where I was looking to improve, to put the pressure on my opponent, especially on her second serve,” Garcia said after the match. “She did some double faults so I tried to put a bit more pressure for those free points.”

In the second quarterfinal of the afternoon, Sara Errani came back from a set to down to defeat the resurgent Madison Brengle, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.

More to come…