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Insider Notebook: Robson Returns

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

– Day 2 Results: Christina McHale pulled off the most notable upset of the day, beating No.41 Caroline Garcia ,6-4, 6-4, to advance to the second round. Meanwhile, three wildcards made good on their opportunities, as Lauren Davis beat Nao Hibino, 6-2, 6-4, Zhang Shuai beat Pauline Parmentier via retirement, and Shelby Rogers gutted out a 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 win over Mariana Duque Mariño.

– More winners: Daria Kasatkina (d. Hantuchova), Monica Puig (d. Lucic-Baroni), Eugenie Bouchard (d. Ozaki), Tsvetana Pironkova (d. Vekic), Camila Giorgi (d. Goerges), Magdalena Rybarikova (d. Robson), Margarita Gasparyan (d. Govortsova), Zarina Diyas (d. Loeb), Yanina Wickmayer (d. Hercog), Madison Brengle (d. Doi), Denisa Allertova (d. Cetkovska).

– Laura Robson ready to move on: Robson lost to Rybarikova in the first round but there were encouraging signs in the loss. The former British No.1 says she’s been pain-free since January, the longest pain-free stint of her two-year battle with a left wrist injury that required surgery.

“It’s been the hardest thing for me to translate what I’ve been doing on the practice court to matches so I was pretty happy with that and everything else can definitely be worked on,” Robson said. “[Get back to] feeling confident enough in the rally to move up in the court, finish shots with volleys, drive volleys, getting that variation in my game. Obviously the forehand was a bit messy, but it’s all stuff that can be improved. That’s the good thing about it. As long as I’m healthy I can train as much as possible and get as much work in.”

Ranked No.551, Robson used her protected ranking to get into the main draw in Indian Wells and will use the rest of her protected ranking allotments through the first week of the grass season.

“My protected runs out in Eastbourne so I’d kind of be an idiot not to use them all before then,” Robson said. “As much as I’d like to get more matches in at the qualifying level it would be a waste not to use them. So I plan to play virtually all the clay season, Paris, and I think I’ll have one left for the first week on grass.”

A junior champion at Wimbledon at 14, the 22-year-old Brit rose to a career-high No.27 in 2013 before injuries began to take hold. Now she says she’s ready to embark on her “second career”.

“The best advice I was given was from Nick Saviano and he said I have to let the past go, in a way,” Robson said. “I can’t keep trying to have the exact same things in my game that I had before. It’s essentially a new career with a more experienced self. When I was playing at the 25 level and everything before I didn’t have years of experience behind me. So I’m lucky to get this second chance but I can’t keep thinking, ‘Oh but I used to be able to hit my forehand like this.’ That’s just not healthy.”

– Belinda Bencic turns 19: How about this photo:

– Eugenie Bouchard’s emotional win: Bouchard had a tough turnaround, flying from Kuala Lumpur after the final on Sunday to land in Los Angeles at 11am on Monday. With photoshoot and sponsor obligations to fulfill, it’s been sleepless leadup for her with minimal practice. But she battled past Japanese qualifier Risa Ozaki to win, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, and set up a second round meeting with Sloane Stephens.

“I definitely felt out of sorts on the court,” Bouchard said. “At times I felt like my tennis was awful out there. But I just tried to put that aside and keep trying to play, keep trying to play, and slowly things kind of turned around. I just tried stay in there, really.”

“I felt more emotional than usual. I felt a bit weird and off on the court. It’s one of those days. It was a difficult turnaround and a rough couple of days.”

– Readying for Venus’ return: Venus Williams returns to the BNP Paribas Open for the first time in 15 years on Friday. ESPN rounds up a variety of reactions to her decision to come back to Indian Wells.

– Steffi Graf backs Serena: Graf told AFP she’s fully prepared for Serena to break her record of 22 major titles.

“I follow it somewhat but this is somebody else’s chance and I’m happy for them. It doesn’t take anything away from what I have achieved. I’m completely at ease.”

– All hail Sania Mirza: The doubles No.1 gets the cover of Indian magazine Just For Women.

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Radwanska Rallies Past Strycova, Olympic Champ Puig Next In Tokyo

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

TOKYO, Japan – No.2 seed and defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska was one game from elimination against the always-dangerous Barbora Strycova, but the Pole turned things around to advance into the quarterfinals of the Toray Pan Pacific Open, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.

Watch live action from Tokyo this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

“The first match is always tricky, especially at a really strong tournament like here,” Radwanska said in her on-court interview. “You’re playing someone in the Top 20, Top 30, so it’s never easy. I’m just very happy with that match; it wasn’t easy, but I was just better in a couple of points.”

Radwanska last played Strycova at the French Open, where the former World No.2 survived a three-setter on the terre battue, and it quickly became clear it would be a similar struggle on Wednesday as the Czech veteran raced out to a 5-1 lead in the second set despite dropping the first.

“I’ve known her for a long time, so I know she’s a great player with great hands. She can do everything on court, with great touch and is very often at the net. She made some incredible shots, so I’m very glad the last point was mine!”

Strycova is in the midst of a career-best season after reaching the final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and came into Tokyo just two spots shy of her career-high ranking of No.19 – earned in late August. Thrice up a break in the decider, she served for the match at 5-4, but Radwanska gamely broke back and saved break points of her own in the next game to engineer victory in two hours and 16 minutes.

“I know it’s late but thank you for staying. Hopefully I will see even more of you the day after tomorrow!”

It is sure to be quite a quarterfinal match-up come Friday as the No.2 seed is set to take on Olympic tennis event champion Monica Puig; the Puerto Rican knocked out former Tokyo champion Petra Kvitova in three sets to earn her best result since becoming her country’s first-ever Olympic Gold medalist. Former World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki also looms as a possible semifinal opponent, making the fight for the Toray Pan Pacific Open trophy likely a photo finish.

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