Tennis News

ISTANBUL, Turkey – Unseeded Cagla Buyukakcay’s fairytale week at the TEP BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup came to a thrilling conclusion when the hometown favorite recovered from a set down to defeat No.5 seed Danka Kovinic, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.

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“It’s an incredible week for me to win the title at home, to break into the Top 100 with this tournament, to play against someone with my crowd,” she said after the match. “It was an amazing atmosphere today. I was playing better and better every day, but of course every day is another day, so I didn’t expect to win at the beginning of the week. I’m so excited and so happy for today.

“It’s an amazing feeling. Of course, I was always dreaming to play well in Grand Slams, to win titles at big tournaments. This is a tournament I’ve been playing since 2005, when I was 15, and I saw the best players at this tournament when I was young. So I dreamed of winning the title since then; it’s very special for me.”

Set to crack the Top 100 for the first time in her career, Buyukakcay was making history with every win this week in Istanbul, becoming the first Turkish woman to reach a WTA semifinal, then a final, and against Kovinic, the first Turkish WTA titlist in history.

“You’re a great person, a great friend, and a great player,” she said in her on-court acceptance speech, addressing Kovinic. “I’m sure you have much more to achieve in your career.”

In front of an enthusiatic home crowd, the 26-year-old gained revenge for her straight-sets loss to the Montenegrin two weeks ago at the Volvo Car Open, saving 10 of 12 break points faced during the two hour, 23 minute final.

“In the beginning of the set, I was feeling tired, but the crowd was cheering a lot, so I was trying to motivate myself too. In the second set, I told myself, ‘I don’t have anything to lose; I have to play more aggressively and better than in the first set. I have to take some risks.’

“I told myself, ‘Enjoy the time,’ because last year, when I was watching the ATP event, it was packed because of Federer. Today, I knew it would be packed because of me, and I told myself, ‘It’s such a big honor for me to pack a stadium.'”

Surviving several long games early in the decider, Buyukakcay looked on course to wrap up the match in decisive fashion when she raced out to 40-0 at 5-3, but treated the full house at the Garanti Koza Arena to a tense ending when she finally closed out her biggest-ever win on her fifth championship point.

“As I think everyone could see, I was really tired today,” Kovinic said after the match. “I really wanted to win this one, but it wasn’t enough because my body couldn’t follow my mind.

“In the end, I’m a bit disappointed but I wasn’t 100% fit today.”

Walking away with the runners-up trophy, Kovinic wasn’t done for the day; the 21-year-old was set to partner fellow No.3 seed Xenia Knoll in the doubles final later on Sunday; following a lengthy on-court concert, Kovinic was forced to withdraw due to a left hamstring injury, handing the title to hometown favorite in Ipek Soylu, the unseeded 20-year-old who reached the final alongside Romania’s Andreea Mitu.

You see their names on the scoreboard week in and week out, but how well can you spell out the names of the WTA’s top players?

We challenged Simona Halep, Garbiñe Muguruza, Karolina Pliskova, Belinda Bencic and Angelique Kerber to spell out the toughest names on the tour – from Mladenovic to Pavlyuchenkova and more.

How well did they do? Check out the video above to find out if they passed the WTA Spelling Quiz!

After a week of firsts at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup, Cagla Buyakakcay created one more piece of history on Monday morning by becoming the first Turkish player to break the Top 100.

Bizarrely, given her assured play when under the spotlight, Buyakakcay had never previously won a match at her home event – a run stretching back a decade. But roused by the partisan crowd, the 26-year-old reeled off five in six days to become Turkey’s maiden WTA title winner.

Long the standard bearer for tennis in her homeland, two years ago in Kuala Lumpur Buyakakcay became the first Turk to reach a WTA quarterfinal. However, despite solid showings on the ITF Circuit, a double-digit ranking – not to mention a Grand Slam main draw debut – had proven elusive.

Until now, that is: “I wanted to cry after the match, because it’s very important for Turkish tennis. I will be in the Top 100, which will be the first time for Turkish tennis. Probably, I will also be in the main draw at Wimbledon for the first time in my career – and also in Turkish history. So that’s why I was so emotional at the end,” said Buyakakcay, who rose from No.118 to No.82 thanks to her triumph.

“For this I was very motivated because of the crowd. And I was very happy that there were so many kids, too, as they were so excited and sharing my excitement.”

Buyukakcay, though, is not the only player on the rise:

Laura Siegemund (+29, No.71 to No.42): Stuttgart finalists Angelique Kerber and Laura Siegemund may be separated by just a couple of months in age, but until recently they have existed in different worlds on the tennis circuit. Should the latter continue her recent form, this may not be the case for much longer. At the Porsche Arena she upset former Grand Slam finalists Simona Halep, Roberta Vinci and Agnieszka Radwanska before running out of gas against Kerber. Her reward was a career-high payday, 330 ranking points and a Top 50 debut.

Danka Kovinic (+13 No.60 to No.47): Danka Kovinic grew up idolizing fellow Balkan girl Jelena Jankovic. While she has some way to go if she is to emulate Jankovic’s feats, the future is looking bright. In Istanbul, she avoided the upset beg sweeping round her fellow seeds to reach the final, a run that has catapulted her back into the Top 50.

Anastasija Sevastova (+10, No.96 to No.86): In Istanbul, Anastasija Sevastova continued her slow but steady re-ascent up the ranks with another solid week, knocking out No.8 seed Johanna Larsson before falling to Kateryna Kozlova in the last eight.

SINGAPORE – Down a set in her first-ever BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global semifinal, Dominika Cibulkova shifted into turbo to take out No.8 seed and story of the tournament, Svetlana Kuznetsova, 1-6, 7-6(2), 6-4. The win is guaranteed to take her at least up to a career-high ranking of No.6.

Read how the match unfolded in the WTA Insider Live Blog.

– Cibulkova hit through the occasion, and the pressure.

Familiar to big stages, the Slovak once struggled to maintain an aggressive mindset at the finish line of high-stakes encounters; it was just six months ago that she narrowly lost back-to-back three-setters to Agnieszka Radwanska and Garbiñe Muguruza in Indian Wells and Miami.

But Cibulkova’s mental evolution has been on full display in Singapore, and the No.7 seed resolved to play positive tennis, win or lose.

A “Come On” instead of a “POME”, but it still means the same for @Cibulkova. One game away! #WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/iL2afsB1dj

— WTA (@WTA) October 29, 2016

“I ended the second set really, really well,” she said after the match. “I was hitting full power and everything and I was going for it. I knew there is no other way than to go for it. I managed to put the balls in.”

Winning the last five matches against Kuznetsova made her a heavy favorite, especially considering the amount of matches the Russian had to play just to get to Singapore, let alone the semifinals. But Kuznetsova came roaring out of the gate, hitting nine winners to take the first set in 33 minutes.

“She was putting the pressure after my serve, because my percentage was really low and she was putting so much pressure from the second serve return.

“I knew I had to start serving better, I had to be the one being more aggressive on the court. I had to play my game, to be in on my forehand and to go for my shots.”

Cibulkova had caught the always-aggressive Kuznetsova’s winner total of 27 by match’s end, all the while keeping her unforced error count lower than the No.8 seed (31 to 35). Through a high-quality match, she took control when it mattered most.

“Today I managed to stay in the match, even [when] she was playing really, really good and she was overplaying me in the first set.”

A lovely dropshot from @Cibulkova. #WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/an8wDqduDD

— WTA (@WTA) October 29, 2016

– Kuznetsova let distractions get the best of her.

The Russian made it through two of the tensest weeks in her career to find herself in her first semifinal in Singapore. From a break down in the third, she won four straight games and appeared on course to replicate the form that took her through the first set.

But something wasn’t right. She spoke with umpire Kader Nouni during the changeover after breaking Cibulkova’s serve in the fifth game; Nouni assured her the issue – whatever it was – wasn’t falling afoul of the rules. She proceeded to lose the final four games of the match. 

“Overall I was frustrated for other thing which I thought was a little bit unprofessional,” she said afterwards.

A red-eyed Kuznetsova came to press unwilling to specify the source of her distraction, but seemed to imply she took exception to noises coming from Cibulkova’s camp.

“She was OK,” she said when asked whether player or team caused any problems.

Ultimately, the two-time Grand Slam champion refused to blame the moment for the loss, chalking defeat up to tactical errors in the final stages of the match.

“Dominika played really good. She was really aggressive. I was short on some shots, and in the end I think she just was aggressive, and I was not.”

Still, it was a revelatory season for Sveta, who plans a well-deserved vacation after a hectic schedule through the Asian Swing.

“I’m just thinking about vacation right now and just letting [today’s loss] go. I have to go to bed and sleep, not to think about the matches, not to be nervous all the time. For the last five weeks, it was every single day I was thinking about the next day to play another match.

“So I’m dreaming of being able to relax, relax the nerves, and then I just want to have a good pre-season, and next year just to be consistent. I think I [have] got lots of confidence after finishing the year like this. I think I can do a lot of the things.”

– Cibulkova believes the best is yet to come.

Cibulkova hails from a generation that includes Grand Slam champions and former No.1s like Petra Kvitova, Victoria Azarenka, and Caroline Wozniacki. But it’s taken longer for the Slovakian dynamo to meet the expectations set by her cohort, something she blames on a lack of self-belief.

“I never saw myself as that good, or maybe not as a consistent player. He made me believe it.  He had examples and I started to believe in myself much more.”

Saturday’s win puts her up to a career-high of No.6, but Cibulkova could finish the week inside the Top 5 – a ranking threshold that doesn’t faze the 27-year-old.

The on-court interview from @Cibulkova after an amazing victory! #WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/qYzxlwn9Kf

— WTA (@WTA) October 29, 2016

“Right now if I’m going to be deeper than Top 10, I’ll really believe I belong there. That’s most important thing: you have to be convinced that you belong there. Then it works.”

She’ll certainly hope it works in Sunday’s final against Angelique Kerber, a match that comes just shy of three years from her first major final at the Australian Open.

“That time I was new, and playing your first Grand Slam final was really tough. I’m happy I have this experience; for me to go on the finals in Australia, I was trying to do my best but I wasn’t convinced I could really win.

“With this experience now I’m a different player. Tomorrow I will go there and just want to win.”