Tennis News

BEIJING, China – World No.3 Agnieszka Radwanska captured her third title of the season on Sunday with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Johanna Konta to win her second China Open title. With a clean ace on match point, Radwanska capped off a dominant week, which saw her romp to the title without the loss of a set – the third time she’s done so this season.

Asia proves to be fertile ground once again for Aga.

Radwanska has no idea why she’s earned her best results in Asia. She has now won 10 of her 20 titles in the Asia-Pacific region, including the last eight finals she’s contested here. Last year her captured three titles in the fall Asian swing, including the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, and the trend has continued this season. She kicked it off this year with a run to the Toray Pan Pacific Open semifinals, followed that up with the quarterfinals in Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open, and now became the first woman to win Beijing twice since the tournament became a Premier Mandatory in 2009.

On the whole it’s been a frustrating season for Radwanska, who, after making the semifinals or better at five of her first six tournaments, made just one semifinal in her next 10 events, culminating in a surprise Round of 16 exit from the US Open to Ana Konjuh. To see her steel herself and get back to her winning ways in Asia is great to see.

“Seriously, the Asian swing is really the toughest for everyone, me as well,” Radwanska told WTA Insider. “But maybe because New York is not really for me so always I’m home a bit earlier and I have a bit of rest and I practice really hard to do good in Asia. There is always something good from losing earlier so maybe I’m just taking my chances here.”

Radwanska stepping up in finals.

With her Beijing win, Radwanska has now won her last six finals, dating back to her title in Tokyo last year. She can be vulnerable in the early rounds, as many top players can be, but once she gets to the business end of the tournament Radwanska has found a way to stay relaxed and play her best tennis. The most nervous Radwanska has ever been in a final came at Wimbledon in 2012, where she lost in three sets to Serena Williams. Every final after that has felt, at least emotionally, like a piece of cake compared to that.

“I think when you played couple of big ones, you go for the final like a normal match,” Radwanska told reporters. “I think this kind of feeling, it’s just helping you. When you too nervous, you want too much. It’s not really good. It’s not going your way. Sometimes the hand is shaking too much.

“I was relaxed pretty much from the beginning. I didn’t really feel any pressure. That’s why I could win that match in two sets.”

A happy Team Radwanska after @ARadwanska captures her third title of the season. #ChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/fVVK31yhay

— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) October 9, 2016

One step short, but progress made by Konta.

As Konta put it, she ran up against “the human wall” on Sunday. Radwanska gave her nothing, hitting just eight unforced errors in the match, and her defense kept the pressure on Konta, who fired 34 unforced errors in the match. She was able to muster just one break of Radwanska’s always vulnerable serve.

“Agnieszka, she was definitely a woman on a mission,” Konta told reporters. “Whenever I felt I could have got a little bit of a foothold in the match, she took it away from me. She played a consistently consistent match, to be honest. She hardly missed a ball. When she is so consistent and she moves the ball around as well as that, she’s very, very difficult to beat. So all credit to her.”

There’s no shame in losing to the No.3 player in the world and definitely no shame in what Konta was able to accomplish this week in Beijing. Making her tournament debut she knocked off two Top 10 players in gritty fashion, beating Karolina Pliskova in a third-set tiebreak and Madison Keys in another grueling three-setter. She will be the first British woman inside the Top 10 on Monday, ending a drought of 32 years, and she’s positioned herself well to qualify for her first WTA Finals if she can do well next week in Hong Kong.

Thank you @ChinaOpen for a week of unforgettable memories! Look forward to coming back and making many more. @ASICSUK @babolat #wantitmore pic.twitter.com/7t9jS1azbW

— Johanna Konta (@JoKonta91) October 9, 2016

Konta leaves Beijing at No.8 in the Road to Singapore leaderboard but the level-headed Brit insists she’s not too fussed about the qualifying chase. “The way that Singapore works, not all of it’s under my control. It also depends on how the other players do. From what I’m understanding and hearing, quite a lot of us are very close together. I think it will be what it will be once the deadline comes.”

Radwanska hits an elite milestone.

Not only did Radwanska’s third title of the season tie her with Angelique Kerber, Simona Halep, Sloane Stephens, and Victoria Azarenka with the most titles this season, but she became just the fourth player to have won three or more Premier Mandatory trophies. The other three women: Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka, and Maria Sharapova.

“The club is small because there’s not a lot of those tournaments,” Radwanska said. “It’s great to be a part of that group. It definitely feels like a small Grand Slam because everyone is playing it and it’s a big draw. I didn’t have a bye here. It’s a really tough week.”

????????????????????@ARadwanska​'s 20 #WTA Titles https://t.co/ir9KqNBo5a

— WTA (@WTA) October 9, 2016

Radwanska building steam towards Singapore.

Radwanska is currently entered in next week’s Tianjin Open, where she is the defending champion. Last year she won the tournament under pressure, needing the title to qualify for Singapore. This year she has far less pressure and can use the upcoming weeks to fine-tune her game and rest. She’ll arrive in Singapore refreshed and ready for her title defense.

“I think it’s more relaxed especially after a good three weeks,” Radwanska said. “I played a lot of good matches, I won a lot of matches against to players. Now it’s time to cool down and enjoy the matches and enjoy my tennis, and hopefully have a few days off.”

Hong Kong, SAR – No.2 seed Venus Williams eased into the second round of the Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Japan’s Risa Ozaki.

The No.2 seed suffered a slow start to the match. Forced to defend three break points in the opening game, a wild backhand handed the 22-year-old first blood. However, the veteran American soon struck back, levelling proceedings with a cross-court volley.

Ozaki proved to be a spirited opponent in the first set and moved up a break once more to take a 3-2 lead but again failed to consolidate her advantage, sending a forehand wide to allow Williams back into the set.

Williams finally moved ahead in the final game of the first set, with Ozaki sending a volley into the net on break point after valiant defensive play.

Firmly out of the traps, the 36-year-old cruised to victory in the second set, racing into a 3-0 lead after breaking thanks to another wayward volley from Ozaki. Williams’ advantage became all the more commanding after breaking once more, before wrapping up the match with a forehand winner.

“A win is a win,” Williams said after the match.

“She played really well with so many defensive shots, she was very competitive and she wanted to win. It didn’t matter to her that she was playing an opponent with much more experience.

“She really was motivated to win. I really respected her competitive spirit.”

Williams has played well in Asia of late, winning the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open and WTA Elite Trophy last year, as well as reaching the semifinals in Hong Kong.

Elsewhere, Alizé Cornet beat Varvara Lepchenko, 6-3, 6-2, Louisa Chirico scored a 6-2, 6-1 win over Lee Ya-Hsuan, Daria Gavrilova defeated Zhu Lin, 6-0, 6-2, and Aleksandra Krunic cruised past Luksika Kumkhum, 6-1, 6-0.

INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – Kristina Mladenovic is happy to have found a new doubles partner in the highly experienced Russian grand slam champion, Svetlana Kuznetsova.

It was something of a shock when Mladenovic announced that she and Caroline Garcia were putting an end to their doubles ambitions for the foreseeable future.

Mladenovic and Kuznetsova got their partnership off to the best of starts at the BNP Paribas Open, defeating Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Kveta Peschke 6-4, 6-1. They next face Andrea Hlavackova and Peng Shuai in the second round.

Svetlana and Kiki all happy and such.
They're moving on here in the desert. ?? pic.twitter.com/n6fxTc30EA

— Christopher Levy (@tennis_shots) March 9, 2017

The French pairing of Mladenovic and Garcia enjoyed no shortage of doubles success, winning the French Open in 2016 as well as being runners-up at the US Open later in the same year.

INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – Reigning French Open champion Garbiñe Muguruza came through a tense finish against Kirsten Flipkens, 6-2, 6-3, in her opening round match at the BNP Paribas Open. Up next for the No.7 seed is 17-year-old Kayla Day, who stunned Australian Open semifinalist Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in three sets.

“I think it was a difficult match,” she said during her post-match press conference. “I think she’s very talented and she can hit some critical shots and she can be tricky. I’m happy because it was not a first, easy match, like a first round. I don’t know. It was a big win for me, actually.”

Muguruza had split her first four meetings with the 2013 Wimbledon semifinalist, losing both of their meetings on grass. But hardcourts have proved more fertile ground for the Spaniard, who won her third straight match against her rival on concrete after 90 minutes on court.

.@GarbiMuguruza makes a flying start against Flipkens! #BNPPO17 pic.twitter.com/6H7n5UdXfv

— WTA (@WTA) March 10, 2017

“I think grass is a very tricky surface; you never know what’s gonna happen,” the 2015 Wimbledon runner-up said during her on-court interview. “I just played my game; sometimes she plays better, sometimes I do – that’s what tennis is! – but I played better today.”

Racing out to a set and 5-0 lead, things got more complicated from there as Flipkens forced her way into the second set. Ultimately, Muguruza broke through for the sixth and final time in the match, striking 24 winners to 28 unforced errors, and came to the net an impressive 33 times – winning 21 of those points.

.@GarbiMuguruza at her very best! #BNPPO17 pic.twitter.com/qLGNiLERle

— WTA (@WTA) March 10, 2017

“It’s always difficult to close out your first match. She’s a very talented player, unbelievable, with a very different game. I got nervous!”

Muguruza is making her fifth appearance in Indian Wells, and hopes to make the quarterfinals; her previous result came on her 2013 debut, when she reached the fourth round as a qualifier.

.@GarbiMuguruza picks up 10th win of 2017!

Downs Flipkens 6-2, 6-3! #BNPPO17 pic.twitter.com/sEqGkQHwFk

— WTA (@WTA) March 10, 2017

“I never know my expectations for the tournament. I believe every time I play the tournament I see myself holding a trophy, for sure. I want to believe I’m one of these women that can win the tournament.

“After that, I could lose in third round. I just want to go out there, my next match, and try to play well, try to do my game.”

What a win for the 17 year old!!@kaylaeday upsets Lucic-Baroni 6-4, 5-7, 7-5! #BNPPO17 pic.twitter.com/HQWlw3JoxY

— WTA (@WTA) March 10, 2017

Standing between her and a second round of 16 run is Day, the American teenager who survived No.32 seed Lucic-Baroni, 6-4, 5-7, 7-5.

“This means a lot to me,” Day told press. “I was really grateful to get offered this wildcard into the tournament, and it really means a lot that I can be able to see that I can play with some of the best players in the world.”

Lucic-Baroni retired from her last tournament due to a GI illness, but nonetheless served for the match in the final set.

“It was a really close match throughout the entire match. I think I started to really believe I could win at 6-5 in the third. It was still a really tough game, because I was a little bit tight to close it out. But my serve had been giving her a lot of problems, so I knew if I stuck to my game it might work out.”

Day turned heads last summer when she took home her first Grand Slam title at the US Open girl’s singles event, and withstood the Croat’s firepower to win the final four games of the match and book a meeting with Muguruza.

“She’s such a great player. I’m really excited to go out there and play her, one of the greatest in the game right now, so it should be really fun and a great experience for me.”