Cincinnati: Pliskova Interview
An interview with Karolina Pliskova after her win in the second round of the Western & Southern Open.
An interview with Karolina Pliskova after her win in the second round of the Western & Southern Open.
An interview with Garbiñe Muguruza after her win in the second round of the Western & Southern Open.
CINCINNATI, OH, USA – Angelique Kerber kept her bid to claim the No.1 ranking on track with a hard-fought win over Barbora Strycova in the third round of the Western & Southern Open on Thursday.
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Victory this week at the Lindner Family Tennis Center will see Kerber usurp Serena Williams and rise to the top of the rankings for the first time in her career, and she moved one step closer to that goal by edging past Strycova, 7-6(5), 6-4.
“It’s always tough to play against Barbora – we’ve had a lot of tough matches in the past – but I just tried to stay aggressive at the important moments and I’m really happy with how I played at the end,” Kerber said.
By her own admission, Kerber has been something of a late bloomer – she did not win her first silverware or break into the Top 10 until her mid-20s. However, just five months from her 29th birthday, she is playing the best tennis of her career.
“I’ve had a lot of ups and downs in my career, but I’m having the best year of my career and it’s still not over,” Kerber said. “It’s amazing what’s happened in the last few months – it’s just incredible!”
In January she stunned the tennis world by beating Serena to the Australian Open title, and after taking a while to come to terms with her achievement is now reveling in the limelight; at Wimbledon, she reached her second Grand Slam final, losing narrowly to Serena, following this up with a semifinal in Montréal and a silver medal at the Rio Olympics.
Making light of this hectic summer schedule, the German was her usual indefatigable self against Strycova, scurrying to track down a succession of seemingly lost causes. This application served her well in the opening set tie-break, drawing the errors then closing it out with a typically precise backhand pass.
Strycova continued to hold her own in the second set, but once again it was Kerber that won the points that mattered most, breaking in the penultimate game before confidently serving out.
Now she is only three wins away from becoming the 22nd player to scale the top of the rankings. While Serena may be absent, things are unlikely to get any easier in Cincinnati. The next obstacle comes in the shape of Carla Suárez Navarro, who earlier on overcame Roberta Vinci, 6-1, 7-5.
Pliskova Continues To Impress
The 11th-hour withdrawal of Serena has left the top half of the draw wide open. It is an opportunity Karolina Pliskova has grabbed with both hands, capitalizing on the fast surface to get some much-needed confidence ahead of the US Open.
Pliskova has endured a frustrating campaign, struggling to replicate the form that briefly took her into the Top 10 and threaten to the 2015 BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
On her day, the Czech has all the attributes to contend, her imperious serve complemented by dazzling power from the baseline, and against Misaki Doi, the lucky loser beneficiary from Serena’s injury, she finished strongly to run out a 7-5, 6-3 winner. The reward is a meeting with two-time major winner and No.7 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, a 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 winner over Timea Bacsinszky.
CINCINNATI, OH, USA – Angelique Kerber is gunning for the No.1 ranking in Cincinnati, but the German isn’t the only one with designs on the Western and Southern Open title. Chris Oddo previews Saturday’s semifinals right here at wtatennis.com.
Saturday, Semifinals
Center Court
[4] Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP #3) vs. [15] Karolina Pliskova (CZE #17)
Head-to-head: Pliskova leads, 2-1
Key Stat: Pliskova leads all players in the ace category in 2016 with 394 through her first three rounds in Cincinnati.
Karolina Pliskova had the upper hand on Garbiñe Muguruza when they met head-to-head in 2015, defeating her in Dubai and then again a month later at Indian Wells, but it is Muguruza who has proven to be more comfortable on the big stage since the pair last met. The Spaniard is a Grand Slam winner and a Top 5 player now, while Pliskova has still to reach the second week of a major. But don’t be fooled by the Czech’s lack of Slam success. The 24-year-old is progressing steadily and it’s just a matter of time before she has her day in the sun. Will it be Saturday? Pliskova will need to serve effectively to win for the third consecutive time against Muguruza, and she knows she’ll have to make more first serves than she did on Friday in her quarterfinal win over Svetlana Kuznetsova. She only managed a 44% first-serve percentage in her three-set win over the Russian, but was pleased to earn her second Top 10 win of the year nonetheless. “I can serve big in the important moments which is good, but I have to get high with the percentage,” Pliskova said. “Still happy with the serve. I think it’s still winning the matches for me, so still the biggest weapon.” Speaking of weapons, the powerful Muguruza is not lacking in that department. She knows she’ll have to use her full arsenal to change her fortunes against the dangerous Pliskova. “She’s playing well,” Muguruza said on Friday after defeating Timea Babos in the quarterfinals. “I think this surface helps her a little bit with her style of game.” Muguruza has been focused and in the zone all week, and it has shown on the scoreboard. She’ll take a confident air with her on the court and let the chips fall where they may. “I’m satisfied the way I’m fighting and my spirit and energy on the court, so hopefully I can keep this until the US Open,” she said.
Pick: Muguruza in two
[2] Angelique Kerber (GER #2) vs. [3] Simona Halep (ROU #4)
Head-to-head: Halep leads, 4-2
Key Stat: Kerber could ascend to the No. 1 ranking for the first time with the title in Cincinnati.
Two steps from a career-changing milestone, Angelique Kerber continues to wear the blinders and deflect all pressure about climbing to the top of the WTA rankings. “I’m not feeling more pressure, to be honest,” she said after coming back from a set down to defeat Carla Suárez Navarro in the sweltering Cincinnati heat on Friday. “I learned a lot from last tournaments and last matches about pressure, and when I put the pressure too much on myself, I mean, that’s not the way I would like to play my tennis.” Though Kerber struggled early against the Spaniard, she drew upon a reservoir of confidence and found her second wind to win on Friday. It’s been a recurring theme for the German, and as the wins pile up, the confidence grows. “I knew I’m really fit and I worked a lot in the last few months and years to go out and try to play matches like that,” she said. “Of course when you win the matches you have much more confidence and you can do it and turn around matches and go for three sets after you lose the first one. That gives me for sure more confidence also for the next challenges.” The challenge will be a big one on Saturday, as Kerber will square off with the scorching-hot Simona Halep. The Romanian notched her 13th consecutive win on Friday night, taking down Agnieszka Radwanska in straight sets, and she is playing her best tennis of the season at the moment. Like Kerber, Halep fell behind early but stormed to the finish, taking 13 of the final 15 games from Radwanska. Will Halep be able to continue her run and rain on Kerber’s parade in Cincinnati, or will the German edge ever closer to a colossal milestone?
Pick: Halep in three
By the numbers…
1 – Number of singles semifinalists still alive in the doubles draw (Pliskova and partner Julia Goerges face Martina Hingis and CoCo Vandeweghe).
20-2 – Halep’s record since the start of Roland Garros this year.
46 – Kerber’s 2016 win total – more than any other player on tour.
183 – Number of consecutive weeks that Serena Williams has held the No. 1 ranking, which is second-most all time behind Graf (186).
CINCINNATI, OH, USA – No.2 seed Angelique Kerber has looked better and better throughout a tough week at the Western & Southern Open, and stands just one win away from not only clinching her first Cincinnati title, but also the No.1 ranking.
Hear from Kerber and fellow finalist Karolina Pliskova, along with vanquished semifinalists Simona Halep and Garbiñe Muguruza, on their throughts from a wet and windy day in Cincinnati, and whether Kerber’s felt the burden of potentially becoming the oldest woman to ever debut atop the WTA Rankings:
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Highlights from final round action at the Western & Southern Open.
Roberta Vinci takes on Ana Konjuh in the second round of the Connecticut Open.
Johanna Larsson takes on Roberta Vinci in the quarterfinals of the Connecticut Open.
WTA Insider David Kane | World No.2 Angelique Kerber took some time to unwind in the city that started it all for the Australian Open champion.
NEW HAVEN, CT, USA – Sania Mirza and Monica Niculescu capped off their newly rekindled doubles partnership with their first title together at the Connecticut Open, edging past Kateryna Bondarenko and Chuang Chia-Jung 7-5, 6-4.
Watch live action from New Haven this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
The last time Mirza and Niculescu partnered up was way back in 2010, where they joined forces to reach the quarterfinals at the Western & Southern Open. They played that one tournament together before calling time on the partnership, but the pair have remained friends ever since.
So when Niculescu called Mirza last week asking them to team up again, it was inevitable that World No.1 Mirza would say yes.
“I asked Sania in Cincinnati,” Niculescu explained. “I had an idea maybe she wants to play here. I ask her. When she said yes, I was so excited. It seems we won the tournament, so I’m happy I asked her.”
“We know each other for a long time,” Mirza added. “Also our games kind of suit each other, so you have that confidence. I think it helped we got a couple first easy matches in terms of the way we played. We kind of found our rhythm almost immediately.”
The newly minted pairing opened their Connecticut Open campaign with a commanding straight sets win over American wildcards Alison Riske and Louisa Chirico, then overpowered regular duo Darija Jurak and Anastasia Rodionova in straight sets. They faced a close fight against the No.3 seeded Andreja Klepac and Katarina Srebotnik, squeezing out a comeback, 2-6, 6-3, 10-8, to make it to the final.
“It’s always nice to have the week before a Grand Slam where you’re able to ease up,” Mirza explained in post-match press. “We go to New York and there’s so much happening there. Here you have nice restaurants and even though we’re in the city, you feel quite quiet around here.
“I was actually not planning on completely playing this week. But when Monica asked me, I thought we could obviously win together.”
Despite winning a title on their first tournament back together, they both made it clear that this partnership is just for the short term and both will return to their regular partners in time for the US Open.
“I play with Barbora Strycova,” Mirza assured.
“I play with Vania King,” Niculescu added. “That’s why I said I hope it’s not the last time we going to play together.”
CHAMPS! Mirza/Niculescu win the #CTOpen16 doubles title 7-5, 6-4 over Bondarenko/Chuang pic.twitter.com/Yi8WMVeUxX
— Connecticut Open (@connecticutopen) August 27, 2016