Miami: Caroline Wozniacki vs Sorana Cirstea
Highlights from Caroline Wozniacki’s clash with Sorana Cirstea at the Miami Open.
Highlights from Caroline Wozniacki’s clash with Sorana Cirstea at the Miami Open.
LINZ, Austria – Madison Keys weathered a mid-match storm to win Wednesday’s first-round match against Camila Giorgi at the Generali Ladies Linz and move one step closer to qualifying for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
By reaching the semifinals last week in Beijing, Keys put herself in the driving seat to claim one of the three remaining places in Singapore. However, with all her qualification rivals in action this week – and less than 100 points separating her from ninth-placed Dominika Cibulkova – work still needs to be done.
Against Giorgi she kept her end up, reeling off the final four games of the match to run out a 6-3, 6-4 winner. “Definitely feels good to get a win. Camila’s always a tough person to play – she really goes for her shots and hits a lot of winners out there. I feel really happy to get through to the second round,” Keys, who faces Misaki Doi next, said.
“I think I got a little bit passive and started letting her dictate the points a little, so I knew I had to step up and go out and play my game because she wasn’t going to give it to me.
With 280 points on offer to the champion, Keys’ hopes could lay in the balance even if she goes deep into the draw this week. Despite the high stakes, the American is cutting a characteristically relaxed figure in Linz, where the conditions are perfectly suited to her big game.
“It’s definitely a lot faster here, but it’s a good court and I definitely like playing on fast courts so I’m happy to be here,” she added.
Highlights of the third-round clash between Johanna Konta and Pauline Parmentier at the Miami Open.
LINZ, Austria – Forty-seven minutes was all it took for Madison Keys to swat aside Misaki Doi and book a place in the quarterfinals of the Generali Ladies Linz.
Keys received a last-minute wildcard into the tournament and has made the most of her opportunity. After seeing off Camila Giorgi in the first round, Keys was even more clinical against Doi, reeling off the final 10 games of the match to triumph, 6-2, 6-0.
This was the American’s 45th victory of a highly impressive campaign that has seen her reach the second week of all four majors and break into the Top 10. The next milestone could be looming: a place at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
She already stands on the cusp of qualification following a semifinal run at the China Open, and a similar showing in Linz, where she takes on Océane Dodin next, will all but guarantee her place.
Also looking to secure a spot in Singapore are Garbiñe Muguruza and Dominika Cibulkova, who were equally impressive in Thursday’s final two matches. Muguruza needed barely an hour to overpower Monica Niculescu, 6-1, 6-1, while Cibulkova swept aside Annika Beck, 6-1, 6-3.
“It was a fun match – it was actually tough, but fun – because it’s a different sort of opponent and I had to be really concentrated and calm, which I did,” Muguruza said. “I’m really happy with today – she’s such a different player, she can make you feel very uncomfortable so I just went for my shots.
“I knew how she was going to play against me, so I was just playing my game and I think it worked very well.”
Reigning champion Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova also advanced, although she was made to work slightly harder, recovering from a slow start to defeat Kirsten Flipkens, 6-4, 7-6(2).
Having trailed 4-1 in the opening set, a run of four straight games helped Pavlyuchenkova turned the match around and book a quarterfinal showdown with Cibulkova.
The defending champion @NastiaPav reaches the quarterfinal #generli #WTALinz #power pic.twitter.com/nzi3IuI1n5
— WTA Linz (@WTALinz) October 13, 2016
Highlights from Madison Keys’ matchup with Lara Arruabarrena at the Miami Open.
KEY INFORMATION:
Tournament Level: Premier
Prize Money: $768,000
Draw Size: 28 main draw/32 qualifying
Main Draw Ceremony: Saturday, October 15, 1 pm MSK
Qualifying Dates: Saturday, October 15 – Monday, October 17
First Day of Main Draw: Monday, October 17
Singles Final: Saturday, October 22, 1 pm MSK
Doubles Final: Friday, October 21, 1 pm MSK
MUST FOLLOW SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS:
@WTA
@WTA_Insider – WTA Insider, Senior Writer Courtney Nguyen
@KremlinCup_eng/@KremlinCup_ru – official tournament handles
WHERE TO WATCH:
Click here to find your local broadcast information for the VTB Kremlin Cup.
TOURNAMENT NOTES:
– The Kremlin Cup field is always filled with Singapore hopefuls, and this year is no different with three players still in contention for the remaining two spots in the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global: Dominika Cibulkova, Carla Suárez Navarro and Svetlana Kuznetsova.
– Kuznetsova took a last wildcard into her home tournament in Moscow in order to defend her title.
– Local players sometimes shy under the pressure of playing in front of a home crowd, but the Russians seem to thrive on it. For the past two years, Moscow has been won by a Russian player (Kuznetsova in 2015 and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in 2014) and even more impressive, at least one Russian player has reached the semifinals for the last nine of ten editions of the tournament.
WILDCARDS:
Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS), Anna Kalinskaya (RUS)
WITHDRAWALS:
Karolina Pliskova (low back injury), Sara Errani (breathing issues), Monica Puig (viral illness)
Venus Williams won a battle of WTA veterans against Svetlana Kuznetsova, wrapping up the Monday night session and snatching the final Miami Open quarterfinal spot.
HONG KONG, SAR – No.5 seed Caroline Wozniacki ended Jelena Jankovic’s title defense hopes in straight sets at the Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open.
Wozniacki came into the encounter with Jankovic locked at 5-5 in their head-to-head record, but it had been two years since their last match. The resurgent Wozniacki – who’s won 17 of her last 20 matches – was able to break the tie and win 6-3, 6-2.
“I was very happy with the way I played – I think it was high level, from both of us,” Wozniacki said in her post-match press conference. “Wins like this always give a lot of confidence. I’m really pleased that I was able to win in two sets.”
Wozniacki and Jankovic traded breaks twice during a tense opening set. But then Dane found another gear with her aggressive groundstrokes and rattled off eight consecutive games to take the opening set 6-3 and go up a double break in the second, 4-0.
Jankovic managed to get one of the breaks back to narrow Wozniacki’s lead, but the resurgent Dane had pulled too far ahead, and they stayed on serve until Wozniacki closed out the match after an hour and forty-three minutes.
Excited to be in to another finals tomorrow! One more to go! #HongKong #finalno42 pic.twitter.com/p3ZYGmKnJu
— Caroline Wozniacki (@CaroWozniacki) October 15, 2016
“I’m really happy to be in another final,” Wozniacki said. It’s been a good week, and obviously it’s going to be a tough one tomorrow but I’m excited to play.”
Regardless of the result in the final, Wozniacki has already declared her post-US Open campaign and rankings comeback a success.
“I think I can be very proud of myself and the way I managed to fight back [this season],” she reflected. “Before the US Open, I was almost 80 in the rankings, now I’m back near the Top 20. It’s a big step.
“I think most importantly I’ve been playing well and getting a lot of wins in. I think that’s something I’m very proud of, and something I haven’t been through before.
“Proving to myself that I’m still one of the top players and that I’m tough to beat – regardless of how I do tomorrow or in Luxembourg – is definitely something that I could call a success.”
She sets up a final against Kristina Mladenovic after the Frenchwoman ousted Daria Gavrilova – author of yesterday’s upset over World No.1 Angelique Kerber – in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3.
“It was a very difficult match, Dasha is a great player around the baseline and she’s very tricky,” Mladenovic said in her post-match press conference. “We saw her in the match against Kerber, and well, I thought it was a good fight for me out there and I’m very happy to win and be in the final in Hong Kong.”
Tuesday
Quarterfinals
[2] Karolina Pliskova (CZE #3) vs. [26] Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (CRO #29)
Head-to-head: Tied, 3-3
Key Stat: Pliskova and Lucic-Baroni have played three-setters in each of their last three meetings.
Mirjana Lucic-Baroni has already matched her total of Top 10 wins from the previous four seasons by notching three in 2017 and, on Sunday, the 35-year-old will try to make it four when she meets No.2 seed Karolina Pliskova in her first Miami Open quarterfinal.
Pliskova, who is in the Miami quarterfinals for the second time, knows it will be a challenge. She was knocked off by Lucic-Baroni in January, falling 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to the Croatian in the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, and their last three battles have all gone the distance.
“She’s always tough,” Pliskova told WTA Insider on Monday after easing past Barbora Strycova in straight sets. “She has a big game and it was close in Australia.”
The head-to-head points to a toss-up but Pliskova comes in as the favorite based on her ranking and the expectations she has set by becoming one of the most lethal players in the last 52 weeks. Now the No.1 Czech, Pliskova is expected to come through these types of matches and she certainly has the game to do it. But how can she keep her veteran opponent off balance so that her blistering groundstrokes don’t take over the match? It’s a task that has proved difficult for many this season and it will be interesting to see how Pliskova approaches playing Lucic-Baroni from a tactical perspective.
Lucic-Baroni, meanwhile, will approach the challenge of facing Pliskova’s game with no fear. She’s playing some of the best tennis of her life – why shouldn’t the fairytale continue?
“It’s always nice when you beat a top player and then beat them again not too long after, so it’s not a ‘fluke,'” Lucic-Baroni said last week in Miami after defeating No.5-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska for the second time this season. “I know people like to say stupid things sometimes. But I don’t pay attention to that. I know I can play some great tennis and that’s really all I care about doing.”
Pick: Pliskova in three
First #WTA Premier Mandatory Quarterfinal!
Mirjana Lucic-Baroni downs Mattek-Sands at @MiamiOpen! pic.twitter.com/h4SjEMPJj3
— WTA (@WTA) March 27, 2017
[12] Caroline Wozniacki (DEN #14) vs. Lucie Safarova (CZE #36)
Head-to-head: Wozniacki leads, 4-3
Key Stat: Wozniacki’s 21 victories in 2017 place her second on tour.
Caroline Wozniacki is back in the last eight of the Miami Open for the fifth time overall and the first time since 2014, and the Dane faces a former Top 10 player on the rise in Lucie Safarova. The Czech secured her first Top 10 win since 2015 when she defeated World No.4 Dominika Cibulkova on Monday in straight sets. If that doesn’t give you an idea of what type of form the 30-year-old Czech is in, consider this: Safarova’s 16 wins in the first three months of the season are already more than she had in all of 2016. She has yet to drop a set this week and has reached the Miami Open quarterfinals for the first time on her 12th career appearance.
Can the southpaw take it a step further and shut down Wozniacki on Tuesday? It will be a difficult task. Wozniacki has won three of her last four against Safarova and is running hot as she prepares to play her sixth quarterfinal of the season. The match will likely hinge on how well Wozniacki can implement her return tactics against Safarova’s serve. The Czech entered the tournament ranked fourth in percentage of service games won this season, while Wozniacki ranked No.6 in percentage of return games won.
Pick: Wozniacki in three
By the Numbers
4 – Number of wins that Lucic-Baroni notched at Miami from 1998 to 2016. She will try to win her fourth match of the 2017 tournament against Pliskova.
22 – Pliskova took over the WTA lead in wins for 2017 with her 22nd win on Monday.
9 – Number of times that Caroline Wozniacki has reached at least the quarterfinal in her last ten tournaments.
16 – Lucie Safarova’s 16 wins (16-6) in 2017 have already surpassed her win total for all of 2016 (15-18).
SINGAPORE – Madison Keys is set to make her debut appearance at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. As a result of her stellar performance throughout the Asian Swing, the American becomes the seventh player to qualify, joining Angelique Kerber, Simona Halep, Agnieszka Radwanska, Karolina Pliskova, Garbiñe Muguruza and Dominika Cibulkova in the star-studded singles field.
“I couldn’t be more excited to qualify for my first WTA Finals,” said Madison Keys. “I’ve worked harder than ever this year both on and off the court and I am happy that the hard work is paying off. I look forward to finishing my season strong in Singapore.”
Keys is enjoying a career-best season, breaking into the WTA Top 10 in June, and becoming the first American to enter the elite ranking bracket since Serena Williams in 1999. By advancing to the semifinals at the China Open, Keys reached a new career-high ranking of No.7 on Monday, October 10. The American won her second WTA title this year at the Aegon Classic Birmingham, as well as finishing runner-up at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, and Rogers Cup.
Other season highlights for the American include competing in her first Olympic Games, where she advanced to the semifinals, narrowly missing out on the bronze medal. She was one of just four players to reach the round of 16 at all of the Grand Slams this year, and advanced to the quarterfinals at the Miami Open and Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open.
The current Road to Singapore Leaderboard as follows (as of October 10, 2016):