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Makarova & Vesnina Safely Into Singapore SFs, Hingis & Mirza Await

Makarova & Vesnina Safely Into Singapore SFs, Hingis & Mirza Await

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

SINGAPORE – No.4 seeds Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina withstood a late fightback to defeat Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka and take their place in the semifinals of the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.

Watch interviews and highlights from Singapore on the WTA Facebook page!

A break in the penultimate game of the match allowed the Russians to close out a 6-2, 7-5 victory, setting up a showdown with defending champions, Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza.

Makarova and Vesnina have been one of the form teams in the second half of 2016, winning Olympic gold and reaching the US Open semifinals, and their confidence was apparent from the off, threatening an immediate break with some typically forceful net play. In the end, the breakthrough owed more to good fortune, Hlavackova getting her feet in a muddle after Vesnina scraped a return back.

They made the most of this stroke of luck, forging ahead before Makarova closed out the first set with an ace down the middle.

The second set proved o be far more competitive. But just as a tie-break loomed, the gold medalists struck, Makarova swatting the ball away after wrong-footing Hradecka with the initial volley. Serving for the match, Makarova made no mistake, swinging a serve out wide on match point before calmly finding the open court.

“It’s bouncing so low, so we need to stay down and in the second set we had some tough moments,” Makarova said in her on-court interview with Andrew Krasny. “In the end, I said to Lena, ‘Let’s stay as low as we can all the time!'”

Runners-up three years ago, they will next take on the defending champions, Hingis and Mirza. Despite the high stakes, Vesnina is not envisaging a change in approach: “We’re obviously having fun on and off the court. Even if someone has a bad moment, we’re trying to support and it gives us so much help knowing we have this support.”

Official WTA Finals Mobile App, Created by SAP

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Hingis & Mirza Enjoy Reunion Victory, Ease Past Chan Sisters At WTA Finals

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

SINGAPORE – No.2 seeds and defending champions Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza won their first match as a pair since splitting in August, defeating Chan Yung-Jan and Chan Hao-Ching, 7-6(10), 7-5, to reach the semifinals at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global and help keep Mirza’s hopes of finishing 2016 at World No.1 alive.

Watch interviews and highlights from Singapore on the WTA Facebook page!

“It’s great to be back in Singapore,” Mirza said during their on-court interview. “It’s also great to be back with Martina, and it’s good to get that win.”

The team formerly known as “Santina” started the season as the team to beat, riding a 41-match winning streak into the Middle East Swing and winning their third straight Grand Slam title at the Australian Open. Splitting in August, Hingis and Mirza vowed to defend their WTA Finals crown at year’s end, and the two were true to their word come Friday afternoon.

“Our bond is what made us so strong, to win those tough points in the past,” Hingis said. “No matter how you play, or what’s happening on the court, you have to work through the tough moments and get the momentum going. It’s been two months since we were last on court together, and it was great to be back out there with Sania.”

Across the net were the Chan sisters, who came to Singapore having won their third title of the season at the Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open; a formidable team in their own right, they were the last team to beat Hingis and Mirza before they began their aforementioned winning streak, the longest since Jana Novotna and Helena Sukova’s 44 in 1990.

The Chans pushed the No.2 seeds into a tense first set tie-break, one that saw each team engineer three set points before the defending champions converted to take the opening set in just over an hour.

“They’re a really tough team and we’ve played them a bunch of times,” Mirza said. “But it was so important to win that first set. The momentum was in our favor after that, but it so tough and we had to stay mentally tough. I’m glad we got through.”

Edging ahead an early break in the second, Santina appeared on course for a straightforward victory before the No.6 seeds roared back from a 2-4 deficit, winning three games in a row to get within one game of a match tie-break.

Undaunted, Hingis and Mirza won the last three games to advance into their second straight semifinal in Singapore. Awaiting them in the final four will be either Olympic Gold medalists and No.4 seeds, Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina, or 2012 WTA Finals runner-ups Andrea Hlavackova or Lucie Hradecka.

Battle For Year-End No.1 Continues

Friday’s win keeps Mirza in the hunt to retain her No.1 ranking through the end of the season,

Mirza is up against top seeds Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic along with No.3 seed Bethanie Mattek-Sands, all of whom have a change to take the top spot. 

The French must go one round better than Mirza, while Mattek-Sands will have to win the title to unseat the Indian star.

Garcia/Mladenovic and Mattek-Sands (with partner Lucie Safarova) all advanced into the semifinals on Thursday.

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Brilliant Cibulkova Stuns Kerber To Win WTA Finals

Brilliant Cibulkova Stuns Kerber To Win WTA Finals

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

SINGAPORE – Dominika Cibulkova wrote the final chapter of a fairytale season by upsetting World No.1 Angelique Kerber to win the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.

Watch interviews and highlights from Singapore on the WTA Facebook page!

One week on from a painful opening night defeat to Kerber, Cibulkova gained revenge in spectacular fashion, powering to a 6-3, 6-4 victory in an hour and 16 minutes.

“I have no words, coming here for the first time, the biggest tournament of my life. I still don’t know how I won, I put the ball over the net and it went in; it’s the happiest moment of my life,” Cibulkova said in her on-court interview.

Dominika CIbulkova

Cibulkova dominated from the outset, bossing the baseline exchanges to romp through the first set. There was no let-up in the second, as the Slovak continued to attack anything remotely short with gusto.

At 3-3, the pressure paid off, the German firing wide to slip a break behind. For all the spectacular winners from the back of the court, arguably the most impressive aspect of the World No.8’s performance was her serve; a remarkable 83% first-serve percentage neutralized Kerber’s famed return game.

The only wobble came as she closed in on the biggest title of her career. Three match points came and went before Lady Luck intervened, the ball clipping the tape and dropping dead onto Kerber’s side.

“It wasn’t easy to go on the court after two losses but I was mentally very strong and I knew I played well in the first two matches, I was just a little bit unlucky. Then at the end I was lucky!”

The masterclass – which featured 28 winners and only 14 unforced errors – was a fitting end to a dramatic debut at the WTA Finals.

After falling in three sets to Kerber in her opening round-robin match, she was roundly beaten by Madison Keys to leave her hopes hanging by a thread. However, victory over Simona Halep in her third outing saw her sneak into the semifinals, where she then staged a brilliant comeback against Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Cibulkova is the second player in a row after Agnieszka Radwanska to win the WTA Finals after only one victory in the three round-robin games. She is also the first debutante to lift the title at the season-ending showpiece since Petra Kvitova in 2011, and the achievement will see her climb to a career-high No.5 when the new rankings are released on Monday.

Official WTA Finals Mobile App, Created by SAP

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