Cincinnati: Pliskova Interview
An interview with Karolina Pliskova after her win in the final round of the Western & Southern Open.
An interview with Karolina Pliskova after her win in the final round of the Western & Southern Open.
Angelique Keber takes on Monica Puig in the third round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
The WTA World No.1 Ranking will be on the line at this year’s US Open. Can Serena Williams extend her stay atop the WTA Rankings and make history?
Only 21 players have occupied the No.1 ranking since the computer rankings were introduced in November 1975. Will we see a new player take hold of the No.1 spot for the first time in three years?
wtatennis.com breaks down the No.1 scenarios ahead of the US Open:
Serena Eyes Another Record: Williams enters the US Open as the WTA World No.1-ranked player, a distinction she has held since February 18, 2013. Through the two weeks at the US Open, Williams will extend her streak to 186 consecutive weeks, tying the WTA record for most consecutive weeks at No.1 held by Stefanie Graf (186 weeks, August 17, 1987 through March 10, 1991).
Williams currently holds a 190-point advantage over Kerber in the rankings. However, to break the record, Williams will need to at least reach the semifinals and possibly advance further. Williams is defending 780 points at the US Open as she advanced to the semifinals last year before Roberta Vinci stopped her run.
As Kerber progresses, though, Williams will need to advance further:
– If Kerber reaches the quarterfinals at the US Open, then Williams will need to reach the final to have a chance at keeping the No.1 ranking.
– If Williams wins the US Open, she will secure the No.1 ranking, regardless of any other results.
– A championship match showdown between Williams and Kerber, the Top 2 seeds, would see the winner walk away not only with the trophy, but the No.1 ranking.
Williams’ ranking points have come from seven tournaments in the last 52 weeks – 2015 US Open (780), Australian Open (1300), Indian Wells (650), Miami (120), Rome (900), Roland Garros (1300) and Wimbledon (2000).
What Will It Take For Kerber To Become World No.1?: Angelique Kerber is bidding to become the 22nd player to hold the WTA World No.1 Ranking since the computer rankings were introduced in November 1975. The German came within one win of unseating Williams at No.1 in Cincinnati, but fell short in the final against Karolina Pliskova.
Last year, Kerber lost to Victoria Azarenka in the third round at the US Open and as a result is only defending 130 points in Flushing Meadows.
Kerber will have a 460-point advantage from the start of the tournament. An early exit would not necessarily prevent her from moving to No.1.
Kerber consistently has reached the final four at the tour’s biggest events with six finals appearances this year, winning the title at Australian Open and Stuttgart, finishing as runner-up at Brisbane, Wimbledon and Cincinnati. (She also reached the final at the Olympic Games, although that does not count towards ranking points). As a result, Kerber’s ranking has been on a steady incline after finishing 2015 at No.10.
Muguruza Also Has A Chance: One of three Grand Slam champions this year, Muguruza will need to reach the final at the US Open to have a chance of overtaking the No.1 ranking. Should she win her second Grand Slam title of the year, the Spaniard would take claim to the No.1 spot unless Kerber also reaches the final.
First Grand Slam Title Could Vault Radwanska To The Top: To have a chance at moving to No.1, Agnieszka Radwanska would need to win the US Open, although if she is able to win the title in New Haven this week, a run to the finals could potentially be enough.
Highlights from all the third round action on Day 4 of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
DUBAI, UAE – Chan Hao-Ching and Yaroslava Shvedova shocked top seeds Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic to make it through to the semifinals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
The fifth-seeded pair won through in a thrilling decider to take the match 7-5, 3-6, 10-3.
“We lost in a super tiebreaker and still I think we had lots of opportunities,” said Mladenovic afterwards. “We had a big lead in the first set and I think we should have closed it out and won probably, but it’s tennis, and the girls are playing well as well and in the third set anything can happen.”
Mladenovic was not too disappointed, however, adding that she and Garcia were both working on their singles game while competing in doubles.
“It’s not easy, it’s just our second tournament of the year,” she said. “I still think we had a good run in Melbourne – lost in the semis – here we had a tough tournament. It’s our goal this year, we are going to be more focused on our singles and we are trying new things, like we are switching sides every set and like really working on our singles game.”
The 23-year-old remains hopeful that she and her partner will impress over the course of the year.
“It’s just the beginning of the season,” she pointed out. “We are looking forward, the season is very long and Indian Wells, Miami coming up soon so everything is positive.”
Second seeds Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina progressed in a topsy-turvy clash with Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, winning 6-1, 3-6, 10-5.
Andrea Hlavackova and Peng Shuai had a straightforward quarterfinal against Chan Yung-Jan and Martina Hingis, winning in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2.
Petra Kvitova has Wednesday’s shot of the day at the Connecticut Open.
Angelique Kerber has Thursday’s shot of the day at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
NEW HAVEN, CT, USA – Defending champion Petra Kvitova kept her bid for a fourth Connecticut Open title firmly on track as she powered past Eugenie Bouchard 6-3, 6-2 to book a spot in the quarterfinals.
Watch live action from New Haven this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
Much like in her previous match, it took a few games for Kvitova to get going and find her rhythm against Bouchard. The Czech surrendered the first break to give Bouchard a 3-1 lead in the first set. But losing serve first just served to galvanize the No.6 seed, who broke back immediately and reeled off 10 straight games to put herself up a set and 5-0.
Kvitova closed out the match after just over an hour and advanced to her fifth consecutive New Haven quarterfinal. It was also Kvitova’s tenth win in a row in New Haven, improving her record at the tournament to an impressive 17-2.
With the win Kvitova sets up a quarterfinal clash with Ekaterina Makarova, an opponent she’s all too familiar with. This will be the fourth time they’ll have met this year, with Makarova owning wins at Miami and Wimbledon and Kvitova getting her revenge at the Olympic tennis event in Rio.
“I feel like I meet Ekaterina every week, it’s really funny,” Kvitova said of the matchup. “I remember one year we played here as well and I beat her. So I hope that I can take some of the good memories from here and try to play my best again.”
Fencing with water bottles is how we recover ? See you tomorrow @connecticutopen ? pic.twitter.com/3X6HrKIxjQ
— Petra Kvitova (@Petra_Kvitova) August 25, 2016
DUBAI, UAE – Sixth seeds Andrea Hlavackova and Peng Shuai will move to the top of the Road to Singapore leaderboard on Monday after their brilliant run to the final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
They beat Chan Hao-Ching and Yaroslava Shvedova 6-1, 6-3, to set up a final clash with Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina.
“It was closer than it looked,” admitted Hlavackova afterwards. “The second set got trickier…I’m very happy to go through.”
The Russian pair were first to book their place, beating third seeds Sania Mirza and Barbora Strycova, 6-4, 6-3.
“It was really important to win this game, and I’m just so happy that we’re in the final now in Dubai,” said Vesnina afterwards.
More to follow.
An interview with Garbiñe Muguruza before her opening round match at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.