Tennis News

PRAGUE, Czech Republic – Lucie Safarova returned to winning ways by battling past Mariana Duque-Mariño at the J&T Banka Prague Open on Tuesday afternoon.

Watch live action from Prague & Rabat this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

Since returning from the bacterial infection that blighted the end of her 2015 campaign and forced her to skip the Australian Open, Safarova has found wins hard to come by. In fact, the Czech had fallen at the first hurdle at all five tournaments since making her comeback.

When she dropped the opening set to Duque-Mariño, another disappointment looked on the cards. However, perhaps buoyed by the home crowd, the No.2 seed fought back to complete a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory in a fraction over two hours.

“I’m so happy because this is my first win this year in singles and obviously it means a lot,” Safarova said. “I was trying to be positive after coming back from this long sickness, but obviously it’s about the wins. That’s why I was so excited.”

Having dropped the first set, Safarova began her comeback midway through the second, a sliding drop shot in response to a net cord bringing the decisive break. She carried this momentum into the decider, breaking once more when Duque-Mariño sent a tired backhand long. The Colombian had her chances to get back into the contest, seeing several chances to draw level slip by in the sixth game as a relieved Safarova held on.

“I fought so hard and it wasn’t easy – I lost the first set but came back well in the second and played really well in the third,” Safarova added. “I hope to continue to play well here because the crowd was fantastic. It’s so nice to play in front of your home crowd and hopefully I can continue to do so for some more matches.” 

Fellow Czech Lucie Hradecka is next up after she saw off doubles partner Andrea Hlavackova, 6-4, 6-1.

Victories for Barbora Krejcikova, Barbora Strycova and 2015 champion Karolina Pliskova provided further cheer for the locals on another chilly day. Pliskova began the defense of her title with a straightforward 6-, 6-3 win over Stefanie Voegele, while Strycova saw off Olga Govortsova, 6-3, 7-5, and lucky loser Krejcikova made the most of her second chance by upsetting No.7 seed Dominika Cibulkova, 6-2, 6-2.

PRAGUE, Czech Republic – Lucie Safarova saw off Fed Cup teammate Karolina Pliskova in two tight sets on Friday to reach the final of the J&T Banka Prague Open.

Watch live action from Prague & Rabat this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

After taking a tight opening set, No.2 seed Safarova came from a break down in the second to complete a 6-4, 7-6(4) victory.

In the final she will face Samantha Stosur, after she profited from the last-minute withdrawal of top seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.

More to follow…

WTA Insider Senior Writer Courtney Nguyen checks in from the Foro Italico in Rome where the Internazionali BNL d’Italia is already underway. She recaps the the weekend in Madrid, where Simona Halep capped off a big week for Romanian tennis by winning her first title of the season. Hear from Halep as she discusses her surprising week and how it all came together in the Champion’s Corner.

You’ll also hear from 30-year-old Czech veteran Barbora Strycova. The World No.38 joins the podcast to discuss her career, which was nearly ended by a failed drug test in 2012. After serving a six-moth ban for negligently ingesting a banned substance, Strycova came one match away from ending her career. It’s a good thing she didn’t.

Strycova candidly opens up about her ban — the lowest moment of her career — as well as her redemptive run to the 2014 Wimbledon quarterfinals. Self-aware, honest, and funny, it’s a conversation you won’t want to miss.

Halep on being reluctant to handicap her chances at the start of the week: It’s amazing that I could win this tournament. I feel that I had everything in my hands, every match. I felt that I played my best tennis in every match and kind of deserving the title because I won it. I didn’t receive presents during the matches. Day by day I believed more that I had a chance to win it.

At the beginning of the tournament it’s normal to feel that you hesitate a little bit because it’s just the start and you don’t know actually what’s going to happen in the first round because the first round is always the toughest in the tournament. And after my months before coming here, it was tough to believe I could win it.

Halep on the rise of her fellow Romanians: I didn’t read anything since a long time ago and I’m not going to start to read again. I heard a tough story about my joke about “the Easter present” about the second set [bagel against Irina-Camelia Begu]. They make everything negative so I’m not going to read.

But in my opinion it’s a big thing that many Romanians are playing in the last matches here in this tournament – also men’s doubles – so it’s a good point point for our country and maybe it will help our juniors.

Strycova on picking tennis over figure skating: At age 12, I had to decide if I wanted to stick with figure skating, because I was pretty good at it, or tennis. I chose tennis because it was my choice, and nobody was pushing it. I was last on the ice a year ago; I can do some small jumps but you have to be careful because you can fall down and break a leg! I love that sport, and I still like to listen to my favorite music and be on the ice, doing what I used to do when I was young. It’s really relaxing.

Strycova on whether her on-court intensity dates back to her childhood: Oh my god, so much! You would see such a crazy Bara, you would not believel I am so emotional. I’m intense. I love to win and hate to lose. Back then, I was crabby. On one side, I was very positive, but also very negative. I’d throw racquets, screaming, crying. My whole career, I’ve been fighting to be positive and calmer. But I need that sometimes, I just need to know how to deal with it, and make sure it’s not hurting you.

Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or on any podcast app of your choice and reviews are always helpful, so if you like what you’ve heard so far, leave us one. Get new episode alerts by following us on Twitter @WTA_Insider.

Timea Bacsinszky has told her story before, but with every match she wins, and each career-high ranking she earns, it bears repeating.

The World No.9 was working in a hotel exactly three years ago when her first career, one she had pursued from early childhood, beckoned her back.

“This year I won’t take my car, driving by myself with my old racquets and the string which were probably like strung at 17 and 19 kilograms,” she said of her last-minute decision to play the 2013 Roland Garros qualification event. “It was a joke.”

But things got very serious for Bacsinszky from there; a year later, she was back in qualifying, but more importantly, back in love with the sport. She won her way into her first French Open main draw in four years, pushing Carla Suárez Navarro to three sets in the second round.

One semifinal finish – where she led World No.1 Serena Williams by a set and a break – and a Top 10 debut later, those first moments of indecision are all but forgotten.

“This was just a turning point. But there are so many others that you can just keep close to your heart, because if you look around, there are so many mean things around you and war everywhere and so many problems.

“We should try just to cherish those moments. It sounds philosophic, but I feel really like that.”

Grazie @InteBNLdItalia e stato molto bello per me!Non vedo l'ora di tornare on 2017 ? #limitless #senzalimite ❤️?? pic.twitter.com/vOASFph2qm

— Timea Bacsinszky (@TimeaOfficial) May 13, 2016

Bacsinszky has been at her best when applying an approach to tennis that is at once acerbic and optimistic, overcoming brief bouts with anemia last summer and injury this past spring to become the tour’s most consistent performers.

A thoughtful character on and off the court, her game boasts a breathtaking backhand, but while she espouses a philosophy of “limitlessness,” she’s not aiming for style points.

“I don’t want produce a huge show or something. I want to be playing, not great tennis, but efficient tennis.”

That efficiency allowed her to pull off incredible physical feats, including a 24-hour turnover from capturing her first title of 2016 in Rabat to win back-to-back three-setters en route to the round of 16 at the Mutua Madrid Open. It also helps her manage the pressure and maintain perspective.

Trophy-Mirror-Selfie!?? 1st title of 2016 & on clay!Merci Rabat ??!#limitless #lovemyjob @ASICSTennis @WTA @babolat pic.twitter.com/x8M4Z1pBfH

— Timea Bacsinszky (@TimeaOfficial) April 30, 2016

“Well, I have two legs, two arms, my hair is longer,” she quipped after her quarterfinal loss in Rome, when asked how she had changed from last year’s run to the final four at the French. “I’m a little more fit, fitter than last year.

“It’s for sure going to be a tough tournament, close to home. I will have to deal with expectations, the expectations from the press, and also, all of a sudden, now so many people are asking me for tickets to come to the French Open.

“I’m like, ‘Guys, you could also ask me for Rome and Madrid when no one was coming!’ ‘But it’s the French Open.'”

“All of a sudden I have so many media requests and I’m like, ‘Okay, well, why? Why now?’ They could have asked also two years ago or come with me in 2013 when I was maybe playing my last French Open.”

Three games from a maiden Grand Slam final 12 months ago, Bacsinszky plans to hit the ground running in Paris, unwilling to overlook any opposition from the start of the fortnight.

“I’m never underestimating my opponent, because I know how hard it is, because I have been in this position, where I was underestimated maybe a couple of times. It was good for me, because then I could catch the win.

“This is a great challenge for me. What I’m expecting from myself, just to be able to maybe win the first round and we’ll see. We’ll see.”

For Bacsinszky, the fairytale is over, but the adventure looks to have just begun.

#RolandGarros2015 #TimeaBacsinszky pic.twitter.com/mxgD7N0qa7

— MiniPeople.ch (@SwissMinipeople) June 4, 2015