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Serena Faces Challenging Rome Draw

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

ROME, Italy – World No.1 Serena Williams will have to run the gauntlet if she is to recapture the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, after Friday’s draw placed her in the same section as several title rivals.

After her last-minute withdrawal from Madrid because of flu, Williams will begin her clay court campaign at the Foro Italico, a venue that holds many fond memories; three times the American has been crowned champion in the Eternal City (2002, 2013 and 2014), and on the first two occasions she followed it up with French Open glory.

As one of the top eight seeds, Williams receives a first-round bye, before taking on either Anna Karolina Schmiedlova or Anna-Lena Friedsam in her clay court opener. Should she clear this opening hurdle, Williams is projected to meet Ana Ivanovic in the third round, Simona Halep in the quarterfinals, then Victoria Azarenka in the last four.

No.4 seed Azarenka is still nursing the back injury that forced her out of Madrid and will begin with the winner of Margarita Gasparyan and Irina-Camelia Begu. Also keeping her company in arguably the most open section of the draw are Roberta Vinci, Karolina Pliskova and Lucie Safarova.

Like Williams, No.2 seed Angelique Kerber has been placed in a tricky quarter. Awaiting her in the second round will be either Jelena Jankovic or Eugenie Bouchard, before a likely third-round date with one of the WTA’s finest clay courters, Sara Errani. Should she negotiate the treacherous path to the last eight, Petra Kvitova or Venus Williams could lie in wait.

Looking to bounce back from her Madrid disappointment, No.3 seed Garbiñe Muguruza will need to watch out for another banana skin; Ekaterina Makarova, Kristina Mladenovic and Elina Svitolina are all capable of scuppering her all-Spanish quarterfinal against Carla Suárez Navarro in the quarterfinals.

Click here to see the draw in full.

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Halep Returns To Madrid Final

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MADRID, Spain – Simona Halep returned to the final of the Mutua Madrid Open after outclassing Samantha Stosur on Friday evening.

Watch highlights, interviews and more video from Madrid right here on wtatennis.com!

Fifty-one minutes was all it took for Halep to romp home, 6-2, 6-0, and advance to her first final since last summer. There she will face Dominika Cibulkova, who won an equally one-sided encounter against Louisa Chirico earlier in the day.

There was little in the opening quarter of an hour on court to suggest the emphatic scoreline that was to follow, the players splitting the first four games as they traded on equal terms from the back of the court.

When Stosur moved 30-0 ahead in the next game, another hold looked on the cards. However, a couple of wayward forehands left the door ajar for Halep to break and with it change the feel of the match.

Less than 10 minutes later, Halep was serving for the set, confidently closing it out to love. The Romanian was now the one dictating the points, expertly sliding to flick a crosscourt backhand in the opening game of the second set. This display of dexterity brought up break point and she converted with an equally confident forehand.

All facets of Halep’s game were now purring as she hurtled towards the finishing line, dropping only four more points before wrapping up victory with her fourth ace of the match.

The other statistics bore equally pleasant reading, as she finished with an 80% first serve percentage and did not face a single break point. “It looked like the perfect game,” Halep told the press after the match. “In the morning actually I was a little bit sore from all the matches this week. Then I warmed up and I felt really well.

“I knew how she would play – I’ve played many times against her – and her game suits mine very well.”

A tougher challenge is likely to await in the final. Cibulkova has come out on top in three of their four career meetings, most recently in a one-sided Australian Open quarterfinal in 2014.

“Her game is fast. She hits the balls. She is moving very well. Of course I think she really wants it tomorrow, to win. We are in the same position. Everyone will fight for it.

“But it’s a big challenge for me. Another match, another day, a different day as well, so we will see. I just want to stay focused like today and to do everything I have in my gameplan.”

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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

BIEL/BIENNE, Switzerland – Marketa Vondrousova’s fairytale week continued at the Ladies Open Biel Bienne; the qualifier roared back from a first set deficit to surprise countrywoman and top seed Barbora Strycova, 7-6(3), 6-2 and book her first WTA final appearance alongside Estonian youngster Anett Kontaveit. Kontaveit triumphed in a 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 thriller against Aliaksandra Sasnovich earlier in the day.

A week after teenagers Daria Kasatkina and Jelena Ostapenko fought for the Volvo Car Open title, the WTA field continued to serve youth in Biel/Bienne, with 23 as the average age of the semifinalists – and that’s including 31-year-old Strycova.

Vondrousova, who reached two Slam semifinals and won two major doubles titles as a junior, was playing her first tour-level semifinal, and that experience showed early as the World No.18 raced out to a 5-2 lead, later holding a set point in the 12th game of the opener.

The teenager gamely saved it behind a booming lefty serve and saved her best tennis for the ensuing tie-break, striking a screaming winner to clinch it.

Strycova struggled to counter her fellow Czech’s aggressive game on the indoor hardcourts as Vondrousova took a 5-2 lead of her own in the second, breaking serve for the fourth and final time to advance into the biggest final of her career.

In all, the qualifier played a clean match, striking 22 winners to 13 unforced errors; Strycova’s own 13 winners were undone by 20 unforced errors.

Awaiting Vondrousova in the final is another former junior prodigy in Kontaveit, who reached the US Open girl’s singles final back in 2012 and outlasted Sasnovich to start Semifinal Saturday.

“I feel really good, and really happy to be in my first final,” she said after the match.

Back in the Top 100 after reaching the third round of the Miami Open, the unseeded Estonian battled through a high-quality encounter with Sasnovich, who was playing her first WTA semifinal since 2015.

“I was down a break twice in the third set, but I tried to stay in there even though she was playing really well. I was just trying to stay with her do what I always do: fight and not give up.

“Mentally, I toughed it out.”

Hitting 26 winners to the Belarusian’s 29, Kontaveit’s consistency won the day, hitting 17 unforced errors against Sasnovich’s 29, and won four more points (114 to 110) by match’s end, converting her WTA final on her fourth match point after two hours and 24 minutes on court.

It will be Kontaveit’s first meeting with Vondrousova, and knows to expect another tough match if she hopes to hoist her first WTA trophy.

“She’s had really good wins, and it looks like she’s playing well this week.”

More to come…

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Gavrilova Stuns Halep In Rome

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

ROME, Italy – Daria Gavrilova continues to save her best tennis for the Internazionali BNL d’Italia; looking to back up her run to last year’s semifinals, the Aussie outlasted Mutua Madrid Open winner Simona Halep, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, to reach the third round.

Watch highlights, interviews and more video from Madrid right here on wtatennis.com!

“I played pretty well the whole match,” Gavrilova said after her win. “It was always going to be a tough battle because we’re pretty similar players.

“A few years back, I was watching her play thinking, ‘I could play like her,’ and beating her today was an unreal feeling. I was super happy. After the rain delay, I could reset and come out there playing very good!”

Halep needed three sets to defeat Gavrilova in their only previous encounter at the 2015 BNP Paribas Open, and the match was headed to another photo finish when a rain delay halted proceedings at one set apiece.

“Maybe if it wouldn’t rain, maybe I would have played better,” Halep said in her post-match press conference. “But that’s it. I cannot change anything. If it’s raining, it’s raining. If I lose, you lose. I won a lot of matches last week, so I don’t give up now that I lost one match.”

Play has been suspended due to rain ☔️ #ibi16 https://t.co/HBmfgHoqMu

Working her way through an even contest, the 2009 French Open junior finalist looked to be fading, but quickly caught fire after saving a break point in the fourth game.

Showing off the sort of boundless energy that has become her signature, the unseeded Aussie promptly broke serve in the next game and all but ran away with the match from there. Surviving a brief hiccup when serving for it, she broke once more at love to clinch the match in just under two hours, hitting 30 winners to 31 unforced errors.

The win was Gavrilova’s first over a Top 5 player this season, and second of her career – having previously defeated then-World No.2 Maria Sharapova in the second round of last year’s Miami Open ahead of her Roman run.

Though Halep didn’t display the form that took her to a second career Premier Mandatory title in Madrid, the Romanian nonetheless hit 29 winners of her own, but wasn’t able to make up for her 33 unforced errors hit over the course of three sets.

“It’s not a big drama that I lost today,” Halep said. “But it still was a loss and it’s not easy.

“I take just a positive from last week. Today was tough for me to adapt, but still I could play better, but that’s it. I’m still confident, but I have to keep working to go to French Open.”

Up next for Gavrilova is No.9 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova on Pietrangeli Court; the Russian eased past Madrid semifinalist Samantha Stosur, 6-4, 6-4, just before the rain delay. Growing uo in Russia, the 2009 French Open champion is a player she knows well.

“When I was little, my first coach was telling us about her childhood. She was our hero, as well as Maria. I have so much respect for her. It’s exciting, and I’m pretty sure she likes clay!”

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