Tennis News

BRISBANE, Australia – Eugenie Bouchard came into her first match of the 2017 season having played just two matches since September. After taking a 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 loss to Shelby Rogers in the first round of the Brisbane International, the candid Canadian admitted to feeling a bit undercooked coming into the new season.

“I definitely feel kind of rusty, out of it,” Bouchard said. “I haven’t played in a match in a while. I haven’t won a match in a while. All those thoughts kind of go into your head a little bit when you’re on the court.”

Currently ranked No.46, Bouchard struggled with her rhythm early against Rogers, falling behind 0-4 in the first set as the American did well to hold her position on the baseline and match power for power off the ground. After losing the first set 6-2, Bouchard fired herself, played with more intensity in the second set, and her power game began to click.

After pocketing the second set 6-2, Bouchard invoked the 10-minute heat rule and both players went off court to cool down.

“I always find those breaks kind of weird. I did ask for it and I did want it, just to take a bit more time to try to cool down. I thought it was the smarter move. But it’s always weird kind of sitting in the locker room for like five minutes and then going back out.”

Hey old friend ? pic.twitter.com/RrXshwN8cN

— Genie Bouchard (@geniebouchard) December 30, 2016

Bouchard came out flat in the final set and Rogers steadied her game to earn her second straight win over the Canadian. It was a strong, powerful performance from Rogers and it left Bouchard back at the drawing board.

“I felt definitely not completely ready coming here. I felt I wanted maybe a bit more time before the season started, but everything always comes by so quick.

“So we were kind of coming in maybe knowing that a little bit, but it’s still time to go, and sometimes it’s also good for you to kind of just put yourself out there, throw yourself to the wolves and see what happens, and improve that way, learn that way instead of just another training week. So that was the choice. That was why we chose to come here.

“But, yeah, there is just lots of work to be done. It’s kind of getting used to playing a tennis match again, in a way. I know everyone feels like that at the beginning of the season, but the lack of matches I have played after the US Open makes it more. I just feel it more for my situation.”

Bouchard’s 2016 season started well, as she looked well on her way towards putting a disappointing 2015 season behind her. She made two finals in the first two months of the season. But after a heavy schedule over the summer, which saw her play seven tournaments between Wimbledon and the Coupe Banque Nationale, she felt burnt out and needed a break.

3rd Set!@GenieBouchard storms back to force a decider vs Rogers 2-6, 6-2! #BrisbaneTennis pic.twitter.com/UTJY8HxTrH

— WTA (@WTA) January 1, 2017

“Even though I wasn’t going far in each one, I was still, the mentality of going from tournament to tournament and always that stress of a tournament week after week after week. Especially after the Quebec City tournament, obviously which is at home and a lot more emotional and really tough to play in, I felt so burnt out. I didn’t even want to play the rest of the season.”

Bouchard skipped the Asian swing and returned to play Luxembourg and Linz, where she lost in the opening rounds to end her season. She says the experience taught her the importance of scheduling her season properly to keep her as fresh as possible.

“The thought process was because I was kind of losing earlier in tournaments, go try and play another one, go try and play another one, you always have that hope at least to plan to go play a match instead of practice, but I think after a point it actually becomes detrimental.

“Definitely going to be smarter with scheduling this year. We also had the Olympics, which is also very taxing physically, emotionally. A lot of things, obviously that’s how it happens. It’s a perfect storm of events, but, yeah, I definitely took a longer break at the end of this year than usual, and I really needed it, but I feel like it helped because I’m super motivated. I just need to get back into it.”

Bouchard is scheduled to play the Apia International Sydney next week.

Getting ready for NYE ? @BrisbaneTennis pic.twitter.com/pmS5aOWrPL

— Genie Bouchard (@geniebouchard) December 31, 2016

SHENZHEN, China – No.2 seed Simona Halep unveiled an aggressive gameplan that helped her emerge victorious in a three set tussle with former World No.1 Jelena Jankovic, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, to advance into the second round of the Shenzhen Open.

Halep spent the off-season training in Australia with coach Darren Cahill, and appeared to be employing some of those improvements early on against Jankovic, launching into her forehand and looking to terminate rallies early and often.

Don't blink! ?@Simona_Halep flies through the opening set vs Jankovic 6-1! #ShenzhenOpen pic.twitter.com/Ik2jhlm5NA

— WTA (@WTA) January 2, 2017

Jankovic struggled through most of the 2016 season with various injuries, but has played some of her best tennis in China over the last few years, reaching a second straight final in Guangzhou last fall. The Serb took a 4-1 lead in the second set and didn’t look back, leveling the match at one set apiece.

Great anticipation from @Jelena_Jankovic! ? #ShenzhenOpen pic.twitter.com/nFHLAaYcqp

— WTA (@WTA) January 2, 2017

The pair exchanged breaks in the decider, and as Halep steadied she served out the match in just under two hours. Up next for the Romanian is either hometown favorite Peng Shuai or Katerina Siniakova.

.@Simona_Halep is moving on to the #ShenzhenOpen second round!

Battles past Jankovic 6-1, 3-6, 6-3! pic.twitter.com/4HtTgwLzwI

— WTA (@WTA) January 2, 2017

More to come…

It’s been a rainy day here in Rome as we wait for the Internazionali BNL d’Italia semifinals to get underway. So I’m emptying the notebook while the notebook is still dry. One semifinal note: the first semifinal between Madison Keys and Garbiñe Muguruza has been moved to Court Pietrangeli, and will start as soon as the rain stops and the courts are prepared.

– Madison Keys surprising herself: After her tough 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 win over Barbora Strycova in the quarterfinals of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Friday, the 21-year-old American was asked whether she knew she could play so well on clay.

“No,” she said with a smile.

With her run to the semifinals in Rome, Keys has notched her best result on European clay. Her success in Rome may be surprising to some – she’s lost just one set all week – but it shouldn’t be. Her powerful game should translate well on clay. She proved that in 2015 when she made her biggest tour final in Charleston, pushing Angelique Kerber deep into a third set.

But Keys had needed time to convince herself she can get results on clay, as opposed to falling into the trap of seeing it as a stop-off before her beloved grass.

“I’m still very excited for grass,” Keys said. “Let’s put that out there right now.”

“I think over the years I have just eventually accepted that we’re not going to not have a clay court season, so going into it being positive about it is the only way to deal with it,” Keys said. “I think this year it’s just been, Okay, let’s do a little bit better than last year, and not really getting ahead of myself and really just focusing each match just trying to do what I’m here for.”

On Saturday she faces Garbiñe Muguruza for a spot in the final. Muguruza looks to be rounding into form before the French Open, playing a focused, resilient match to beat Timea Bacsinszky, 7-5, 6-2. It’s the first meeting between the two in a WTA-level main draw match. Keys beat Muguruza in three sets in qualifying for Cincinnati back in 2012.

“I’m excited,” Keys said. “I did not think coming into this whole kind of stretch that things would go well. I mean, even in Madrid I felt like I was playing pretty well on the clay and really just hopefully I can keep things going and, you know, keep it going tomorrow and hopefully at the end of the week be really happy.”

– Timea Bacsinszky’s perfect French Open lead-up: Bacsinszky will go into the French Open having won 14 of her last 17 matches. Despite a frustrating loss to Muguruza, which sees her drop to 0-4 against the Spaniard, Bacsinszky still found a silver lining.

“Well, without saying any bad words, it s-u-c-k-s,” Bacsinszky said after the loss. “Third time I’m losing almost with the same score against her.

“Yeah, it’s a big challenge to play against her, because there is always some possibilities to get through the first set or maybe in the second one, but then she leveled up her game. So I think, for sure, playing so many matches in the last couple of weeks got me probably a little tired, as well. But I still had a lot of energy and I was like super enthusiastic to do even better.

“Sometimes it happens that the opponent is making better choices than you are in crucial moments, so I have to give her a lot of credit for that.

“Basically I think I’m really happy about my clay court season so far, and the good news is that I can go home and celebrate tonight for the win that I had in Morocco. This is the good news of the day. I’m taking the positive side of it.”

– Madison Keys, M.D.: Who says you can’t learn anything from television?

Q. You were rubbing your arm quite a bit in the second and third set. Is it bothering you more? The conditions are heavier today than they have been in the past.

MADISON KEYS: It was a little cold. Balls were a little bit heavier. It was a little bit tight. But I’d like to think of myself as a doctor since I watched a lot of Grey’s Anatomy, so I feel like I figured it out (laughter).

– Bacsinszky goes home again: The Swiss star was asked whether she has ever returned to the hotel near Lausanne where she interned as a hospitality manager before returning to tennis. She ended up giving the best tourism ad for Switzerland.

“Yeah. Well, I did. I love this ski resort over there, Villars-sur-Ollon. It’s close from Lausanne. You take the car and you can be there in 45 minutes. So for sure Zermatt or Verbier or whatever, so many others. Vanghen, St. Moritz are more fancy, but I’m not that type of girl which likes those big things and showing off and stuff. I prefer to stay in a small mountain village. And, well, the hotel is great.

“When I worked at it, it was already great. Maybe better with me. No. (Laughter.) No, no, I was really – no, my colleagues were way better than I was. I was just learning, so it’s normal.

“The hotel is really great. It’s one of, still, my favorite hotel worldwide. I’m going to play the tournament of Gstaad this year in Switzerland – finally a woman’s tournament in Switzerland! – so I’m really proud of it. The ATP communications officer told my boyfriend yesterday, Oh, I heard you guys are going to Gstaad. And over there the palace is unbelievable.

So, yeah, it’s almost a 6-star over there, probably. But we’ll see if it challenges my old hotel where I worked, because, I have great memories over there.

I went after my semifinal of Miami for a couple of days, and, well, it’s great to go back there and to see where the colleagues are, because some of them are like traveling worldwide and they come only for half a season, so only for six months, and then they go back somewhere else.

But it’s fun to see how everyone is everywhere. And actually they joke a lot around me. They’re like, No, come on, we never — if we would knew that you were playing tennis — because they didn’t know. Actually, they didn’t know. They were making fun of me. Oh, like, you’re so old to do an internship. 24 years old? Internship at that time? Oh, your feet must hurt.

And then they found out that I play tennis, and like two years later I’m like top 10. They’re like, Okay.”

– Daria Kasatkina powering through: It hasn’t been the clay court swing the young Russian wanted. On her favorite surface she won just two matches on European clay, though she did make the quarterfinals in Charleston as well.

“I was waiting for this time [of the season] but looks like after a good start I have a little bit down,” Kasatkina told WTA Insider. “It’s ok. It happens. I will work and try to come back on my level.”

Kasatkina may be paying the price for her early season success. “This year we go tournament by tournaments. It was the plan because at the start of the season we didn’t know how I will play and if I will not reach a lot of points at the start.

“Start was good. I played a lot of matches. Reach a lot of points. Now we can maybe a little bit slow down. We will see, actually, how I feel.”

– Daria Gavrilova jumpstarts her season: After her star-making run to the fourth round of the Australian Open to start to the year, Gavrilova struggled mightily to get back on track. She won just one tour-level match after that before the tour turned to clay in Charleston.

“I was pretty flat going to the Middle East,” Gavrilova told WTA Insider. “I wasn’t ready. My mind was still at home. I was like, oh my god, really? I had tough losses in America, put myself in a good position in both matches but couldn’t close it out. But it happens.

“I was pretty frustrated after I lost to Zarina Diyas in Miami. And then I thought it’s a good time to make a difference, it’s not just me struggling. I can separate myself from other girls who are not winning so many matches. I was like ‘clay is my favorite surface’. I was keen to start playing on clay and just get over with hard court. Had a few good wins in Charleston and did get revenge over Zarina and that felt really good.”

Since the clay season began, Gavrilova scored wins over Petra Kvitova, Elina Svitolina, Simona Halep, and Sabine Lisicki. She’ll be seeded in Paris.

– Congratulations Li Na: No.2 is on the way.

Happy news for Li Na and Jiang Shan who are expecting their 2nd baby. Daughter Alisa will turn 1 June 3. #LiNaBaby pic.twitter.com/rTd6xRJL2i

— IMG Tennis (@IMGTennis) May 13, 2016

– Serena previews her documentary: Set your DVRs for June 22nd.

Here’s a sneak peek of my new documentary premiering on @EpixHD 6/22! Take a look inside my world! #Serenahttps://t.co/oj2wydQutf

— Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) May 12, 2016

PERTH, Australia – Eager to bounce back from a difficult 2016, Andrea Petkovic made some tough decisions during the off-season. And judging by her dominant victory over Kristina Mladenovic at the Hopman Cup on Monday, she is already reaping the rewards.

“Big applause to Kristina, she’s such a talented girl. I was really in full focus today,” Petkovic said during her on-match interview. “I worked really hard. I started earlier than normal. I normally love to spend Christmas at home with my family but this time I thought, ‘Andrea, it’s time to make a sacrifice.’ So I spent it in Melbourne watching Seinfeld and eating burgers in the hotel room. But apparently it paid off!”

.@andreapetkovic speaks about her preparation for the Australian summer of tennis. Who knew ? and ? could be such great preparation ? pic.twitter.com/afvYYww43i

— #7TENNIS (@7tennis) January 2, 2017

Unsurprisingly, Petkovic has been the life and soul of this year’s competition, charming the crowds and fellow competitors alike. Indeed, at the Hopman Cup ball Petkovic was first to pull shapes, ushering in the New Year alongside Roger Federer and company.

“Well everybody has a thing and my thing is to open up dance floors,” she added. “So the first song the band played I was out there with my fitness and physio coach. Later we danced and Roger came on and I said, ‘Roger remember this time.” And he was like, ‘What? Why?’ I’m like, ‘Remember the time you and me danced with a bunch of teenagers.'”

I took that. #justsayin https://t.co/XWh6E0x5iU

— Andrea Petkovic (@andreapetkovic) December 31, 2016

While the German has mixed up her pre-season preparations, that is as far as her 2017 resolutions go: “I don’t do resolutions because I once tried a detox diet and at 3pm in the afternoon I was eating cake, so that’s how my resolutions go.”

STRASBOURG, France – On the eve of Roland Garros, French star and No.4 Kristina Mladenovic earned her first WTA main draw win on red clay on Sunday – and not a moment too soon – against American Madison Brengle, surviving a topsy turvy tussle, 6-4, 2-6, 7-5, in the first round of the Internationaux de Strasbourg.

Mladenovic enjoyed an impressive streak through the clay court season in doubles with partner Caroline Garcia; together the pair won three titles and won 15 straight matches (including Fed Cup). At the same time, the 23-year-old went 0-3 in Stuttgart, Madrid, and Rome, and was a game away from elimination against Brengle, who led 5-4 in the final set.

“It wasn’t exactly the easiest match!” she said after the match.

Steadying her nerve, the 2015 US Open quarterfinalist ran off the last three games to reach the second round, where she will play another American in Alison Riske.

“The conditions were difficult with the wind and the match was swinging back and forth. It’s also cold on the court and difficult to get comfortable.

“At 0-30 down with her two points from victory, I knew I had to change the match and dig deep. I needed a cool head and was pleased I could turn that score round to my favour and get the win.”

Riske had typically earned her best results on faster courts, but faced few problems against French qualifier Alizé Lim, winning, 6-0, 7-5.

The biggest upset of the day occurred when No.9 seed Alizé Cornet lost to another qualifier, former World No.56 Alla Kudryavtseva, 1-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Coming off of back-to-back doubles semifinals in Charleston and Madrid, Kudryatvseva was playing her first WTA singles main draw of the season, and bounced back from losing the opening set to dispatch Cornet in an hour and 45 minutes.

Hsieh Su-Wei was the third top doubles talent to emerge victorious on Sunday, taking out qualifier Xu Yi-Fan, 6-3, 6-1, while Swiss qualifier Jil Tiechman upset Kurumi Nara, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1.

Alla Kudryavtseva @AllaK11 heureuse après sa victoire contre @alizecornet #IS2016 pic.twitter.com/Hjoq4DE7qh

— WTA Strasbourg (@WTA_Strasbourg) May 15, 2016

THE WINNERS

Serena Williams emerged victorious in the first all-American final since 2012 – the first on red clay since 2002 – defeating countrywoman Madison Keys, 7-6(5), 6-3, to snap a nine-month title drought and win the Internazionali BNL d’Italia for the fourth time in her illustrious career.

Missing the Mutua Madrid Open due to illness, Williams was playing her first red clay event of the season; the win in Rome sets her up in good stead to defend her French Open title as she attempts to win her fourth crown there, as well.

“I have tried to defend there once, twice, three times before. Didn’t quite work so well. But this year is different. I’m going to definitely go in there and I feel more calm and I don’t feel stress to, like, have to win. You know, I feel like I just am happy to be out here.”

Read the full story and watch highlights here

Co-No.1s Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza find themselves in pole position to complete the Santina Slam at the French Open with a 6-1, 6-7(5), 10-3 win over Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina to capture the Internazionali BNL d’Italia title – their first title since February and their first ever on red clay.

Heading into the French Open on a four-match winning streak, Santina next look to complete a box set of Grand Slam titles – a Santina Slam – that began at Wimbledon over Makarova and Vesnina, and took them through victories at the US Open and Australian Open in January.

Read the full story here.

GAME, SET, MATCH: WTA Insider

Game: Serena back on top.

It’s slightly misleading to imply Serena has been in a nine-month slump. Heading into the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, Serena had not won a title since Cincinnati last August, but she also had not played much. So you can understand why the World No.1 politely bristled when it was implied she had been a three-quarter drought.

“I mean, I have played, let’s see, US Open, Australian, Miami, Indian Wells,” she told reporters after beating Madison Keys to win her first title of the season. “So it’s only four tournaments. So it’s not like I was playing every week.

“So that’s kind of how I look at it. But it feels great to win a title, especially on clay.”

A week ago the French Open was looming and the conventional wisdom was it was a wide open field. No one had dominated the clay season — Simona Halep, Angelique Kerber, Timea Bacsinszky, Lucie Safarova, and Sloane Stephens had won the biggest titles — and Serena had yet to step on the red clay.

A week later and Serena has reasserted herself as the favorite to defend her title in Paris. Her trophy-run in Rome wasn’t particularly memorable aside from the first All-American final in Rome since 1970, but she rarely looked pressured or stressed throughout the week, as she racked up wins over Anna-Lena Friedsam, Christina McHale, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Irina-Camelia Begu, and Keys. Her win over Kuznetsova was her best performance since Australia, and all in all, we saw a very relaxed Serena in The Eternal City.

“I think my patience was really great,” Serena said when asked to assess her week. “I wasn’t stressed out. I wasn’t rushing too much. Basically more than anything I was able to do what I practiced, and I think that’s what really helped me out.”

Set: The Santina Slam is on.

Rome was all about the World No.1s getting back to the winners’ circle. For Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza, the most dominant duo of 2015 ended their two-month title drought by beating Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova. Playing on their least favorite surface, Mirza and Hingis rolled through the draw, only seeing a supertiebreaker in the final.

The reigning Wimbledon, US Open, and Australian Open champions, Hingis and Mirza head to Paris with a sense of relief with a red clay title in hand, something they didn’t do last year. If they can win in Paris, they’ll hold all four majors and complete the non-calendar Grand Slam.

Match: Madison Keys unlocked.

Keys is 21-years-old. That’s a fact so many seem to forget when assessing her future in the sport. Already she’s won a big title on grass in Eastbourne, made the semifinals of the Australian Open, and now the biggest final of her career. And it came on slow, wet, European clay. Keys is as surprised as anyone. But she shouldn’t be.

It’s taken time for Keys to truly believe her big game could translate onto clay. She’s always joked that half her mind is already on grass when the clay season begins. It may not be a fun surface for her — she has to play much more disciplined tennis and not go for the audacious winners that shorten rallies on quicker surfaces — but it’s a good surface for her. Two of her three finals have now come on clay, with the first coming on green clay two years in Charleston.

In Rome she ran through a draw filled with top-notch clay court players: Andrea Petkovic, Petra Kvitova, Timea Babos, Barbora Strycova, and Garbiñe Muguruza. But what made this week feel different was her attitude. Keys’ focus throughout the week was superb. When she fell behind on her serve or let break point chances slide, she trudged on. That hasn’t always been the case in the past.

Keys has the quality to make a very deep run in Paris. She’s also still learning how to maximize her game on clay and could crash out in the first round. But Rome was a huge step forward for her and the mentality she showed all week could be the building blocks for a big season going forward. Remember this week.

RANKING MOVERS:
Notable singles ranking movers for the week of May 16, 2016.

Madison Keys (USA) – +7 (No.24 to 17): 21 year old Madison Keys returns to within one spot of her career-high ranking following an impressive week in Rome; losing a hard-fought final to World No.1 Serena Williams, Keys reached her first Premier 5 final, defeating Petra Kvitova and Garbiñe Muguruza en route.

Irina-Camelia Begu (ROU) – +7 (No.35 to 28): Begu has waved the Romanian flag well during a solid clay court season that saw her back up her quarterfinal run at the Mutua Madrid Open by reaching the semifinals in Rome. Also losing to Williams, Begu thrashed Victoria Azarenka and Daria Kasatkina to reach the final four.

Misaki Doi (JPN) – +7 (No.45 to 38): Doi earned a career-high ranking after reaching the last eight in Rome. Her spring started strong with a title run at the WTA 125K series event in San Antonio, and wins over Lucie Safarova and Johanna Konta will make her a dangerous floater in Paris.

UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS

Internationaux de Strasbourg
Strasbourg, France
International | $226,750 | Clay, Outdoor
Sunday, May 15 – Saturday, May 21

NÜRNBERGER VERSICHERUNGSCUP
Nürnberg, Germany
International | $226,750 | Clay, Outdoor
Sunday, May 15 – Saturday, May 21

Roland Garros
Paris, France
Grand Slam | – | Clay Outdoor
Sunday, May 22 – Sunday, June 5

TOP 20 PLAYER SCHEDULES
1. Serena Williams- Roland Garros
2. Agnieszka Radwanska – Roland Garros
3. Angelique Kerber –  Roland Garros
4. Garbiñe Muguruza – Roland Garros
5. Victoria Azarenka – Roland Garros
6. Simona Halep – Roland Garros
7. Roberta Vinci – Nürnberg, Roland Garros
8. Belinda Bencic – Roland Garros
9. Timea Bacsinszky – Roland Garros
10. Flavia Pennetta
11. Venus Williams – Roland Garros
12. Petra Kvitova – Roland Garros
13. Lucie Safarova – Roland Garros
14. Carla Suárez Navarro – Roland Garros
15. Svetlana Kuznetsova – Roland Garros
16. Ana Ivanovic – Roland Garros
17. Madison Keys – Roland Garros
18. Sara Errani – Strasbourg, Roland Garros
19. Karolina Pliskova – Roland Garros
20. Elina Svitolina – Roland Garros

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
Best wishes to those celebrating birthdays this week:

Louisa Chirico (USA) – May 16, 1996
Johanna Konta (GBR) – May 17, 1991
Heather Watson (GBR) – May 19, 1992
Lucie Hradecka (CZE) – May 21, 1985
Varvara Lepchenko (USA) – May 21, 1986