Tennis News

MADRID, Spain – Barbora Strycova had never won a set in her first five meetings against reigning Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber, but the Czech veteran turned the tables in a major way on Sunday, dispatching the World No.3, 6-4, 6-2, in the first round of the Mutua Madrid Open.

Watch live action from Madrid this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

Kerber last played Strycova in the second round of the Miami Open – a match she won, 6-1, 6-1 – but the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix champion had far more trouble on Estadio 3, dropping serve four times against Strycova, who maintained an impressive 80% on points won behind her first serve.

“Oh my god, it’s been so difficult,” Strycova said of her rivalry with the German. “I’d win four games in the matches we played before. I went into this match thinking I had nothing to lose. I mean, it can’t be worse than Miami!”

Strycova has had a solid year of her own, reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open and the final of the Dubai Duty Free Championships; her win over Kerber was her second over a Top 3 player this season – having already upset Garbiñe Muguruza in Melbourne. Showing off her all-court game to its full effect, Strycova won nine of 12 points at net, and finished the one hour and nine minute match with 16 winners to 15 unforced errors; Kerber, by contrast, could only muster 13 winners to 22 unforced.

“I’m happy about my performance today. I stuck with the game my coach told me, and I was kind of in the zone and stable, which I’m happy about the most.

“We have similar games,” Strycova added when asked about the issues she’s had playing Kerber in the past. “She’s a very patient player with good defense. It’s tough to win a point against her because she puts every ball back. It’s difficult for me because I’m a smaller player and I have a similar game to her, so it’s difficult for me to be patient, because I’m not a patient person. That’s why it’s difficult for me to be patient on the court.

“But I tried to be patient today and it worked; that’s the way I have to be on court, and I’m practicing that.”

First set goes to @BaraStrycova!

Grabs the opening set off Kerber 6-4! #MMOpen https://t.co/0Y1d8XrZgW

— WTA (@WTA) May 1, 2016

Awaiting Strycova in the second round is Madison Keys, who recovered from a disastrous start against qualifier Alison Riske to emerge victorious, 1-6. 6-3, 6-4.

Over on Court Manolo Santana, No.8 Carla Suárez Navarro delighted home fans with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 win over the fast-rising Timea Babos, who had just reached the semifinals of the GP SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem in Rabat last week. No.7 seed Roberta Vinci wasn’t able to pull off a similar comeback against Istanbul runner-up Danka Kovinic, losing, 6-4, 6-2. No.13 seed Karolina Pliskova had a far more straightforward result compared to her fellow seeds, taking out local wildcard Lourdes Domínguez Lino, 6-2, 6-1, while last year’s Rome semifinalist Daria Gavrilova bounded into the secound round with a 7-5, 6-4 win over lucky loser Heather Watson.

MADRID, Spain – No.6 seed Simona Halep avoided the upset bug sweeping through the Mutua Madrid Open draw, easing past Karin Knapp and into the third round.

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

Over the opening three days of competition, 10 of the 16 seeds have bitten the dust, and Halep made in inauspicious start against Knapp, dropping serve in the opening game when her forehand missed its mark.

However, from that point onwards it was one-way traffic. Knapp has struggled for fitness recently – she underwent knee surgery last September and her recovery has been compromised by ankle problems – and Halep exposed her movement to take control with a run of eight straight games.

After little over an hour on court the Romanian arrived at match point, launching herself into a forehand return to emphatically close out a 6-1, 6-1 victory.

“We shouldn’t forget that she was injured, she had knee surgery, so she’s coming back and it wasn’t her best day,” Halep said. “But still I played some good tennis and I tried to just stick to my game.”

Halep reached the final in the Spanish capital two years ago, falling to Maria Sharapova in three dramatic sets. Since then, the Romanian’s form has fluctuated, and she entered this clay court campaign with relatively few matches under her belt.

“I just want to get better and better every day and I want to see how good I can be. I want to see how many matches I can win because I really need to win matches now, I just want to be relaxed now – I’m not thinking about the results.”

These relative struggles have enabled Halep to enter the tournament without the weight of expectation that has followed for much of the past few seasons: “Sometimes people around you expect better results, and that’s why you start to feel frustrated and nervous. Now I feel good, I have no points to defend – I’m free!”

No.10 seed Timea Bacsinszky awaits next after she edged past Ekaterina Makarova, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4. Halep has won two of their three meetings on tour, although did taste defeat earlier this year in Miami.

“Bacsinszky is revenge! It’s going to be hard, it’s going to be difficult, a tough match for sure. I just want to go on court relaxed and play my game. It’s a good tournament, good people around me, so I am in a good place mentally and physically.”

MADRID, Spain – Simona Halep leads the pack as a record four Romanians advanced to the quarterfinals of the Mutua Madrid Open – can the last seed standing seize the moment? We preview all the quarterfinal action here on wtatennis.com.

Thursday, Quarterfinals

[6] Simona Halep (ROU #7) vs Irina-Camelia Begu (ROU #34)
Head-to-head: Halep leads 3-0
Key Stat: Halep has never lost a set to Begu.

When the No.6 seed Simona Halep landed in the Spanish capital, she was surrounded by questions: Had she recovered from the ankle injury that thwarted her Stuttgart campaign? Would her health hold up? Could she replicate her 2014 run to the Madrid final?

The Romanian’s dominating performances in her last three matches say the answer is a resounding ‘yes.’ She’s feeling right at home in Madrid and leads a pack of four Romanians who have advanced to this stage.

“It’s a Romanian tournament, I can say,” Halep joked in her press conference. “I feel like home here. I feel good always. I have great memories from 2014. I just try to make it best tournament for myself. I try just to enjoy it, because I like it very much.”

Halep is up against a familiar opponent in the No.34-ranked Irina-Camelia Begu: despite only playing three WTA matches against each other, the two Romanians have known each other for a long time.

“I expect a tough match,” Halep said. “She plays well on clay. Last year she did quarterfinals here, so [that] means that she likes the court.

“But the match is open, so I have just to try to get my chance and to fight for it, because I really want to go through.”

Dominika Cibulkova (SVK #38) vs Sorana Cirstea (ROU #127)
Head-to-head: Cibulkova leads 3-1
Key Stat: Madrid is Cirstea’s career first Premier Mandatory quarterfinal.

The oldest Romanian of the bunch, 26-year-old Sorana Cirstea made good on a wildcard to reach her career first Premier Mandatory quarterfinal. And she’s done so in emphatic fashion, not dropping a set in the three matches she’s played to get to this stage.

“I think that’s amazing,” Cirstea told WTA Insider of her country’s representation in Madrid. “Four girls in the quarterfinals means half of the girls are Romanians, which I think is impressive coming from a country like Romania.

“I think everyone knows we don’t have a system or anything. We were each separate and trying to find a way. I think it’s amazing that we are one of the biggest forces now in tennis.”

Cirstea, a former No.21, saw her promising career be derailed by a shoulder injury in 2014 – she dropped out of the Top 240 late last fall. But now fit and healthy, she faces another player on the comeback trail in the Slovak Dominika Cibulkova. ­

The former Australian Open finalist has found her form again after recovering from an Achilles injury: she’s reached the final at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel and took home the title at the Katowice Open.

So far in Madrid she’s faced a sterner test – and spent more time on court – than Cirstea on her road to the quarterfinals. All of her matches have gone to three sets, and in her very first match she was drawn against the tournament’s top seed, Agnieszka Radwanska.

Also in action: Romanian qualifier Patricia Maria Tig is in for her biggest test yet against Sam Stosur. After powering past young guns Daria Kasatkina, Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys, Tig now faces the veteran Australian for her first ever semifinal spot at a Premier Mandatory event. Meanwhile, American qualifier Louisa Chirico and big hitting Australian Daria Gavrilova will open the day’s action on Court Arantxa Sanchez. Both of these young players have advanced to this stage against all odds – Chirico upset the No.14 seed Ana Ivanovic and moved past Victoria Azarenka via a walkover to reach the quarterfinals, while Gavrilova ousted the defending champion Petra Kvitova in the last round.