Miami: Madison Keys' Shot Of The Day
Madison Keys had Friday’s shot of the day on Day 4 of the Miami Open.
Madison Keys had Friday’s shot of the day on Day 4 of the Miami Open.
MIAMI, FL, USA – The Miami Open doubles tournament kicked into high gear on Saturday as two of the Top 4 seeds took the court to begin their respective campaigns. Before the storm clouds rolled in for the third straight day, No.2 seeds Ekaterina Makarova & Elena Vesnina and No.4 seeds Andrea Hlavackova & Peng Shuai both advanced into the second round, each in straight sets.
The two teams last met in the finals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, which the Russians won in a tense match tie-break, and could potentially meet in the semifinals of Miami.
Hlavackova and Peng have nonetheless enjoyed a strong start to 2017, reaching the finals of the Australian Open and briefly leading the pack at the top of the Road to Singapore leaderboard.
“The doubles game is improving a lot,” Hlavackova told WTA Insider. “A lot of singles players are playing doubles, and most of the top teams are made up of singles players, so it’s very tough competition. We are very happy to start the season so well; I think it’s pretty special to start the team so well as a new team. We just want to keep going.”
Up against a young team in Naomi Osaka and Monica Puig, the duo edged through a close opening set to roll through, 7-6(6), 6-1, and book a second round clash with Shuko Aoyama and Yang Zhaoxuan.
“They started very strong in the first set. They served really fast and played a very fast baseline game. It was very important to not panic and keep playing and find out time and moment. We got the tie-break and started from there, even better.”
Osaka and Puig each produced exciting results in singles last year, but have yet to hit the same heights on the doubles court.
“They’re young; when they get to our age, they’ll have experience!” joked Peng.
“I think they’re a great team. They play strong and fast. In the first set, we were almost lucky to get the tie-break, but in the second set, we got a break quickly, so the feeling was different.”
Earlier in the day, Makarova and Vesnina each shrugged off tough singles losses on Friday to power through their first doubles match in Miami, ousting Oksana Kalashnikova and Asia Muhammad, 6-0, 6-2.
“We both had crazy singles matches yesterday,” Vesnina said. “I texted her after the match, because I knew she was crying and she was tired. I told her, ‘Katya, don’t even put yourself down. We have a tough sport, but it’s not the end of the world. Cry for another five, ten minutes, and just pack your stuff, go back to the hotel, get sleep, and tomorrow we’ll kick some asses on the court!’
“We needed to regroup and forget our tough losses because it’s tough. You can have a black line in your life, white line in your life, and there can be moments where there are more black lines than white, but you still need to find the positivity though the negative. Sometimes, what doesn’t kill you makes you strong.”
The dynamic duo are set to celebrate their fifth anniversary of doubles at the Mutua Madrid Open, but may leave Crandon Park with an unexpected present; should they win the tournament, they will rise to Co-World No.1 – as long as Bethanie Mattek-Sands falls before the semifinals and Kristina Mladenovic fails to reach the final.
“Before you told me, I didn’t even know! We’ll take it match by match. Katya and I always do that; we’ll just focus on our doubles. We lost our singles, so we’ll try our best to do good in doubles because this is a big tournament.
“Miami is very prestigious and it’s a huge event; we’ve been in the final twice. This year we’ll try to go all the way.”
Up next for the Olympic Gold medalists and reigning BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global champions is the unseeded and dangeous pairing of Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Kveta Peschke.
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.
Garbiñe Muguruza takes on Christina McHale in the second round of the Miami Open.
Third-round action begins in earnest on Saturday at the Crandon Park Tennis Center in Miami. We preview the day’s must-see matchups right here at WTATennis.com.
Saturday
Third round
[2] Karolina Pliskova (CZE #3) vs. [27] Yulia Putintseva (KAZ #32)
Head-to-head: Tied, 1-1
Key Stat: Pliskova is bidding for her 21st victory of the season. She would take over the WTA lead in that category with a win today.
Karolina Pliskova blasted past American Madison Brengle in the second round doing what she does best. She cracked 27 winners to just six for the American and took control of play early in rallies to cruise to a straight sets victory. She’ll look to do more of the same against fiery Yulia Putintseva on Saturday. Pliskova served 12 aces and raced by the 22-year-old Kazakh in straight sets in her first match of the season at the Brisbane International, and Pliskova will aim to continue that trend on Saturday. Putintseva won more than half of her return points against Germany’s Carina Witthoeft on Thursday, and broke serve six times in thirteen opportunities, but she’ll have her hands full against the WTA’s ace leader and will have to make the most of any opportunities she gets to pull the upset.
Pick: Pliskova in two
[4] Dominika Cibulkova (SVK #4) vs. Kirsten Flipkens (BEL #85)
Head-to-head: Cibulkova leads, 4-2
Key Stat: Cibulkova is playing at a career-high ranking of World No.4 this week.
2014 semifinalist Dominika Cibulkova improved to 15-9 at the Miami Open on Thursday with a straight-sets win over Paraguay’s Veronica Cepede Royg. On Saturday the No.4 seed will face the crafty stylings of Kirsten Flipkens, a savvy veteran that has made a living off of breaking the rhythm of the tour’s best players for years. In six previous meetings with the Belgian Cibulkova has had mixed results. But she won the pair’s last two meetings and will come in as the heavy favorite against the World No. 85, who has only won two of 21 lifetime meetings against Top 10 opponents on hardcourts.
Can Flipkens withstand the punishing ground game of Cibulkova and make enough traction with her eclectic blend of slice and dice, or will the indefatigable Cibulkova power past Flipkens and into the round of 16?
Pick: Cibulkova in two
[5] Agnieszka Radwanska (POL #5) vs. [26] Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (CRO #29)
Head-to-head: Radwanska leads, 2-1
Key Stat: Radwanska has won the singles title (2012) and the doubles title (2011) at Miami.
Mirjana Lucic-Baroni shocked Agnieszka Radwanska out of this year’s Australian Open and went on to reach a semifinal at a major for the first time since 1999. On Saturday the Croatian will try to summon the magic once again when she takes on the fifth-seeded Pole, who is a former champion and owns an impressive 29 career wins at Miami. As much as the 35-year-old Lucic-Baroni would like to bask in the glory of her colossal performance down under, she knows that Miami is another story, another chance for her to show the world that she can still play.
“Melbourne was exciting, it happened, but it already feels like it happened a long time ago,” Lucic-Baroni told WTA Insider after her three-set win over Kateryna Bondarenko on Thursday. “I definitely enjoyed it, but I don’t want to be stuck thinking about that. Look where we are: we’re in Miami, another big tournament. My feet are on the ground, and I’m fighting for every match.”
Radwanska will be fighting as well. After starting slowly in 2017, the Pole is eager to turn the page and make something special happen in Miami. “I think every tournament is different story,” Radwanska said before the tournament. “You just have to start from the beginning, and doesn’t matter what happened last week or two months ago. You just go on court and try and play your best.”
Pick: Radwanska in two
[6] Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP #6) vs. [30] Zhang Shuai (CHN #33)
Head-to-head: Zhang leads, 1-0
Key Stat: Muguruza improved to 6-1 in three-setters this season with her win over McHale on Friday.
After saving a match point and battling back from a break down in the third set to defeat American Christina McHale, Garbiñe Muguruza will now set her sights on matching her career-best performance at Miami. But to reach the round of 16 for the fourth time in six career appearances here, Muguruza will have to avenge a tough loss from earlier this season. Zhang defeated Muguruza, 7-6(3), 3-6, 7-5 in Doha in February, and the Chinese No.1 has now won three of her last five against the Top 10 after losing nine of eleven to start her career.
28-year-old Zhang is a remarkable story. After years of struggles she was contemplating retirement, but her fortunes have changed since the beginning of 2016 and she has risen over 100 spots in the WTA rankings in 15 months. Will she be able to continue her form against one of the game’s premier power players on Saturday, or will it be Muguruza who powers into the round of 16 with a new lease on life after saving match points on Friday?
Pick: Muguruza in three
By the Numbers:
20 – Karolina Pliskova is tied for the tour lead in wins with 20. The Czech did not score her 20th win until June last season.
5 – Agnieszka Radwanska has made the quarterfinal or better in five of her 11 appearances at Miami.
1 – Bethanie Mattek-Sands recorded her first win of the season on Thursday over No.9-seeded Elina Svitolina. It was also Mattek-Sand’s first Top 10 win since 2015.
13 – Ajla Tomljanovic’s win over No.13-ranked Elena Vesnina on Friday was her biggest win rankings-wise since 2014, when she defeated then World No.3 Agnieszka Radwanska at Roland Garros.
Simona Halep takes on Naomi Osaka in the second round of the Miami Open.
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MIAMI, FL, USA — Taken to the brink for the second time in this matchup, No.3 seed Simona Halep again emerged victorious over rising Japanese teenager Naomi Osaka in the second round of the Miami Open on Friday, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.
“It’s really important that I could win this match today,” Halep said, after the match, referencing her struggles with a knee injury to begin 2017. “I think it was very, very difficult to play against her in the first match here at the tournament, but I’m really happy. I had no pain, I stayed there two hours, fighting, running all over the place… so it’s great.”
There was little to separate the two players for the duration of their nearly two-hour encounter, which included two rain delays, but Halep improved to 2-0 against Osaka after defeating her in the third round of the French Open last year.
With the teenager Osaka known for her blistering serve, it was Halep who cruised behind her delivery in the first set, dropping a total of three points.
While Osaka almost kept pace at the line for the duration, she blinked in the pivotal ninth game, falling behind 0-40 only to see Halep take the game on her third break point and serve out the set to love.
.@Simona_Halep wraps up the first set 6-4! #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/EF64odeBBj
— WTA (@WTA) March 24, 2017
After Osaka held serve to begin the second set, a brief shower forced the players off court, but upon resumption, Oskaka cranked up the heat on serve and off the ground.
After breaking in the first game out of the delay, Osaka stretched her run to 12 of the next 15 points played after the break to take a two break lead at 4-0.
“I lost my serve after the rain and I was a little bit too upset,” Halep said. “She was very strong there, and I think I did my best third set this year. I think I played my best tennis. I didn’t expect her to play that good in the wind. She’s hitting the balls pretty hard and she adjusted well today. Her game is strong and she likes…to hit, and the wind was moving the ball a lot. From my side, I didn’t have pretty good timing to hit. She did very well.”
Halep steadied herself in the fifth game, using some all-court tennis to earn back one break and hold in her next game, but the undaunted Osaka held at love and broke to 30 to send the match into a decider.
.@Simona_Halep cancels out one of the breaks! #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/rwoP1u0L2v
— WTA (@WTA) March 24, 2017
Halep, who stroked 11 winners in the opening set, saw her stat line nearly reversed in the second, as she hit just four winners to balance 11 unforced errors.
A lengthy third game of the decider, which went to deuce five times, seemed to be the turning point for Halep early as the No. 3 seed broke the Osaka serve to move in front, 2-1. However, Osaka rallied back to knot the set at 3-3 with a break of her own, only to surrender serve at love in the next game to put Halep back in front.
After a second, lengthier delay due to weather, Halep hardly missed a beat, holding serving and breaking Osaka on her second opportunity to close out the match.
“I changed everything that I did before,” Halep said about her rain delay thoughts. “I said I had to be fired up from the first point, even if I did a double fault. I just wanted to stay there and fight for every ball.”
.@Simona_Halep moves into @MiamiOpen Third round!
Battles past Osaka 6-4, 2-6, 6-3! pic.twitter.com/Wdp0FR7p34
— WTA (@WTA) March 24, 2017
The Romanian advances to play the winner of the match between No. 32 seed Ekaterina Makarova and Anett Kontaveit.