Svitolina, Safarova Sail Into Taipei City Semifinals
Top seed Elina Svitolina is through to the Taiwan Open semifinals with a hard-earned win over qualifier Ons Jabeur, Peng Shuai stunned Samantha Stosur in straight sets.
Top seed Elina Svitolina is through to the Taiwan Open semifinals with a hard-earned win over qualifier Ons Jabeur, Peng Shuai stunned Samantha Stosur in straight sets.
Roberta Vinci talks through her performance in her second round victory at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia – Kristina Mladenovic continued her stunning run at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy with another shock victory, this time in the quarterfinal over the reigning champion, Roberta Vinci, 6-1 6-4.
The unseeded world No.51 continued with the approach that had seen off Venus Williams in the surprise of the second round. She tore into the 33-year-old’s serve in the first set, winning all three of the Italian’s service games. Facing set point at 30-40 in the final game, Vinci produced a wonderful drop shot down the line from deep in the court to take it to deuce, but Mladenovic was undeterred and came through for a 6-1 win.
A rocket of a return from @KikiMladenovic! @Formula_TX pic.twitter.com/2eXZkScAly
— WTA (@WTA) February 3, 2017
Vinci, facing Mladenovic for the first time since the 2015 US Open, faced break point once again at the start of the second set. This time, though, she proved more resilient and held for the first time in the match.
“Roberta is a big fighter,” said the 23-year-old of a more even second set, “and she is very smart on the court. She tried different tactics and almost turned it around in the second set. I’m happy I stayed calm and all the time responded with a game plan as well.”
The second serve increasingly proved key. Mladenovic won 50% of the points behind hers in contrast to 25% for Vinci and, although the French player served three double faults to her opponents’ one, it was that one that was crucial. A double fault from Vinci at 30-40 and 4-4 in the set gave the underdog the chance to serve for a meeting with Russia’s Natalia Vikhlyantseva in the last four.
Wonderfully delicate touch from @Roberta_Vinci! ? pic.twitter.com/LU8a5BBLaR
— WTA (@WTA) February 3, 2017
Mladenovic grew more aggressive, coming forward more with the win in sight. Serving at 5-4 she rushed too quickly to the net and gave up three break points. However she showed great composure to save all three. In a tense finale, the pair went to deuce four times before, at the third time of asking, Mladenovic converted match point with a top-spin heavy cross-court winner to qualify for her third career Premier semifinal.
“We played against each other last year in Hertogenbosch on grass and I won in three sets,” she said of Vikhlyantseva. “I discovered this young lady there for the first time and I thought she had an amazing great quality and game and potential for the future. I’m not surprised at her improvement and her ranking climbing up.”
Meanwhile the defeated champion said: “It was a difficult match, a tough match. Kiki played incredible tennis first set. In the second set I started to play much better than in the first – a bit more aggressive – I had some chances to break her, but she played too good. I played so so – this is tennis! I’m happy I managed to make it back to the quarter-final.”
Check out Dominika Cibulkova’s shot of the day, against Donna Vekic.
CoCo Vandeweghe came to the Australian Open unseeded and under the radar, but all of that changed after a fortnight in Melbourne.
“I think I don’t shy away from a challenge necessarily,” she said after reaching her first Grand Slam semifinal. “I never have. Growing up, I’ve always just been wanting to prove people wrong in a lot of different regards.”
The 25-year-old American started the 2017 season with the goals of reaching a major semifinal and a quarterfinal at a major besides Wimbledon, where she reached the last eight in 2015. By the end of the tournament, she’d achieved all that and more, including a Top 20 debut after knocking out defending champion Angelique Kerber and French Open winner Garbiñe Muguruza in back-to-back straight set matches.
“I’m very happy with starting the year this way, putting validation to the hard work that I’ve put in in the off-season, the sacrifices, all the good stuff like that.
“But, you know, at the same time I’m not satisfied. Like I said, I mean, there’s a disappointment factor because I’m not satisfied. I think that’s a good thing.”
Looking to build on her major breakthrough, Vandeweghe is your Breakthrough Player of the Month!
Final Results for January’s WTA Breakthrough Performance Of The Month
1. CoCo Vandeweghe (50%)
2. Elise Mertens (28%)
3. Katerina Siniakova (16%)
4. Lauren Davis (6%)
2016 Breakthrough Performance Of The Month Winners
January: Zhang Shuai
February: Jelena Ostapenko
March: Nicole Gibbs
April: Cagla Buyukakcay
May: Kiki Bertens
June: Elena Vesnina
July: Kristina Kucova
August: Karolina Pliskova
September: Naomi Osaka
October: Peng Shuai
How it works:
Finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com
Sam Stosur was impressive in Taipei City – check out her shot of the day as she moved into the quarterfinals at the expense of Dalila Jakupovic.
The Australian Open started and ended with Serena Williams, who not only won her seventh Australian Open title and returned to World No.1, but also won her 23rd Grand Slam title – breaking the Open Era record she’d heretofore shared with Stefanie Graf.
“It’s such a great feeling to have 23,” she said after defeating sister Venus Williams in the final. “It really feels great. I’ve been chasing it for a really long time. It feels like a really long time. When it got on my radar, I knew I had an opportunity to get there, and I’m here. I’m here.
“It’s a great feeling. No better place to do it than Melbourne.”
After tying Graf at Wimbledon, No.23 certainly got on her radar and was in imperious form Down Under, winning the title without losing a set through seven matches.
“My first Grand Slam started here, and getting to 23 here, but playing Venus, it’s stuff that legends are made of. I couldn’t have written a better story.
“I just feel like it was the right moment. Everything kind of happened. It hasn’t quite set in yet, but it’s really good.”
The legend lives on for Serena, and it certainly helped her earn her the mantle of January’s WTA Player of the Month!
Final Results for January’s WTA Player Of The Month
1. Serena Williams (46%)
2. Venus Williams (42%)
3. Johanna Konta (8%)
4. Karolina Pliskova (4%)
2016 WTA Player of the Month Winners
January: Angelique Kerber
February: Carla Suárez Navarro
March: Victoria Azarenka
April: Angelique Kerber
May: Garbiñe Muguruza
June: Serena Williams
July: Simona Halep
August: Monica Puig
September: Petra Kvitova
October: Dominika Cibulkova
How it works:
Finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com
Top seed Elina Svitolina played Lucie Hradecka for a place in the Taiwan Open quarterfinals.
January was packed with plenty of amazing shots – we narrowed it down to the five best.
In the end, it Hot Shot Queen Agnieszka Radwanska, who turned defense to offense against Christina McHale at the Apia International Sydney. En route to the final, the former World No.2 used all her scrambling skills to end the rally with a screaming forehand winner.
Click here to watch all of January’s finalists.
Final Results for January’s WTA Shot Of The Month presented by Cambridge Global Payments
1. Agnieszka Radwanska (76%)
2. Julia Goerges (11%)
3. Yulia Putintseva (7%)
3. Karolina Pliskova (4%)
5. Alizé Cornet (2%)
2016 WTA Shot of the Month Winners
January: Caroline Wozniacki
February: Agnieszka Radwanska
March: Agnieszka Radwanska
April: Monica Niculescu
May: Simona Halep
June: Agnieszka Radwanska
July: Simona Halep
August: Agnieszka Radwanska
September: Kirsten Flipkens
October: Angelique Kerber
How it works:
Five shots are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com
Elena Vesnina takes on Alizé Cornet in the second round of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.