Tokyo: Osaka Interview
An interview with Naomi Osaka after her quarterfinal at the Toray Pan Pacific Open.
An interview with Naomi Osaka after her quarterfinal at the Toray Pan Pacific Open.
TOKYO, Japan – Elina Svitolina produced one of her best performances of the year to upset top seed Garbiñe Muguruza in the quarterfinals of the Toray Pan Pacific Open.
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Having knocked out CoCo Vandeweghe and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the previous two rounds, Svitolina produced another intelligent performance to defuse one of the WTA’s most fearsome ballstrikers. In the end a break in the penultimate game of the match proved the difference as the Ukrainian closed out a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 victory.
“It was a great performance from me and I think we both played really well,” Svitolina said during her on-court interview. “In the second and third sets it was great tennis and I hope everyone enjoyed this match.
“It was pretty consistent tennis. I was playing really well from the first point. Maybe Garbiñe didn’t expect this but it was a great match and I’m really happy that it finished my way!”
In her last five events, Elina Svitolina is 2-1 vs. Top 5 players. Beat Serena (Olympics), Muguruza (Tokyo), lost to Radwanska (New Haven). https://t.co/LZGKnwZawH
— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) September 23, 2016
Svitolina upset Muguruza earlier this year in Dubai and was clearly unfazed at the prospect of repeating this feat, taking barely 20 minutes to race into a 5-0 lead. While Muguruza would eventually get on the scoreboard, it was only delaying the inevitable, her unseeded opponent wrapping things up with a rasping backhand drive.
This level proved difficult to match in the second set. And when she dipped, Muguruza was waiting to pounce, teasing a string of unforced errors to claim the decisive break. Both players had their opportunities in the decider, but surprisingly it was the underdog that held her nerve, producing some dogged defense to edge 5-3 ahead. Serving for the match there was no let-up, a trio of pin-point deliveries powering her to victory.
In the semifinals she will face another big-hitter in the shape of Japanese wildcard Naomi Osaka.
An interview with Caroline Wozniacki after her quarterfinal at the Toray Pan Pacific Open.
It’s time for Roberta Vinci to take on the WTA Frame Challenge!
“I’m feeling much more comfortable in my skin, how I am, and how to work,” Kerber said in the latest WTA Insider Podcast. “It’s because of the experience; I now know how to deal with the pressure, with things I have to do off-court.”
Kerber got to celebrate her No.1 breakthrough alongside her US Open victory, taking part in a pair of photoshoots with each trophy commemorating her dual achievements.
“This gives me a lot of confidence to dress up, come out, speaking, working, being how I am! It took a little while to get there, but it was great work getting there.”
The first of two women to qualify for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global – alongside 22-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams – Kerber kicks off her Asian Swing as the top seed at the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open. The World No.1 has played Wuhan since its inaugural event in 2014, reaching the semiifnals last year.
Kerber leads the field with 54 match wins this year, and will be in search of her fourth title of the season. Taking home three titles thus far, two have been on the game’s biggest stages at the Australian Open and US Open, while the third came at home at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart.
Success at the Grand Slams and consistency elsewhere is what helped Kerber end Serena’s 186 straight weeks at No.1; the first German No.1 since Stefanie Graf – and the first lefty since WTA Finals Tournament Ambassador Monica Seles – Kerber has reached the quarterfinals or better in six of her last seven tournaments, finishing runner-up at Wimbledon, the Western & Southern Open, and the Olympic tennis event (earning no ranking points at the latter).
Now that she’s earned the No.1 ranking, the question becomes how long Kerber can keep it. Williams announced her withdrawal from Wuhan and Beijing, meaning her rival needs to earn 1500 points to assure herself of the Year-End No.1.
“My motivation is still really high, especially after this title in New York. I will still try to improve my game because I know I could still improve my serve and a few other things in my game. It’s what I plan to do in the next in the next few weeks and in my pre-season for next year. There are still a few things where I know I can be better, and that gives me confidence too, to know I can still play better, more aggressively, or move better.
With a total of 900 points awarded to the winner at Wuhan and another 1,000 next week in Beijing, she could go a long way towards accomplishing that goal before even heading to Singapore – potentially locking down the Year-End No.1 ranking with a good two weeks on Chinese soil.
“Angie won’t stop wanting to get better,” said Torben Beltz, Kerber’s longtime coach who reunited with her just before her rise towards the top of the game last spring. “She doesn’t just want to practice for an hour and that’s it’ she wants to get better, and even have some input in the practice. She wants to get better, hit harder; these are things she wants to do, and we’ll work on that together.”
Kerber would join a select group of 11 women to have finished the year as No.1, and become the 12th to do so. Serena has earned the distinction five times (2002, 2009, 2013-2015), the third-most in WTA history behind Graf at eight (1987-1990, 1993-1996), and Martina Navratilova at seven (1978-1979, 1982-1986). Kerber would be the first woman not named Serena to finish the year No.1 since Victoria Azarenka, who ended her only season as leader of the pack in 2012.
It’s already been a year to remember for Angelique Kerber, but it’s not over yet, and the sky seems to remain the limit for the new No.1.
“Of course, I’m playing the best tennis of my career, but I’m still trying to be better and better,” Kerber said. “That’s what motivates me during my practices and matches. I still hope to play my best tennis over the next few months.”
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.
Highlights from the second round and quarterfinals action at the Toray Pan Pacific Open.
SEOUL, South Korea – Could we see an all-Romanian final at the Korea Open? Patricia Maria Tig kept hopes of that possibility alive with a 7-6(2), 2-6, 6-3 win over Sara Sorribes Tormo, while No.5 seed Monica Niculescu avenged the loss of defending champion, top seed, and countrywoman Irina-Camelia Begu by defeating conqueror Jana Cepelova, 6-4, 6-2.
Sorribes Tormo was coming off a big upset over No.4 seed Kristina Mladenovic, and though she was able level the match after losing a tight opening set, Tig held her nerve to reach her first WTA semifinal of the season. The young Romanian had made her Premier Mandatory breakthrough earlier in the year when she reached the last eight of the Mutua Madrid Open as a qualifier.
Up next for the 22-year-old is Lara Arruabarrena, who knocked out No.2 seed Johanna Larsson, 6-4, 6-0.
On the other half of the draw stands Niculescu, who is playing her first event since reaching the third round of the US Open. Deprived of an all-Romanian semifinal with Cepelova defeating Begu in the second round, Niculescu exacted revenge on the Slovak to advance in straight sets.
Awaiting Niculescu in the semifinals is No.3 seed Zhang Shuai; the Australian Open quarterfinalist ended the run of unseeded Camila Giorgi, 6-2, 6-4.
Anastasija Sevastova has Thursday’s Shot Of The Day at the Toray Pan Pacific Open.
Defending champion and former No.1 Jelena Jankovic knocked out US Open quarterfinalist Ana Konjuh, next faces Lesia Tsurenko in the Guanzhou International Women’s Open final.
Garbiñe Muguruza takes on Anastasija Sevastova in the second round of the Toray Pan Pacific Open.