Montréal: Kerber Interview
An interview with Angelique Kerber before her opening round match at the Rogers Cup.
An interview with Angelique Kerber before her opening round match at the Rogers Cup.
Playing at her home tournament in Montréal, Eugenie Bouchard led a USANA workout this weekend at the Rogers Cup.
An interview with Barbora Strycova after her win in the first round of the Rogers Cup.
The 2016 Aces For Humanity campaign was launched by USANA and the WTA at the BNP Paribas Open and continued in Stanford at the Bank of the West Classic, where every ace hit by a WTA player at Premier-level events translates into a donation to the USANA True Health Foundation, whose mission is to provide the most critical human necessities to those who are suffering or in need around the world.
For every ace hit by any player the WTA donates $5, and for every ace hit by a USANA Brand Ambassador, it’s $10.
USANA Brand Ambassadors Eugenie Bouchard, Samantha Stosur, Kristina Mladenovic, Madison Keys, Monica Puig, Sloane Stephens, Zheng Saisai, Alizé Cornet and Caroline Wozniacki hit six of the 160 aces at Stanford – raising a grand total of $830 throughout the week. Cornet hit two aces.
Read more about the campaign here and see below to find out who’s hit the most aces so far!
#AcesForHumanity Fan Giveaway
It’s simple: before each WTA Premier tournament guess how many total aces will be hit.
Next up is the Rogers Cup in Montréal. Last year there was a total of 245 aces hit. It’s now your turn, take your best guess of how many will be hit this year.
How To Enter:
• Follow @WTA and @USANAFoundation on Twitter and before each WTA Premier tournament tweet the number of aces you predict will be hit during the whole tournament (Singles, Main Draw)
• Include the hashtag #AcesForHumanity
• Eastbourne deadline is July 26 at 11:59pm ET
• The winner will be announced August 1st
Aces For Humanity is a joint WTA and USANA initiative that benefits the USANA True Health Foundation, which provides critical human necessities to those in suffering or in need around the globe.
For full rules on how to enter, click here.
An interview with Petra Kvitova after her win in the first round of the Rogers Cup.
STANFORD, CA, USA – We Konta believe it!
Johanna Konta joined the winner’s circle, winning her first WTA title at the Bank of the West Classic. And she did in impressive fashion. To win the title, Konta knocked off the top two seeds in Dominika Cibulkova and Venus Williams and she’ll move to No.14 on Monday.
Hear Jo talk about her meteoric rise over the last 12 months — she was ranked No.126(!) this time last year — and her mouth-watering plans to celebrate her career milestone.
(Spoiler alert: It will be animal style.)
Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn or on any podcast app of your choice to ensure you never miss an episode when they go live. Reviews are always helpful, so if you like what you’ve heard so far, leave us one. You can also get new episode alerts by following us on Twitter @WTA_Insider.
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An interview with Sam Stosur after her win in the first round of the Rogers Cup.
THE WINNERS
Johanna Konta captured her maiden WTA title at the Bank of the West Classic. The British No.1 defeated top seed Venus Williams for the second time in 2016, 7-5, 5-7, 6-2. Konta is now up to a career-high ranking of No.14 and has re-entered the Top 8 on the Road to Singapore leaderboard.
“It’s not just a final,” Konta told WTA Insider. I was playing against Venus Williams, such a champion. I was playing in a Premier tournament, as well. It was quite a lot of things. I’m really happy with how I was able to deal with that and really appreciate the situation for what it was and really be grateful and humbled by it. I’m just looking forward to reinvesting this experience that I gained today into future matches in my career.”
Read the match recap here and Konta’s Champions Corner interview here.
Yanina Wickmayer pulled off a DC double at the Citi Open, defeating first-time finalist Lauren Davis, 6-4, 6-2 and pairing with Monica Niculescu to capture the doubles title on Saturday.
Read the match recap here.
Six years after making her WTA main draw debut at the Ericsson Open, Laura Siegemund came full circle in Bastad to win her maiden WTA title. The German veteran, who qualified for ther first Olympic Summer Games following a stunning season on the European clay courts, defeated Czech youngster Katerina Siniakova, 7-5, 6-1.
“I got a new perspective on tennis,” Siegemund said after the match. “It’s a great sport, and that kind of gave me some freedom on the court to try things and change my game.”
Read the match recap here.
RANKING MOVERS:
Notable singles ranking movers for the week of July 15, 2016.
Dominika Cibulkova (+2, No.12 to No.10): One of Konta’s victims in Stanford was the in-form and newlywed Cibulkova. The semifinal defeat, though, failed to end her summer honeymoon – the 185 points gained confirming a return to the Top 10 for the first time since January 2015.
Laura Siegemund (+8, No.40 to No.32): Not so long ago Laura Siegemund and her fellow German Angelique Kerber existed in very different worlds on tour. Now, following a title run in Bastad that pushed her up to No.32 in the rankings, Siegemund could very well be seeded alongside her compatriot at the upcoming US Open.
Yanina Wickmayer (+8, No.44 to No.36): Yanina Wickmayer was hot in Washington DC. Literally. It was hard not to be with temperatures in the capital threatening 100°F. However, Wickmayer wisely kept her time on court to a minimum, dropping just one set en route to her fifth career title. She is now at her highest ranking since April 2013.
Alison Riske (+20, No.78 to No.58): While Riske was unable to complete her rousing comeback to defeat Venus in the Stanford semifinals, victories over seeds Varvara Lepchenko and CoCo Vandeweghe ensured the tournament remained a highly encouraging one. She is now closing in on returning to the Top 50 for the first time since last September.
Katerina Siniakova (+13, No.92 to No.79): Former junior No.2 Katerina Siniakova’s progress up the senior ranks has come in fits and starts. In Bastad, the Czech took a significant step in the shape of a maiden WTA final, a result that edged her 13 places closer to a Top 50 debut.
UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS
Rogers Cup
Montreal, Canada
Premier | $2,413,663 | Hard, Outdoor
Monday, July 25 – Sunday, July 31
Brasil Tennis Cup
Florianopolis, Brazil
International | $226,750 | Hard, Outdoor
Sunday, July 31 – Friday, August 5
Jiangxi Women’s Tennis Open
Nanchang, China
International | $226,750 | Hard, Outdoor
Monday, August 1 – August 7
TOP 20 PLAYER SCHEDULES
1. Serena Williams –
2. Angelique Kerber – Montréal
3. Garbiñe Muguruza – Montréal
4. Agnieszka Radwanska – Montréal
5. Simona Halep – Montréal
6. Venus Williams – Montréal
7. Victoria Azarenka –
8. Roberta Vinci – Montréal
9. Carla Suárez Navarro – Montréal
10. Dominika Cibulkova – Montréal
11. Svetlana Kuznetsova – Montréal
12. Madison Keys – Montréal
13. Petra Kvitova – Montréal
14. Johanna Konta – Montréal
15. Timea Bacsinszky –
16. Belinda Bencic –
17. Karolina Pliskova – Montréal
18. Samantha Stosur – Montréal
19. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova –
20. Elina Svitolina – Montréal
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
Best wishes to those celebrating birthdays this week:
Maria Sakkari (GRE) – July 25, 1995
Patricia Maria Tig (ROU) – July 27, 1994
Victoria Azarenka (BLR) – July 31, 1989
The story of the tournament from the Bank of the West Classic.
Magda Linette gave Venus Williams a scare last week in Stanford. Fresh from a confidence-boosting win in qualifying can she cause 2012 champion Petra Kvitova problems in Montréal?