Cincinnati: Kuznetsova Interview
An interview with Svetlana Kuznetsova ahead of her participation in the Western & Southern Open.
An interview with Svetlana Kuznetsova ahead of her participation in the Western & Southern Open.
CINCINNATI, OHIO, USA – CoCo Vandeweghe has been around the world, and can now add the Olympics to her global passport.
Straight from a thrilling three-set win over Sara Errani, Vandeweghe sat down with WTA Insider to discuss victory over the Italian veteran and her wild week in Rio for the Olympic tennis event on the first of our Daily Dispatches from the last major tournament of the Emirates Airlines US Open Series:
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An interview with Roberta Vinci ahead of her participation in the Western & Southern Open.
Simona Halep addressed the media before the start of the Western & Southern Open. The No.3 seed is on a 10 match winning streak after back to back titles in Bucharest and Montréal.
Garbiñe Muguruza, the No.4 seed, is looking to get back to her winning ways after her maiden Grand Slam title at Roland Garros.
Meanwhile, Madrid Open semifinalist Louisa Chirico fielded questions at the Western & Southern Open’s High School Day.
She was joined by ATP player Taylor Fritz and they handed out signed tennis balls to all the fans.
Belinda Bencic was popular at Kids Day, signing autographs for young fans. She’s hoping to make a deep run here in Cincinnati, her first tournament back from injury since Wimbledon.
Karolina Pliskova also made sure to leave young fans happy with some signed tennis balls.
But it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows in Cincinnati. Clouds rolled in on Monday and the inclement weather stopped play for a couple of hours in the afternoon.
Once the sky cleared, Cincy’s tireless ballkids were out in full force to make sure the courts were dry and ready for play.
They got a sweet reward for their hard work, in the form of a visit from No.9 seed Carla Suárez Navarro.
One lucky ball girl even won a hat autographed by Suárez Navarro, too!
Not to be outdone, Halep took over the tournament’s autograph booth and doled out signed card after card.
With 15 of the WTA’s Top 20 all vying for the title at the Western & Southern Open, there’s sure to be a lot more action in store at the last big event before the US Open!
CINCINNATI, OH, USA – Things are heating up on the hardcourts at the Western & Southern Open and wtatennis.com contributor Chris Oddo is on hand to preview Day 2’s must-see action.
Tuesday, First and Second Round
Center Court
[4] Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP #3) vs. CoCo Vandeweghe (USA #33)
Head-to-head: Vandeweghe leads, 2-0
Key Stat: Vandeweghe is sporting a 4-0 record against the Top 10 in 2016.
Neither player has ever been past the second round in Cincinnati, but that is about to change on Tuesday for either CoCo Vandeweghe or Garbiñe Muguruza as they prepare to square off for the first time in two years. Though Muguruza has had the more storied career, it is Vandeweghe who has taken their previous two meetings, which both occurred in 2014. It’s been an excellent year for the 24-year-old American. She has risen to a career-high ranking (No.29 on June 20) and at Wimbledon was seeded at a major for the first time. But Vandeweghe’s achievements pale in comparison to those of the Spaniard. Muguruza rolled to the Roland Garros title in June, defeating Serena Williams in the final. Though the 22-year-old has struggled a bit since her shining moment in Paris – going 3-3 in her last six – Muguruza says she feels refreshed and ready to tackle the Cincinnati challenge. “I was happy to live the experience in Rio, and I’m happy to be back,” she told reporters on Monday. “Coming here, I’m motivated to have a great tournament because I haven’t played a lot of matches. I’m looking forward to it.”
Pick: Muguruza in three
Grandstand
[17] Elina Svitolina (UKR #19) vs. [Q] Daria Gavrilova (AUS #47)
Head-to-head: Tied, 1-1
Key Stat: Gavrilova has won six straight sets since the beginning of qualifying in Cincinnati.
Making her second appearance at the Western & Southern Open, 22-year-old Daria Gavrilova zoomed into the second round with a 7-5, 6-3 shutdown of France’s Caroline Garcia on Monday. The Australian qualifier won 32 of 38 first-serve points and didn’t face a break point in winning her 18th match of 2016, and she hopes that having three matches under her belt in Cincinnati will help her when she faces Elina Svitolina on Tuesday. The Ukrainian reached the semifinals last year in Cincinnati, and she’s fresh off a quarterfinal appearance at the Olympics that saw her achieve her first victory over World No.1 Serena Williams. With both players in form, expect a hard-fought battle between feisty players, both of whom are eager to push deep into a quality draw.
Pick: Gavrilova in three
Stadium 3
Andrea Petkovic (GER #42) vs. Lucie Safarova (CZE #28)
Head-to-head: Petkovic leads, 4-3
Key Stat: Safarova is bidding for her 400th WTA win on Tuesday.
Two tried-and-true veterans will battle for the eighth time on Tuesday, with each hoping to gain some much-needed traction on the hardcourts – and their 400th career win! Safarova, who owns a career record of 399-282, hopes to crack the milestone on Tuesday and make it three consecutive hardcourt wins over Petkovic. Meanwhile, the 28-year-old German could pass the mark by reaching the quarterfinals. Petkovic and Safarova are each hovering around the .500 mark for the season and could badly use a deep run here in Cincinnati to bolster their confidence ahead of the season’s final Grand Slam in New York. With the US Open less than two weeks away the time is ripe for making statements. Who will make theirs on Tuesday?
Pick: Safarova in two
Around the grounds…
Nineteen-year-old Daria Kasatkina will make her Cincinnati debut when she takes on lucky loser Tsvetana Pironkova on Court No.10. Kasatkina, who reached the Olympic quarterfinals last week in Rio, is playing with a career-high ranking of 24. Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard qualified for the main draw and will open with a tricky encounter against Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic. Bouchard won the pair’s first three meetings but Strycova has taken the last two, including a 6-1, 6-0 trouncing in Rome this spring. Strycova is coming off a Bronze medal performance in women’s doubles at the Rio Games.
An interview with Garbiñe Muguruza ahead of her participation at the Western & Southern Open.
Monica Puig cemented her status as Puerto Rico’s favorite daughter by becoming her country’s first gold medalist in any sport on Satuday at the Olympic tennis event. Upsetting World No.2 Angelique Kerber in the final, Puig showed off the potential first exhibited back in early 2013, when she pushed the German to a third set tie-break at the Brisbane International.
Hear more from Puig as she adjusts to life after gold and how she hopes to take this Olympic sized achievement back onto the WTA circuit on this Dropshot edition of the WTA Insider Podcast:
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 Dominika Cibulkova ahead of her participation at the Western & Southern Open.
CINCINNATI, OH, USA – Croatian qualifier Donna Vekic snapped a six-month long losing streak to knock out 2014 finalist Ana Ivanovic out of the Western & Southern Open in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2.
Watch live action from Cincinnati this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
“I’m very happy – I’ve played a great three matches and I’m happy to be through to the second round,” Vekic said after the match.
The only previous time Vekic played Ivanovic, the match ended in a lopsided straight sets victory for the Serbian. But now with more experience, and with three matches in Cincinnati already under her belt in the qualifying rounds, Vekic came out looking more match fit and playing aggressively.
Vekic’s big forehand gave Ivanovic plenty of trouble throughout the match. The Croat earned a double break lead early on to build a 5-1 lead. Though the former No.1 eventually looked to be finding her rhythm and even got a break back to cut into Vekic’s lead, she wasn’t able to keep the unforced errors out of her game and Vekic took the first set 6-4.
She opened the following set with another break, punching back an Ivanovic volley with a deep cross court forehand. A lackadaisical backhand from Ivanovic drifted just wide and gave Vekic her first match point, on Ivanovic’s serve at 5-1, but the Serb held on after a pair of big serves and aggressive baseline play. Vekic took the match at the second time of asking, sealing it with a big inside-out forehand.
“I’ve played [Ivanovic] before and I know her,” Vekic said. “I just played my best tennis tonight and it was enough – I’m happy.”
Once ranked as high as No.62, Vekic has struggled with finding her form in recent months. With her win over Ivanovic, she’s well on her way to finding it again. She’s snapped a losing streak dating back to February – the 20-year-old hadn’t won a WTA-level main draw match since her first round win in Doha.
She faces another big task ahead in the form of British No.1 Johanna Konta in the second round. The No.10 seeded Konta sits at a career-high ranking of World No.13 after a spate of great results that has seen her reach the quarterfinals or better in seven events so far this year.
“I’m just gonna get back out there on the practice court and try to keep up my level,” Vekic said of the matchup. “Hopefully that’ll be enough again.”
An interview with Simona Halep ahead of her participation at the Western & Southern Open.