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Insider: Serena & Kerber's Finals Berths

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Serena Williams and Angelique Kerber are the first two women to qualify for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. The World No.1 and No.2 respectively, this marks the fourth consecutive year Serena has qualified for the Finals and the second straight year for Kerber. While their paths have crossed twice in their quest for Singapore, their roads have looked markedly different.

Though they’ve only faced off twice this season, the Williams-Kerber rivalry has defined the 2016 season. Their two meetings came on tennis’ biggest stages, in the final of the Australian Open and Wimbledon, with Kerber winning in Melbourne and Serena in London. Kerber’s consistent success at tour events has also allowed her to close the gap on Serena’s lead in the rankings, which seemed all but insurmountable a year ago. Serena currently has seven zero-pointers on her ranking, having missed the Asian Swing and WTA Finals last fall.

Serena’s season has been the more surgical of the two. She is 34-5 on the year, having made the final or better at five of the six tournaments she has played (not including the Olympics). She won two of them, Rome and Wimbledon. By winning at the All England Club in July, Serena matched Stefanie Graf’s Open Era record of 22 major singles title. At the upcoming US Open, where she will attempt to break the record, Serena will also match Graf for the most consecutive weeks at No.1, having spent 186 straight weeks in the top spot. After a near-historic season in 2015, the records just keep on coming for one of the game’s greatest of all time.

Kerber has been the workhorse this year, which comes to no one’s surprise given her reputation as one of the hardest workers in the game. After making the final of the Western & Southern Open this weekend, she now leads the tour with 47 wins in 2016. She has played 16 tournaments this season, making the final of five them, and won two titles at the Australian Open and Stuttgart. But it hasn’t just been about finals for Kerber. She’s consistently putting herself into the final four of the tour’s biggest events, all while also playing two rounds of Fed Cup for Germany:

Brisbane – Finalist
Australian Open – Champion
Miami – Semifinalist
Charleston – Semifinalist
Stuttgart – Champion
Wimbledon – Finalist
Montréal – Semifinalist
Olympic – Finalist (does not count towards qualification)
Cincinnati – Finalist

In all, Kerber is 7-3 against Top 10 opposition this season. No other Top 10 player has even had that many matches, let along equaled Kerber’s wins.

Current Top 5 vs. Top 10 opposition.

Serena: 5-2
Kerber: 7-3
Muguruza: 3-2
Radwanska: 2-3
Halep: 2-2

As the tour heads to the final Slam of the season at the US Open, Serena and Kerber are separated by less than 500 points in the Road to Singapore. This past weekend, Kerber came within one win of becoming the second German ever to become World No.1. Kerber will challenge for the No.1 ranking in New York as well.

Given how close the rankings are with just a few months left in the season, there’s a strong possibility that the coveted year-end No.1 ranking could come down to the wire at the WTA Finals in Singapore.

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Mirza Alone Again At The Summit

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

For so long the standard bearer for tennis on the subcontinent, Sania Mirza is no stranger to flying solo. A strange sensation for one of her generation’s outstanding doubles players, but one that has fostered an inner steel crucial to her longevity at the top of the sport.

Following the premature conclusion of her singles career in 2012 owing to a serious wrist injury, Mirza quickly established herself as a doubles specialist to be reckoned with. Already a serial title winner, a sequence of increasingly fruitful partnerships elevated her game – and ranking – to new levels.

Alongside Bethanie Mattek-Sands, and in particular the evergreen Cara Black, Mirza lifted silverware at many of tennis’ flagship events; with Black by her side, this culminated in the Indian qualifying for then winning the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.

When Black left the tour to focus on family life, it left Mirza as one of the most sought-after partners on tour. And it was not long before another serial major winner came calling: Martina Hingis.

Success was immediate, the duo winning their first 14 matches and three tournaments together. The last victory in this sequence, in Charleston, brought Mirza to another major milestone: the No.1 ranking.

So impressive were the pair’s results – they won three consecutive majors, going unbeaten for 41 straight matches between August 2015 and February 2016 – Mirza was soon joined by Hingis atop the rankings. It was an honor they held until this Monday, when Mirza reassumed the mantle of outright No.1 following victory alongside new partner Barbora Strycova in the final of the Western & Southern Open.

Their opponents in the final were none other than Hingis and CoCo Vandeweghe, the ownership of the No.1 ranking adding an additional layer of intrigue to an already tense occasion.

“We played each other in the final, which is of course the best time to play each other,” Mirza told ESPN. “It was not the easiest situation, it is a bit weird. There are nerves but at the end of the day we are tennis players and we have to try and win and do our best and we both tried to do the same thing.

“We had a great partnership but it was time to move on and we have moved on. We’ve both had a great tournament. I have to look forward and I have to focus all my energy on this partnership which is obviously doing great.”

Defeat for Mirza would have seen her surrender sole possession of top spot to Hingis, and she was full of praise for her new partner’s competitive instinct following a rollercoaster final, in which they trailed 1-5, 15-40 in the first set before storming back to clinch the title.

“We are really happy, it was a new partnership and we are obviously very happy and excited to have started this way and winning one of the big tournaments of the year,” she said. “We had a really tough draw. We have beaten some big teams and for us it has been an amazing week.

“As professional athletes you have to first see whether you match each other on the court, which is what I thought which is why I approached her to play when that split had happened. Obviously I was right because our playing styles complement each other. We are similar personalities and we will get to know each other better in the course of time. We fight for every point.”

The 38th doubles title of the 29-year-old’s career extends her spell at No.1 to 72 weeks, a number bettered by only 10 players in history. The ranking will again be on the line when Hingis, Mirza and their new teammates head to New York for the year’s final major, the US Open.

“Consistent performances matter, it’s not a flash in the pan of one odd tournament. I have won six tournaments this year and played a bunch of finals which is huge already for this year. The hardcourts are my favorite surface. I am looking forward to the next few weeks. I am not going to put any added pressure on myself that this what I need to do or should do.”

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Ranking Watch: Pliskova On The Move

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Understandably, given the potentially seismic shift at the top of the rankings, Karolina Pliskova’s mightily impressive progress through the draw at last week’s Western & Southern Open went largely unnoticed. Unnoticed that is until she scuppered plans for Angelique Kerber’s World No.1 coronation with a flawless display in the final of the Premier 5 event.

Having enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2015 – reaching six finals and threatening to qualify for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global – Pliskova has found success harder to come by this time around. There have been flashes of her explosive brilliance – most notably in Indian Wells, where she reached the last four, and on the grass of Nottingham and Eastbourne – but consistency has remained elusive.  

This past weekend, the Czech proved once more that her place at tennis’ top table is very much warranted, outplaying Garbiñe Muguruza then Kerber to take home the sixth and most prestigious title of her career. The result bumps Pliskova several places up the rankings from No.17 to 11. Not only is Pliskova now certain to be among the leading 16 seeds for the US Open, she is also within touching distance – a measly 55 points, to be precise – of reclaiming the Top 10 spot she held briefly last season.

A more pressing concern is fulfilling her undoubted potential at the Grand Slams, where she is yet to make it beyond the third round. Her ranking rise has aided hopes of a good showing at the US Open, which begins next Monday.

Pliskova, though, was not the only player to receive a potential seeding boost.

Timea Babos (+8, No.41 to No.33): Also performing well in Cincinnati was Babos, whose first quarterfinal at an event of this stature was rewarded with a career-high ranking and a possible seeding at the US Open.

Alizé Cornet (+11, No.58 to No.47): It has been a testing campaign for Cornet, injuries precipitating a slide down the rankings and, in Cincinnati, forcing her to qualify for a WTA event for the first time since April 2012. She came through the test, going on to upset Kiki Bertens in the first round to edge back into the Top 50.

Alison Riske (+11, No.70 to No.59): Another player to come through qualifying was Riske, and while she was unable to capitalize on a bright start to upset Svetlana Kuznetsova in the second round, the points earned ensure she continues to close in on a return to the Top 50 for the first time since last September.

And finally…
Strictly speaking, Sania Mirza did not move up in the rankings last week, but by outperforming former partner Martina Hingis in Cincinnati she now assumes sole ownership of the doubles No.1 ranking. It is her 70th week on top – only Gigi Fernandez (80 weeks), Paola Suarez (87), Sara Errani (87), Roberta Vinci (110), Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario (111), Natasha Zvereva (124), Lisa Raymond (137), Cara Black (163), Liezel Huber (199) and Martina Navratilova (237) have been World No.1 for longer.

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Notes & Netcords: August 22, 2016

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

THE WINNERS

No.15 seed Karolina Pliskova stunned World No.2 Angelique Kerber, 6-3, 6-1, to win the biggest tournament of her career at the Western & Southern Open, and temporarily halt the German’s bid at becoming No.1 in the world.

Kerber came into the final looking to end Serena Williams’ 183 consecutive week stretch atop the WTA rankings, but will now have to wait until New York to have another shot at the top.

“Angie’s had an amazing week and has done a great job all year,” Pliskova said in her acceptance speech. “I know she was playing for World No.1; I think you deserve to be No.1, but maybe next time!”

Click here for match recap and highlights. | WTA Insider As It Happened: Game-by-game analysis.

In the doubles draw, World Co-No.1s Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis reached the Western & Southern Open final, but found themselves on opposite sides of the net as Mirza and new partner Barbora Strycova recovered from 5-1 in the opening set to beat Hingis and CoCo Vandeweghe, 7-5, 6-4.

“I’m not going to lie,” Mirza said after the match. “It’s a very difficult situation. It’s not easy because, A, because we are still good friends, so it’s never easy. The first we tournament we split and we come and we have to play each other. Of course there is no better match to play than the final, so was difficult, I think. for both of us.

“But having said that we are professional tennis players. We have to come out and we have to give our best and we have to try and win. That’s all we can do.”

Click here for match recap. | WTA Insider As It Happened: Game-by-game analysis.


RANKING MOVERS:
Notable singles ranking movers for the week of August 22, 2016.

Agnieszka Radwanska (POL), +1 (No.5 to 4): The Pole’s run to the quarterfinals of the Western & Southern Open earns Radwanska a small ranking jump that could have big implications when the US Open seeds are announced.

Karolina Pliskova (CZE), +6 (No.17 to 11): Pliskova pulled off a big upset in the final in Cincy, and as a result she jumps up six spots to No.11, putting her within striking distance of the Top 10 once more.

Alizé Cornet (FRA), +11 (No.58 to 47): Once ranked No.11, the Frenchwoman saw her ranking drop after an injury-plagued season. But she’s now finding her way back as her run to the second round of Cincy after qualifying puts her inside the Top 50.


UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS

Connecticut Open
New Haven, USA
Premier | $695,900 | Hard, Outdoor
Sunday, August 21 – Saturday, August 27

US Open
New York, USA
Grand Slam | $ TBA | Hard, Outdoor
Monday, August 29 – Sunday, September 11

Dalian Women’s Tennis Open
Dalian, China
125K | $115,000 | Hard, Outdoor
Tuesday, September 6 – Sunday, September 11

TOP 20 PLAYER SCHEDULES
1. Serena Williams -US Open
2. Angelique Kerber – US Open
3. Garbiñe Muguruza – US Open
4. Agnieszka Radwanska – New Haven, US Open
5. Simona Halep – US Open
6. Venus Williams – US Open
7. Victoria Azarenka
8. Roberta Vinci – New Haven, US Open
9. Madison Keys – US Open
10. Svetlana Kuznetsova – US Open
11. Karolina Pliskova – US Open
12. Carla Suárez Navarro – US Open
13. Dominika Cibulkova – US Open
14. Johanna Konta – US Open
15. Petra Kvitova – New Haven, US Open
16. Timea Bacsinszky – New Haven, US Open
17. Samantha Stosur – US Open
18. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova – US Open
19. Barbora Strycova – US Open
20. Elena Vesnina – New Haven, US Open


HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
Best wishes to those celebrating birthdays this week:

Olga Govortsova (BLR) – August 23, 1988
Maryna Zanevska (UKR) – August 24, 1993
Ons Jabeur (TUN) – August 28, 1994

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Championship Sunday In Cincy

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

WTA Insider | It’s finals day at the Western & Southern Open; stay tuned for all the action as Angelique Kerber goes for the No.1 ranking on the latest WTA Insider Live Blog.

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