Stuttgart: Friday Highlights
Highlights from quarterfinal action at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
Highlights from quarterfinal action at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
The 2016 Aces For Humanity campaign was launched by USANA and the WTA at the BNP Paribas Open and continued in Stuttgart at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, 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, Sloane Stephens, Monica Puig, and Zheng Saisai.
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 Mutua Madrid Open in Madrid. Last year there was a total of 400 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
• Madrid deadline is May 1st at 11:59pm ET
• The winner will be announced May 9th
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.
RABAT, Morocco – No.2 seed Ekaterina Makarova grabbed the first win of her clay court campaign, advancing into the second round of the Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Alexandra Dulgheru.
Watch live action from Rabat & Prague this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
The international-level tournament is the WTA’s lone stop in Africa, and has been staged in several cities in Morocco including Casablanca, Fes, Marrakech and finally Rabat.
Makarova, a former Top 10 player who reached the final in 2009 at the tournament’s Fes staging, had little trouble against the Romanian. Dulgheru has struggled recently and hasn’t won a match since January, but she owns the head-to-head record against Makarova with two wins in both of their previous encounters.
The match started out with five breaks of serve in the first six games, and Makarova scoring the lone hold to get ahead at 3-1. The Russian fought off three break points to keep the lead at 5-3, and stayed steady to close out the first set. Makarova cruised in the second set and closed out the match after one hour and thirty-six minutes.
No.5 seed Timea Babos – a finalist last year in the tournament’s Marrakech staging – had a tougher road to the second round, surviving a rollercoaster second set to advance 6-3, 6-7(8), 6-1.
A pair of seeds weren’t so lucky, as No.3 Anna Karolina Schmiedlova and No.6 Annika Beck were sent crashing out of the first round. Kiki Bertens dropped just one game in her 6-0, 6-1 romp over Schmiedlova, and Teliana Pereira eased into the second round with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Beck.
No.1 seed Timea Bacsinszky will wrap up Rabat’s first round action tomorrow when she takes the court against Russian wildcard Anna Blinkova.
PRAGUE, Czech Republic – Lucie Safarova returned to winning ways by battling past Mariana Duque-Mariño at the J&T Banka Prague Open on Tuesday afternoon.
Watch live action from Prague & Rabat this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
Since returning from the bacterial infection that blighted the end of her 2015 campaign and forced her to skip the Australian Open, Safarova has found wins hard to come by. In fact, the Czech had fallen at the first hurdle at all five tournaments since making her comeback.
When she dropped the opening set to Duque-Mariño, another disappointment looked on the cards. However, perhaps buoyed by the home crowd, the No.2 seed fought back to complete a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory in a fraction over two hours.
“I’m so happy because this is my first win this year in singles and obviously it means a lot,” Safarova said. “I was trying to be positive after coming back from this long sickness, but obviously it’s about the wins. That’s why I was so excited.”
Having dropped the first set, Safarova began her comeback midway through the second, a sliding drop shot in response to a net cord bringing the decisive break. She carried this momentum into the decider, breaking once more when Duque-Mariño sent a tired backhand long. The Colombian had her chances to get back into the contest, seeing several chances to draw level slip by in the sixth game as a relieved Safarova held on.
“I fought so hard and it wasn’t easy – I lost the first set but came back well in the second and played really well in the third,” Safarova added. “I hope to continue to play well here because the crowd was fantastic. It’s so nice to play in front of your home crowd and hopefully I can continue to do so for some more matches.”
Fellow Czech Lucie Hradecka is next up after she saw off doubles partner Andrea Hlavackova, 6-4, 6-1.
Victories for Barbora Krejcikova, Barbora Strycova and 2015 champion Karolina Pliskova provided further cheer for the locals on another chilly day. Pliskova began the defense of her title with a straightforward 6-, 6-3 win over Stefanie Voegele, while Strycova saw off Olga Govortsova, 6-3, 7-5, and lucky loser Krejcikova made the most of her second chance by upsetting No.7 seed Dominika Cibulkova, 6-2, 6-2.
PRAGUE, Czech Republic – Lucie Safarova saw off Fed Cup teammate Karolina Pliskova in two tight sets on Friday to reach the final of the J&T Banka Prague Open.
Watch live action from Prague & Rabat this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
After taking a tight opening set, No.2 seed Safarova came from a break down in the second to complete a 6-4, 7-6(4) victory.
In the final she will face Samantha Stosur, after she profited from the last-minute withdrawal of top seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.
More to follow…
It’s time to vote for March’s WTA Player of the Month!
Have a look at the nominees and cast your vote before Thursday at 11:59pm ET! The winner will be announced Friday, April 7.
March 2017 WTA Player Of The Month Finalists
Elena Vesnina: The 30-year-old Russian capped her career renaissance with a maiden Premier Mandatory title at the BNP Paribas Open. Vesnina bulldozed an impressive field that included soon-to-be World No.1 Angelique Kerber, former World No.1 Venus Williams, and an on-fire Kristina Mladenovic before dispatching countrywoman Svetlana Kuznetsova in what will go down as one of the best matches of the season. The win brought her up to a career-high ranking of No.13.
Johanna Konta: The British No.1 made a breakthrough of her own; reaching her second Premier Mandatory final out of the last three, she struck gold at the Miami Open, defeating Williams and former World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets to take home her biggest title yet, moving up to a career-high of No.7.
Caroline Wozniacki: Speaking of Wozniacki, the Dane did herself proud during the Sunshine Swing, reaching the quarterfinals in Indian Wells, and rolling into her first final in Miami – her third of the season – to complete a box set of Premier Mandatory final appearances.
Karolina Pliskova: The Czech powerhouse continued her blistering start to 2017 by reaching back-to-back semifinals in Indian Wells and Miami, avenging her Australian Open loss to Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in the quarterfinals of the latter.
Venus Williams: The five-time Wimbledon winner backed up her run to the Melbourne final in style, losing only to the eventual champion in each of Indian Wells and Miami, knocking out World No.1 Kerber in Crandon Park.
2017 Winners
January: Serena Williams
February: Elina Svitolina
How it works:
Finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com
CHARLESTON, SC, USA – Laura Siegemund outlasted an in-form Venus Williams, 6-4, 6-7(3), 7-5, to win her second three-setter in three days and sail into the third round of the Volvo Car Open.
“I have no idea!” she said during her on-court interview when asked how she pulled off the win over the 2004 champion. “It was a really good match; it was going up and down. I just tried to believe in my game, and if I was down, I told myself I was going to get more chances.”
Siegemund reached the quarterfinals last year in Charleston, kicking off an impressive clay court campaign that led her into the finals of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix at home in Stuttgart.
Against Venus, the German veteran was hardly overawed by the five-time Wimbledon winner, who was coming off strong results at the BNP Paribas Open and the Miami Open, where she reached the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively.
.@LauraSiegemund levels the final set in style!
Four all! #VolvoCarOpen pic.twitter.com/WTOsyT8Bm8
— WTA (@WTA) April 5, 2017
Down match point in the second set, Venus fought back and broke Siegemund as she served for the match, eventually powering through the ensuing tiebreak to level the match.
“I had a hard time finding an aggressive game at the beginning of the third set, playing really short, and she plays really well when she can put pressure on you. It was an amazing performance from her as well,” said Siegemund.
What a rally from @LauraSiegemund to save a second match point! #VolvoCarOpen pic.twitter.com/Lzy5XPmfgr
— WTA (@WTA) April 5, 2017
Siegemund twice pulled back from a break in the third, and saved two match points of her own as Venus served for the match at 5-4, reeling off the final three games to reach the round of 16.
“I tried my best to think this could be the best match she’ll ever play in her life, honestly,” Venus said in her post-match press conference. “I basically won the match but still lost.
“I really played the best game I could. I pretty much hit winners, but she hit winners back on me, and I just didn’t have any answers for that. I don’t know much more that I could do. I mean, there were some errors I made in the beginning, but when push came to shove, I feel like I did the right things, but somehow inexplicably came up empty.”
In all, the two played phenomenal offense throughout, each hitting more winners than errors, with Siegemund leading Venus 52 to 45, and hitting 41 unforced errors to Venus’ 39.
Unreal tennis from @LauraSiegemund! ? #VolvoCarOpen pic.twitter.com/IiKImzXwcy
— WTA (@WTA) April 5, 2017
“It gives me a lot of confidence, because I was pretty unlucky this year,” Siegemund said. “I’ve had a lot of these kinds of matches, but I was losing them, and you start to doubt.
“Now, I feel very confident on clay, and I think I showed I still have some good tennis in my hands.”
Up next for Siegemund will be the winner of the match between doubles partners Lucie Safarova and Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
First Top 10 win of 2017!@LauraSiegemund saves TWO MATCH POINTS to beat Venus Williams 6-4, 6-7(3), 7-5 at @VolvoCarOpen! pic.twitter.com/PjMR97mdW7
— WTA (@WTA) April 5, 2017
Carla Suárez Navarro reached her first quarterfinal of 2017 with a comprehensive win over countrywoman Sara Sorribes Tormo at the Abierto GNP Seguros.
Daria Kasatkina takes on Irina-Camelia Begu in the quarterfinals of the Volvo Car Open.
After a thrilling three set match on Charleston’s Stadium court, good friends Daria Kasatkina and Daria Gavrilova met at the net for an amusing attempt at a fake-out handshake.