Miami Open: Top 16 Seeds’ Histories
How have Angelique Kerber, Karolina Pliskova, Simona Halep and the rest of the Miami Open contenders fared in the past?
How have Angelique Kerber, Karolina Pliskova, Simona Halep and the rest of the Miami Open contenders fared in the past?
LONDON, Great Britain – The first to play on this rare People’s Sunday at the Wimbledon Championships, No.27 seed CoCo Vandeweghe clinched a spot in the second week for the second year in a row, ousting No.6 seed Roberta Vinci, 6-3, 6-4.
Vandeweghe reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal at this very tournament one year ago, and has only gotten more comfortable on the grass courts since, winning a second Ricoh Open title and reaching the semifinals of the Aegon Classic with a win over World No.3 Agnieszka Radwanska.
She played another emphatic match against the Italian on Centre Court, dropping just four points behind her first serve and hitting 21 winners to 17 unforced errors to earn the upset in just over an hour.
Along with the Williams sisters and Madison Keys, Vandeweghe became the fourth American woman to reach the second week at this year’s Championships.
Pavlyuchenkova Propels Into Round Four
Standing between the American and a second straight Wimbledon quarterfinal is No.21 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who surprised No.11 seed and 2015 quarterfinalist Timea Bacsinszky, 6-3, 6-2.
Heading into the Wimbledon fortnight, the Russian had never been past the third round, and hadn’t won back-to-back matches on grass since 2012, but overcame tough battles against Hsieh Su-Wei and Yulia Putintseva to play some of her best tennis against Bacsinszky to claim victory on her 25th birthday.
Maintaining a positive winner to unforced error differential at 24 to 20, Pavlyuchenkova had a stellar serving day of her own, winning 82% first serve points and missing just 14 first serves in the one hour and 18 minute encounter. The two-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist and former World No.13 lost her only previous match with Vandeweghe back at the 2014 Miami Open, though the match was played over two tight sets.
Makarova Meets Vesnina In Singles Face-Off
Backing up her big win over two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in an endlessly rain-delayed second round, Ekaterina Makarova showed no signs of a let down against 2014 Wimbledon quarterfinalist and Aegon Classic runner-up Barbora Strycova, knocking out the No.24 seed, 6-4, 6-2 to reach the fourth round.
Makarova’s superb start to the 2015 season had been derailed by a lower leg injury; unseeded at a major tournament for the first time in four years, the Russian veteran has played phenomenal tennis since reuniting with doubles partner Elena Vesnina at the Mutua Madrid Open.
It’s only right then, that the two have a full circle moment in the round of 16 at the All England Club. In the midst of her own singles reurgence, Vesnina began the year playing Grand Slam qualifying after 40 straight main draw appearances, but after a season of solid wins over Simona Halep, Venus Williams, Belinda Bencic, and Caroline Wozniacki, the Russian veteran is back in the Top 50 and into the second week of a major for the first time since the 2013 Australian Open.
Vesnina has never beaten her doubles partner in a WTA match, losing 12 straight sets to Makarova – including four in their two 2015 matches.
Four Russians through to R16 (Kuznetsova, Makarova, Pavlyuchenkova, Vesnina) the most at #Wimbledon since 2009
— Kevin Fischer (@Kfish_WTA) July 3, 2016
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.
MIAMI, FL, USA – It was a bad day in the opening round of qualifying for two of Britain’s hopes in the Miami Open as Katie Swan and Naomi Broady fell at the first hurdle.
British No.3 Broady lost 7-5, 6-4 to New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic in what was expected to be a close match with only 15 places between the pair in the WTA rankings.
It was a similarly tight affair in the match between Swan and Risa Ozaki, the Japanese winning 6-3, 6-3, although the discrepancy in the rankings of over 250 places meant that this was somewhat of a more expected result.
Not the result I was hoping for…had a lot of chances but still loved being out there!! Let's keep it going ??? #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/QlTC5BdUSq
— Katie Swan (@Katieswan99) March 20, 2017
Elsewhere, WTA Insider reported a popular victory for 15-year-old Anastasia Potapova over rising Greek star Maria Sakkari and in-form second seed Magda Linette survived a second set blip to overcome Asia Muhammad in three tight sets.
There were also notable wins for Donna Vekic (d. Kayla Day 4-6, 6-2, 6-4), Varvara Lepchenko (d. Silvia Soler-Espinosa 7-5, 6-1), Madison Brengle (d. Sachia Vickery 6-1, 6-2) , Mona Barthel (d. Jaqueline Cristian 6-1, 6-1) and Francesca Schiavone (d. Kateryna Kozlova 6-3, 6-0).
MIAMI, FL, USA – Newly-minted World No.1 Angelique Kerber has officially reclaimed her spot at the top of the WTA rankings on Monday, a day before the Miami Open kicks off and where she’ll also be the No.1 seed for the first time.
But the big question for former World No.1 Chrissie Evert is how Kerber will cope with the pressures of having the target on her back once again.
Kerber is still searching for her first title of 2017 after falling in the fourth round of Indian Wells to eventual champion Elena Vesnina. The German went into the match leading 4-1 in their head-to-head record, but started off flat and allowed Vesnina to dictate the rallies, a contrast to the game she showed during her run to two Grand Slam titles last year.
She’s also yet to defeat a Top 20 player in 2017, falling to Elina Svitolina twice (Brisbane, No.14; Dubai, No.13) and later Vesnina (No.15).
“For me it’s nothing really to do with the physicality of her game,” Evert said in an ESPN phone call. “It’s not that the game is not there, the same game that she won the Australian Open with and the US Open with.
“I think it’s all in her head, and it is a big adjustment to have that No.1 bullseye on your back and to continue to play with the fearlessness that it took for her to get there. She went out of the box in big matches that she won last year; she took more chances. She played more fearless tennis. She went for more shots. She went for bigger serves. She went for bigger second serves.
“She really, to me, this year has gone back into the type of tennis she played two years ago when she was Top 5 in the world, but not No.1.”
Evert drew a comparison between Kerber and the resurgent Caroline Wozniacki – who’s added a bit more aggression to her counterpunching game to help her climb back on top following an injury-riddled 2016 season and consecutive slide down the rankings.
“She has to do what Wozniacki is trying to do now: taking a few more risks and being a little more aggressive,” Evert explained. “Those two, I see their games similar as far as their unbelievable defense and counterpunching, and it goes against their nature to really wind up and to attack right from the start. But they’ve got to learn to do that a little bit more.”
Evert, who was the year-ending World No.1 singles player in 1974-1978 and 1980-1981 and held on to the ranking for a total of 260 weeks, had some words of advice for what it would take for the German to regain her fearlessness.
“[Kerber] has to get back that aggressive mentality, and she’s got to really force it on herself because she’s not going to be No. 1 until she plays like she did at the US Open and like she did in Australia.
“The tennis is there, but she’s got to get back into that frame of mind, and she’s got to work on that. Only she can do it. You can listen to a thousand people or the best coaches in the world, but only she has to come to terms with that.”
– Photos courtesy of Getty Images
MIAMI, FL, USA – The top 8 seeds at the Miami Open answered fans’ questions via Twitter – was yours one of them?
“How much do you love your fans?”
.@orangegreatness #AskMiamiTop8 pic.twitter.com/VUKBar2R89
— WTA (@WTA) March 21, 2017
“If you could have one superpower, what would it be?”
.@popalorena #AskMiamiTop8 pic.twitter.com/bzRut5rMck
— WTA (@WTA) March 21, 2017
“What’s your favorite emoji?”
.@Halepenthusiast #AskMiamiTop8 pic.twitter.com/42FDJNP8tl
— WTA (@WTA) March 21, 2017
“What keeps you motivated to play tennis?”
.@carnesy56 #AskMiamiTop8 pic.twitter.com/NXBiNpNJUw
— WTA (@WTA) March 21, 2017
“Happy birthday, Karolina! How are you celebrating?”
.@AllThingsGenie #AskMiamiTop8 pic.twitter.com/0apTlCySBQ
— WTA (@WTA) March 21, 2017
“What’s your main goal this year?”
.@FaabiHola #AskMiamiTop8 pic.twitter.com/FcV7frPEPn
— WTA (@WTA) March 21, 2017
“Do you get to hear more Latin music in the Miami clubs?”
.@Erin_clp #AskMiamiTop8 pic.twitter.com/SACVDRv0fg
— WTA (@WTA) March 21, 2017
“What’s your favorite thing about Miami?”
.@ballbasher_ #AskMiamiTop8 pic.twitter.com/2B78SYlQ0W
— WTA (@WTA) March 21, 2017
“Do you like your fan pages on Instagram?”
.@SilkyPhilippe #AskMiamiTop8 pic.twitter.com/Bk0Bzi4hVg
— WTA (@WTA) March 21, 2017
“How do you stay mentally positive?”
.@k9lvCSGO #AskMiamiTop8 pic.twitter.com/hKdFLpbWqc
— WTA (@WTA) March 21, 2017
“How long do you see yourself playing for?”
.@tennisaddictdon #AskMiamiTop8 pic.twitter.com/IESP1cHrAm
— WTA (@WTA) March 21, 2017
“What is your favorite holiday destination?”
.@tulasipavan #AskMiamiTop8 pic.twitter.com/WFGmERbExA
— WTA (@WTA) March 21, 2017
LONDON, Great Britain – WTA CEO Steve Simon joins the WTA Insider podcast after a busy week of meetings in London to discuss the future of the tour and the changes coming down the pipeline. In particular, Simon breaks down the current discussion surrounding a possible change in the tour’s current circuit structure, the future state of the WTA’s broadcast and content business, and his vision for a tour that continues to push forward and grow to become a worldwide sporting power.
On his vision for the circuit structure:
“What I would like to see is a tour that provides clarity, which I’m not sure we have today. I’m not sure a lot of our fans know the difference between an International series event and a Premier series event. I would like to have a system where every event has a purpose and a meaning. Then we can begin to storytell from it and take our fans on tour for a year and understand why this event is happening and the relevance of it, and the relevance of the athletes, as opposed to being a faceless event, which I’m afraid happens too often.”
On the current state of the WTA broadcast business:
“I think it’s an exciting time because in 2017 we are embarking on a new broadcast agreement. The basis for this agreement is that we will now be producing every main draw singles match played, and every semifinal and doubles final played. So we’re going to go from producing approximately 800 matches a year to over 2,000, which is a significant jump. Through our partnership with Perform we will now have a global audience going into 2017 at record levels that we have never seen before. We’ll be entering the market at nearly 400 million people in our audience universe right away.”
On his desire to expand the tour’s competitive landscape:
“We’re very proud that we’re the No.1 professional women’s league and I think it’s well deserved. You don’t become No.1 because you didn’t produce and you should take a lot of pride in that. The next step from that from my perspective is we want to not just be the No.1 women’s professional tour, we want to compete with professional sports. What that means is that we’re now drawing the audience levels that are similar to other professional sports, and we need to grow our audience levels. They’re not at the levels that I want them to be at.”
On the state of play:
“We are in a transition now. We have Serena in the argument as one of the best players to ever play this game and other great champions that are with us. But when I look at what’s coming I’m just very excited about it. We can see the transition happening. We can see it in the results. Every week this year we’ve seen a lot of upsets. Well those upsets are consistently this new era coming through and challenging the existing stars and that’s very healthy.”
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LONDON, England – Moments after completing another regal performance at Wimbledon, the queen of tennis Serena Williams was rubbing shoulder with a very different type of royalty.
Making her annual homage to the home of tennis, future Queen Kate Middleton was alongside All England Club Chairman Philip Brook to witness Williams’ semifinal masterclass against Elena Vesnina.
And with the applause still rippling around Centre Court, the Dutchess was hot-footing it out of the royal box to get an introduction – and a selfie – with the World No.1.
Serena and Kate ? pic.twitter.com/wzsmKkJJyh
— Shanice Bajin (@SWilliamsFans) 7 July 2016
LOS ANGELES, CA, USA – Serena Williams’ phenomenal week got even more phenomenal on Wednesday night, as she won Best Female Tennis Player at the ESPY Awards for the eighth time in her career, having already been given the award in 2003, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2015.
She was chosen over Angelique Kerber, Flavia Pennetta, and Garbiñe Muguruza for this year’s award.
Williams now has 10 total ESPY Awards – she was also named Best Female Athlete in 2003 and 2013.
Other WTA stars with multiple ESPY Awards are Sharapova (five), Venus Williams (four), Steffi Graf (three) and Monica Seles and Lindsay Davenport (two each). The ESPY Awards started in 1993.
More to come…
Two-time Grand Slam champion Victoria Azarenka has announced the exciting news that she is expecting her first child later this year.
While recovering from the knee injury that sidelined her for Wimbledon, Azarenka and her boyfriend found out they would soon be welcoming a new member to the family.
The former World No.1, who plans to return to the game at some point in the future, made the announcement on Facebook this Friday.
“The WTA Family extends its congratulations to Vika. There is nothing more special than becoming a parent and we look forward to having Vika with her family back on Tour and winning championships next year,” WTA CEO Steve Simon said.
I have some news for you all ☺️ pic.twitter.com/64Kf90tZF6
— victoria azarenka (@vika7) July 15, 2016
GSTAAD, Switzerland – Kiki Bertens upset top seed Timea Bacsinszky on Saturday to end hopes of an all-Swiss final at the Ladies Championship Gstaad.
Two Swiss players have never met in the final of a WTA event, and Bertens ensured this statistic remained intact with a 7-5, 7-6(1) win.
Due to the torrential rain earlier in the week, the weekend began with the completion of the backlogged quarterfinals, Bertens living up to her No.3 seed status by making short work of Irina Khromacheva. However, against Bacsinszky she was made to work considerably harder, coming from a break down in both sets to edge into the third final of her career.
“I think the tournament would have loved two Swiss players in the final – so sorry for that! – but I’m really happy,” Bertens said afterwards. “I think we both played a lot of matches in the last few hours, so physically it’s really tough.”
On the other side of the draw, Viktorija Golubic finally halted the run of teenager Rebeka Masarova, keeping her cool to run out a 6-3, 6-2 winner. Along with the weather, Masarova, who was crowned junior champion in Roland Garros last month, has been the story of the tournament, becoming the first player in nearly four years to reach the semifinals on their WTA main draw debut.
Golubic was also appearing at this advanced stage for the first time and managed the occasion with aplomb, surging into an early lead and never looking back. After fending off the threat of a comeback to take the first set Golubic took a stranglehold of the contest with a break in the fourth game of the second before repeating the trick to close out victory.
“I feel great! It was great to play in an all-Swiss semifinal – and for the popularity of tennis in Switzerland it was also very helpful,” Golubic said. “I enjoyed today, I won two matches and feel amazing. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.
“I really did a good job mentally this week because I had lots of moments where I felt my shots were not quite there. And at these moments it’s hard to perform and not lose yourself, so this is definitely the part of my game I managed best this week.”
wenn es nur Sieger gibt #WTAGstaad #ViktorijaGolubic #RebekaMasarova pic.twitter.com/w7HKrMhIvR
— Ladies Open Gstaad (@WTA_Gstaad) 16 July 2016