Birmingham: Kerber vs. Gavrilova
Angelique Kerber takes on Daria Gavrilova in the second round of the Aegon Classic Birmingham.
Angelique Kerber takes on Daria Gavrilova in the second round of the Aegon Classic Birmingham.
ACAPULCO, Mexico – No.7 seed Lesia Tsurenko will take on Kristina Mladenovic in the final of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel after top seed Mirjana Lucic-Baroni was forced to retire after trailing 0-5 in the first set.
“I was really shocked on court when she decided to retire,” Tsurenko said after the match. “I wish that she feels better. I’m pretty happy to be in the final, but shame that she’s not feeling well.”
Lucic-Baroni had been in imperious form this week in Acapulco – her first event since her dream run to the Australian Open semifinals – and she hadn’t dropped a set all tournament long.
But on Friday night against Tsurenko, the Croat was noticeably subdued from the start, moving sluggishly and her usually booming strokes lacking bite. Tsurenko broke three times and, after a visit from the trainer and tournament doctor, Lucic-Baroni was forced to retire citing gastrointestinal illness.
Mirjana Lucic-Baroni retires in the opening set.@LTsurenko advances to @AbiertoTelcel Final! #AMT2017 pic.twitter.com/R3w2AjPf8n
— WTA (@WTA) March 4, 2017
“I was really unlucky; I picked up a virus, I vomited just before I went on the court,” Lucic-Baroni explained. “I tried. Because I’m not the type to retire, ever. I’ll just put on more tapes and play, and I can play through anything really.
“But I just felt extremely dizzy and like I was going to vomit all the time, and I just couldn’t continue. I’m really upset, because this is such a great tournament and I’m playing so well.
“It’s just a crappy way to end a really good tournament.”
For Tsurenko, this puts her through to her first final of the year; earlier in the season she made a run to the semifinals at the Hobart International. In fact, it’s her first final since September 2016 when she won the title at Guangzhou.
She’s set to take on Kristina Mladenovic, who came through in three sets against Christina McHale.
“I watched their match, it was really tough match for both of them,” Tsurenko acknowledged. “But this is not always a big advantage for me; sometimes when you play a long match you get stronger and feel the surface better.
“We’ll see tomorrow. I hope I’ll be fresher physically.”
An interview with Madison Keys after her win in the semifinals of the Aegon Classic Birmingham.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – It was twice as nice for Ashleigh Barty in Kuala Lumpur as she won the doubles title with Casey Dellacqua – adding that to the singles crown she had secured earlier in the day.
The Australian pair beat Nicole Melichar and Makoto Ninomiya 7-6(5), 6-3, coming back from 5-1 down in the first-set tiebreak to lift the trophy in straight sets.
“I feel great – very tired but great,” said Barty afterwards. “It’s been a monster week for me. I don’t think I could have physically have played any more matches. I’m very happy to come away with two titles today, but even if we didn’t it would have been a fantastic tournament anyway. Now it’s just an absolute bonus.”
Congrats @ashbar96 & @caseydellacqua #alyawtamalaysianopen #wta #alyakl #tpckl #mme #mymajorevents pic.twitter.com/XJWyHFEz2L
— AlyaWTAMalaysianOpen (@alyawtamo) March 5, 2017
Her partner Dellacqua admired the way that their opponents had played, giving them a tough time in the first set.
“They were playing really good tennis, really good doubles,” she said. “We just had to play each point as best we could. That’s all we did, we just applied ourselves really well for each of those points in that tiebreak especially.
“In tennis, you’re never out of it, I think that was pretty crucial to get that first set, and then just to get a break in the second, to space that lead out a little bit. That tiebreak, we did really well after being 5-1 down.”
Dellacqua is enjoying her time on court with her good friend Barty, and was delighted that she won the singles title – even if she was not actually able to watch it.
“It’s pretty nice to play with someone that’s just come off and won the singles, that’s always good!” laughed the 32-year-old. “I’m just stoked that I’m back. I wouldn’t be out here and enjoying it as much if it wasn’t playing with Ash, so yes, I feel good, I feel very happy that I was here to witness her, even though I didn’t get to watch, win her first title. I know that there’ll be many more to come. For us to win the doubles is an extra bonus. It’s pretty exciting.”
The pair burst into laughter when they were asked post-match whether they intended to continue playing doubles together.
“No, I don’t want to play with her again!” grinned Dellacqua.
“We’re done!” added Barty.
Once the hilarity subsided, Dellacqua gave a more serious response.
“Yes, of course. Ash has got a big load, she’s playing singles, so we’ll play whenever we can. When we do play we always enjoy it, and we go out there to do our best.”
Winning a Grand Slam title, of course, remains their ultimate goal.
“It’s a big dream to win [a Slam doubles title],” agreed Dellacqua. “We’ve made three Grand Slam finals together and we’ve never won one, but we don’t talk about it too much any more!
“If that happens, it happens. It’s about each week, each journey, just trying to get the best out of ourselves this week, and if that comes along, we’ll certainly be trying our best to win.”
Highlights from the semifinals action at the Aegon Classic Birmingham.
An interview with Roberta Vinci before her opening round match at the Aegon International.
Garbiñe Muguruza hasn’t had too much time to revel in her maiden Grand Slam triumph. Not long after stunning World No.1 Serena Williams to win the French Open, the Spaniard had to shift focus to yet another major tournament, one played on courts that serve as a stark contrast to slow red clay.
“I just have to keep a totally open mind,” she told press after her opening round loss at the Mallorca Open. “I came to Mallorca with very little time to prepare. I mean, yesterday I was still in Paris, and this is a totally different surface.
“The truth is I’m disappointed, but now I’m just training harder to arrive ready for Wimbledon.”
While many French Open champions tend not to grab too many headlines as the tour takes over the All England Club, all eyes will be on Muguruza to see if she can back up last year’s breakthrough fortnight, when she upset Agnieszka Radwanska to reach the final – becoming the first Spanish woman to make it that far since Conchita Martinez in 1994.
“Oh man, I barely remember the last time. It’s been over a year since my [Wimbledon] final, and it feels like ages since I last stepped on grass. But sure, it brings me great memories, even though grass isn’t a surface I’ve always loved – I didn’t used to like it at all.”
While back-to-back quarterfinal appearances foreshadowed this year’s title run at Roland Garros, the Spaniard had won a grand total of one main draw match at Wimbledon, and was perilously close to elimination in bother her second and third round matches to Mirjana Lucic-Baroni and Angelique Kerber before catching fire in the second week.
“I’ve learned to love it more lately, with time. And then reaching the final at Wimbledon, that was something so special.
“It’s always a hard switch, especially the first few days on grass, but there’s little tricks to help adjust.”
Playing her first major final, she played Williams through two tough sets, admitting to nerves playing a part in keeping her from stepping over the finish line.
“I felt I had a lot of opportunities against her, and I just thought in Wimbledon I was very nervous,” she said after winning in Paris. “I couldn’t really control that.”
After losing the opening set of her first round, Muguruza looked in complete control in Paris, rolling over the field and winning 12 straight sets en route to the title and a new career-high ranking of No.2. Whether the quantum leap in her resume gives her more confidence remains to be seen, but seems to know she can’t rest on her laurels.
“When you step out onto the court, it doesn’t matter if, last week, you’ve just won a Grand Slam, in the end it comes down to who can play their best on that day.”
Muguruza’s career has already been full of the highest of highs and lowest of lows; it took her until the Asian Swing to recover from reaching last year’s Wimbledon final, but she made up for lost time in style, going undefeated in round robin play of her BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global debut.
This season, but contrast, has been a slow build, putting one solid result on top of another before she was able to climb up and grab a piece of Grand Slam glory. A steep drop-off wouldn’t be out of character, but certainly out of step for a player who has not only evolved into a Grand Slam contender, but a Grand Slam champion.
Click here to read more about this year’s Wimbledon Contenders, courtesy of WTA Insider.
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.
Madison Keys single-handedly ended two surprising droughts during a water-logged week in Birmingham, England. By winning the Aegon Classic on Sunday with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Barbora Strycova, the 21-year-old became the first American woman in 17 years to make her Top 10 debut, and ended her own two-year title drought dating back to 2014 (Eastbourne).
The last American woman to make her Top 10 debut? Serena Williams in 1999.
WTA Insider caught up with Keys after her milestone week in Birmingham.
WTA Insider: Congratulations on the title at the Aegon Classic. How do you feel?
Keys: I feel great. I think it’s definitely the best outcome I could have had and really happy I was able to get this many matches on grass leading into Wimbledon.
WTA Insider: It wasn’t an easy week in Birmingham with the weather. You seemed to handle all of it well. You didn’t get distracted or anything. Do you agree?
Keys: Yeah, I do. I was pretty lucky with how my matches seemed to go. I don’t think I had any rain delays once the match started and never had to play two matches in one day so I was pretty lucky. But there were definitely was times I didn’t think the tournament would get to the final.
WTA Insider: You played incredibly well in the first set. The second set Barbora came back and started throwing more variety at you. You had to save break points. In the past, that’s a set you lose. That wasn’t the case today.
Keys: Yeah, I was definitely expecting her level to raise. I think as well as I played in the first set, I don’t think she played her best, so definitely was expecting it. There were a couple of break points that I had where she just came up with a serve or a shot that was too good. That was a little bit frustrating. But I was really happy that I was able to figure my way out of some really tough service games where I was down a break point and things weren’t going as easily as they were in the first set.
But I agree, I think it was was a set that in the past I definitely could have lost and it could have changed the match. So really happy with the personal growth I feel that I’ve had.
Such a great week in Birmingham. Thanks for all the support!! ??? pic.twitter.com/DmPSPBZznQ
— Madison Keys (@Madison_Keys) June 19, 2016
WTA Insider: Talk about dealing with adversity in matches. Do you feel like you’re not panicking as much in those moments?
Keys: I think not panicking is a huge aspect of it. A sense of calm that no matter what happens you’re always in a match, even you can be down 5-0 in the second set and you can come back and win. Knowing that has really kind of helped me calm down and really help me take each game point-by-point, and not thinking oh I’m down 0-40 I have to win three points.
I feel like sometimes I would have the tendency to try and win three points in one. So I’d try and hit harder, hit an ace, just to get back to even as quick as possible. So I think that sense of calm has really helped me and really helped my game.
WTA Insider: You’ve talked about wanting to improve your consistency. You’ve now made the final in Rome, a good run at the French Open, and now the title. Is it just all coming together, or that you’re healthy? Talk about the last month, month and a half or so.
Keys: I just feel really good. I feel like my team has come together and I’ve had a lot of great support.
But I also feel like it’s just all slowly coming into my game. I feel like for me I almost have too many options sometimes where I know I can get away with hitting a winner 10 feet behind the baseline and it might go in three out of 10 times, but having that option makes me think about it. So I think just sticking to basics has really helped me. It’s been a lot of hard work but I think the practices that I had with a really solid team has really helped me in matches.
WTA Insider: You’re into the Top 10. Has it sunk in yet that you’re one of the 10 best players in the world right now?
Keys: That’s crazy! No, it hasn’t sunken in. A lot of my family members will keep calling me and saying “Hi, Top 10 player!” It’s definitely not something that’s sunken in yet. It’s something I’m going to get used to and I’m really looking forward to it.
WTA Insider: You’re the first in this century from America to make her Top 10 debut.
Keys: That’s craziness. I feel like there’s been so many great American tennis players in the last 10-15 years that have been probably been really really close to that. But it’s definitely a huge honor that I was the first one.
WTA Insider: How did you find out you had a shot to break into the Top 10 last week?
Keys: The WTA tagged me in a tweet about it the morning of the semifinals match. It showed up on my phone. I quickly x-ed out and was like ‘You didn’t read that. No. Don’t think about it.’ So that’s kind of how I find out but once I was on the court it wasn’t even on my mind.
WTA Insider: You must be pretty pleased about being able to stay focused and not let that distract you.
Keys: It was more of a thought in the morning when I saw it. I was like ‘Oh my gosh, that’s huge.’ Then when I was on the court I obviously had a slow start and once that happened it wasn’t even in my brain anymore. You should try to win some points.
Can we get Netflix to greenlight a Keys family reality show? #AegonClassic pic.twitter.com/5qGgZpPpNr
— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) June 19, 2016
WTA Insider: You’ve had a steady rise through the rankings. Your year-end ranking has improved year over year. But when we spoke at the WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai last year you seemed pretty down about yourself and your season.
Keys: I definitely was feeling a bit down at the end of the season. Part of it was it was a really long season for me. It was the longest season I had ever had. But I think now I’ve just got so much better at not even listening to the outside opinions that it doesn’t affect me anymore. I think I used to be really concerned with what other people were thinking or how things were coming across, and people don’t always have all the information. So listening to anyone who was outside my small support group was harming me. I think I got a lot better at that.
Having a really tough off-season and start of the year has really made me appreciate playing tennis and being healthy and being able to just go out and compete at the highest level just knowing that I had all of the practice and all of the work put in.
WTA Insider: Let’s talk about the work you have put in. There’s a lot that goes on outside of the limelight that we don’t get to see. Can you key in on a moment during those closed door training sessions that helped you unlocked things this year?
Keys: I think a big thing working with [trainer] Scott Byrnes is he’s helped me get so much stronger and that’s been such a huge factor for me. Being stronger means I’m able to last a little bit longer and makes me feel like I put all this work in off of the court, so I know when I’m on the court I know that I’m physically ready to be out there for as long as it needs to take.
Obviously we work on different things for different seasons. Before the red clay season we worked a lot on the aerobics. Before grass season stated we were working more on power and strength because it’s a much bigger first strike game. So all those little things have helped me so much. I’ve been really lucky to have an amazing trainer.
Read more about Keys’ trainer Scott Byrnes in our Coach’s Corner, and listen to more from Keys in the latest episode of the WTA Insider Podcast:
Caroline Wozniacki was relentless on the return of serve in her 6-2, 6-1 win over Samantha Stosur at the Aegon International in Eastbourne. Wozniacki earned four breaks in Stosur’s seven service games during the match.
SAP Tennis Analytics for Coaches shows just how much pressure Wozniacki was able to put Stosur under during the match. Wozniacki won 49% of her return points played (which jumps to 50% when including Stosur’s one ace and two double faults). That’s an improvement over her season average of 44% of return points won.
Wozniacki was particularly aggressive on second serves, making 92% of those returns from inside the baseline.
While Wozniacki won just 40% of her break points (4-of-10), that number is deceptive. Wozniacki forced a break point in five total games. With four breaks, Wozniacki won 80% of the games in which she had a break opportunity.
This is a continuation of the form that Wozniacki showed in her first round match in Eastbourne against Alizé Cornet. Through two rounds, Wozniacki has broken serve nine times in 15 return games while winning 53% of return points.
The SAP Coaches View combines scoring information direct from the chair umpire with tracking data from HawkEye to allow for an in depth look at five different aspects of a match. Each tracking option can be filtered to narrow the focus to specific situations within a match, such as break points. This information is available directly to coaches in real-time during a match on their SAP tablet and also available to them online after matches.
“Return of serve” tracking shows where each service return was struck, differentiating between first and second serves, with an emphasis on how many serves are returned from inside the baseline. This data can be filtered by a particular score.
If Wozniacki can continue to apply pressure to her opponents’ serve, she may find herself returning to the winner’s circle this week in Eastbourne.
