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News | WTA Tennis English

News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

TAIPEI CITY, Taiwan – No.1 seed Elina Svitolina is through to her first final of 2017 after a comfortable straight sets win over Mandy Minella at the Taiwan Open, 6-3, 6-2.

Svitolina found herself under pressure at the onset, with Minella drawing first blood and breaking Svitolina after a rollercoaster game for a 3-1 lead. But Ukraine’s No.1 didn’t let her keep the lead for very long.

“I was trying to be aggressive on the return, because she has a big serve,” Svitolina said in post-match press. “I wanted to put more pressure on her, and I think this worked really well. She had a good start, but I was fine with it. I was just focusing on my strategy. I stayed quite solid.”

The strategy paid off, with Svitolina quickly breaking twice to reel off five straight games and take the set. Minella couldn’t find her way back into the match, surrendering two more breaks to send Svitolina through to the final after just over an hour.

Awaiting in the final will be the resurgent Peng Shuai after the Chinese knocked out birthday girl Lucie Safarova in straight sets.

“She’s ranked No.71 now but I know she was much higher before she was injured,” Svitolina said. “She’s playing really confident, and she’s also in the final in the same situation as me.

“I’m looking to the final with a positive mindset. I’m gonna bring my game to the table and be focused. It’s the last match of the tournament, so you never know what’s gonna happen. I will just try to be 100% and give everything that I have, and hopefully it will be a win.”

Peng Shuai

Peng, who at 30 years old took home her maiden WTA title late last year in Tianjin, has been making her way back to the top after a long injury layoff. The Chinese player underwent major back surgery in 2015 after the French Open to treat recurring injuries and prolong her career.

“The doctors told me I should think twice before taking this operation and surgery,” Peng said after her victory in Tianjin. “They said no one can make sure that the operation could be successful, 100%. The doctors performed this operation on me and told me there was a 50% possibility I could come back to the court.

“After the surgery, I needed to do a lot of training and practicing. Something I could do in the past, maybe I could not do it today after the surgery. I need to take gradual steps to improve myself after the surgery. I think more important for me is to stay healthy and fit, otherwise I cannot continue my professional career.”

Ranked at a career-high No.14 in 2014, Peng’s ranking dipped as low as No.768 in 2016 before her breakthrough on home soil in Tianjin. Now, less than three months later the Chinese player is back in a WTA final, just her second since her return to the game.

“I didn’t think too much on court, just tried my best to fight for it,” Peng said after her victory over Safarova. “It’s hard to predict how well you can play, either in singles or doubles, I’ll just play match by match. I’m very happy to be able to get into the final.”

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WTA Bids Goodbye To Ali “The Greatest”

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Boxing, much like tennis, is a uniquely solitary sport, and so when the news broke that American boxing legend Muhammad Ali had passed away at the age of 74, tennis players were quick to take to Twitter to show their respect and condolences.

Here’s what the WTA players and legends had to say as they mourned the passing of Ali, one of the world’s greatest athletes.

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Kontaveit Conquers Wozniacki

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

NOTTINGHAM, Great Britain – 20-year-old Anett Kontaveit clinched one of the biggest wins of her young career, recovering from a set down to defeat No.3 seed Caroline Wozniacki, 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-5, to reach her second WTA quarterfinal of 2016.

“She’s a really tough player, and I’m so happy to be through,” she said after the match. “I managed to play my game, and do that every point.”

Wozniacki was playing just her second match since skipping the clay court season due to a right ankle injury, but appeared on course for a decisive, if tense, victory over Kontaveit, edging out a tie-break and trading 12 straight service holds deep into the second set.

“It was tough losing the first set, but I guess that’s how tennis goes. Sometimes you win those close points, sometimes you lose them. But you just have to keep fighting. The tactic was to try to put her under pressure, be aggressive. That’s how I play.”

But the World No.97, who made her major breakthrough last summer by reaching the fourth round of the US Open, came out on the winning end of a trio of service breaks, leveling the match to force a decider.

“The match was up and down, but she played well, so hats off to her,” Wozniacki said. “At the end of the day, I’m just happy that I’m able to play again. One step in the right direction, and from here I’ll just move forward, know what I can work on and hopefully get better. The main thing is that my ankle is holding up, so I’m pleased with that.

“Before I came here, I was a little worried; I didn’t know if it would hold up or not. But after my first match it felt good, and this morning I felt surprisingly well, compared to how I thought I was going to feel. So today, I just played, and didn’t have to think about it.

“I’m disappointed to have lost today, especially when you’re so close. But it is what it is, and all in all, I got a couple of matches, and hopefully it’s onwards and upwards from here.”

Kontaveit raced out to a 4-1, double-break lead in the final set before the Dane showed the sort of mettle that helped her reach the No.1 ranking, pushing the Estonian youngster back to win four straight games to get within four points of victory.

“I was a little nervous, but then I loosened up, and swung more freely once I was down 5-4,” Kontaveit said. “4-1 is still far away from victory, but I could definitely feel the pressure. She played a couple of good games and was returning well. It was a little unlucky, but I managed to stay loose.”

With one last momentum swing, Kontaveit held her nerve and served out the upset victory in two hours and 12 minutes.

Up next for the Estonian is American Alison Riske, who dispatched Hsieh Su-Wei, 6-2, 6-4 on Wednesday.

“She’s had good wins, and likes playing on grass, and it’s going to be a tough match-up, but I’m going to try to do my best, and we’ll see how it goes.”

Earlier in the day, top seed Karolina Pliskova got revenge on Anna Tatishvili, who beat her in the first round of the US Open, with a 6-1, 6-3 win in under an hour. Tatishvili defeated Pliskova’s doubles partner and twin sister Kristyna on Monday; the former World No.7 cited their doubles win on Monday with helping her better transition onto grass courts.

“I just came from clay, so every match is important,” she said after the match. “It’s better than practicing, so I just enjoyed playing with her. It’s something different. With Kristyna, we didn’t play for a long time. In the end I think it helped me because my serves and returns were better today.”

Better would be an understatement from Pliskova, who maintained an 83% first serve percentage in the first set, missing just three first serves and winning 14 of 15 points when getting the first serve in to set up a quarterfinal match with either Andrea Hlavackova or Ashleigh Barty, a former junior standout in the midst of a full-scale comeback after an extended hiatus.

“I think she was frustrated by my serve in the first set and half of the second set. I didn’t hit that many aces in the second set, and that was probably the biggest difference between the two sets. But I got nearly every first serve in in the first set, and that’s so important on grass.”

Monica Puig put down an emphatic 6-3, 6-0 win over Michelle Larcher de Brito, who has enjoyed some of her best results on grass courts.

“I’m just feeling really solid in every part of my game,” Puig said in her post-match press conference. I’m just trying to continue this good form, and play as smart as I can.

“I’ve made the fourth round at Wimbledon once, so I know what it’s like to play well on grass, and how good I have to feel out there. It’s about transitioning from a slow game to a much faster one. I’m happy with how I’ve started so far.

“She obviously likes to get the first strike of the ball, so getting a good amount of decent first serves in was very nice. She had some incredible shots that I had to chase down, but I was able to turn defense into offense quite a few times, and that was very nice.”

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Choose Your WTA Starting Lineup!

Choose Your WTA Starting Lineup!

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

The tennis season may have just switched to grass, but there’s already another big competition taking kicking off on the turf: Euro 2016. The competition, which starts today in France, pits the best national teams in Europe against one other. Along with the Copa America – which is already underway in the United States – there’s a lot of football going on!

So we got to thinking: if WTA players were a national team, who would be in our starting lineup?

Here’s our official WTA starting lineup:

WTA Starting Line-Up

The WTA plays in a classic 4-4-2 formation, which means that along with a goalkeeper, we’re fielding four defenders, four midfielders, and two strikers.

Think you could pick a better team? Who would you chose to be in your starting lineup?

FORWARDS:

We’re playing with two strikers in our WTA XI, so of course we’re starting two of the most powerful attack-minded players in the game:

· Serena Williams

· Garbiñe Muguruza

We certainly think our choices are solid, but these two definitely aren’t the only ones who know how to take their scoring opportunities. Maybe

 some of the players listed on the right would make a better choice?

Cast your vote here!

 

 

 

 

MIDFIELDERS:

Players in this position are known to be skillful and patient, turning defense into offence on a dime.

For the midfielders in our WTA XI, we’re going with some of the most creative players known for their variety:

· Agnieszka Radwanska

· Simona Halep

· Timea Bacsinszky

· Belinda Bencic

Who would you put in your midfield? Would you stick with these or chose some of the players on the right?

Choose your players here!

 

DEFENDERS:

Defenders have to be rock-solid in order to diffuse all attacks.

Our WTA XI is full of the most consistent, defense-minded returners and counter punchers:

· Angelique Kerber

· Victoria Azarenka

· Sara Errani

· Caroline Wozniacki

These four seem solid to us, but would a player listed at right do a better job in defense? 

Take your pick now!

 

 

GOALKEEPERS:

The last line of defense, goalkeepers are known for their quick reflexes, being good on the stretch but most importantly: they’re tall.

In our WTA XI, we trust our goal in the hands of:

· Petra Kvitova

We believe in our goalkeeper Kvitova, but maybe you’d have a different choice in mind?

Cast your vote right here!

 

You’ve got one week to cast your votes and chose your WTA Starting Lineup. You can vote as many times as you want right here on wtatennis.com. Votes will be tallied up on Friday, June 17 and we’ll find out who you chose for your WTA XI.

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