Montréal: Monday Highlights
Highlights from first round action at the Rogers Cup.
An interview with Eugenie Bouchard after her win in the second round of the Rogers Cup.
Angelique Kerber takes on Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in the second round of the Rogers Cup.
An interview with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova after her win in the third round of the Rogers Cup.
Highlights from the quarterfinal round action at the Brisbane International.
MONTRÉAL, Canada – Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova’s excellent summer continued at the Rogers Cup as the Russian shocked 2014 champion and No.4 seed Agnieszka Radwanska, 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-1, earning her first Top 10 win of the season.
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“Woo!” she exclaimed during her on-court interview. “I’m really happy and I knew it’d be a tough match. Every time I play against Agnieszka, it’s 7-6 in the third, or something.
“She’s a really tough opponent, and so I’m really pleased with the win.”
Pavlyuchenkova has played some of her best tennis since linking up with new coach Dieter Kindlmann; showing off some of the ball-striking that took her to a career-high ranking and a pair of Grand Slam quarterfinals in 2011, she reached the last eight at Wimbledon for the first time a few weeks ago and appeared ready to go toe-to-toe with Radwanska on Thursday.
Taking the opening set behind some superb shotmaking, the No.16 seed built a nearly identical lead in the second set, earning two match points on her serve at 5-4.
“I think I’m still recovering from that point we had in the second set – the long one,” referring to a long rally as she attempted to serve out the match.
But the reigning BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global champion wouldn’t go down without a fight, breaking back on a netcord winner and sneaking off with the ensuing tie-break from an 0-3 deficit.
Follow all the action from Day 3 of Montréal at the WTA Insider Live Blog!
“I think it was mental, especially in the third set after losing the second from being two match points down. I thought I had the match in my pocket, but I lost it. It was very mental, but I’m proud of the way I pulled it through in the end.”
Picking up where she left off in the second set, Pavlyuchenkova used her high-octane game to its full effect against Radwanska, hitting 49 winners to 37 unforced errors while Radwanska hit 21 winners to 19 unforced.
Into her first Rogers Cup quarterfinal, she next plays the winner of Thursday night’s third round between No.6 seed Venus Williams and No.10 seed Madison Keys.
“I really like this tournament and it’s unfortunate that I’ve either had to pull out or not be in the best condition. So I’m happy to finally be in the quarterfinals here.”
Impressive stuff from @NastiaPav! ? ? #CoupeRogers https://t.co/v9yww12VY5
— WTA (@WTA) July 28, 2016
Angelique Kerber takes on Carla Suárez Navarro in the semifinals of the Brisbane International.
WTA Insider | The last eight fight for spots in the semifinals at the Rogers Cup; keep up with all the action in the latest Insider Live Blog!
The Winners:
Victoria Azarenka stormed past Angelique Kerber to win the 18th WTA title of her career – and first WTA title in almost two and a half years – at the Brisbane International. Azarenka has now won 35 of her last 39 matches in Australia, a stretch dating back to 2012. Can the momentum propel the two-time Australian Open champion to make it three in Melbourne this year?
The full story – here.
Agnieszka Radwanska kept her Asia win-streak alive in the new year. She defeated Alison Riske at Shenzhen, winning her 18th career title and rising to World No.4 – just in time for Top 4 Australian Open seeding.
The full story – here.
Rain delays forced Sloane Stephens to pull double duty at Auckland – she was up 5-2 against Caroline Wozniacki in the ASB Classic semifinal when rain stopped play on Friday. The American came back on Saturday and closed out the match, edging Wozniacki 6-2, 7-6(3) before facing Julia Goerges in the final later that day. Stephens held all 10 of her service games to win 7-5, 6-2 for her career second WTA title.
The full story – here.
Game, Set, Match: WTA Insider
Game: Sam Crawford makes a splash.
Where were you when you saw the 20-year-old American qualifier blast her way past Belinda Bencic and Andrea Petkovic in back-to-back matches without dropping a set, all en route to her first WTA semifinal? Crawford’s pure power was a sight to behold at the Brisbane International. Petkovic was left shaking her head and laughing towards the end of her 6-3, 6-0 loss to the American. Bencic said she had no say in her 7-5, 7-5 loss in the second round, so audacious was Crawford’s hitting. There’s still work to be done in refining Crawford’s game – Victoria Azarenka exploited her struggles when pulled wide – but hers is a name to keep an eye on. She’s now just outside the top 100.
The full story – here.
Set: Angelique Kerber looks sharp.
When looking back on Kerber’s 2015 season it’s easy to forget she was one set away from qualifying for the semifinals in Singapore. If she had been able to control her nerves and take that one set off Lucie Safarova in group play, who knows what the business end of the tournament looks like. And perhaps we would be looking back on her fantastic year – she won four Premier level titles – in an even better light.
So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that she came out firing in Brisbane, where she unveiled her improved fitness and more offensive gameplay to make her sixth Premier final in the last 12 months. She may have lost to Azarenka in the final, but there’s a lot to like about Kerber’s week in Brisbane. It wasn’t necessarily the result that impressed – after Simona Halep, Garbiñe Muguruza, and Maria Sharapova pulled out Kerber was the highest seed remaining – but it’s how she played. She was hitting a bigger ball (with some help from her new hybrid Yonex strings), serving more aggressively, and moving as well as ever. If she can commit to this more aggressive game, 2016 could be a big year for the German.
Kerber’s run earned her a Top 8 seeding at the Australian Open. She also paired up with Andrea Petkovic to make the doubles final. Along with Julia Goerges’ run to the final at the ASB Classic, this was a fantastic start for the Germans.
Read more about Kerber’s adjustments, here.
Match: What’s a New Year without fireworks?
Naomi Broady and Jelena Ostapenko provided the Week 1 drama, thanks to Broady’s incredible comeback win over the 18-year-old Latvian in the second round of the Hobart International. The Brit rallied from 5-2 down in the second set and 5-1 down in the third to win 4-6, 7-6(4), 7-5 to advance to the quarterfinals. But Broady’s gutsy comeback was overshadowed by a mid-match incident that involved a flying racket that hit a ballboy and tearful cries for a default.
Early in the second set tie-break, Ostapenko ran to track down a backhand wide and flung her racket – whether intentional or accidentally we don’t know – into the backstop. The racket ricocheted off the backstop and hit a ballboy. Broady pled her case to the chair umpire and supervisor, demanding that Ostapenko be defaulted. Instead the umpire issued a code violation. It all culminated in an icy post-match handshake and an exchange of words between the two that continued well after the match.
That’s one way to ring in the New Year!
The full story – here.
Ranking Movers:
Notable singles ranking movers for the week of January 11, 2016.
Agnieszka Radwanska (POL), +1 (No.5 to 4): Radwanska captured her 18th career singles title by winning at Shenzhen and as a result moved up one spot to No.4 on Monday’s rankings, which will be used for Australian Open seeding.
Angelique Kerber (GER), +3, (No.10 to 7): Kerber started the year by advancing to the final in Brisbane where she fell short against Azarenka. However, with an appearance in the finals, Kerber moved into the Top 8 (No.7), boosting her seeding in Melbourne.
Victoria Azarenka (BLR), +6 (No.22 to 16): By winning the title in Brisbane, the former No.1 moved to No.16 in the rankings, her highest ranking since the week of August 11, 2014, when she held the No.10 ranking.
Sloane Stephens (USA), +4 (No.30 to 26): Stephens captured her second career title in Auckland moving to No.26 in the rankings, her highest ranking since the 2014 US Open.
Upcoming Tournaments:
Apia International Sydney
Sydney, Australia
Premier | $687,900 | Hard, Outdoors
Sunday, January 10 – Friday, January 15, 2016
Hobart International
Hobart, Australia
International | $226,750 | Hard, Outdoors
Sunday, January 10 – Saturday, January 16, 2016
Top 20 Player Schedules:
1. Serena Williams – Australian Open
2. Simona Halep – Sydney, Australian Open
3. Garbiñe Muguruza – Australian Open
4. Agnieszka Radwanska – Australian Open
5. Maria Sharapova – Australian Open
6. Petra Kvitova – Australian Open
7. Angelique Kerber – Sydney, Australian Open
8. Flavia Pennetta – (retired)
9. Lucie Safarova – (not competing)
10. Venus Williams – Australian Open
11. Karolina Pliskova – Sydney, Australian Open
12. Carla Suárez Navarro – Sydney, Australian Open
13. Timea Bacsinszky – Sydney, Australian Open
14. Belinda Bencic – Sydney, Australian Open
15. Roberta Vinci – Sydney, Australian Open
16. Victoria Azarenka – Australian Open
17. Madison Keys – Australian Open
18. Caroline Wozniacki – Australian Open
19. Sara Errani – Sydney , Australian Open
20. Elina Svitolina – Sydney, Australian Open
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
Best wishes to those celebrating birthdays this week:
Raina, Ankita (IND) – January 11, 1993
Shapatava, Sofia (GEO) – January 12, 1989
Chang, Kai-Chen (TPE) – January 13, 1991
Pfizenmaier, Dinah (GER) – January 13, 1992
Wang, Qiang (CHN) – January 14, 1992
Domachowska, Marta (POL) – January 16, 1986
Kristina Kucova takes on Johanna Konta in the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup.