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Bondarenko On The Way Back

Bondarenko On The Way Back

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Kateryna Bondarenko left the WTA tour in 2012, thinking she had accomplished everything she could in a sport where she had been a Top 30 singles player, Australian Open doubles champion, and US Open quarterfinalist.

Four years and one daughter later, who’d’ve thought the Ukrainian veteran would back and close to breaking new ground in Melbourne?

“Yesterday, before I went to sleep, I was thinking about how I’d never passed the second round at the Australian Open,” she told WTA Insider.

She actually reached the third round once before, losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova in 2009. But the 29-year-old woke up on Wednesday morning and did it again, getting her revenge on the former No.2 and Apia International Sydney champion, 6-1, 7-5, to reach her first third round at any major tournament since 2011.

“It’s amazing. I didn’t think I’d come back because in 2012, I was already tired of tennis and I decided to stop.

“Then I got pregnant, so definitely I decided to stop.”

Kateryna Bondarenko

One half of Ukraine’s preeminent tennis sister act, Kateryna and Alona Bondarenko played some of their best tennis in the late 2000s, coming together to capture the Australian Open women’s doubles trophy in 2008 and backing it up with a run to the semifinals of the French Open a few months later.

Alona had the higher career-best singles ranking when she retired (No.19), but Kateryna had the better Grand Slam finish, upsetting former No.1 Ana Ivanovic in a thrilling three-setter on Louis Armstrong Stadium and double bageling Gisela Dulko en route to her first major quarterfinal at the US Open.

“The tour has become even stronger; if you don’t practice all day, you won’t be able to play a normal match on the court because everyone is getting stronger. Every year, it’s stronger and faster.”

Bondarenko played the last match of what she considers her “first career” in Flushing back in 2012; she got married and gave birth to daughter Karina soon after. It wasn’t long, however, before she felt the urge to return to the game.

“I missed tennis so much and it was boring at home, doing nothing. The emotion when you win a match or even a point is great. You miss these emotions.

Kateryna Bondarenko

“So I decided to play tennis again. I didn’t think that I could make it because in the 25Ks, I was losing in the first round – passing through the qualifying, but still losing first round. I was thinking, ‘Ok, why did I start again?’

“Now when I have a good result, it’s just amazing to be a good player again.”

Eighteen months into her comeback, the former World No.29 re-entered the Top 100 thanks to a solid run at the US Open that took her through qualifying and into a quality second round encounter with No.2 seed Simona Halep.

“Before, I was just focusing on myself and all my thoughts were on the match, and that’s it. Now it’s kind of different, better, because now I always have my husband and daughter. I have to take care of them and I also have to practice all the time.

“It’s a little bit difficult but still it’s nice to have them with me.”

Kateryna Bondarenko

One of the few traveling mothers on tour, Bondarenko admits it’s not always easy, but at nearly three years old, her daughter is enjoying the ride, and between herself, her husband and a plethora of relatives, a veritable village is on hand to help her raise her child.

“She’s always by my side, always with me. We travel to every tournament together with my husband. Most of the time, we take somebody to take care of my daughter because mu husband goes with me to the court for practice and matches. It’s good to travel with the whole family.

“She likes to travel. We’ll tell her, ‘We’re going to go to America and then Australia,’ and then when we’re in America she says, ‘Now I want to go to Australia!’ As long as she’s with her parents, she likes it.”

Back in position to reach the second week of Grand Slam tournaments, Bondarenko doesn’t see herself as an inspiration, but rather believes her balancing act has made her an even tougher competitor eager to keep up with an ever-improving WTA cohort.

“It’s difficult to start over; I don’t think many people could do what I’ve done.”

Photos courtesy of Christopher Levy and Getty Images.

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Radwanska Tops Bouchard Down Under

Radwanska Tops Bouchard Down Under

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MELBOURNE, Australia – Agnieszka Radwanska held off Eugenie Bouchard at the Australian Open on Wednesday night. Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova continued their collision course.

In arguably the most anticipated second round match-up of the tournament, Radwanska – the form player by far since the US Open, winning more matches and more titles than anyone on the tour, took on Bouchard – a breakthrough star in 2014 who’s been back at her best this year after a tough 2015.

Bouchard came out harder, stepping inside the baseline time and time again and ripping her huge groundstrokes into the corners to build a 4-2 lead. But Radwanska held her ground, clawing back to take the set, 6-4 – she ripped a huge forehand winner on her fifth set point to seal the one set lead.

And she continued to pile it on in the second set, breaking again in the very first game and never really looking back, one last Bouchard error giving the No.4-seeded Radwanska the win, 6-4, 6-2.

“That was a great challenge for me to play somebody like Eugenie in the second round. Definitely not an easy draw. But I think I was doing everything right today,” Radwanska said after the match.

“I hadn’t played against her for a while, but I think she’s definitely playing better now than last season. I think she’s on a good way to come back, and she’s definitely playing much better tennis out there.

“I think in a couple of months we’re going to see her going deeper in the Grand Slams.”

Meanwhile, another blockbuster match-up – Williams against Sharapova – continued to materialize, as the No.1-seeded Williams routed Chinese Taipei’s Hsieh Su-Wei, 6-1, 6-2 (read more here) and the No.5-seeded Sharapova powered past Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich, 6-2, 6-1 (read more here).

Williams and Sharapova will square off in the quarterfinals should they win two more rounds.

A big upset took place in the late night match, with Daria Gavrilova – now playing under the Aussie flag – weathering the power of Petra Kvitova to surprise the No.6 seed, 6-4, 6-4 (read more here).

It was a solid day for the rest of the seeded players, with No.10 seed Carla Suárez Navarro battling back to beat Greek qualifier Maria Sakkari, 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-2, No.12 seed Belinda Bencic defeating Timea Babos, 6-3, 6-3, No.13 seed Roberta Vinci carving out a 6-2, 6-3 victory against Irina Falconi, and No.28 seed Kristina Mladenovic hitting through American qualifier Nicole Gibbs, 6-1, 7-6(4).

There was another upset, though, with Kateryna Bondarenko holding off a late surge to take out No.23 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-1, 7-5. Kuznetsova was coming off a title run at the lead-up in Sydney.

And on the outside courts, Kristyna Pliskova – twin sister of Karolina Pliskova – was making history, ripping 31 aces, the most aces in a single match in WTA history (the previous record was 27).

The Czech lefty ended up succumbing to Monica Puig in the end, however, 4-6, 7-6(6), 9-7.

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Olympic Medal Rounds Underway

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen | Can Angelique Kerber capture her first gold medal at the Olympic tennis event? Keep up with all the action right here at wtatennis.com!

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Radwanska On Road To Singapore

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Hear how defending WTA Finals champion Agnieszka Radwanska prepares for year-long journey to defend her title in Singapore – she currently sits at No.3 on the latest Road to Singapore Leaderboard.

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Seven Things: Melbourne Review

Seven Things: Melbourne Review

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

1. Angelique Kerber flipped a switch: The Australian Open champion leaves Australia with a 12-1 record to start the season, with her sole loss coming in the Brisbane International final to Victoria Azarenka. Just a few weeks later she defiantly avenged that lost, knocking Azarenka out of Melbourne in straight sets, and then topped the other tournament favorite, top seed Serena Williams, in three sets to win her first major title.

But even before Kerber got her hands on the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Trophy, there were signs early in January that this was a different Kerber. A change in strings in the off-season gave her more pop on her strokes – particularly her serve – which she used effectively against Serena. She was also noticeably fitter, after a grueling off-season with her new trainer. And it was impossible to ignore how much more open Kerber was when discussing herself. Prior to Brisbane, she told the WTA her New Year’s Resolution was to get on Instagram, in hopes of giving fans more insight into her life on tour.

That mindset of opening up and putting herself out there has seeped into her press conferences, interviews, and on court. Kerber’s 2016 mantra has been to go out there and win matches, not wait for her opponent to give it to her. So far, so good.

2. Serena Williams remains the one to beat: Despite her loss in the Australian Open final, Serena exceeded my expectations with respect to her level at the start of the season. There were worries after her Hopman Cup withdrawal due to knee inflammation, but through six rounds in Melbourne absolutely no one was playing as well as Serena. That’s a very encouraging sign for her 2016 season.

As she chases Slam No. 22, it’s also worth noting just how much external and internal pressure she’s trying to handle. When Serena got to Slam No. 17 at the 2013 US Open it took her four more majors until she captured the Evert and Navratilova-tying No. 18 a year later. Prior to that she lost to Ana Ivanovic in Melbourne, Garbiñe Muguruza in Paris, and Alizé Cornet at Wimbledon.

Agnieszka Radwanska, Serena Williams

3. Agnieszka Radwanska shows no signs of slowing down: No one beats Serena on a day she hits 18 winners to just 4 unforced errors in a 20 minute set. Radwanska conceded as much after her 6-0, 6-4 loss in the Australian Open semifinals. But the WTA Finals winner remains the winningest player on tour since the US Open last year — 26 wins, four titles — and leaves Australia with just one loss on the season.

4. Victoria Azarenka remains on the rise: After the first week in Melbourne, it seemed like everyone was ready to hit the fast forward button to the presumed final between Serena and Vika. The big record scratch late in the second week came at the hands of Kerber. The straight set loss to a player she had never lost to (6-0 vs. Kerber) was a disappointment, no doubt.

“I’m going to be disappointed today,” Azarenka said after the loss. “I’m going to be pissed off. I’m going to let myself have that.

“But overall it’s not going to affect me in any way because I know the work that I put through, it’s paying off. I just need to do more. I need to keep going to be even more consistent. I’ve shown good signs. I’ve shown good quality, way more consistent, physically much better. I need to assess a little bit what I can improve and keep moving direction forward.”

That was the pitch-perfect response from Azarenka in a difficult moment. She leaves Australia disappointed. But she also leaves incredibly hungry and encouraged. Watch out.

Zhang Shuai, Madison Keys

5. Injuries are just the worst: There’s no way of ignoring the injury plague that affected so many players in January. On one hand, some of the Chicken Little reactions to early season withdrawals were completely overblown. Serena, Kerber, Radwanska, and Maria Sharapova showed few signs of being hampered by injuries that forced them out of pre-Australian Open tournaments.

On the other hand, three key players – Simona Halep (achilles), Garbiñe Muguruza (foot), and Madison Keys (adductor) – remain hampered by long-standing, chronic frailties. These are not the kinds of injuries that just need a two week break to heal. How they manage their training and schedules going forward will be of much interest.

6. There will be more Grand Slam talk in 2016: Serena dominated the conversation in 2015 as she chased both the “Serena Slam” and the calendar Grand Slam through New York. But 2016 belongs to Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis.

With their third straight major title, “SanTina” can complete the non-Calendar Slam in May at the French Open. Clay remains their worst surface, but with the way they’ve dominated the tour over the last 12 months, that’s a lot like saying clay is Roger Federer’s worst surface. They’re still very good on it. If SanTina can snag the title at Roland Garros, the Grand Slam is well within their reach.

Daria Gavrilova

7. New faces to watch: The first week of the Australian Open belonged to the fresh new faces who went seed-hunting and notched milestone Slam results en masse. There were the trio of Russian youngsters – Margarita Gasparyan, Elizaveta Kulichkova, and Daria Kasatkina – all of whom made the third round or better in their Australian Open debuts and now have rankings that will get them into the main draw at more tour-level tournaments.

They may not hold Russian passports anymore, but Daria Gavrilova and Yulia Putintseva also had tournaments to remember, with the former knocking out Petra Kvitova to make the fourth round and the latter stunning Caroline Wozniacki to make the third round.

Finally, no discussion of January would be complete without Johanna Konta and Zhang Shuai. Konta is now up to No.28 in the rankings thanks to her run to the Australian Open semifinals and it will be interesting to see how she handles the increased spotlight and pressure that comes with being the No.1 Brit. The same goes for Zhang, who now finds herself in the surprising position of going from the brink of retirement to being the No.1 out of China at No.65.

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.

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Cincinnati Wednesday: Halep Returns

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

CINCINNATI, OH, USA – Simona Halep will put her 10-match winning streak on the line at the Western & Southern Open on Wednesday. Chris Oddo previews a jam-packed schedule for wtatennis.com.

Wednesday, First and Second Round

Center Court
[3] Simona Halep (ROU #4) vs. Annika Beck (GER #33)
Head-to-head: Halep leads, 3-1

Key Stat: Halep has won her last 10 matches, claiming titles in Bucharest and Montréal.
Can last year’s Western & Southern Open runner-up take it a step further in 2016? That’s the question Simona Halep hopes to answer with a resounding yes this week in Cincinnati, and the Romanian will open her bid for the title with a second-round tilt with Germany’s Annika Beck on Wednesday. Halep will be well-rested after passing on the Olympics due to the threat of Zika virus. It was a difficult decision for the Romanian but one that she hopes will help spur her to great heights this summer. “I was very disappointed that I had to decide not to go there, but it was much better for my health,” Halep said on Monday when she spoke with the media at All-Access Hour. Out of action since the Montréal final more than two weeks ago, Halep will have to get up to speed quickly when she faces the 22-year-old Beck. The German won two qualifying matches to get into the main draw and impressively took down Yulia Putintseva in first-round action on Tuesday.

Pick: Halep in three

Grandstand
[10] Johanna Konta (GBR #13) vs. [Q] Donna Vekic (CRO #121)
Head-to-head: First meeting

Key Stat: Vekic ended a nine-match losing streak at WTA events on Monday when she defeated Ana Ivanovic.
Great Britain’s Johanna Konta will continue her pursuit of a Top 10 ranking when she makes her Cincinnati debut on Wednesday against 20-year-old Donna Vekic of Croatia. Konta has been in fine form this summer, winning 10 of 12 on the hard courts and claiming her first career title at Stanford last month. The British No.1 was one match from becoming the first woman from her country to reach the Top 10 in over 30 years in Montréal but fell to Kristina Kucova in the quarterfinals. On Wednesday Konta will face qualifier Donna Vekic for the first time. The former World No.62 has struggled mightily this season, but showed signs of life when she won her first WTA-level match in six months on Monday, stunning Ana Ivanovic in the first round. Will lightning strike twice for the talented Vekic, or will it be the cool, composed Konta who claims her first career victory in the Queen City?

Pick: Konta in two

Court 6
[13] Belinda Bencic (SUI #27) vs. [Q] Timea Babos (HUN #41)
Head-to-head: Bencic leads, 1-0
Key Stat: Babos is playing just two spots off her career-high ranking this week.
Injuries have marred what promised to be an incredible year for 19-year-old Belinda Bencic, as she was forced to miss several months due to a back problem and then had to play injured during the grass-court season before finally pulling the plug at Wimbledon with a wrist injury. But Bencic hopes to put her frailties behind her as she returns to action in Cincinnati looking to build some momentum ahead of the US Open. It won’t be easy on Wednesday as the Swiss will have to face one of the WTA’s most improved players in Hungary’s Timea Babos. The 23-year-old is closing in on the 30-win mark this season and reached the Florianopolis final two weeks ago before falling to Irina-Camelia Begu. Though she dropped her only previous meeting with Bencic in straight sets at Australia this year, Babos will benefit from the fact that she’s already logged three matches here in Cincinnati. She won two qualifying matches before easing past American Louisa Chirico in straight sets on Tuesday.

Pick: Bencic in three

Around the grounds…
Several unfinished matches from a rain-plagued Tuesday at the Lindner Family Tennis Center will be played today. Fourth-seeded Garbiñe Muguruza will take on CoCo Vandeweghe, while seventeenth-seeded Elina Svitolina meets qualifier Daria Gavrilova. American qualifier Alison Riske notched her first main draw win at Cincinnati on Tuesday and will meet up with seventh-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova in second-round action today. The No.2 and No.5 seeds, Angelique Kerber and Agnieszka Radwanska, will also be in action on an extremely busy schedule.

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Where To Watch: St. Petersburg

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

KEY INFORMATION:
Tournament Level: Premier
Prize Money: $687,900
Draw Size: 28 main draw (4 byes)/32 qualifying
Qualifying Dates: Saturday, February 6 – Monday, February 8 
First Day of Main Draw: Monday, February 8
Singles Final: Sunday, February 14, 4.30pm MSK
Doubles Final: Sunday, February 14, 2pm MSK

MUST FOLLOW SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS:
@WTA
@WTA_Insider – WTA Insider, Senior Writer Courtney Nguyen
@Formula_TX – official tournament handle
Get involved in conversations with the official hashtags, #ladiestrophy and #WTA.

TOURNAMENT NOTES:
· Inaugural staging of event, with four Top 20 players – Belinda Bencic, Roberta Vinci, Ana Ivanovic, Caroline Wozniacki – scheduled to compete.
· Wozniacki, the recipient of the tournament’s Top 20 wildcard, won Russia’s other WTA event, the Kremlin Cup, in 2012.
· Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza, fresh from winning their third straight Grand Slam, at the Australian Open, head the doubles draw looking to extend their 36-match winning streak. 
· An ITF event was held in St. Petersburg from 2003-2008 and once more in 2015, with Jelena Ostapenko triumphing at the most recent edition.
· For the complete draw click here.

WILDCARDS:
Caroline Wozniacki (DEN), Elena Vesnina (RUS), Natalia Vikhlyantseva (RUS)

WITHDRAWALS:
Irina-Camelia Begu (right knee), Mona Barthel (illness), Karin Knapp (right knee), Petra Cetkovska (illness), Alexandra Dulgheru (left knee)

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Strycova On Pairing With Sania Mirza

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

CINCINNATI, OH, USA – When Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza announced the end of their illustrious partnership last week, all eyes were on the partners that the World Co-No.1s had chosen to play with at the US Open, which they won together last summer.

Hingis announced her intention to play with American powerhouse CoCo Vandeweghe, while Mirza opted to partner Czech veteran Barbora Strycova, who just claimed an Olympic Bronze medal in women’s doubles alongside Lucie Safarova; the pair upset three-time champions Venus Williams and Serena Williams in the first round.

“Sania asked me in Rio if I had someone to play with,” Strycova told WTA Insider in Tuesday’s Daily Dispatch from the Western & Southern Open. “Normally, I’m supposed to play with Misa, Michaella Krajicek, but she was playing singles in US Open qualies, so we weren’t sure if we were going to play together.

“So I was kind of free, and I had to give it a shot because she’s No.1 in the world and she asked me. I was really happy about that. We’ll try to play here and the US Open, and we’ll see how it goes. Maybe we’ll play together more after that.”

Strycova and Krajicek narrowly missed out on qualifying for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global last year, reaching the semifinals of the Australian Open and the quarterfinals of Roland Garros. A Top 40 doubles player who has been ranked as high as No.14 back in 2011, Strycova plays doubles nearly every week in addition to singles, but has never partnered Mirza before.

They’ve faced off in the format eight times with different partners, and Mirza leads 5-3, her most recent win coming with Hingis against Strycova and Krajicek en route to last year’s US Open title.

“We’ve talked to each other a lot. She’s a funny girl and I think we’ll be good on court. She plays the kind of tennis I like; she goes for it and I will be at the net. I think we’ll be a good team.”

Strycova and Mirza are seeded No.7 in Cincinnati, and will play a tough team in Darija Jurak and Anastasia Rodionova in the first round; Jurak and Rodionova won their first title as a pair back at the Aegon International in Eastbourne and reached a second final at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford.

Hear more from Strycova and compatriot Karolina Pliskova in the latest episode of the WTA Insider Podcast:

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Notes & Netcords: February 8, 2016

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

The Winners:

A week off from the WTA tour meant many players scattered the globe to represent their countries in the Fed Cup. A number of young stars rose to the occasion, scoring big wins on the international group competition’s stage. See how Netherland’s Kiki Bertens, Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic, France’s Caroline Garcia and the Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova helped their countries book a spot in the Fed Cup semifinals.

Day 1 Recap | Day 2 Recap

Game, Set, Match: WTA Insider

Game: Ash Barty returns to tennis.

To see the overwhelming response to the news that Ashleigh Barty intends to end her 17-month hiatus and return to tennis is to be reminded of the 19-year-old’s special talent. A three-time major doubles finalist before she was even 18, Barty was still progressing towards a Top 100 breakthrough in singles when she chose to suddenly step away. In an exclusive interview with WTA Insider, the junior Wimbledon champion spoke about being the victim of her own success and the passion that pushed her to pick up a racket again.

Read more about Barty’s return here.

Set: Tennis comes to (the other) St. Petersburg.

Things can get a little confusing when your company headquarters share the same name as a new tournament host. St. Petersburg, Russia is the host of a new Premier tournament this week, with a draw that includes Belinda Bencic, Roberta Vinci, Caroline Wozniacki, and Ana Ivanovic. Given the young Russian talent currently in the ranks, having a second tournament in Russia to complement Moscow will pay off down the road.

Match: Bencic and Pliskova play Fed Cup heroes.

When the draw came out it was brutal to see Simona Halep’s Romanian squad draw the defending champion Czech Republic. Angelique Kerber’s Germany had it equally tough, having drawn a Swiss squad led by Bencic, Timea Bacsinszky, and Martina Hingis. Karolina Pliskova played the hero for the Czechs in their 3-2 win over Romania, with Pliskova playing a part in all three points. Similarly, it was Bencic leading the way for Switzerland, earning two singles wins over Andrea Petkovic and Kerber and teaming up with Hingis to beat Petkovic and Anna-Lena Groenefeld. The Czechs and the Swiss will face off in a big semifinal in April.

On the other side of the World Group bracket, Caroline Garcia led the way for France with two singles wins en route to a 4-1 win over Italy. And The Netherlands stunned Russia, with Kiki Bertens and Rachel Hogenkamp teaming up to beat Svetlana Kuznetsova and Ekaterina Makarova to win 3-0.

Upcoming Tournaments:

St Petersburg Ladies Trophy
St. Petersburg, Russia
Premier | $687,900 | Hard, Indoors
Monday, February 8 – Sunday, February 14, 2016

Taiwan Open
Kaohsiung, Taiwan
International | $426,750 | Hard, Outdoors
Monday, February 8 – Sunday, February 14, 2016

Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Premier | $1,734,900 | Hard, Outdoors
Monday, February 15 – Saturday, February 20, 2016

Rio Open
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
International | $226,750 | Clay
Monday, February 15 – Sunday, February 21, 2016

Qatar Total Open
Doha, Qatar
Premier | $2,517,250 | Hard, Outdoors
Sunday, February 21 – Saturday, February 27, 2016

Abierto Mexicano TELCEL
Acapulco, Mexico
International | $226,750 | Hard, Outdoors
Monday, February 22 – Saturday, February 27, 2016

Top 20 Player Schedules:
1. Serena Williams – Dubai, Doha
2. Angelique Kerber – Dubai, Doha
3. Simona Halep – Dubai, Doha
4. Agnieszka Radwanska – Dubai, Doha
5. Garbiñe Muguruza – Dubai, Doha
6. Maria Sharapova – Doha
7. Flavia Pennetta – (retired)
8. Carla Suárez Navarro – Dubai, Doha
9. Petra Kvitova – Doha
10. Lucie Safarova – Dubai, Doha
11. Belinda Bencic – St. Petersburg, Dubai, Doha
12. Venus Williams – Kaohsiung
13. Karolina Pliskova – Doha
14. Victoria Azarenka – Acapulco
15. Timea Bacsinszky – Dubai, Doha
16. Roberta Vinci – St. Petersburg, Dubai, Doha
17. Svetlana Kuznetsova – Dubai, Doha
18. Caroline Wozniacki – St. Petersburg, Dubai, Doha
19. Jelena Jankovic – Dubai, Doha
20. Ana Ivanovic – St. Petersburg, Dubai

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
Best wishes to those celebrating birthdays this week:

Petra Cetkovska (CZE) – February 8, 1985
Casey Dellacqua (AUS) – February 11, 1985
Magda Linette (POL) – February 12, 1992
 

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Halep Brings Winning Formula To US

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

CINCINNATI, OH, USA – Simona Halep brought her winning formula to the Western & Southern Open on Wednesday, confidently swatting aside qualifier Annika Beck in straight sets.

Watch live action from Cincinnati this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

Heavy rain delayed the start of play for a couple of hours and with more interruptions forecast, Halep was clearly keen to get on with things. In the end, last year’s runner-up required just 55 minutes to wrap up a 6-3, 6-1 victory and extend her unbeaten run.

“I’m really happy I’m back here in Cincinnati – I have great memories from last year – I played very good tennis today and I’m really happy with my game,” Halep said.

Halep can lay claim to being the summer’s form player, lifting silverware in Bucharest and Montréal. After electing not to compete at the Olympics, Halep enjoyed a couple of weeks off since the second of these triumphs and against Beck took a while to get up and running, spraying a sequence of uncharacteristically wild forehands to surrender an early break.

In recent months, coach Darren Cahill has paid particular attention to his charge’s serve, and the fruits of their labor were clear for all to see against Beck; this early hiccup was the only blot on an otherwise impressive display, in which she struck seven aces.

Once into her stride, the rest of the Romanian’s game was as neat and tidy as ever, particularly in the second set in which she coughed up only four unforced errors, reeling off the final four games to register her 11th consecutive victory.

“It was tough at the beginning because we didn’t have the chance to warm up properly because of the rain, and I was a little bit tight. I had two weeks off, and the first match back is always tough. I just had to stay relaxed, step forward and hit the ball.”

Meeting Halep for a place in the quarterfinals will be a familiar foe, Daria Gavrilova. The pair have already met twice this year, sharing the spoils in Rome and Montréal, and Gavrilova set up a rubber match with an impressive 6-2, 6-2 win over No.17 seed Elina Svitolina.

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