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Wozniacki Ends Linette's Tokyo Run, Books Radwanska SF Showdown

Wozniacki Ends Linette's Tokyo Run, Books Radwanska SF Showdown

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

TOKYO, Japan – Former champion Caroline Wozniacki ended qualifier Magda Linette’s run at the Toray Pan Pacific Open with a straight-set win in Friday’s quarterfinal.

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

Continuing the form that took her to the US Open semifinals and past No.4 seed Carla Suárez Navarro in the previous round, Wozniacki overcame a spirited showing from Linette to run out a 6-4, 6-3 winner in an hour and 22 minutes.

World No.109 Linette needed nearly three hours to get past Yulia Putintseva on Thursday and despite having chances in both sets was unable to upset her more celebrated hitting partner.

“She’s been playing really well lately, had a lot of matches. She’s a good friend of mine and we practice a lot so we know each other’s game,” Wozniacki said. “I was just happy that I stayed tough and managed to serve it out in the end.”

The Dane drew on all her experience to take an evenly contested opening set, breaking in the final game when Linette netted with a tired forehand. Making a mockery of her lowly ranking, Linette continued to pose questions in the second set, attacking the net with relish. Ultimately, though, Wozniacki had too many answers, taking the final four games to reach a fifth semifinal in the Japanese capital.

In 2010 Wozniacki ended up going all the way and she continues her bid to reclaim the title against another Pole, No.2 seed Agnieszka Radwanska.

“We’ve played many times before, and again she’s a close friend. It’s going to be another tough one because she’s been playing well this week, but I’m just happy to be in the semifinals again.”

WTA Finals: Get Your Tickets!

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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Four countries fight for two spots in the 2017 Fed Cup Final this weekend as Belarus hosts Switzerland, which looks to make its first final in nearly two decades. Half a world away in Florida, the United States finds itself heavily favored against a Czech Republic squad. wtatennis.com previews the semifinals, and all the playoff action as nations look to seal up their positions for 2018.

Belarus vs. Switzerland

Venue: Chizhovka Arena, Minsk, Belarus

Surface: Hard, Indoor

A Swiss squad at full strength will take on the Cinderella story of this year’s Fed Cup in Minsk for a place in November’s Fed Cup final.

Belarus, without the services of Victoria Azarenka, pulled off a stunning victory against the Netherlands in the quarterfinals in February, as Aliaksandra Sasnovich and teenager Aryna Sabalenka led the red and green to a 4-1 victory. Those two will be tasked with singles action once again, as Sasnovich is slated to play Viktorija Golubic for the second time in three weeks first up on Saturday, while Sabalenka will face Timea Bacsinszky.

Should the tie come down to the deciding doubles, Olga Govortsova and 2016 Australian Open girls’ champion Vera Lapko have been tabbed to face Martina Hingis and Belinda Bencic. With a victory, Hingis would appear in a Fed Cup Final for the second time in her career, as she played three rubbers in Switzerland’s 3-2 defeat to Spain in 1998.

Belarus and Switzerland last faced off in the World Group II Play-offs in 2012, as Bacsinszky won the deciding rubber against Sasnovich in her team’s 4-1 win.

R1: Aliaksandra Sasnovich (BLR) v Viktorija Golubic (SUI)

R2: Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) v Timea Bacsinszky (SUI)

R3: Aliaksandra Sasnovich (BLR) v Timea Bacsinszky (SUI)

R4: Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) v Viktorija Golubic (SUI)

R5: Olga Govortsova/Vera Lapko (BLR) v Belinda Bencic/Martina Hingis (SUI)

Though she’s not on the court for her country in this tie, Azarenka has been present at the Chizhovka Arena during practice in support of the team, and will be on hand for the weekend’s action.

Czech Republic vs. USA

Venue: Saddlebrook Resort, Florida, USA

Surface: Clay, Outdoor

It’s not often that the Czech Republic and “underdogs” can be used in the same sentence regarding Fed Cup this decade,

While the Czech Republic has won five of the last five six Fed Cups, the team that’ll face the United States in Florida with a trip to a fourth straight final at stake is a young one. Leading the charge for the Czech Republic is World No.38 Katerina Siniakova, joined by Denisa Allertova alongside debutants Kristyna Pliskova and Marketa Vondrousova.

Both Siniakova and Allertova have been named to Czech Fed Cup squads before, while Pliskova and Vondrousova have Fed Cup experience of a different sort. The 17-year-old, who made a stunning run to the title at the Ladies Open Biel Bienne earlier this month, was a member of the team that won the Junior Fed Cup in 2015, while Kristyna called up a team stalwart for a little advice — twin sister and World No.3 Karolina, who’s played in six ties for their country.

“Of course, she told me a lot and I asked a lot of questions,” Kristyna told fedcup.com’s Sandra Harwitt in Florida. “I asked about everything – clothes, the matches, and how is the team.”

For the United States, Australian Open semifinalist Coco Vandeweghe will lead the Americans at home for the second straight tie alongside Shelby Rogers, while World No.1 Bethanie Mattek-Sands will hold down the fort in doubles alongside Lauren Davis for the stars and stripes should the tie feature a live fifth rubber.

R1: CoCo Vandeweghe (USA) v Marketa Vondrusova (CZE)

R2: Shelby Rogers (USA) v Katerina Siniakova (CZE)

R3: CoCo Vandeweghe (USA) v Katerina Siniakova (CZE)

R4: Shelby Rogers (USA) v Marketa Vondrusova (CZE)

R5: Lauren Davis and Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) v Denisa Allertova and Kristyna Pliskova (CZE)

In the World Group Play-offs, Angelique Kerber returns to Fed Cup after missing February’s tie against the United States to lead Germany against Ukraine in what could be the most evenly-poised tie of the weekend. Kerber and Julia Goerges have been tabbed in singles against Elina Svitolina and Lesia Tsurenko in Stuttgart in a tie that could come down to the deciding doubles rubber of Laura Siegemund and Carina Witthoeft against Olga Savchuk and Nadiia Kichenok.

Elsewhere, France hosts Spain as Kristina Mladenovic takes her place as France’s No.1 in her top 20 season, while Russia fields three WTA title-winners (Elena Vesnina, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Daria Kasatkina) at home against Belgium. Wrapping up the World Group Play-offs, Slovakia and the Netherlands will meet for the second straight year, as the Slovaks will rely on the youth of Jana Cepelova and Rebecca Sramkova in singles play.

Eight countries will also compete in the World Group II Play-offs, as Sara Errani leads a young Italian team against Chinese Taipei; Australia travels to Serbia; Simona Halep and Romania hosts Johanna Konta and Great Britain in an anticipated tie; and Yulia Putintseva and Yaroslava Shvedova look to lead Kazakhstan to uncharted territory for 2018 in Canada.

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Indian Wells Wednesday: QF Classics

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Serena Williams will lead a distinguished field of four top-level talents in Wednesday’s top-half quarterfinal matches. We preview both must-see matches here.

Wednesday, Quarterfinals

[1] Serena Williams (USA # 1) vs. [5] Simona Halep (ROU # 5)
Head-to-head: Williams leads, 6-1
Key Stat: Williams and Halep are two of three former champions to have reached the quarterfinals here, along with Azarenka.
In four career appearances at the BNP Paribas Open, Serena Williams has won the title twice. Will she make it three out of five this weekend? To do so she’ll have to get past a recently rejuvenated defending champion in Simona Halep. Halep has all the respect in the world for Williams, but that doesn’t mean that she thinks she can’t win this high-stakes encounter. “I feel that I have the game to play against her,” Halep said on Tuesday, after getting past Barbora Strycova, 6-3, 1-0 (ret). “We will see tomorrow. It’s tough. She’s No. 1 in the world – it’s good experience for me to play against her and also big challenge.”

Williams eased past Kateryna Bondarenko, 6-2, 6-2 on Tuesday to improve her career record to 21-1 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. “I’m just happy to be in the quarters after three matches, so I feel all right,” Williams said. Though Williams has won six of seven against Halep, the World No.1 says she took her lopsided loss to Halep at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global in 2014 as a sign that she better be on alert when facing the Romanian. “She killed me at one point, so I definitely have to be ready,” Williams told reporters on Tuesday.

Like Halep, Williams believes that Tuesday’s encounter will function as a good indicator of the current status of her game. “It will be a really good match I think for both of us to kind of see where we want to be at this point in the year,” she said.

Pick: Williams in three

[3] Agnieszka Radwanska (POL #3) vs. [8] Petra Kvitova (CZE #9)
Head-to-head: Kvitova leads, 6-3
Key Stat: Radwanska can take the No.2 ranking from Angelique Kerber with a trip to the semifinals at Indian Wells.

Two longtime rivals will get reacquainted on Stadium 1 on Tuesday as Petra Kvitova and Agnieszka Radwanska will meet for the tenth time with a spot in the BNP Paribas Open semifinals on the line. Of their ten meetings, nine have come on a hardcourt, but here at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, Radwanska seems to have done a better job at adapting to the tricky playing conditions. She’s reached the quarterfinals six times – amassing a 27-9 career record at the event – but the Pole isn’t satisfied with those numbers whatsoever. “Definitely I want to do better than the quarters, obviously,” the 2014 runner-up said. “The goal is always to win.”

As far as facing Kvitova’s dangerous first-strike tactics and booming ground game, Radwanska knows she will have to have her feet moving from the get-go. “I just hope I can really play my good tennis against her, because otherwise I will be in big trouble,” she said. “But I think always against her you really have to play good tennis and be careful, definitely on her serve.”

Kvitova has had to battle through three tough three-setters this week, but the Czech says it is working in her favor to have more time on court. “I think every [match] is very important for me right now,” Kvitova said after taking out Nicole Gibbs in three sets on Tuesday. “Definitely this big fight which I had during this tournament helped me a lot. I just really need the matches. So probably two-and-a-half hours – it’s great practice for me, too.”

Pick: Radwanska in three

-Chris Oddo, wtatennis.com contributor

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