Tennis News

BRISBANE, Australia – No.6 seed Elina Svitolina opened her 2017 season with a comfortable straight sets win over Monica Puig, easing into the second round at the Brisbane International.

Svitolina is enjoying a career-high ranking of No.14 and, with a new coaching team behind her, has already seen the benefits in the New Year. She needed an hour and 17 minutes to complete her 6-3, 6-3 victory over the Olympic champion.

Perfect passing shot from @ElinaSvitolina! ? #BrisbaneTennis pic.twitter.com/6qHlQKCV2G

— WTA (@WTA) January 2, 2017

Puig showed flashes of her world-beating form throughout the encounter, but played overly aggressive, trying to end the points too quickly and was waylaid by her own unforced errors. She hit 36 errors to Svitolina’s 17 over the course of two sets, compared to 13 winners against Svitolina’s 15.

Svitolina rode out the assault and replied with her brand of pace and defensive skills, breaking twice in each set and never looking to be in too much trouble.

.@ElinaSvitolina slides past Puig 6-3, 6-3 in @BrisbaneTennis first round! pic.twitter.com/1mtZSewJWD

— WTA (@WTA) January 2, 2017

Awaiting Svitolina in the second round is Shelby Rogers, who opened her Brisbane account yesterday with a win over Eugenie Bouchard, 6-2, 2-6, 6-1.

More to follow…

MADRID, Spain – Defending champion Petra Kvitova had little trouble advancing to the third round of the Mutua Madrid Open with a straightforward win over Charleston finalist Elena Vesnina 6-3, 6-3.

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

Earlier in the year, Vesnina put a tough 2015 season behind her at the green clay courts of Charleston – last year she recorded 13 first-round losses (across all levels), but in 2016 she has come up from the qualifying rounds to score consistent main draw wins.

Despite reaching the final at the Volvo Car Open, Vesnina played through the qualifying rounds to book her second round meeting with the two-time Madrid champion Kvitova on Court Manolo Santana.

“It was nice to be on center court again definitely,” Kvitova said. “It’s a beautiful court, and even I have it to warm up this morning. Felt very special, very great that I could play again on and win it.”

The No.5 seeded Czech had little trouble adjusting to the conditions in Madrid – the high altitude gives many players trouble – and she swept past local Lara Arruabarrena in the first round, and continued the romp against Vesnina.

Vesnina kept pace with the two-time Grand Slam champion early in the set, but couldn’t take the only break point that came her way at 2-1. Kvitova relied on her heavy lefty forehand to dictate pace and bail her out of trouble. Vesnina made the majority of her nine unforced errors in the final few games of the opening set, allowing Kvitova to accelerate past her and grab the lead in just over half an hour.

The pattern repeated in the final set: Vesnina and Kvitova stayed toe to toe for the first few games, and Kvitova dashed away a Vesnina break opportunity. The Czech rattled off four consecutive games to take the match and book her spot in the round of 16.

“Definitely the start it’s always kind of difficult and tricky, and I’m glad that I had two matches with only two sets,” Kvitova said. “I didn’t really lost my serve so far, which is unbelievable.”

Awaiting Kvitova in the next round is the big hitting Australian Daria Gavrilova. The 22-year-old dealt No.12 seed Elina Svitolina a straight-sets upset, sending her packing 6-2, 7-6(4). Though their head to head is tied at 1-1, the last time Kvitova and Gavrilova faced each other was at this year’s Australian Open, where the unseeded Gavrilova upset Kvitova in the second round.

Three up, three down. No.12 seed Elina Svitolina is the third seed to lose today, out to Daria Gavrilova 62 76. Best win for Dasha since AO.

— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) May 2, 2016

MADRID, Spain – No.6 seed Simona Halep avoided the upset bug sweeping through the Mutua Madrid Open draw, easing past Karin Knapp and into the third round.

Watch highlights, interviews and more video from Madrid right here on wtatennis.com!

Over the opening three days of competition, 10 of the 16 seeds have bitten the dust, and Halep made in inauspicious start against Knapp, dropping serve in the opening game when her forehand missed its mark.

However, from that point onwards it was one-way traffic. Knapp has struggled for fitness recently – she underwent knee surgery last September and her recovery has been compromised by ankle problems – and Halep exposed her movement to take control with a run of eight straight games.

After little over an hour on court the Romanian arrived at match point, launching herself into a forehand return to emphatically close out a 6-1, 6-1 victory.

“We shouldn’t forget that she was injured, she had knee surgery, so she’s coming back and it wasn’t her best day,” Halep said. “But still I played some good tennis and I tried to just stick to my game.”

Halep reached the final in the Spanish capital two years ago, falling to Maria Sharapova in three dramatic sets. Since then, the Romanian’s form has fluctuated, and she entered this clay court campaign with relatively few matches under her belt.

“I just want to get better and better every day and I want to see how good I can be. I want to see how many matches I can win because I really need to win matches now, I just want to be relaxed now – I’m not thinking about the results.”

These relative struggles have enabled Halep to enter the tournament without the weight of expectation that has followed for much of the past few seasons: “Sometimes people around you expect better results, and that’s why you start to feel frustrated and nervous. Now I feel good, I have no points to defend – I’m free!”

No.10 seed Timea Bacsinszky awaits next after she edged past Ekaterina Makarova, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4. Halep has won two of their three meetings on tour, although did taste defeat earlier this year in Miami.

“Bacsinszky is revenge! It’s going to be hard, it’s going to be difficult, a tough match for sure. I just want to go on court relaxed and play my game. It’s a good tournament, good people around me, so I am in a good place mentally and physically.”

MADRID, Spain – No.4 seed Victoria Azarenka has joined the Mutua Madrid Open casualty list, pulling out of her third-round meeting with Louisa Chirico because of a back injury.

Following the exits of Agnieszka Radwanska, Angelique Kerber and Garbiñe Muguruza, Azarenka was the highest seed left in the draw. However, after aggravating her lower back during morning practice the Belarusian elected to err on the side of caution.

“Unfortunately in my first match I think I tweaked my back a little bit. It was really cold, and, I don’t know, I think it’s much easier to get a little bit hurt when it’s that cold,” Azarenka said during a press conference. “And the second match obviously I was in a lot of discomfort. Having a day off I thought it was going to get better. Today before my warm-up it did feel better, but once I started hitting it came back.

“I don’t feel that I’m able to compete today. I’m just trying to make the smart decision and see the big picture.”

Azarenka’s now faces a race against time to be fit for next week’s Internazionali BNL d’Italia – her last chance to fine-tune her clay court game ahead of the French Open.

“We’ll see how it goes. Really going to take it day by day and make sure my body is ready,” she said when asked about her chances of playing in the Italian capital. “I don’t know. I don’t really have a particular answer why it happened. There could have been couple of things. I was really sick the week before that.

“I’m just trying to make the test, make sure there is nothing serious, and try to treat it as best as possible. My plan is to be ready for Rome, so hopefully I’ll be able to do that.”

Chirico, the youngest player remaining in the tournament, advances to her first quarterfinal at a WTA Premier event where she will face fellow surprise package, Daria Gavrilova.