Bellis Makes Confident Start In Hawaii
No.4 seed Catherine Bellis made a confident start to the Hawaii Open with a straight-set victory over Zhang Nan-Nan.
No.4 seed Catherine Bellis made a confident start to the Hawaii Open with a straight-set victory over Zhang Nan-Nan.
LONDON, Great Britain – No.5 seed Simona Halep sealed her passage into the final 16 at Wimbledon with a commanding straight sets victory over the No.26 seed Kiki Bertens, advancing 6-4, 6-3 under the roof of Centre Court on Saturday.
Halep grabbed an early spot into the fourth round at a Wimbledon still plagued with rain delays, which have left even some second round matches still up in the air and forced the almost-unprecedented choice to schedule play on Middle Sunday.
The Romanian has stayed cool throughout the bad weather, though, and has yet to drop a set at the All-England Club. Bertens, her opponent, came into the matchup having won the last 12 of 13 matches – including a run to the French Open semifinals – and amassing a lot of confidence along the way.
The heavier conditions under the roof seemed to favor the Dutchwoman, and she opened the match with a break. Halep quickly restored parity in the next game,
Bertens found herself having to hit one extra ball more often than she wanted to as the diminutive Halep covered the court line to line. Halep dug up a forehand that landed behind her to a wrong-footed Bertens who could do little more than hack at it as she was broken once again for 4-2.
The No.5 seed finally took the first set as Bertens’ first serves seem to abandon her and Halep unleashed some of her biggest forehands of the match.
After the five breaks of serve in the first set, the second went much more smoothly for the World No.5 as she broke once on Bertens’ opening service game to build up an assertive 3-0 lead.
Bertens held her nerve to force the No.5 seed to keep herself in it and serve it out at 5-3 and even held a break point after a HawkEye challenge went her way, but a pair of commanding points won on Halep’s forehand dashed Bertens’ hopes of forcing a decider.
The Romanian will get a day’s rest tomorrow before she’s set to face the winner between Alizé Cornet and Madison Keys.
More to come…
Simona Halep makes light work of Kiki Bertens, coming through 6-4 6-3 in 68 mins to reach the second week #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/hOxLfctDz4
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 2, 2016
Svetlana Kuznetsova’s late season surge into Singapore made headlines, but the WTA veteran’s hot shots have been turning heads all season long. Watch all of her best shots of 2016, right here!
For the first time since 2004, and only the fourth time in history, there will be play on Wimbledon’s middle Sunday. We preview the key matchups right here at wtatennis.com.
Agnieszka and Urszula Radwanska showed the true spirit of the holidays back home in Poland this past week, keeping a very charitable tradition going…
En route to her second Wimbledon quarterfinal in the last two years, Simona Halep hit a scintillating shot to earn the HSBC Play of the Day.
Who’s your favorite player, what was your favorite match of the year and of course who took the best selfie this year? Click here to vote for those and many more!
LONDON, Great Britain – Before the remaining eight battled it out this week at the All-England Club, the eleventh reunion of the WTA Alumnae & Friends Program was held at the San Lorenzo restaurant in SW19, drawing legends from around the world.
The reunion took place at San Lorenzo restaurant in SW19 with WTA Board Member Lisa Grattan serving as emcee. Notable former players in attendance included Billie Jean King, Rosie Casals, Betty Stove, Ilana Kloss, Frankie Durr, Mima Jausovec, Pam Shriver, Katrina Adams, Claudia Kohde-Kilsch, Rennae Stubbs and Mercedes Paz, who was celebrating her 50th birthday.
The highlight of the afternoon, which was overseen by Hall of Famer Peachy Kellmeyer and co-hosted by the Women’s Tennis Benefit Association, was the presentation of the Georgina Clark WTA Mother Award to the beloved Bulgarian former player and coach, Youlia Berberian-Maleeva.
Youlia coached three of her daughters into the Top 10 on the WTA Rankings: Manuela Maleeva-Fragnière (No.3), Katerina Maleeva (No.6) and Magdalena Maleeva (No.4). The Maleeva sisters made Grand Slam history in 1993 when all three were seeded at the Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon. Combined, the trio won 39 WTA singles titles throughout a playing career spanning more than two decades (1982-2005) and Youlia was right beside them the whole time, attending more than 1000 tournaments.
Youlia herself was a decorated tennis player, although her career was restricted mostly to Bulgaria and other Communist countries due to travel restrictions imposed on Communist Bloc citizens by the Soviets. However, Youlia still took home 31 national titles across singles, doubles, and mixed, including winning the Bulgarian National Title nine times (1962-1976). She also won the Lebanon Open in 1965 and the Yugoslav Open in 1973, as well as led her country to two Fed Cup semifinals as the Bulgarian National Women’s Coach, a position she held for 13 years (1982-1995).
In 2004, Youlia opened the Maleeva Tennis Club to the public in Sofia. Owned by the Maleeva family, it is the largest sports complex in Bulgaria and offers year-round tennis and squash with Youlia as head coach.
Away from the tennis courts, Youlia has remained politically active and has served as the president of the Bulgarian Women’s Association since 1995. She holds an ongoing role as board member for the American University in Bulgaria, and from 1997 to 2001 she was a member of the Bulgarian parliament representing the anti-Communist bloc.
Youlia shared the story of the family’s struggle against the Communist regime, travel restrictions in early days and eventual successes in a book titled, “I Want, I Believe, I Can.”
The Maleeva sisters were in attendance for Youlia’s presentation of the award, along with Youlia’s husband, Georgi Maleev, her brother Edward and his partner Lynda, and three grandchildren – Lora, Timo and ‘Little Youlia’.
The Georgina Clark Mother WTA Award is named in memory of the WTA’s former vice president for European Operations and Worldwide Tour Director, who passed away in 2010. Clark was also the first woman to umpire a Wimbledon final – Martina Navratilova vs. Chris Evert, in 1984.
The award given in her honor recognizes women who’ve raised their own children and also contributed in a significant way to the life of the extended ‘WTA Family’. Previous recipients Ann Haydon-Jones, women’s tennis pioneer Gladys Heldman, Original 9 member Judy Dalton, Francoise Durr and former Swedish No.1 Ingrid Lofdahl Bentzer.
Here are a few more photos from the WTA Alumnae & Friends Reunion, courtesy of Art Seitz:
The WTA’s all-star cast battle it out for wins, titles and ranking points all year long – but who is getting the most clicks? This week, wtatennis.com will count down the Top 50 Most Popular Players Of 2016.
Next on the list will be No.20 to No.11! Find out who made the cut…
20. Martina Hingis (SUI)
The third act of Hingis’ Hall Of Fame career brought six more doubles titles – including the Australian Open – alongside Sania Mirza in 2016, and a whole raft of new fans.
19. Belinda Bencic (SUI)
Hingis’ one-time protégé Bencic is proving to be another hit with tennis fans across the globe, despite an injury-hit season.
18. Ana Ivanovic (SRB)
Ivanovic also ensured an ongoing fitness battle in 2016, but it does not appear to have affected her status in the hearts of the tennis-following public.
17. Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS)
Kuznetsova’s resurgence was one of the feel-good stories of the year, titles in Sydney and Moscow securing a return to the Top 10 and WTA Finals.
16. Petra Kvitova (CZE)
After a slow start, Kvitova turned on the style in Asia, providing a timely reminder of her undoubted brilliance with dominant triumphs in first Wuhan then Zhuhai.
15. Madison Keys (USA)
Keys’ star continued to rise in 2016, victory on the lawns of Birmingham helping her crack the Top 10 for the first time.
14. Caroline Wozniacki (DEN)
The ever-popular Wozniacki continues to factor at the business end of tennis’ showpiece events, as she proved by reaching the semifinals of the US Open.
13. Dominika Cibulkova (SVK)
There has never been any doubting Cibulkova’s ability, and with her Achilles problems now a distant memory she made good on her potential by winning Katowice, Eastbourne, Linz and, most memorably, the WTA Finals.
12. Venus Williams (USA)
Even in the twilight of her wonderful career, Williams remains as popular as ever, giving her fans reason to cheer at the Rio Olympics when she teamed up with Rajeev Ram to win mixed doubles silver – her fifth medal at the Olympics.
11. Maria Sharapova (RUS)
To the delight of her army of loyal followers, Sharapova will make her much-anticipated return to action in spring 2017.
Come back to wtatennis.com on Friday for No.20 to No.11 on the list…
LONDON, England – Serena Williams moved one step closer to a historic 22nd major with a straight set win over Elena Vesnina in Thursday’s Wimbledon semifinals.
Displaying no trace of the nerves that have occasionally accompanied her quest to match Steffi Graf’s Open Era record of 22 Grand Slam titles, Williams ruthlessly closed out a 6-2, 6-0 victory in just 48 minutes.
A rapid start saw the top seed race into a 3-0 lead with only nine minutes on the Centre Court clock. Venina, playing at this stage of a Grand Slam for the first time, did eventually get on the board, but it was merely delaying the inevitable, Williams firing an ace down the T to close out the set in emphatic fashion.
Williams tightened her grip on the contest at the start of the second, wrong-footing her dumbfounded opponent to earn two more break points. Only one was required, Vesnina wilting following another taxing baseline exchange.
And as the finishing line approached there was no let up for Williams, who found an answer to every question posed by the Russian, completing a victory with another flawless service game.
Serena Williams is posting some absolutely absurd stats today. On fire. #Wimbledon https://t.co/12pMcCtzcf pic.twitter.com/Fm4HEyWYec
— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) 7 July 2016
“I’m very happy, you know, I was really focused today because we’ve had a lot of tough matches before. And especially on this surface I knew she could really bring it to me so I was ready,” Williams told the BBC afterwards. “It’s never easy out there, every point you have to fight for.
In the final she will face either sister Venus Williams or her conqueror at this year’s Australian Open, Angelique Kerber.
“It’s weird I can’t believe I’m in the final again. You know I’m 0 for 2 [in Grand Slam finals] this year so I’m determined to get at least one. It would be great [to play Venus] because then we’d be guaranteed to have a Williams on the trophy – that’s the ultimate goal for both of us and obviously I want her to do well, and if not Kerber would be another good match. I played her in Australia. Either way I look forward to it.”
More to follow.