Halep Quells Konjuh In St. Petersburg Opener
Top seed Simona Halep made a decisive debut at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy, dispatching Croatian teenager Ana Konjuh in straight sets.
Top seed Simona Halep made a decisive debut at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy, dispatching Croatian teenager Ana Konjuh in straight sets.
LONDON, Great Britain – Not bad for your Grand Slam debut. At 24-years-old, No.225 Julia Boserup qualified for her first major at Wimbledon and is into the third round after beating Tatjana Maria and advancing after Belinda Bencic retired in the second round. It’s been a heady week and a half for the American, who has already had to change and extend her accommodations multiple times as she prolongs her unexpected stay in London.
And she’s doing it all while trying to balance the best week of her career – and an Excel spreadsheet or two.
“I go to Penn State Online and I graduate in December,” Boserup said. “I’m studying psychology with a minor in finance. I have homework due in two days.
“I’m taking an accounting class and I have spreadsheets due on Sunday. I have a day off tomorrow. I already told my coach that I’m going to be sitting down and working on school. Me and Excel.”
The California native shares dual citizenship with Denmark – much to the delight of Danish reporters at Wimbledon who are still smarting from Caroline Wozniacki’s early exit. Her parents are Danish and she has family in Copenhagen, which operates as a convenient training base for her when she’s in Europe.
“My dad emigrated to the US when he was eight years old because his dad wanted the American dream, so he moved to the US,” Boserup said. “My mom was on vacation in California when she was 25 and she met my dad and they got married and she moved to California.
“But my older sister went to business school and met the only Danish guy there and married him and moved there. We’re all like, ‘Wrong direction!'”
Boserup started playing tennis when she was six years old and her first coach was the legendary Robert Lansdorp, who also taught the likes of Lindsay Davenport and Maria Sharapova how to hit their big, powerful shots. You see the same style of game from Boserup, who says grass is her favorite surface. At 13 years old she moved to Florida to work with the USTA and moved back to California when she turned 18. A year after winning the Orange Bowl in 2008 – she beat Christina McHale in the final – she opted to turn pro.
But injuries derailed her development. In 2012 she suffered stress fractures in both her feet and nursed a back injury on and off for two years. She has never been ranked higher than No.174. So why did it take so long for her to make the main draw of a Slam?
“It’s a good question and it’s a question I ask myself sometimes,” she said. “I think I’ve put a lot of work into it and sometimes you just have to be patient. I was injured a lot and it’s been a lot of stops and starts. In the big moments it has served me well. Going through those challenges has helped me.”
So could this be the spark that gets her on a path towards the Top 100? This is where Boserup’s maturity is most evident.
“It’s great that I’m in the third round of a Grand Slam, but for me what I’m most excited about is developing my tennis,” she said. “I’ve worked with my coach for three-four months now and everyday we try and get better at little things. That’s really made me get more excited to play. After this I’m still going to play a $50k. One week doesn’t change everything.”
Boserup plays Elena Vesnina in the third round on Saturday.
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.
CoCo Vandeweghe came to the Australian Open unseeded and under the radar, but all of that changed after a fortnight in Melbourne.
“I think I don’t shy away from a challenge necessarily,” she said after reaching her first Grand Slam semifinal. “I never have. Growing up, I’ve always just been wanting to prove people wrong in a lot of different regards.”
The 25-year-old American started the 2017 season with the goals of reaching a major semifinal and a quarterfinal at a major besides Wimbledon, where she reached the last eight in 2015. By the end of the tournament, she’d achieved all that and more, including a Top 20 debut after knocking out defending champion Angelique Kerber and French Open winner Garbiñe Muguruza in back-to-back straight set matches.
“I’m very happy with starting the year this way, putting validation to the hard work that I’ve put in in the off-season, the sacrifices, all the good stuff like that.
“But, you know, at the same time I’m not satisfied. Like I said, I mean, there’s a disappointment factor because I’m not satisfied. I think that’s a good thing.”
Looking to build on her major breakthrough, Vandeweghe is your Breakthrough Player of the Month!
Final Results for January’s WTA Breakthrough Performance Of The Month
1. CoCo Vandeweghe (50%)
2. Elise Mertens (28%)
3. Katerina Siniakova (16%)
4. Lauren Davis (6%)
2016 Breakthrough Performance Of The Month Winners
January: Zhang Shuai
February: Jelena Ostapenko
March: Nicole Gibbs
April: Cagla Buyukakcay
May: Kiki Bertens
June: Elena Vesnina
July: Kristina Kucova
August: Karolina Pliskova
September: Naomi Osaka
October: Peng Shuai
How it works:
Finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com
No.2 seed Dominika Cibulkova played impeccable defense to dispatch No.5 seed Elena Vesnina and reach the semifinals of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
LONDON, England – Venus Williams moved one step closer to a sixth Wimbledon crown after a straight set win over Yaroslava Shvedova in Tuesday’s quarterfinals.
Playing her 12th quarterfinal at the All England Club, Williams’ experience came to the fore as she withstood some early difficulty to run out an ultimately comfortable, 7-6(5), 6-2 winner.
“What a tough day on court! The first set I had so many opportunities but she played so well,” Williams said. “When you walk to the net as the winner that’s the goal.
“To play so well when it’s your first quarterfinal is a credit to her. I love playing the game, always have. And when you’re winning matches it’s so much sweeter. Wins and losses lead to these moments. Everyone has to take the losses. Unless you’re Serena Williams!”
At 36, Williams is the oldest player to make it this far at a major since Martina Navratilova finished runner-up at Wimbledon in 1994.
“I love playing the game,” Williams said in her post-match interview with the BBC. “When you’re winning matches it makes it that much sweeter.”
Shvedova had her chances, most notably in the first set tie-break which she led 5-2, but found herself faced with an opponent who refused to wilt. Williams pinched the set when Shvedova fired long and tightened her grip of the contest thereafter, a run of four straight games plotting a path into the last four.
“What a tough day on the court,” Williams added. “The tie-breaker, it felt like she would win. I felt like my opponent was on fire. I felt like the crowd enjoyed all the great points. She got them involved in the last game. We gave them good tennis today.”
Remarkably, it is Williams’ first major semifinal since the 2010 US Open. There she will face No.4 Angelique Kerber, who saw off Simona Halep, 7-5, 7-6(2).
“The road was six years. They go by fast thankfully. But I’ve been blessed, been really blessed, to have an opportunity to be here, have had an opportunity in the past to do this. I don’t have any regrets about anything that’s taken place in between. It’s been a journey, but it’s made me stronger,” Williams said.
Williams’ evergreen showing also raises the tantalizing prospect of another showdown with sister Serena – who won her quarterfinal with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 6-4, 6-4, over on Centre Court – in south-west London. The siblings have met six times at Wimbledon – more than at any other tournament – although Williams has no intention of looking beyond Kerber.
“We don’t really talk about [the final] because we are focused on the next match. Even though we both won today, our opponents played really well. We actually have to get out there and play well to win. So it’s very focused.
“We get out there and we’re focused on that moment because we have to be. So the talk about what could happen is not as important as what’s happening in that round.”
My respect for @Venuseswilliams just keeps growing ! So happy to see her in the semi-finals again. ???
— Kim Clijsters (@Clijsterskim) July 5, 2016
Elena Vesnina makes her attempt at the WTA Net Dash. Check out her personal best right here.
SHENZHEN, China – Alison Riske exacted revenge for her defeat in last year’s final with victory over Agnieszka Radwanska at the Shenzhen Open on Thursday.
In a topsy-turvy encounter, Riske maintained her composure brilliantly to run out a 6-2, 3-6, 6-0 winner. In the semifinals she will face either Camila Giorgi or Wang Qiang.
.@Riske4rewards has done it!!
The American reaches the #ShenzhenOpen Semifinals with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-0 win over defending champion Radwanska! pic.twitter.com/MaLQcQVnT8
— WTA (@WTA) January 5, 2017
“I was just kind of focusing on one point at a time, and I know that’s what Aga does – she’s there for every single point – so I felt that I had to match her in that regard,” Riske said in her post-match press conference. “I also tried to keep my energy high, and I think that I did a good job of that today.”
Twelve months ago, Radwanska capped a dominant week with a masterful performance against Riske – then ranked just inside the Top 100 – in a one-sided final. Since then, the American has made steady progress, finishing last year with another final in China and a career-best ranking of No.39.
Her improvements were immediately apparent in the rematch, bossing the exchanges to surge into a 5-0 lead. Radwanska roused herself to register a couple of games before the set’s end, then harnessed this momentum to level the match with some typically cerebral tennis.
Riske, though, refused to be stymied for long, calmly dispatching an overhead to break at the start of the decider. From then on, it was one-way traffic as the No.8 seed calmly closed out the biggest win of her career.
“The ultimate goal is to go one better than last year, but I can only look to the next match and I feel if I keep focusing on myself, my game, then who knows what can happen.”
LONDON, England – On Saturday afternoon Serena Williams tied Steffi Graf’s long-standing Open Era record of 22 Grand Slam titles with victory over Angelique Kerber in the Wimbledon final.
To celebrate the historic feat, wtatennis.com is going to run down 22 of the more memorable numbers from a truly remarkable career…
750,000 – The amount in dollars Serena received for winning her first major, the 1999 US Open; the prize money for victory at this year’s Wimbledon was around $2,590,000
346 – It has taken Serena 346 matches to win her 22 majors; Graf won her 22nd title (1999 Roland Garros) in her 303rd match
304 – Serena has the second-most Grand Slam match wins in Open Era with 304 (Martina Navratilova 306)
83 – At all four Grand Slam tournaments, Serena has an 83% or better winning percentage: Australian Open (74-10, 88%), Roland Garros (60-12, 83%, Wimbledon 66-10, 90%), US Open (84-10, 89%)
79 – Serena has won nearly 79% of her 28 Grand Slam finals. Her only defeats came at the 2001 US Open (to Venus Williams), 2004 Wimbledon (to Maria Sharapova), 2008 Wimbledon (to Venus Williams), 2011 US Open (to Sam Stosur), 2016 Australian Open (to Kerber) and 2016 Roland Garros (to Garbiñe Muguruza). This is the second-best winning percentage in the Open Era after Court (11-1)
64 – Remarkably, Serena has won more than a third of the 64 Grand Slams that she has contested
30 – Nine of Serena’s 22 majors have come after turning 30; by winning the Wimbledon final, Williams (who is 34 years and 287 days old at the end of the tournament) also broke her own record as the oldest Open Era Grand Slam champion
22 – She has now equaled Steffi Graf’s Open Era record of 22 Grand Slam titles and moved within touching distance of Margaret Court’s all-time leading tally of 24
20 – Since Serena lifted the 1999 US Open, 20 different women have tasted Grand Slam success
18 – The age Serena won her first Grand Slam title, at the 1999 US Open
16 – Serena has the longest winning span between majors of any woman in the Open Era at 16 years and 10 months between 1999 US Open and 2016 Wimbledon (Chris Evert, Navratilova and Graf had 12-year spans)
14 – Of her 22 Slam final victories, 14 have come in straight sets
12 – This fortnight Serena was playing her 22nd major as the No.1 seed. She has won 12 of them
9 – Nine of Serena’s Grand Slam titles have come alongside current coach Patrick Mouratoglou
8 – Serena won eight straight Grand Slam singles finals between 2012 Wimbledon and 2015 Wimbledon; losses on each side were 2011 US Open (Samantha Stosur) and 2016 Australian Open (Kerber)
7 – Victory over Kerber brought Serena her seventh title at Wimbledon – her most successful Grand Slam venue; she has six titles at both the Australian and US Opens, and three at Roland Garros
6 – Serena has successfully defended major titles on six occasions during her career: 2003 Wimbledon, 2010 Australian Open, 2010 Wimbledon, 2013 US Open, 2014 US Open, 2016 Wimbledon
5 – Against Top 5-seeds at Grand Slams Serena has a better record than any other player in the Open Era (minimum five matches), winning 26 and losing just four
4 – On two separate occasions in her career, Serena has held all four Slams simultaneously – 2014 US Open to 2015 Wimbledon, and 2002 Roland Garros to 2003 Australian Open
3 – Third time’s a charm: before Saturday, the only woman in tennis history who had won the third major of a year after losing in the first two finals – as Williams has now done – was Navratilova in 1987
2 – Just two of Serena’s 22 major final wins have come over left-handers (2015 Roland Garros – Lucie Safarova, 2016 Wimbledon – Kerber)
1 – Serena’s only victory at a major as an unseeded player came at the 2007 Australian Open, when she had slipped to No.81 following a series of injuries.
When younger sister Serena beat her in the final of the Australian Open, Venus Williams was quick to praise her.
“Your win has always been my win and I think you know that, and all the times I couldn’t be there, wouldn’t be there or didn’t get there, you were there,” the 36-year-old said. “I’m enormously proud of you – you mean the world to me.”
Now in a new interview she’s emphasised that – saying that Serena is one of her heroes.
Asked by Citizens of Humanity about the people she most admires, Venus answered: “Definitely my mom and my dad, and Serena is a huge hero for me. I think all my heroes are close to home, because those are the ones that motivated me through the tough times.”
She added: “The best advice [Serena] ever gave me in terms of tennis or even life is, you have to show up, so why not compete? You have to be there. You can’t run away from it, so why not compete? That was the best advice ever. I try to apply that daily.”
On her legacy, the seven-time Slam winner said: “I’m definitely a very in-the-moment person, so I would just like to be remembered as a person who loved the game and gave back to the game and gave back to life.”
BUCHAREST, Romania – Aliaksandra Sasnovich snatched victory from the jaws of defeat against Anna Karolina Schmiedlova at the Bucharest Open on Monday.
Watch live action from Bucharest this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
A contest lasting nearly two-and-a-half hours eventually went the way of Sasnovich, who fended off a match point to knock out the defending champion, 6-4, 1-6, 7-5.
After a bright start, the match looked to be slipping away from Sasnovich when Schmiedlova romped through the second then opened up a 5-2 lead in the decider. However, the No.3 seed was unable to deliver the knockout blow, coming within a point of victory when serving for the match.
Liberated by the apparent hopelessness of the situation, Sasnovich threw off the shackles, unleashing a courageous forehand winner to reach the sanctuary of deuce, then breaking back when Schmiedlova sent a nervous second serve into the net. A few games later she had a match point of her own, firing an ace out wide to complete the escape.
“It was tough today because I had 5-2 in third set and I had a match point so it’s disappointing and really sad I didn’t win,” Schmiedlova said. “I need to win some matches and I just need to go from first round to second round, to do as many matches as I can.
“I was hoping to get back to it but it didn’t happen today but I hope it’s going to be better next time.”
Also advancing to the second round were Cagla Buyukakcay, who beat Kristina Kucova, 6-0, 7-5, and Vania King, a 7-6(4), 6-0 winner over Paula Kania.