Miami: Garbiñe Muguruza vs Caroline Wozniacki
Highlights from the match between Garbiñe Muguruza and Caroline Wozniacki.
Highlights from the match between Garbiñe Muguruza and Caroline Wozniacki.
Stat of the day from Day 7 of the Miami Open, presented with SAP.
Karolina Pliskova reflects on her performance against Mirjana Lucic-Baroni at the Miami Open.
MIAMI, FL, USA – Nearly two decades after her first Indian Wells/Miami “Sunshine Double,” former World No.1 Martina Hingis is on the precipice of a third with new partner and fellow top doubles star, Chan Yung-Jan.
Hingis’ first double came with two different partners back in 1999, winning the BNP Paribas Open with Anna Kournikova and the Miami Open with Jana Novotna; the Swiss Miss followed that up at long last with Sania Mirza in 2015, kickstarting what became the most dominant partnership of the last decade, foreshadowing a 41-match winning streak and a run through three straight major titles at Wimbledon, the US Open, and Australian Open.
The idea to partner with Chan first came about Down Under, when Hingis was still playing with CoCo Vandeweghe and the Taiwanese No.1 was one half of a sister act with Chan Hao-Ching.
on to the semis! @YungJan_Chan pic.twitter.com/NBuIhmUKJm
— Martina Hingis (@mhingis) March 29, 2017
“It started at a practice in Melbourne, when we were sharing a court,” Chan, who also goes by Latisha, told WTA Insider after their straight-set win over Andreja Klepac and María José Martínez Sánchez. “I was hitting with Angel, my sister. Martina and I stayed on the same side of court and played some points together.
“At one point, she said that if Angel can’t play with me because of injuries or some other reason, to give her a call, and she’d be happy to play with me. I was so flattered! But I didn’t tell her that.”
The sisters split after defending their home title in Chinese Taipei, and she found herself back on the same side as Hingis by the start of the Middle East Swing.
“My sister and I didn’t do well at the Australian Open and we started to talk about splitting up, and I think it was great timing.
“We still practice together and watch her matches. It’s kind of like three against two because we have Angel behind us against the other teams.”
great 2 weeks in Indian Wells! thanks to everyone for their support! see you in Miami next! #firsttitletogether pic.twitter.com/fU2qzt3Wcc
— Martina Hingis (@mhingis) March 19, 2017
The pair stuck through tough losses at the Qatar Total Open and the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, the former for which Hingis takes full responsibility.
“When we started in Doha, I wasn’t quite up to it in the super tie-break, and wasn’t much of a help,” Hingis said. “Otherwise, I think we could have done better there. But Doha and Dubai helped us get a feel for each other and to trust each other, so we know what to do on the court.”
On an eight-match winning streak since winning in Indian Wells, it was clear the duo were already in sync.
“It’s not fair for her to say she wasn’t playing well at the beginning,” Chan immediately disagrees. “I had a similar partner like her, a net player. For me it was easier to adapt, but for her, I might be a little bit different than her previous partners, so she needed more time to understand and get a rhythm.”
“It was good to know that there was actually some consistency from somebody,” Hingis banters back. “I could trust with her, that she was going to put the ball in!”
celebrating our win with a cheesecake! @YungJan_Chan pic.twitter.com/UlOuzL4DPP
— Martina Hingis (@mhingis) March 19, 2017
Both agreed that the fortnight in the California desert was key for their confidence, winning the title without dropping a set against tough teams like Mirza and Barbora Strycova, and World No.1 Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova.
“In Indian Wells, we got two weeks to practice and be together, having cheesecake and going shopping!” Hingis laughed. “That helped a lot with our communication, and that brought us closer together. That’s why we won and that’s why we’re in the semifinals here.”
Standing between them and a second straight final is Mirza and Strycova in a rematch of last week’s quarterfinal.
“Playing them, it’s one of the best teams out there. We have to take it seriously, and I know they’ll probably want to get back at us from Indian Wells…” Hingis started.
“Everyone around here is going to give you a tough match, and they’re very strong,” Chan finished.
“We’ll just try to play our best tennis and we’ll see how it goes.”
The winning wiggle ????????? pic.twitter.com/db1AYkhLfL
— 詹詠然～YungJan Chan (@YungJan_Chan) March 19, 2017
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.
If Johanna Konta is to keep up her meteoric rise and pull off what would be a hugely popular home victory at Wimbledon this year, she would be following in some distinguished footsteps, emulating Wimbledon’s last female British champion, Virginia Wade.
This summer marks the 40th anniversary of that famous day on which Wade defeated Betty Stove to lift the most coveted of titles back in 1977 on the occasion of the Silver Jubilee.
Now a resident of New York, Wade reflects in an interview with the Daily Mail on the day that elevated her to tennis superstardom.
Having battled past Chris Evert in a tough three-set semifinal, Wade found herself matched against a seemingly easier opponent in the final and yet many people forget that she lost the opening set to Stove after a nervy start.
“I knew I had to find my courage after the first set,” said Wade. “But I was always aware that Betty was not sure how to beat me. I had fought through some tough matches against her before and won, and I knew I had left some scar tissue on her. I was fine from when I went 3-0 up in the second set.”
From then on, Wade dominated the final set and, with Stove’s spirit broken, she romped home to secure a famous 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 victory.
“I couldn’t hear what the Queen was saying because there was such a commotion and the crowd were singing ‘For she’s a jolly good fellow’, I’ve still no idea why. That night I went with a large group of family and friends to a lovely Indian restaurant opposite Harrods.
“Then there was the Champions’ Dinner at the Savoy. It was the first year that they abandoned the dance between the champions, so I never got to dance with Bjorn (Borg).”
Wade was only days short of her 32nd birthday when she won Wimbledon in 1977 so Johanna Konta knows she certainly has her best years ahead of her. Especially considering that she plays Venus Williams in the semifinal of the Miami Open, the American rediscovering some of her very best tennis at 36 years of age, 11 years Konta’s senior.
No.3 seed Agnieszka Radwanska moved serenely into the second round of Wimbledon with a straight set win over Kateryna Kozlova.
Highlights from the quarterfinal clash between Caroline Wozniacki and Karolina Pliskova.
LONDON, Great Britain – Serena Williams and Venus Williams imposed their doubles dominance against the No.11 seeded team of Andreja Klepac and Katarina Srebotnik in their Wimbledon doubles opener to advance 7-5, 6-3.
The sisters started out sluggish in the first set as Venus, who finished her two hour and twenty-four minute marathon singles match against Maria Sakkari about two hours earlier, was broken twice to allow the Slovaks to build up a hefty 4-1 lead in the first set.
After trading breaks for 5-2, the Williams sisters broke again after Klepac couldn’t get out of the way of a Serena volley fast enough. Venus held serve for the first time just as the two started to kick it into high gear.
With Srebotnik serving for the set at 5-4, Venus fired a forehand long to give the Slovakian team three set points but immediately redeemed herself by saving one with a lunging volley on the stretch. She ripped a backhand passing shot up the middle of the court to clinch the break and level the score 5-5.
Finally fired up, the Williams sisters dropped just one point in the next two games to take the first set 7-5. They continued their romp into the second set, where they broke twice to get ahead 4-0. Klepac and Srebotnik stopped the streak of nine games in a row by getting one of the breaks back, but it wasn’t enough to turn the tide as Serena and Venus took the match for their first Wimbledon doubles win in two years.
Up next for the sibling duo are the Belgian team of Elise Mertens and An-Sophie Mestach, who took out the all-American team of Nicole Gibbs and Irina Falconi, 7-6(3), 6-1.
Another sibling duo moves on as the No.3 seeded sisters Chan Yung-Jan and Chan Hao-Ching battled past Ashleigh Barty and Laura Robson in a comfortable straight sets, 6-4, 6-2.
They’re joined in the second round by the No.13 seeds Vania King and Alla Kudryavtseva after the Birmingham finalists came back to dispatch Nao Hibino and Alicija Rosolska 3-6, 6-1, 6-3, and by Darija Jurak and Anastasia Rodionova, who are fresh off of a title win at the Aegon International Eastbourne and downed the No.9 seeds Yifan Xu and Saisai Zheng 7-6(6), 2-6, 7-5.
5 sets today. 2 of them with my favorite tennis player @serenawilliams #sucess #wimbeldon https://t.co/MWPw4ZPhlu
— Venus Williams (@Venuseswilliams) June 30, 2016
No you are MY FAVORITE player. I love u so much ❤️❤️? #Repost @venuseswilliams with repostapp… https://t.co/kc8pTg92sY
— Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) June 30, 2016
More to come…