Tennis News

INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – Upsets reigned supreme in the top half of the draw on Friday at Indian Wells, with seeds going only 7-9. Will the chaos continue on Sunday? We preview today’s third-round matchups here.

Sunday, Third Round

[1] Serena Williams (USA # 1) vs. Yulia Putintseva (KAZ # 56)
Head-to-head: Williams leads 1-0
Key Stat: Williams will bid for her 20th career win at Indian Wells against just one loss.

After her second-round victory over Laura Siegemund of Germany, Williams admitted that she’s a lot less nervous than she was last year, when she ended her boycott and played in the desert for the first time since 2001. “I was really kind of stressed out last year,” Williams told reporters. “It was a lot of emotions last year. This year it was a lot easier. I mean, obviously there is still something there, but it’s a lot easier to just deal with everything.” A more relaxed Williams could spell big trouble for Yulia Putintseva, but don’t expect the 21-year-old to lay down and play dead. She’s as fiery as they come and she’ll come out ready to take her shots at the World No.1.

Pick: Williams in two

[3] Agnieszka Radwanska (POL #3) vs. [32] Monica Niculescu (ROU # 34)
Head-to-head: Radwanska leads, 2-1
Key Stat: Radwanska has reached the semis in all three events she has played in 2016.

Radwanska saved a match point in making a valiant comeback to dispatch Dominika Cibulkova on Friday. Next up, she’ll face a fellow slice-and-dicer in the quirky Monica Niculescu, who took out Heather Watson to reach the third round at Indian Wells for the first time. Though Radwanska comes in as the heavy favorite, Niculescu comes in with good form, having notched wins over Petra Kvitova, Sabine Lisicki and Jelena Jankovic this season.

Pick: Radwanska in two

[5] Simona Halep (ROU #5) vs. [30] Ekaterina Makarova (RUS # 32)
Head-to-head: Halep leads 2-1
Key Stat: Defending champion Halep was the WTA’s hardcourt match win leader in 2015 (41-11).

Jazzed after an inspiring hitting session with Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf in Las Vegas last week, Simona Halep came out and blitzed Vania King to reach the third round. But the competition stiffens for the Romanian on Sunday as 30th-seeded Ekaterina Makarova steps up. Halep owns the head-to-head edge over the Russian but Makarova won their biggest match to date at the 2015 Australian Open. To be honest, neither player has played anywhere near their potential this year, but a big win on Sunday could do a lot for the confidence of either player.

Pick: Halep in three

[8] Petra Kvitova (CZE # 8) vs. Johanna Larsson (SWE # 66)
Head-to-head: Kvitova leads 2-0 (both meetings Challenger-level)
Key Stat: Kvitova has fallen against players ranked outside the Top 50 at her last two tournaments (Dubai/Brengle, Doha/Ostapenko).

Petra Kvitova narrowly avoided the upset in defeating Montenegro’s Danka Kovinic in a third-set tiebreaker on Friday, and on Sunday she’ll look win back-to-back matches for the first time in 2016. The serve is the glue that generally holds the Kvitova game together, but in her last two matches the Czech has faced 26 break points. That’s too many. Kvitova will have to take command of her service games to go deep into the tournament, but if she can tighten up her game she may be able to ride her favorable draw all the way to the semis or beyond.

Pick: Kvitova in two

[19] Jelena Jankovic (SRB #19) vs. CoCo Vandeweghe (USA # 38)
Head-to-head: Tied, 3-3
Key Stat: 2010 champion Jankovic snapped a three-match losing streak versus Vandeweghe with a straight-sets win in Sydney over the American in January.

CoCo Vandeweghe is a bit of a wild card, and she can be prone to inconsistency. But when the hard-serving 24-year-old is on, she can be a terror to face. On Sunday the American will try to get past last year’s runner-up Jelena Jankovic, but beating the Serb in the desert has always proven to be a difficult task. Jankovic owns 24 career wins here, but she’s struggled to find her form thus far in 2016, going 5-7. Meanwhile, Vandeweghe has won six of eight matches—three of which came against Top 20 opposition—since dropping her first three tilts of the season.

Pick: Vandeweghe in three

-Chris Oddo, wtatennis.com contributor

World No.1 Angelique Kerber admitted she was disappointed to miss out on the WTA Finals title – but she is already looking ahead to more exciting opportunities next year.

“I am a little bit disappointed after the loss, but for sure I gave everything,” she said in her post-match press conference at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.

“It was a tough year with a lot of matches. When I’m looking back it was one of my best years. When I go home now I will think about the best moments and the positive emotions.”

Kerber admitted that she had not played her best tennis, and praised the aggression of Dominika Cibulkova, who beat her 6-3, 6-4.

She agreed that 2016 had been physically and mentally grueling, with a packed schedule, but, as she pointed out, she also had plenty of highlights.

“I had a lot of matches, a lot of tough matches – but also a lot of great finals, a lot of great memories [that] I received this year,” she said, before adding with a smile: “Of course, now I’m ready for the vacation.”

After a short break, she will be ready to begin her 2017 campaign – when she will be defending her top-ranking status against a returning Serena Williams.

“I am looking forward to next year, for sure,” she said. “I’m also looking forward to playing again against Serena – and against all the other tough opponents.”

INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – Their 41-match winning streak had come to an end at the Qatar Total Open, but Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza’s hopes of claiming a second straight BNP Paribas Open title were halted by an unseeded but dangerous pair in Vania King and Alla Kudryavtseva, 7-6(7), 6-4.

“We had a game plan and I feel like we executed it really well,” King, who won back-to-back Grand Slam titles with Yaroslava Shvedova at the 2010 Wimbledon and US Open, said after the match. “We tried to take control of the points and not let them dictate the match play, and I think we did that really well. That’s why we won.”

King and Kudryavtseva are playing just their second tournament of 2016 – King sat out much of 2015 with a back injury – but already have a Grand Slam quarterfinal under their belt at the Australian Open. After edging past the top seeds in a tense tie-break, the American/Russian duo raced out to a 5-2 lead in the second set – eventually breaking at love to hand Santina their first straight-sets loss since the summer of 2015 (Rogers Cup).

“I’m feeling very glad that I have a partner like Vania; she had a great game plan. We stuck with each other through the goods and the bads, and it pays off for a doubles team to do that,” Kudryavtseva said.

“That’s what I’m useful for; I just have good game plans, and that’s all!” King added with a laugh.

“And she has good energy, and she’s a fantastic, phenomenal tennis player,” Kudryavtseva continued. “She’s really motivated. It’s nice to be around someone who has so much positive energy and love for tennis. I think we’re really enjoying ourselves on the court, good chemistry.

“We obviously complement each other well; Vania moves a lot, and I try to move a lot. We have good returns.

“I feel like as a team, all the pieces kind of fit together, and it’s only our second tournament, and we obviously have a long way to go – hopefully – but we’re playing well and we’re enjoying each other’s company; it’s great.”

Into their second straight quarterfinal, fast-rising duo face a rematch of their Australian Open encounter with Julia Goerges and Karolina Pliskova; the big-hitting pair survived a tough match against Daria Kasatkina and Elena Vesnina – the very team who ended the Santina Streak in Doha – in a match tie-break, 6-1, 6-7(5), 10-4.

Deciding to pair up at the end of last season, Kudryavtseva has told WTA Insider that she and King are looking to make 2016 a season to remember; each have qualified for the WTA Finals before – King in 2010 and 2011, Kudryavtseva in 2014 – but are trying to keep a return to the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global in the back of their minds for the time being.

“I think we have to take it match by match, tournament by tournament,” King said. “Our communication is really good, we get along on and off the court, which is important. We don’t feel any pressure to not say something to one another; we can easily talk to each other about how we feel on or off the court – if we want to work on something, or if one sees something and the other one doesn’t.

“Obviously we hope can get to Singapore. If we take it one match at a time, that’s how we will play our best at the end of the day, enjoying each day on the court, going for our shots and going from there.”

SINGAPORE – Dominika Cibulkova stunned World No.1 Angelique Kerber 6-3, 6-4 to win the biggest title of her career at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. The win vaults the 27-year-old to a career-high No.5 in the rankings and snapped a five-match losing streak to the German.

Three thoughts on a dramatic end to the WTA Finals:

– In a season defined by small margins, Dominika Cibulkova proved the poster-child.

The 2016 season kicked off in earnest when Kerber, then-ranked No.6, survived match point down to Misaki Doi in the first round of the Australian Open, only to go on and stun No.1 Serena Williams to win the biggest title of her career.

Then comes Cibulkova, who survived the group stage in the rarest of circumstances, needing to beat Simona Halep in straight sets in her final match while also needing Kerber to beat Madison Keys in straight sets to put her through. It was the only scenario out of 16 on that day that would move the Slovak into the knockout phase and she pulled it off.

From there Cibulkova battled her way through the title, beating Svetlana Kuznetsova in three tough sets and then play her best match of the tournament to outplay Kerber, winning both matches on let-cord winners.

In a dramatic final game, Cibulkova nervously squandered two Championship Points from 40-15 up only to engage in jaw-dropping rally after jaw-dropping rally.

Just remarkable drama and stuff from both players. #WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/Mfmo3L0aJg

— WTA (@WTA) October 30, 2016

Jaw dropping stuff! @Cibulkova saves break point. #WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/OPnFEZDmmo

— WTA (@WTA) October 30, 2016

In the face of Kerber’s relentless defense, Cibulkova did what she had done all week. She gripped and ripped and hit through her nerves. Her bravery was finally rewarded on her fourth Championship Point, when she fired a desperate forehand that ticked the top of the net. The ball was suspended in air for what felt like seconds as both women waited to see which side of the net it would favor.

What a way to end! @Cibulkova is the @WTAFinalsSG champion for 2016 #WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/vCsPM8D0qy

— WTA (@WTA) October 30, 2016

It fell on Kerber’s side of the court. Cibulkova fell to the ground in disbelief. As the old cliché goes, fortune favors the brave. And there was none braver in Singapore than the smallest woman in the field.

– Cibulkova turns the page on a nervous past.

Cibulkova is a veteran of the tour, part of the generation of players that includes Victoria Azarenka, Caroline Wozniacki, and Agnieszka Radwanska. Watching her over the years the tension would be a constant during her matches and the nerves would kick in at the most inopportune time.

That was old Domi. Welcome the new Domi.

“On the court I put a lot of emotions, and emotions just affect me,” Cibulkova explained. “This is something I started to learn how to deal with emotions and not let down myself; just to keep focused, and this is all about. I really work hard on it.

“Now I see this mental part for me, it’s like going to practice and actually practice on the court. As I practice on the court I practice on these things. As you can see, it’s working.

Cibulkova’s 2016 has been all about conquering the mental side of the game. She’s always been, pound for pound, the biggest hitter in the game. But her emotions could get the best of her and the rest of the locker room knew. She often wanted it too much and would strangle the life out of potentially career-defining wins.

Cibulkova tried to address the issue by hiring a mental coach a year and a half ago. The question was simple: how can she balance her ambition without being blinded by it? Over the last 16 months she has proven her mettle, whether it was getting the best of Radwanska in an epic three-set battle at Wimbledon, or coming through in her Singapore qualifying campaign by making the Dongfeng Wuhan Open final, winning the Generali Ladies Linz in a must-win campaign, or scrapping through to advance to the semifinals in Singapore.

The nerves looked like they might get the better of her in her first two Championship Points in the final. Instead of panicking after her shock misses, she shot a smile both to her box and to herself. That moment of relaxation allowed her gutsiest tennis to come through in the end.

“I don’t blame myself that I got a little bit nervous on the first two match points, because I think only very, very few people wouldn’t get when you have a match point for the biggest tournament of your career.

“But the way I handle it after, it shows that I really change. I belong there and I’m really, really strong.”

– Kerber comes up short but Singapore was still a breakthrough.

Before this year, Kerber had never made it out of the group stage at the WTA Finals. She conquered that milestone by going undefeated in the Red Group this year. In a high-pressure match against No.2 seed and defending champion Radwanska, she lost just three games. But on a day when she did not have her best, she finally ran into an inspired opponent.

This is not the first time this has happened to Kerber this season. In two big finals this season, at the Rio Olympics and Western & Southern Open, she looked to be cruising towards victory before the nothing-to-lose swinging of her opponent felled her.

“She has the best defensive game for now in the world,” Cibulkova said. “But I knew I have my shots that I can beat her with; that was my forehand today. My serve today, I was serving really, really well. Few games I played with my serve and I then was going for my forehand.

“I just knew what I have to do. I think I didn’t let her into the match really today with my aggressive game. I had just one goal. I was going after it. I think it was tough for her to do something on the court today.”

But despite the loss, Kerber finishes her 2016 season with another message to the field. She won more majors and more matches than any other woman this season. She was the tour’s most consistent winner and her balance of counter-punching and defense made her the toughest out in tennis.

To beat her in a big match you have to seize the match from her vice-like grip, hope she’s off her game, and play one of the best matches of your career. That’s precisely what Cibulkova did on Sunday night in Singapore. And there was nothing more for Kerber to do than tip her cap.

“I gave everything,” Kerber said. “I mean, it was a tough year with a lot of matches, so I give everything on court today, the rest energy I had left.

“Of course when I’m looking back it’s one of my best years. I think when I will go home now I will just think about the best moments and the positive emotions.”

INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – Victoria Azarenka clinches a berth in the second week of the BNP Paribas Open for the fifth time in her career, holding off a surging Zhang Shuai, 6-4, 6-3.

The Chinese wildcard is in the midst of a career-best season, having reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open as a qualifier, and upset former No.1 Caroline Wozniacki less than 48 hours ago to set up the meeting with Azarenka, the 2012 champion in Indian Wells.

“She’s a very tricky opponent,” Azarenka admitted to Andrew Krasny after the match. “She’s playing with so much confidence and so free, and it’s the first time we’ve played each other. So, at the beginning it’s always a moment of adaptation, and she returned really well.

“I felt like I didn’t do enough on my service games and I had to step it up because she kept playing really aggressive and taking control. So, I’m glad I was able to put it in my hands.”

Adapt Azarenka did as the math unfolded, striking 27 winners to 13 from Zhang, and keeping her error count low, as well – 23 to 30. Edging ahead by an early break in the second set, Azarenka showed off some impressive gets in the last game to break Zhang once more to earn the final spot in the round of 16.

“Last year, I was a little slow. This year is definitely a different year. I’m glad I keep improving my speed; it’s so important in today’s tennis to be prepared physically so I’m really working on that.

“I’m glad that all the work off court is paying off on court.”

Up next for the former No.1 is No.26 seed and 2011 US Open champion Samantha Stosur, who outlasted a fiesty Christina McHale, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.

As night fell on Indian Wells, 18-year-old Daria Kasatkina emerged victorious after a titanic effort against Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig; the young Russian led 3-0 in the final set but had to turn things around in a hurry when she found herself down match point at 4-5.

Making her BNP Paribas Open debut, Kasatkina broke Puig in that all-important tenth game and despite missing out on two match points of her own at 6-5, she displayed impressive tenacity in the final set tie-break, setting up a fourth round encounter with Timea Bacsinszky with a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(2) victory.

“I’m a little bit tired, but I’m happy because, even though I didn’t play my best tennis over three sets, in the last three games I started to play better, so it means that I’m improving,” she said after the match.

“From the first practice, I feel like my spins are flying and the balls are good, so I like to play here because it’s a good surface for me.”

Although fans are most familiar with SAP Tennis Analytics for Coaches powered by SAP HANA during on-court coaching breaks, it goes beyond the match to provide players and coaches with real-time insights throughout the season.

“Using SAP stats to review matches is an ongoing thing,” said Nicole Pratt, who coaches Daria Gavrilova. “We use it to prepare for the next match, for the next tournament, for the year ahead.”

SAP Tennis Analytics for Coaches allows for real-time statistics and data provided via Hawk-Eye during matches, with coaches now able to take an iPad tablet out on court during on-court coaching timeouts as well as practice sessions to deliver more detailed messages to their players.

Watch the video above to hear how Angelique Kerber, Lucie Safarova and Daria Gavrilova and their coaching teams use SAP Tennis Analytics to regroup after a match and prepare for the season ahead.