Indian Wells: Shot Of The Day (Friday)
Serena Williams has Friday’s shot of the day at the BNP Paribas Open.
Serena Williams has Friday’s shot of the day at the BNP Paribas Open.
Petra Kvitova takes on Angelique Kerber in the third round of the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open.
The best WTA players joined Miami’s top chefs at the W South Beach for Taste of Tennis Miami, a night of food, fashion, entertainment and tennis.
Last year’s Miami Open semifinalist Simona Halep made her appearance on the green carpet with her coach Darren Cahill.
Best friends Belinda Bencic and Kristina Mladenovic struck a pose…
…as did Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Lucie Safarova and Andrea Hlavackova.
Victoria Azarenka joined DJ Mad Linx to set the mood and put on some music.
Fresh off of her big win at Indian Wells, Azarenka’s got plenty to dab about!
Chan Yuan-Liang and Chan Hao-Ching, the world’s No.2 doubles team, joined Chef Fabio Fichera in serving up some treats.
Yanina Wickmayer showed off her excellent plating technique…
…While Elina Svitolina preferred to taste test the sushi, prepared by Miami’s Khaleel Ali.
CoCo Vandeweghe and Rachel Lim seemed more excited about the desserts than anything else!
WTA legend Arantxa Sanchez Vicario grabbed a picture with Dustin Ward as they served up some small plates.
Did you make enough for everyone, Lauren Davis?
Eugenie Bouchard swapped her tennis racquet for a paddle and showed off her table tennis skills.
It just wouldn’t be Miami without some great art… and a portrait of nine-time Miami Open champion Serena Williams, up for silent auction.
Highlights from the round of 16 action at the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open.
The BNP Paribas Open caused some seismic shifts to the Road to Singapore leaderboard; while Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber remained atop the standings, No.2 Serena Williams and No.3 Victoria Azarenka are hot on her heels as the tour turns to the Miami Open.
Kerber suffered a second straight WTA loss in the second round of Indian Wells, losing a tight contest to Denisa Allertova. By contrast, Williams and Azarenka made it all the way to the final, with the Belarusian winning her fourth career match over the 21-time Grand Slam champion and her second title of the season after the Brisbane International.
Not far behind is reigning BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global champion Agnieszka Radwanska; the new WTA World No.2 reached another big semifinal in Indian Wells, narrowly losing to Williams in two tough sets. Drawn to face the American again in the semifinals, Radwanska rounds out the Top 4 on the RTS Leaderboard.
Qatar Total Open champion Carla Suárez Navarro saw her progress on the RTS Leaderboard stunted when a right ankle injury took her out of Indian Wells, while a left foot injury caused St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy winner Roberta Vinci into retiring in the fourth round – leaving the veterans at No.5 and No.6 respectively.
Johanna Konta took out Allertova en route to the second week, losing a three-setter to eventual semifinalist Karolina Pliskova; the Australian Open semifinalist not only became the highest-ranked British woman since 1987 (Jo Durie), but she also kept ahead of No.8 Belinda Bencic, who dropped out in the third round to Magdalena Rybarikova.
An upper respiratory illness likely kept Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships runner-up Barbora Strycova from making a bigger leap; already moving up three spots to No.9, the Czech veteran retired down a set to Simona Halep, whose own run saw her jump nearly 50 spots and into the Top 40.
Meanwhile, Co-No.1s Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza retained the top spot on the RTS Leaderboard in doubles, while Bethanie Mattek-Sands and CoCo Vandeweghe debuted at No.7 following their championship win over Pliskova and Julia Goerges, who are all the way up to No.4 with two strong results in Melbourne and Indian Wells.
Click here to see the singles and doubles leaderboards heading into the Miami Open.
An interview with Dominika Cibulkova after her win in the quarterfinals of the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open.
MIAMI, FL, USA – The Miami Open gets underway on Tuesday, with a couple of inter-generational battles headlining the order of play on Grandstand and Court 1.
Tuesday, First Round
Grandstand
[WC] Laura Robson (GBR #504) vs. Kirsten Flipkens (BEL #65)
Head-to-head: Flipkens leads 1-0
When Laura Robson came off court nursing her wrist following a humbling first-round defeat to Kirsten Flipkens at the 2014 Australian Open, even in her worst nightmares she cannot have envisaged what was to follow. Two years of injury woe have derailed one of the game’s brightest young talents, leaving her kicking her heels at home as junior and domestic rivals have stepped into the limelight. Using her protected ranking at Indian Wells, Robson played well for a set before losing to eventual quarterfinalist Magdalena Rybarikova.
In Miami, she renews acquaintances with Flipkens, whose similarly anachronistic game could stymie the Brit’s search to rediscover her competitive groove. Since reaching the quarterfinals at Miami, semifinals at Wimbledon and coming within touching distance of the Top 10 in 2013, Flipkens has been forced to battle her own demons. Having dropped out of the Top 100 last year, the Belgian has been enigmatic this time around, promising showings in Auckland and Monterrey punctuated by several early exits.
Court 1
Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR #59) vs. Daria Kasatkina (RUS #36)
Head-to-head: first meeting
With superb groundstrokes, excellent movement and an impressive temperament, Daria Kasatkina has all the tools to make it to the top of the game. This much was obvious when she shocked Venus Williams in the opening week of the new season to make the tennis world really stand up and take notice. Since then Kasatkina has gone from strength to strength, reaching the third round at the Australian Open, the semifinals at St. Petersburg and, just last week, a quarterfinal at Indian Wells.
On her Miami debut, she takes on Kateryna Bondarenko, another upwardly mobile player – albeit at a very different stage in her career. Since returning to the tour following the birth of her first child a couple of years ago, Bondarenko has been making up for lost time, building on a strong finish to 2015 with credible showings at several big events, highlighted by her run through qualifying to the fourth round at Indian Wells.
Also on court…
Preceding Robson and Flipkens on Grandstand will be a couple of home hopes, Madison Brengle and Nicole Gibbs, who take on Camila Giorgi and Yulia Putintseva, respectively. On Court 1, Barbora Strycova faces Anna-Lena Friedsam, and Margarita Gasparyan meets Annika Beck.
MIAMI, FL, USA – Daria Kasatkina continued her productive trip stateside with victory in a see-saw encounter against Kateryna Bondarenko on the first day of the Miami Open.
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In the opening months of 2016, Kasatkina has been making great strides up the rankings, gatecrashing the Top 40 for the first time after her quarterfinal run in Indian Wells.
The young Russian carried this form into the early stages of her first-round meeting with Bondarenko, breaking three times to wrap up the first set in 27 minutes. When she then broke in the opening game of the second, a routine victory looked on the cards.
However, such thoughts were soon parked as Bondarenko capitalized on some uncharacteristically sloppy mistakes to level to contest in emphatic fashion. In the decider Kasatkina struck first, before exhibiting tremendous poise to hold onto her own serve in a titanic sixth game and close out a 6-2, 1-6, 6-2 victory.
“I started the match well, but in the second set I started to give her some chances and she came back,” Kasatkina said. “It was really tough to get the momentum back, but I did it and I’m very happy because it’s my first time in Miami.”
Twelve months ago, Kasatkina, then ranked well outside the Top 200, had just qualified for an ITF Circuit event on the other side of Florida, in Palm Harbour. Since then her rise has been rapid, but the 18-year-old is eager for the perks of an even loftier ranking: “Nothing really changed – because I’m still not seeded! It’s just a ranking. If I was seeded I would get a bye, but it’s one more match I have to play.”
Her reward is a meeting with No.5 seed Simona Halep on Thursday. “She’s great player for sure so it will be difficult, but I will watch matches with my coach and we will talk about how to play her.”
Among the other early winners were Barbora Strycova, Teliana Pereira and Zhang Shuai. Strycova needed less than an hour to see off Anna-Lena Friedsam, 6-2, 6-0, while Zhang was nearly as swift in dispatching junior Wimbledon champion Sofya Zhuk, 6-1, 6-2.
In the tournament’s opening match on Grandstand, Pereira had more difficulty winning her all-Brazilian clash with Beatriz Haddad Maia, eventually prevailing 7-6(2), 6-1.
MIAMI, FL, USA – Alizé Cornet is back to her winning ways with a confident start to her Miami Open campaign. With her 6-4, 7-5 victory against Galina Voskoboeva, the Frenchwoman sets up a second round clash against World No.2 Agnieszka Radwanska.
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Cornet, who was facing up to six months out of action due to a back injury she sustained early in the season, was in full flight against the recovering Kazakh, who overcame 22 months of injury rehab to make her WTA comeback in Acapulco.
“I really missed playing tennis this past six or seven weeks,” Cornet said after the match. “It was actually pretty unexpected that I would come here and win my first match.”
The Frenchwoman was off to a dominating start against Voskoboeva despite the tough conditions in Miami. The wind and humidity made it tough for both players to hold serve – by the end there were 10 breaks of serve in the match.
The pair traded breaks early on, but it was Cornet that got her nose ahead in the opening set with a 4-2 lead. Though the Kazakh was able to narrow the gap, Cornet stayed steady and took the first set 6-4.
Although she offered up a stiffer resistance in the second set, Voskoboeva’s errors – especially from the forehand side – began to creep higher and higher. Cornet took advantage and turned up the pressure, rushing to the net to end points early. Despite flubbing a match point at 5-4, Cornet sealed the match at her second opportunity, notching her first win since the Australian Open.
“I’m just happy to be healthy and to move again and just to enjoy playing tennis,” Cornet said. “I think this injury gave me a good lesson and I really appreciate even more my time on court now.”
Earlier in the day, Britain’s Heather Watson had a smoother road to the second round. Petra Cetkovska was also making her way back to the tour after being plagued by injury woes for the past two years. She was no match for the inform Brit, though, who dropped just one game in her 6-1, 6-0, 47-minute win.
A pair of Americans made their way to the second round as well after recording straight set wins over qualifiers – Irina Falconi defeated WTA veteran Francesca Schiavone 7-5, 6-1 while Vania King took out Lourdes Domínguez Lino 6-4, 6-4.
Caroline Garcia withstood a stern test from Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, needing to come back from a set down before advancing 2-6, 6-1, 6-3. Julia Goerges and Yanina Wickmayer are also through.
It was a crazy bet to play in this @MiamiOpen, and this win is pretty unexpected ! Feels good to be back ? #missedit pic.twitter.com/EyJICTFdjI
— Alize Cornet (@alizecornet) March 23, 2016
MIAMI, FL, USA – No. 5 seed Simona Halep found her form in time to halt a late surge from Daria Kasatkina and book her spot in the third round of the Miami Open.
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Kasatkina’s run to last week’s Indian Wells quarterfinals turned heads, but on Thursday night against the dominant Romanian she just couldn’t come up with the same brand of giant-slaying tennis that has seen her climb up the rankings.
But right as it seemed like Halep would have a smooth path to victory, the Russian took advantage of her momentary lapse in the second set to begin to mount a comeback.
“I think I complicated it a bit in the end of the match,” Halep admitted afterwards. “I did a few mistakes and I was rushing a little bit.
“I did everything – I win and lose the points. That was it.”
With a 5-2 lead for Halep in the second set, a handful of unforced errors from the Romanian gifted Kasatkina a hold to stay in the match. The Russian took off from there, taking the next two games and looking ready to send the match into a deciding set.
Halep had other ideas though, and proved why she scored more hardcourt wins last year than any other player by finding another gear in time to stop the surge and clinch the victory, 6-3, 7-5. Halep’s 24 winners were too much for Kasatkina, who hit just 10 winners to 41 unforced errors.
Despite the near-scare, the Romanian had nothing but praise for her 18-year-old opponent:
“She’s a young player, she plays really well,” Halep said. “She has time to improve her game.”
Halep sets up a third round clash against Julia Goerges, who came back from a set down to upset the No.26 seeded Samantha Stosur, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.