Tennis News

Capturing the Indian Wells-Miami “Sunshine Double” is no easy feat, but Victoria Azarenka and Bethanie Mattek-Sands made it look easy in March, taking home both titles at the BNP Paribas Open and Miami Open in singles and doubles (with CoCo Vandeweghe and Lucie Safarova), respectively. Who else made waves in the midst of the Sunshine Swing?

Azarenka’s Spring Surge

The former No.1 started 2016 ranked outside the Top 20, but Azarenka was on a mission from first ball at Indian Wells, roaring to her biggest career title and first Premier Mandatory crown since 2012.

After double bageling Magdalena Rybarikova in the last eight, she survived a topsy-turvy semifinal encounter with future US Open finalist Karolina Pliskova before stunning then-World No.1 Serena Williams, who was playing her first final in the California desert since 2001.

Azarenka says her forehand return has improved, can hit more angles, winners from that side. Other game tweaks: pic.twitter.com/k2z4vkokuV

— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) March 16, 2016

“I believe I’m a stronger, faster, and a smarter player,” she told WTA Insider after the final. “I find ways to win when some other things don’t work. I’ve improved my serve a lot. I’m mentally way happier, and I have people with whom I see no limitations.”

The win brought her back into the Top 10 for the first time in nearly two years, and put her in position for the elusive Sunshine Double.

Azarenka Strikes Two In Miami

Azarenka was even more emphatic in Miami, winning her third title of the season without dropping a set in sunny Florida.

The most impressive match came against eventual Roland Garros champion Garbiñe Muguruza, whom the Belarusian narrowly eliminated in a pair of tie-breaks. Azarenka went on to avenge her Australian Open defeat to Angelique Kerber in the semifinals and dismiss surprise finalist Svetlana Kuznetsova in straight sets.

Champagne taste and caviar dreams for @vika7 @MiamiOpen. pic.twitter.com/fCH9do3e2J

— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) April 2, 2016

Back in the Top 5, she appeared on course to challenge for even bigger titles as the tour turned to clay.

“It’s been a really long month and to be able to contain this determination and that intensity throughout all the matches is definitely not an easy task,” she told WTA Insider. “The last couple of days especially has been a lot of expectations and pressure from the outside to complete the Sunshine Double.

“I’m very proud that I kept myself present, kept myself really focused and focused on the job before anything else.”

Mattek-Sands Serves Double Trouble

While Azarenka dominated a compelling month of singles, Mattek-Sands was cleaning things up in doubles with two different partners across Indian Wells and Miami.

First partnering up with CoCo Vandeweghe, the Americans upset No.2 seeds Chan Yung-Jan and Chan Hao-Ching and No.3 seeds Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova en route to the final, where they narrowly outlasted Julia Goerges and Karolina Pliskova, 6-4, 4-6, 10-6.

Women's doubles champs Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova have a special message for their fans. #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/ZibcZlUNTN

— Miami Open (@MiamiOpen) April 3, 2016

Moving to Miami, Mattek-Sands reunited with former partner Lucie Safarova (with whom she’d captured the Australian Open and French Open last year), and ran the table to win the tournament without dropping a set, defeating Babos and Shvedova in the final.

The second half of the Sunshine Double proved ample foreshadowing for Mattek-Sands, who went on to win the US Open with Safarova and ride an 18-match winning streak into the final of the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.

Elsewhere…

A trio of veterans struck gold through the post-Aussie Indoor and Middle East Swing, with Roberta Vinci, Carla Suárez Navarro, and Sara Errani taking home titles in St. Petersburg, Doha, and Dubai, respectively. Vinci’s run in Russia helped her become the oldest Top 10 debutante in WTA history, while runner-up Belinda Bencic became the youngest since 2009 to make her Top 10 debut. Suárez Navarro earned the biggest title of her career, outlasting the charge of young hotshot Jelena Ostapenko, while Errani won a battle of veterans by knocking out Barbora Strycova in Dubai.

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.

PARIS, France – The Roland Garros qualifying draw was released on Monday, and the race for 12 main draw spots in the second Grand Slam of 2016 will be tougher than ever once play begins Tuesday.

Louisa Chirico is the No.1 seed following her head-turning run to the Mutua Madrid Open semifinals; the American upset 2008 champion Ana Ivanovic and Daria Gavrilova and opens against Tereza Martincova in ther first round. Former junior star Irina Khromacheva is the highest ranked woman in her section, though former World No.58 Andrea Hlavackova and Amra Sadikovic could also pose some problems during the week.

TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup champion Cagla Buyukakcay is the No.2 seed and will play Elitsa Kostova in her first round; the Turkish sensation became the first in her country’s history to ever reach a WTA semifinal, let alone title, and is projected to play No.22 seed and former Top 20 stalwart Klara Koukalova in the final round.

Romanians Sorana Cirstea and Patricia Maria Tig round out the Top 4 seeds, and each are coming off of some solid clay court results. Both Cirstea and Tig reached the quarterfinals in Madrid. Cirstea made her career breakthrough back at the 2009 French Open when she upset former No.1 Jelena Jankovic to reach the quarterfinals, and Tig burst onto the scene last summer when she reached her first WTA final in Baku.

Other names to watch in the draw include Vania King, Maria Sakkari, Petra Cetkovska, and a pair of former Top 30 players in Daniela Hantuchova and Tamira Paszek. A semifinalist at the 2008 Australian Open, Hantuchova was a former World No.5, while Paszek is most known for her back-to-back Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2011 and 2012.

Click here to check out the full qualifying draw and stay tuned to see who of your favorites will earn a coveted place in the Roland Garros main draw!

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.

ROME, Italy – Serena Williams set aside her 0-2 record in finals in 2016 to snag her first title of the season at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Sunday, defeating Madison Keys 7-6(5), 6-3. The title was Serena’s first since the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati last summer and her week in Rome proved dominant. She did not lose a set in her first tournament since Miami, and reasserted herself as the favorite as she seeks to defend her title at the French Open starting next week.

“I have tried to defend there once, twice, three times before,” Serena told reporters. “Didn’t quite work so well.

“But this year is different. I’m going to definitely go in there and I feel more calm and I don’t feel stress to have to win. I feel like I just am happy to be out here.”

In a clay court season that saw no single player dominate, stress or no stress, Serena goes into Paris with a full head of steam and the relief in knowing she finally managed her nerves and executed when it mattered in a final. The three-time French Open champion struggled through a tough tournament in Paris last year, losing the first set in four matches and needing five three-set wins to win the title. She described her 2015 win as a “miracle”.

“Obviously my major memory was probably that semifinal and the final, too, and the night before,” Serena said. “Just that whole last three, four rounds was extremely difficult for me.

“Honestly, just – I don’t even know the words for it. Courage is beyond anything I could describe. It was just honestly probably just a miracle.”

WTA Insider sat down with Serena after her triumph in Rome to discuss her week in the eternal city, how she plans to settle into Paris, and we take a slight detour into the world of the Williams Invitational, a private annual competition staged by Serena and Venus for family and friends in Florida.

Q: Congratulations on winning your title here in Rome. What is it about this city that stands out to you?
A: So much history in this city. You just think of it as a world power and you think of all the people who were here. That’s what stands out to me. Just seeing the Colosseum and all the history behind it is pretty cool. This is actually one of my favorite stops on the tour. This city is so awesome. Then to be able to play in Rome is really cool too.

Q: So 70 titles. I don’t know if you know if you know this but I’ve never won a WTA title. So I don’t know what it’s like to win one. I don’t what the emotion is that goes into it. What was the emotion winning Rome. Was it a sense of relief? A sense of triumph given everything that’s happened? What were you feeling?
A: I just felt really good. I wasn’t sure if I could win this tournament because I was dealing with, you know, a lot of things. Physically coming in here I wasn’t feeling my best and then I was like ok, will I be able to play long matches? And I was and it worked out. So I’m feeling really good.

Q: What was tougher for you these past couple of months, the physical side of things or the mental side of things?
A: It was just for me, obviously physical is always hard because you always want to make sure you’re injury free. You want to make sure that you are able to stay for a really long time because this is a really tough season especially with the Olympics this year. So there’s a lot of stuff going on. But I am just living each day as it comes and staying calm.

Q: Is it easy not to look forward? It is a packed schedule starting with here at the French Open, then grass, then the hard courts and Olympics, is it easy to stay one week at a time or can it get overwhelming?
A: I guess if you think about it it can get really overwhelming. But I don’t really think about it. I’m really good at staying in the moment. Honestly I can’t even imagine the Olympics yet because I can’t believe I’m going to be in another Olympics. It’s so cool.

Q: It’s so theoretical right now.
A: In a way I can’t believe I’m going to be in it again. It’s a super cool feeling. Wimbledon feels so far away. It’ll be here before you know it. Although Roland Garros seems like it snuck up. It’s here and I’m like Oh my gosh, it’s here.

Q: You mentioned in the press conference that this is just your fourth tournament of the season. So it hasn’t been like you haven’t been on the tour side of things even if you have been working in practice. Does that accelerate May? Paris is now here and you only have four tournaments under your belt?
A: Yeah, but it feels good. I’ve been playing for so many years. I think at my age I don’t need to play 12 tournaments. I’ve been in the final of three of the four. I don’t feel like I need to play every single week. I just need to focus on winning the tournaments I play or doing well at the tournaments I play and going from there.

Q: Do you think that’s an adjustment from a few years ago? You had that stretch of 18 months where you played non-stop and you were winning at a crazy clip. Now maybe it’s time to contract that a little bit and focus on the big tournaments?
A: Honestly it’s about how I feel. Right now I feel like I don’t need to play every week. Back then I felt like I did and I wanted to.

Q: Because you were trying to prove something?
A: I was trying to get that No.1 position back too and I felt like I needed to play more to get there. I wanted to work my way to that. Now I just feel like I never thought I’d be in this position so let me focus on the big tournaments and see what happens.

Q: You still have that apartment in Paris. Do you go straight to Paris and start practicing there and settle in? Or do you go somewhere else? What’s your gameplan.
A: I’m going to go to Paris. I’m going to go tomorrow. I wish I would go tonight but…

Q: You might as well get there…
A: Right? But I’ll just go tomorrow. I love Paris. I feel a little weird here because I don’t speak perfect Italian. I can understand everything but I can’t speak it. So it’s very difficult. At least in Paris I can understand all the French. So I feel like it’s such a relief because I can go somewhere and have conversations. I know my neighborhood, I know where to go. So I’m looking forward to that.

Q: Do you have a tradition when you get back to Paris?
A: I do for Rome. But for Paris all I can imagine is my bed. My kitchen, I love my kitchen. I can’t wait. My closet, which is pretty cool.

Q: You still have that shabby chic aesthetic?
A: No, I’m modern. I moved, so it’s modern now.

Q: You’re evolving all the time.
A: Too much!

Q: So I see you’re wearing the Kryptonians necklace…
A: Yes! YES!

Q: I have to ask. You’re fist-pumping like a champ right now. So I assume the Williams Invitational went well?
A: We did well! We won gold in dance, we won gold in dodgeball. We didn’t place in tennis, but our focus is definitely dance and dodgeball. So we did great! I’m a Kryptonian for life. Shout out to all the Kryptonians!

Q: How big were the teams this year?
A: Our teams grew. Our core team was like 25 people.

Q: So if dance and dodgeball are your strengths for the Kryptonians, what are your weaknesses?
A: We’re not great in tennis (Laughs). This is the second year in a row we didn’t place in tennis. Yeah, we need to work on our tennis game. But honestly what matters most is the dance. Everyone really goes all out for the dance.

Q: I did see an Instagram video. There was one.
A: There are a couple out there.

Q: You were droppin’ it.
A: We were werkin’ it.

Q: Well congratulations, Serena, on the title. And I guess I’ll see you in Paris.
A: Yes.

Listen to more from Serena in the latest episode of the WTA Insider Podcast:

Click here to keep up with WTA Insider’s pre-French Open coverage and follow along with the rest of the Insider RG Contenders.

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.