Vandeweghe Practices Before Semifinal Clash With Venus
Take a look at CoCo Vandeweghe in practice before her semifinal match at the Australian Open against Venus Williams.
Take a look at CoCo Vandeweghe in practice before her semifinal match at the Australian Open against Venus Williams.
Day one of Fed Cup World Group semifinals action ended with a stalemate, leaving Switzerland, Czech Republic, France and Netherlands all drawing even at 1-1.
Barbora Strycova kicked off the action with a win for the Czech Republic in their semifinal against Switzerland. Strycova faced off against Timea Bacsinszky – an opponent who she’s defeated in straight sets in all three of their previous encounters. She didn’t deviate from the script in today’s Fed Cup encounter, either, putting Bacsinszky away in a near shut out 6-0, 6-2 to put the Czech visitors ahead.
With the Swiss No.1 Belinda Bencic having withdrawn from the tie due to a lower back injury, it was up to Fed Cup debutante Victorija Golubic to produce the tennis of her life against the Czech Karolina Pliskova. The world No.129 dealt Pliskova the upset of the day, coming back from a set and a break down to secure a point for the home side, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Proceedings played out similarly in France’s semifinal against the Netherlands. In front of a home crowd at the Arena Loire, France’s No.2 Caroline Garcia came up short against an on-fire Kiki Bertens, who has won all of her singles ties for the Netherlands in 2016. She powered past the Frenchwoman 6-4, 6-2 in just over an hour.
“There was a lot of tension in this match and a lot of expectation from outside,” Garcia said after the match. “She played a great match and served very well.”
France’s No.1 Kristina Mladenovic took to the court to right the ship for the home side against Richel Hogenkamp, defeating her comfortably 6-2, 6-4 to save a point for France, leaving the tie a draw at 1-1.
“I think this is the first time I’ve stepped out onto the court after a 0-1,” Mladenovic said. “Every tie is different and this time we are in front of a home crowd in a semifinal.
“It’s never easy to come on the court when you see your teammate in tears in the locker room, but I’m happy with the way I managed to win this match.”
Two Americans face off in the Australian Open semifinal – CoCo Vandeweghe and Venus Williams.
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SINGAPORE – Karolina Pliskova marked a memorable debut at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global by defeating Garbiñe Muguruza from match point down on Monday.
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A couple of hours on from Svetlana Kuznetsova’s back-from-the-brink victory over Agnieszka Radwanska, Pliskova produced an even more unlikely turnaround to triumph, 6-2, 6-7(4), 7-5.
“Inside I’m still in shock that I won this one. Inside I still believed that I could win, but she was playing so well in the second and third sets,” Pliskova told BT Sport after stepping off the court. “There’s always a chance in tennis until it’s done, so I’m really happy with the win today.”
No.4 seed Pliskova was quick out of the blocks, dropping only seven points on serve en route to the first set. When she then broke at the start of the second, a comfortable victory looked on the cards. However, Muguruza, making her second appearance at the Finals, made a better fist of the second set, drawing level before recovering from 3-0 down to take a scrappy tie-break.
With confidence now coursing through her game, Muguruza surged 4-0 ahead in the decider. Try as she might, though, the Spaniard could not find the knockout blow, dropping serve in a 15-minute sixth game to leave the window ajar for a comeback.
At 5-2 she arrived at match point, only to snatch at a routine volley. The mistake proved costly as Pliskova found a second wind, rattling off 15 of the last 19 points to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
Karolina Pliskova hit some major aces today! See how she stacks up to the rest of the #WTAFinals field! @WTA @WTAFinalsSG #ace #wtatennis pic.twitter.com/xe4G7gXbYi
— SAP Sports (@SAPSports) October 24, 2016
Despite being broken five times, Pliskova still struck 14 aces in her two and a half hours on court, taking her annual tally to 522. This number is nearly 200 more than her nearest competitor on tour, Serena Williams (324), or at the WTA Finals, Madison Keys (277).
Pliskova will next play on Wednesday, taking on fellow comeback queen Kuznetsova.
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