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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

The final day of April’s Fed Cup weekend is underway, and Australia and Italy were among the first teams to clinch victories over Serbia and Chinese Taipei, respectively, keeping their spots in World Group II. 

Check out more highlights from Sunday’s action after a topsy turvy opener.

Romania d. Great Britain, 3-2  – World Group II Play-Offs, Constanta, Romania

Simona Halep restored order after a chaotic opening day in her hometown, avenging a Miami Open loss to Johanna Konta, 6-1, 6-3. Halep’s win put Romania on course for Irina-Camelia Begu to clinch the tie over Heather Watson, 6-4, 7-5, and remain in World Group II in 2018.

Halep was a mere points from victory over Konta in Crandon Park – the Brit went on to claim her maiden Premier Mandatory title two rounds later – and picked up where she left off yesterday at the Tenis Club IDU, hitting 17 winners and breaking serve five times to earn the win in one hour and 11 minutes.

“I expected on clay [for the match] to be like this,” Halep said after the match. “I did everything: I stayed focused and I was very motivated after yesterday. I’m really motivated to win this tie. I feel we’re dominating now.”

Begu was similarly solid in the finals singles rubber, and though Great Britain nabbed an entertaining doubles win over Halep and Monica Niculescu, Romania edged through in the end.

Germany d. Ukraine, 3-2 – World Group I Play-Offs, Stuttgart, Germany

Elina Svitolina kept up her flawless form against World No.1 Angelique Kerber, but it wasn’t enough for Team Ukraine, who fell in the face of an unstoppable Julia Goerges at the Porsche Arena.

After Goerges recovered from a set down to oust the reigning Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships winner on Saturday, the former Stuttgart champion edged past Lesia Tsurenko in straight sets to help clinch their place in World Group I next year.

Still, it was a solid week for Svitolina, who has now won her last four matches against the US Open champion.

“Kerber struggled to find any rhythm against an opponent who took her chances with greater success, particularly from the baseline,” noted FedCup.com’s Jeff Kavanagh. “Svitolina also committed less than half of the unforced errors of her opponent in the second set – 6-16 – and will feel mightily satisfied at a job well done against a player ranked 12 places above her in the world.”

More to come…

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Williamses Survive Russian Roulette

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Venus and Serena returned from their singles matches to dispatch No.4 seeds Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina to reach their first Wimbledon semifinal since 2012.

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Masarova Keeps Gstaad Run Going

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

GSTAAD, Switzerland – World No.797 Rebeka Masarova’s dream run at the Ladies Championship Gstaad continued on Saturday with a straight set win over No.5 seed Annika Beck.

Delivering another performance to belie her tender years – and lowly ranking – Masarova prevailed 7-5, 6-2 to set up an all-Swiss semifinal with Viktorija Golubic.

Earlier this summer, Masarova tripped up a couple of highly touted rivals to lift the junior French Open title. It was a performance that earned her a wildcard for the WTA’s return to Swiss soil, a chance she grabbed with both hands by knocking out first former No.1 Jelena Jankovic then Anett Kontaveit in the opening two rounds.

Beck had her chances, but despite serving for the opening set she was unable to avoid becoming the 16-year-old’s third Top 100 victim.

“It’s just amazing that I’ve won another match. I can’t quite believe I’ve beaten three Top 100 players so far this week. I think I played a great match against Annika and I hope I can keep this going in the semis!”

Golubic was made to work far harder in her quarterfinal, eventually subduing Carina Witthoeft, 7-6(4), 7-6(4).

The other semifinal will also feature a Swiss player, after top seed Timea Bacsinszky raced past Johanna Larsson, 6-0, 6-1 in just 56 minutes. Her reward is a meeting with No.3 seed Kiki Bertens, a 6-3, 6-1 winner over Irina Khromacheva.

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Fearless Golubic Grabs Gstaad

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

GSTAAD, Switzerland – Local favorite Victorija Golubic capped off a dream week by winning her first WTA title at the inaugural Ladies Championship Gstaad. Golubic defeated Kiki Bertens 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 after a two-hour battle to claim the title in her home country.

More to come…

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Ozaki Halts Stephens Title Defense

Ozaki Halts Stephens Title Defense

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

WASHINGTON DC, USA – No.136-ranked Risa Ozaki scored the biggest win of her career in the opening round of the Citi Open, knocking out defending champion Sloane Stephens 6-2, 6-1.

The 22 year old from Japan came into the matchup having won just two WTA-level matches all year long, but put all that disappointment behind her against the No.23-ranked American.

Despite being broken in the opening game, Ozaki turned up the intensity and rattled off the next nine games in a row to leave Stephens reeling, down a set and a break. The American held serve to get her name on the score board at 3-1, but it wasn’t enough to turn around Ozaki’s momentum as she swept the match in just 57 minutes.

“I just played real bad. Nothing more, nothing less,” Stephens assessed after the match. “Today just sucked, it was just one of those days where everything was really bad.”

“Obviously, I’m not the first person to have a bad day and I won’t be the last. Hopefully I can pull myself together and next week will be better than this week. I won’t look too deep into this.”

Ozaki’s win sets up a second-round clash with on-the-rise Brit Naomi Broady, who saw off Irina Falconi in straight sets earlier in the day, 6-3, 6-4.

Camila Giorgi

Giorgi Ousts No.5 Seed Bouchard

The unseeded Camila Giorgi snapped a four-match losing streak in her straight sets upset over No.5 seed Eugenie Bouchard in their Washington DC opener. Even more impressive, Giorgi recorded her first win against the Canadian; she previously hadn’t even won a set against Bouchard in either of their previous two encounters.

Bouchard initially struggled against the pace of the Italian’s high octane game, falling a break down in the opening set.

“My game is based on moving forward as soon as I can,” Giorgi said, speaking to Tennis Channel after the match. “Today it worked, I think, almost everything.”

Facing elimination at a set down and 5-2 in the second, Bouchard gritted out a pair of back to back games to cut into Giorgi’s lead, and even held game point on her serve at 5-4 to try to even the score. But the ultra-aggressive Giorgi saw off her challenge with her usual calm, quick game, climbing back from 15-40 to take the match 7-5, 6-4.

After the match, she immediately grabbed her cell phone to make a very special call.

“I called my dad, my coach,” Giorgi said. “He told me I played a good game, very aggressive. He was happy.”

Giorgi will go on to play Tamira Paszek in the next round. The Austrian No.108 took down American qualifier Lauren Albanese in a comfortable 6-3, 6-4 win.

More to come… 

– All photos courtesy of Citi Open and Getty Images

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As It Happened: Kerber Vs Azarenka

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen | Look back at game-by-game coverage of the Brisbane International final between Angelique Kerber and Victoria Azarenka right here on wtatennis.com!

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