My Performance: Karolina Pliskova
Karolina Pliskova reflects on her performance at the Miami Open.
Karolina Pliskova reflects on her performance at the Miami Open.
Highlights from the quarterfinal clash between Karolina Pliskova and Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.
Ricoh Open Final Centre Court, noon
Watch live action from Sunday’s ‘s-Hertogenbosch final on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
[3] Kristina Mladenovic (FRA #32) vs. [6] CoCo Vandeweghe (USA #43)
Head-to-head: Vandeweghe leads 3-0
Final Fact: Vandeweghe has hit 22 aces en route to the final.
Much has been made of American tennis’ new-found love affair with clay. However, many of the country’s contingent on tour still long for the return to the faster surfaces.
Leading this vanguard is CoCo Vandeweghe. A booming serve, a penchant for taking the ball early and a willingness to move up the court make the Californian’s game ideally suited to the hard courts on which she was raised and the grass courts she has grown to love.
The latter is a surface that has brought her much joy, too; in 2014 at ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Vandeweghe came through qualifying to lift her maiden WTA trophy, while at Wimbledon she left a trail of seeds in her wake to reach the 2015 quarterfinals.
On Sunday she returns to the ‘s-Hertogenbosch final, where she will take on Kristina Mladenovic. An accomplished doubles player – she recently won the Roland Garros title with Caroline Garcia and in 2014 reached the Wimbledon final alongside Timea Babos – Mladenovic’s all-court game makes her a danger on grass, as she proved in reaching last year’s Birmingham semifinals.
Mladenovic was impressive in upsetting friend and top seed Belinda Bencic in the semifinals, but will be hard pushed to derail the Vandeweghe juggernaut. Apart from in the second round against Nao Hibino, Vandeweghe is yet to drop serve and has barely looked like dropping a set. The American also has history on her side, having won all three of her previous meetings with Mladenovic, at Dubai, Osaka and in qualifying during her title run at ‘s-Hertogenbosch.
Road To The Final
Kristina Mladenovic
First Round: d. Yaroslava Shvedova, 64 63 (1:32)
Second Round: d. [Q] Natalia Vikhlyantseva, 57 63 64 (2:02)
Quarterfinals: d. [Q] Elise Mertens, 75 63 (1:23)
Semifinals: d. [1] Belinda Bencic, 26 63 64 (2:04)
CoCo Vandeweghe
First Round: d. [WC] Indy de Vroome, 62 64 (1:16)
Second Round: d. Nao Hibino, 62 63 (1:07)
Quarterfinals: d. Evgeniya Rodina, 62 62 (0:59)
Semifinals: d. Madison Brengle, 64 62 (1:12)
Check out Caroline Wozniacki’s shot of the day against Lucie Safarova at the Miami Open.
MIAMI, FL, USA – Johanna Konta became the first British woman to reach the Miami Open semifinals after coming back from a set down to oust No.3 seed Simona Halep.
Putting an injury-plagued start of the season behind her, Halep came into the matchup after winning consecutive matches for the first time all season here in Miami. And in the quarterfinals, the Romanian even saved match point in her late-night thriller against Sam Stosur.
But she couldn’t pull off the escape once again against Konta, falling 3-6, 7-6(7), 6-2 after a rollercoaster two hours and thirty minutes.
.@JoKonta wins a mammoth tiebreak 9-7!
Into a decider… #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/TWpn1gbFnG
— WTA (@WTA) March 29, 2017
The Brit had to overcome a slow start against Halep, though, as the Romanian came out of the gates firing and would take an early break in the opening set. Loose unforced errors during the initial exchanges cost Konta, and Halep didn’t allow her to settle into a rhythm with her changes of pace.
Dropping the first set only galvanized Konta, as the Brit notched an emphatic break to love and a 3-0 lead. But that’s when things got complicated, and Halep dodged a pair of break points and leveled the match a few games later.
She served for the match at 5-4, and was two points away from victory when Konta denied her, keeping her serve under pressure and rewarded with loose errors.
Into a tiebreaker, Halep once again saw her lead erased as Konta came roaring back from 5-3 down and edged through 9-7.
.@JoKonta91 advances to @MiamiOpen Semifinals!
Battles past Halep 3-6, 7-6(7), 6-2! pic.twitter.com/nm3n99u6s8
— WTA (@WTA) March 29, 2017
With the wind in her sails Konta grabbed the lead once again but this time didn’t allow Halep back in. She broke Halep twice to reel off the final five games and complete the comeback.
“It was a really tough match, very high level,” Halep told WTA Insider after the match. “I was so close to winning, I was two points away in the tiebreak, but she played very strong and deserved to win today.
“I’m happy to be here after the break that I had. I’m just disappointed I lost a match I had in my hands. But my confidence is there, the game is there – I just need to play matches.”
Konta be rewarded with a clash against the winner between World No.1 Angelique Kerber and Venus Williams for a chance to go even further and win a spot into her second career Premier Mandatory final.
Should she reach the final, she’s projected to return to the Top 10 after the WTA rankings are released on Monday.
“Whoever I’m playing, I’ll have a battle on my hands that’s for sure,” Konta said. “I’ve played Venus and Angie a few times. They’re going to have a tough battle tonight, and I’m looking forward to playing either of them. Either of them will be a great opportunity for different reasons.”
An interview with Petra Kvitova before the start of the Aegon Classic Birmingham.
ZHUHAI, China – The WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai has announced today the appointment of José Miguel Garcia from Madrid, Spain as Tournament Director for the year‐end WTA event held at the Hengqin Tennis Center Zhuhai.
Garcia brings 15 years of experience at professional tennis events, mainly at the Mutua Madrid Open where he remains a key member of the completion, operations and player services team.
“I am very excited by this new project,” Garcia said during his first visit to Zhuhai. “The facilities at the Hengqin Tennis Center Zhuhai are extremely impressive and I look forward to using my experiences from other major events I have been involved with and by working with the WTA and Zhuhai based event teams to continue to grow the event as it enters into its third year.”
In cooperation with the Mutua Madrid Open, Garcia will travel regularly to Zhuhai to coordinate the organization of the event with teams from the event operator and promoter Zhuhai Huafa Sports Operations Management Co. Ltd, the licensing owner APG and the WTA.
“We are very happy to have José Miguel Garcia as Tournament Director for the WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai, his international experience will be extremely valuable to the event and contribute to the development of the tournament,” said Peter Lv, Executive Director of Zhuhai Huafa Sports Operations Management Co. Ltd.
“We strongly believe José Miguel will be a great asset for the WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai and will provide the support needed to take the event to the next level. We are proud to have him appointed as the Tournament Director for the event and look forward to seeing the event continue to grow successfully,” said Fabrice Chouquet, APG Chief Operating Officer.
The WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai, established in 2015, features 11 of the top ranked singles players along with one wild card and four of the top ranked doubles teams and two team wild cards.
The $USD 2.28 million event to be held between October 31st – November 5th at the Hengqin Tennis Center Zhuhai, also sees up to 700 WTA ranking points awarded to the winner. Venus Williams won the title in 2015 and Petra Kvitova in 2016.
Heather Watson takes on Camila Giorgi in the first round of the Aegon International Birmingham.
Day 10’s stat of the day from the Miami Open, presented with SAP.
Petra Kvitova takes on Lucie Safarova at the Aegon International Birmingham.