Tennis News

THE WINNERS

Monica Puig made Olympic history for Puerto Rico on Saturday night, becoming the island’s first ever gold medalist after a rollercoaster win over World No.2 Angelique Kerber, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.

Puig has been the surprise of the Olympic tennis event, playing the best tennis of her career to reach the gold medal match and dealing out upsets to the likes of French Open champion Garbiñe Muguruza and two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova along the way.

She now stands as the first athlete – male or female – to bring home a gold medal to Puerto Rico, ending a 68-year drought dating back to the island’s first appearance at an Olympic Games.

“This is for Puerto Rico. This is definitely for them,” Puig said. “They’re going through some tough times right now, and they needed this. I needed this.

“I think I united a nation. I just love where I come from.”

Read the full match recap | WTA Insider Live Blog: Game-by-game analysis

Four years after pairing up for the first time ahead of the Olympic tennis event in London, No.7 seeds Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina strike gold in Rio, taking out No.5 seeds and World Co-No.1 Martina Hingis and countrywoman Timea Bacsinszky, 6-4, 6-4.

“It’s incredible,” Vesnina said after the match. “Ever since I was a little girl, I was watching the Olympic Games, and it was such a dream just to come here and get a medal for Russia, for my country and in front of my dad. We’ve been through so much, and yet we were so good today.

“We stuck together and we believed til the end that we could win. It’s just incredible, I still can’t believe that we won the gold. It’s the best moment in my career, I swear!”

Makarova and Vesnina came to Rio having just won their first title of the season at the Rogers Cup, but not before enduring a nightmarish travel itinery that nearly left them late for the Opening Ceremonies. Once there, the Russian duo took care of business in efficient style, running through five wins without dropping a set over the opposition.

Read the full match recap here.

In a thrilling encounter between two tough American teams, Bethanie Mattek-Sands partnered Jack Sock to take out four-time gold medalist Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram, 6-7(3), 6-1, 10-7 and win gold in mixed doubles of the Olympic tennis event.

“I’m still pretty emotional,” Mattek-Sands said after the match. “I think, going into this final, we knew the American national anthem was going to be played either way, but I was actually kind of surprised I was so emotional. It’s my first Olympics, first time being up on the podium. It’s hard to describe it in words, but I’m so excited having this guy next to me, we played awesome. It was a lot of fun this whole week.”

Read the full match recap here.

RANKING MOVERS
There were no WTA ranking points awarded at the Olympic tennis event for the week of August 15, 2016.

Click here to view the current rankings.

UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS

Western & Southern Open
Cincinnati, USA
Premier | $2,503,250 | Hard, Outdoor
Monday, August 15 – Sunday, August 21

Connecticut Open
New Haven, USA
Premier | $695,900 | Hard, Outdoor
Sunday, August 21 – Saturday, August 27

US Open
New York, USA
Grand Slam | $ TBA | Hard, Outdoor
Monday, August 29 – Sunday, September 11

TOP 20 PLAYER SCHEDULES
1. Serena Williams – Cincinnati, US Open
2. Angelique Kerber – Cincinnati, US Open
3. Garbiñe Muguruza – Cincinnati, US Open
4. Simona Halep – Cincinnati, US Open
5. Agnieszka Radwanska – Cincinnati, US Open
6. Venus Williams – US Open
7. Victoria Azarenka
8. Roberta Vinci – Cincinnati, New Haven, US Open
9. Madison Keys – New Haven, US Open
10. Svetlana Kuznetsova – Cincinnati, New Haven, US Open
11. Dominika Cibulkova – Cincinnati, New Haven, US Open
12. Carla Suárez Navarro – Cincinnati, US Open
13. Johanna Konta – Cincinnati, New Haven, US Open
14. Petra Kvitova – New Haven, US Open
15. Timea Bacsinszky – Cincinnati, New Haven, US Open
16. Samantha Stosur – Cincinnati, US Open
17. Karolina Pliskova – Cincinnati, New Haven, US Open
18. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova – Cincinnati, New Haven, US Open
19. Elina Svitolina – Cincinnati, New Haven, US Open
20. Barbora Strycova – Cincinnati, New Haven, US Open

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
Best wishes to those celebrating birthdays this week:

Chan Yung-Jan (TPE) – August 17, 1989
Johanna Larsson (SWE) – August 17, 1988

CHARLESTON, SC, USA – In the first all-teen WTA final since 2009, Daria Kasatkina knocked out former junior colleague Jelena Ostapenko, 6-3, 6-1, to win her first WTA title at the Volvo Car Open.

“It’s very difficult to describe my feeling now,” she said in her post-victory press conference. “I feel I’m just sleeping and everything is not real. I’m so happy. Really.”

Kasatkina and Ostapenko took back-to-back Grand Slam titles back in 2014, the Russian winning the girls’ French Open while the Latvian swept the junior Wimbledon Championships, and the two have been on a collision course since making their WTA debuts the following year.

Ostapenko was in her third career final after finishing runner-up at the Tournoi de Québec in 2015 and the Qatar Total Open in 2016, and won their only previous tour-level meeting last year at the Aegon International in Eastbourne.

But Kasatkina proved far more at home on clay after earning wins over Olympic champion Monica Puig, good friend Daria Gavrilova, No.10 seed Irina-Camelia Begu, and clay court specialist Laura Siegemund en route to her first final.

“Yesterday evening and all night I couldn’t sleep. I woke up during the whole night like two or three times. I was so nervous, you cannot imagine. I was feeling like, I want to just go on the court and everything, let’s finish, play. I cannot feeling this anymore. But now it was worth it.”

.@DKasatkina turns defense into attack! #VolvoCarOpen pic.twitter.com/f1CRBWoXoG

— WTA (@WTA) April 9, 2017

The pair exchanged early breaks to start the match; Ostapenko won a long sixth game to level the opening set only to see Kasatkina run away with the contest from there, losing just one more game in the 66-minute match.

“I was ready to be on the court five, six hours. Because it’s a final, I have to be ready for everything, but I’m happy that I finished it in, let’s say, an easy way. So I am very happy and proud of myself.

“When I won the last ball, everything like closed and I just feel like I’m dreaming.” 

Playing clean, consistent tennis, Kasatkina struck just six winners to the Latvian’s 25, but also only seven unforced errors to Ostapenko’s 38, and converted five of seven break point chances over two sets.

“Today, the tactic was to be a little bit more defensive, go back, spin, slice the ball because it’s clay, and she’s playing really aggressive. Usually she beats aggressive players because she likes this type of game, everything. So we decided that I have to go back and make her tired. It was a good tactic, I think.”

“I was playing good all the days this week,” Ostapenko said after the match. “I beat some great players, but today was really not my day, and I just didn’t feel the ball that well. I was missing too much, and because she was defending during the whole match. It was just probably not my day.

“I think I got a bit more consistent on clay, and I think I improved my serve and I’m moving better, but I still have a lot of things to work on. I think it’s pretty good because now I can climb in the ranking.”

First #WTA Title!@DKasatkina races past Ostapenko 6-3, 6-1 to win @VolvoCarOpen! pic.twitter.com/yYmKy299Qp

— WTA (@WTA) April 9, 2017

The Russian will move back into the Top 30 after the win as she aims to return to Roland Garros as a seed for the second straight year, while Ostapenko returns to the Top 50 following her impressive week and wins over former No.1 Caroline Wozniacki and Australian Open semifinalist Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.

Kasatkina joins an illustrious list of former champions, including Stefanie Graf, Martina Navratilova, Martina Hingis, and Venus Williams. None of that had quite sunk in with the 19-year-old so soon after the match.

“I need to prepare for these things. It never happened to me before. So little bit makeup for the pictures!” she said when asked about a post-victory portrait.

“I don’t realize it yet, so I’m just enjoying it every moment, every second. And really, when I was on the court after the last point, I just wanted the moment to stop because it was one of the best moments in my life.”

.@DKasatkina fights back the tears during champion's speech #VolvoCarOpen pic.twitter.com/g5SW68mjMD

— WTA (@WTA) April 9, 2017

Earlier in the day, World No.1 Bethanie Mattek-Sands took her third title of the year, and second with partner Lucie Safarova, overcoming a tough test from BNP Paribas Open finalists Lucie Hradecka and Katerina Siniakova, 6-1, 4-6, 10-7.

All photos courtesy of the Volvo Car Open.

The WTA’s Top 9 stayed the same after a week of action on the green clay of Charleston, where Daria Kasatkina took home her maiden title at the Volvo Car Open, and in Monterrey where Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova powered to a fourth Abierto GNP Seguros title.

The only major change in the Top 10 is the return of Madison Keys, who knocked out Venus Williams and leapfrogged Caroline Wozniacki to rise from No.11 to No.10.

Wozniacki was a win away from returning to the Top 10 for the first time since September 2015, but she was denied the chance by an inspired Jelena Ostapenko in the Charleston quarterfinals.

Here are the biggest ranking movers this week after Charleston and Monterrey:

Jelena Ostapenko +16 (No.66 to No.50): 19-year-old Ostapenko reached the third final of her career – and her first final on clay – at the Volvo Car Open this week. She took down a pair of seeds along the way, knocking out No.5 Caroline Wozniacki and No.11 Mirjana Lucic-Baroni. As a result, she’s earned herself a spot back inside the WTA’s Top 50.

Daria Kasatkina +13 (No.42 to No.29): Not only did 19-year-old Kasatkina reach her first WTA singles final in Charleston, but she also went all the way and took home her maiden WTA after a commanding win over Ostapenko. Her impressive performance sends her rocketing up the rankings, landing inside the Top 30 at No.29.

Shelby Rogers +3 (No.52 to No.49): It was an emotional week for Charleston native Rogers. She entered her home tournament with just one main draw win under her belt and admitted to struggling in front of her home crowd. But all that changed this week, where she put together an inspiring run to the quarterfinals, posting back-to-back wins over top seed Madison Keys and Naomi Osaka along the way. She lands at No.49, just one spot removed from her career-high of No.48.

Carla Suárez Navarro +2 (No.25 to No.23): After spending the last few years inside the WTA’s Top 20, Suárez Navarro’s ranking took a hit when a shoulder injury forced her off the tennis courts at the start of 2017. The Spaniard missed the Australian and Middle Eastern swings, and found herself outside the Top 20 for the first time since 2013. She turned it all around in Monterrey, halting her slide down the rankings with an impressive run to the semifinals.

Click here to check out the updated WTA rankings as of April 10.