Tennis News

On this episode WTA Insider Senior Writer Courtney Nguyen recaps the action in Week 1, which culminated with Victoria Azarenka, Agnieszka Radwanska, and Sloane Stephens emerging from an otherwise fraught week, as champions. You’ll hear from Brisbane International champions Azarenka and Sania Mirza, both of whom look primed for a momentous season.

Azarenka on maturing and changing her perspective: “I think my ego dropped a lot. I dropped it. I didn’t want to be the type of player that is so full of themselves. I want to be understanding. I want to be available. Because tennis is more than just about results to me. It’s the process.”

Mirza on the prospect of completing the non-Calendar Grand Slam: “Sure, we’re halfway there. But halfway there and halfway to go is a long way off. It’s a Grand Slam for a reason. There’s a reason to win one in your lifetime and we were lucky enough to win two in a row.”

Listen below:

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SYDNEY, Australia – Simona Halep made a winning start to the 2016 season on Tuesday night, grinding past giant-killer Caroline Garcia in her opening match at the Apia International Sydney.

Watch highlights, interviews and more video from Sydney right here on wtatennis.com!

Things didn’t go completely smoothly for Halep – after taking the first set, she watched on as Garcia came alive, ripping more than three times as many winners (10 to 3) to run away with the second set.

But the World No.2 regrouped in a big way, kicking her aggression up a notch – and pulling off some awe-inspiring winners off the ground – to close the unseeded Frenchwoman out, 6-4, 2-6, 6-1.

“It was a tough match. I actually expected a tough match because I know her pretty well. She’s strong and she hits the ball strong. She has a good serve,” Halep said. “I think I did well today though. Especially in the third set I think I was strong and solid – I played my best tennis in the third set.

“In the second set I did a step behind the baseline. Maybe that’s why she dominated me. But then I went closer to the baseline and hit the ball earlier, opened the court and made the points shorter.”

Halep was set to make her 2016 debut at the Brisbane International last week but had to pull out right before her first match there due to a left leg injury. Before playing her Sydney opener, she discussed the injury – and declared she was ready to get her 2016 season going in Sydney this week.

Next up for the No.1-seeded Halep will be No.5-seeded Karolina Pliskova, who played a near-flawless second set to run away with it against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova earlier in the day, 6-3, 6-0.

Halep has beaten Pliskova in both of their previous meetings, though both were tight two-setters.

There were mixed fortunes for the other two seeds in action on Tuesday, with No.4 seed Angelique Kerber having to withdraw from the tournament due to illness prior to her match against Ekaterina Makarova, but No.8 seed Belinda Bencic outdoing Bulgarian wildcard Tsvetana Pironkova, 6-3, 6-3.

Round out the winners were Sara Errani, who saved seven set points in the second set to edge Jelena Jankovic, 7-6(3), 7-6(8), Svetlana Kuznetsova, who outlasted Sabine Lisicki, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, Samantha Stosur, who gave her Aussie home crowd something to cheer about with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Daniela Hantuchova, and Puerto Rican qualifier Monica Puig, who beat Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, 6-1, 6-0.

All four quarterfinals of the Premier-level tournament will take the courts on Wednesday.

Sorry that I had to withdraw from @SydneyTennis it is always great to play in this city#sydney now recovery and getting ready for melbourne?

— Angelique Kerber (@AngeliqueKerber) January 12, 2016

Simona Halep was ranked as low as No.7 after lingering Achilles and nasal issues hijacked the first three months of the season, but the Romanian is back to her best ranking in nearly six months, up to No.3 on both the WTA rankings and the Road to Singapore leaderboard thanks to her Rogers Cup victory.

“Here I won matches with top players,” Halep said after winning her 10th straight match, having come to the Rogers Cup with a title in Bucharest. “That makes me more happy and relaxed that I have a good level of tennis in this moment.”

One off from a career-high ranking of No.2 Halep aims for a strong second half of the season, one that will help her qualify for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global for a third straight season.

“It’s a goal to go to Singapore every year,” she told WTA Insider in the latest Champions Corner. “I have great memories from [reaching the final] in 2014. I like the court there, and the atmosphere. I just have to do my job until Singapore.”

Madison Keys also made a big leap thanks to her runner-up finish in Montréal, returning to the Top 10 at No.9 and moving back into the Top 8 on the Road to Singapore leaderboard.

Who else made gains after a thrilling week up north?

Svetlana Kuznetsova (+1, No.11 to No.10): The Russian veteran moved back into the Top 10 after reaching the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup, pushing Halep to three sets.

Johanna Konta (+1, No.14 to No.13): Konta fell one match shy of making her Top 10 debut, but still had a solid week in Montréal before falling to Cinderella story Kristina Kucova.

Kristina Kucova (+44, No.121 to No.77): Speaking of Kucova, the former junior US Open champion made her long-awaited Top 100 debut, knocking out Carla Suárez Navarro, Eugenie Bouchard, and Konta before the qualifier ran out of gas against Keys in the semifinals. Kucova became the first qualifier to make it that far at the Rogers Cup since surprise semifinalist Zi Yan in 2007.

Daria Kasatkina (+6, No.33 to No.27): The teenaged phenom continued her meteoric rise in Montréal, reaching the last eight and hitting a new career-high ranking.

Check out the latest Top 8 line-up on the Road to Singapore leaderboard:

MONTRÉAL, Canada – It wasn’t a “Perfect 10”. But it was close!

Simona Halep won her 10th consecutive match and her second straight title on Sunday, beating Madison Keys, 7-6(2), 6-3, to win the Rogers Cup. It capped off a strong week for the Romanian, who became the first woman since Martina Hingis in 2000 to make the final of both the singles and doubles at the Rogers Cup  – Halep and her partner Monica Niculescu lost to Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina.

The title run in Montréal  moves Halep up to No.3 in both the rankings and the Road to Singapore, where she has qualified the last two years. But perhaps the most impressive takeaway from Halep’s week was her ability to run through gauntlet of top players, losing just two sets all week. She beat No.2 Angelique Kerber, No.9 Madison Keys, No.10 Svetlana Kuznetsova, No.17 Karolina Pliskova and Daria Gavrilova. That’s not an easy path to any title.

Equally impressive was Halep’s ability to turn matches around. Though she lost just two sets, she went through stretches where she looked on the verge of coming undone mentally. Against Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals she came out nervous and fell behind 0-4 quickly. She went on to win the next two sets 6-1, 6-1. Against Kerber she lost six consecutive games after building a commanding lead. She would win the last six games to close the match.

The key for the turnarounds? A broader perspective. That’s something her coach Darren Cahill preached throughout the week during their increasingly rare coaching timeouts.

“Actually when he says I have to look at the big picture, it makes me more relaxed and I can easily do my job on court…. The on-court coaching [timeouts] were a little bit tough. I had many emotions. I was nervous when I spoke. I was too negative I think these two days. But he said he understands because I’m tired. So all good.

“But, yeah, it helps me when he’s more relaxed than me and he just shows me that I have a good game and it’s good if I practice everything for the future, not just for the tournament. So it’s good.”

Fighting through the fatigue was a big win for Halep. Injury and illness derailed the start of her season and the first six months of the season were about rebuilding her strength, fitness, and endurance to where they should have been in January. Playing both singles and doubles exhausted in Montréal, but she battled through it.

“In the morning, I moved the practice,” Halep said after the final. “I had at 11:00 and I moved it at 12:00 because I couldn’t move. I said it’s good to practice just before the match, to be warm, to go on court and see how I can be.

“But I think doubles help me to exercise my return and also the serve. So I take it everything like positive things and just enjoying. Today was just in my mind that is the last match of the tournament and I have to leave everything on court.”

WTA Insider sat down with Halep after the final to recap her winning week in Montréal.

WTA Insider: What does this week mean to you?
Halep: It means a lot because it’s a big tournament, and it’s my second final in a row here. The first one, I couldn’t finish it; I was very sick and I had to stop. But here, I also had nice support from the crowd, and that makes it more special. It’s one of my biggest tournaments that I’ve won, so it’s nice. I want just to enjoy the moment, even if I’m tired! I want to enjoy it.

WTA Insider: You played singles and doubles this week. How different did that make your entire tournament?
Halep: It was very different because I’m not used to playing doubles. I got a little bit tired in the end. But it also helped me to play some doubles matches because I practiced the return, the serve. That helped me a lot in singles; I had tough opponents there. It’s been a great week in both singles and doubles. I am dead, but I have a few days break, and I will be fresh again for Cincinnati.

WTA Insider: What’s it like playing doubles with Monica?
Halep: It’s not easy because she’s very motivated for every ball, and I’d get tired a little bit. But it’s nice because we had a lot of fun and she knows doubles; she’s into it all the time, every second. It’s been good, and hopefully we will play together at one tournament or another.

WTA Insider: Talking about your game, what is the thing you’re most pleased with this week?
Halep: The serve, first of all. Then, I hit the balls pretty strong and pretty good. I had good angles, and I moved really well. I ran, like a marathon.

WTA Insider: Do you think that’s the best you’ve moved all year?
Halep: Yes, because I have the best feeling from my body now. Strong legs, and I don’t get tired during the matches, so that’s a big plus. I think everything went very well for me this week, and I improved a lot in every single part of my game.

WTA Insider: You played a lot of different types of players – a big hitter like Madison, athletes like Kerber and Kuznetsova – which match made you most proud to win?
Halep: I think the most difficult match was today with Madison, because you don’t get a rhythm. You’ll get some winners where you can’t even see the ball, let alone touch it. It was an unpredictable match, where I didn’t know what to expect point by point. So that makes more stress for me when I’m not sure what I have to do next point. I’m a person that likes to have it in my mind what I have to do. The match with Kerber was also tough, because I had to run, but every match was difficult in one way or another. But I had good wins, and tough opponents, so it makes it more special and tougher.

WTA Insider: Why do you get mad at yourself when you might be leading in the score, and it doesn’t seem like a moment when you should be negative?
Halep: My physio Dragos is new and he doesn’t know tennis very well. He asked Darren during the match where I had a set and 5-0, ‘Why is Simona angry at this moment?’ I don’t know how to answer, because it happens. It’s coming from inside where I get frustrated because I’ve missed a ball. I always want perfection. I know that doesn’t exist, but I’m looking for it a lot anyway. I don’t know if I’ll ever find out why I do this, but if I do, I will change it because I really want to change this and be more patient and positive with myself.

WTA Insider: Has your opinion or thought process when it comes to the US Open Series changed over time?
Halep: I think I play better tennis on hardcourts here at the US Open Series because the courts are faster and I started to play well on this surface. I feel more confident because I had a great result last year at all the tournaments, so I’m looking forward to the next tournament because I feel confident that I can win some more matches. I just have to be careful with my body, to take a rest and recover, and then to work again.

WTA Insider: With the Olympics this year there is now a two week break. Is it weird to have a two-week break before the next event? Your schedules are usually so regimented.
Halep: Every year is usually the same, so it’s a bit weird, but it’s good to have an extra week, to be honest. I have time to recover, and take a break. I didn’t have one after Wimbledon because I played at home, so that was a bit tough. Something changed, so we just have to adjust, and take it like it is and think positive things and be relaxed.

WTA Insider: Having had a slow start because of the injuries you had, you’ve been on the outside or on the bubble of the RTS. How much is qualifying for the WTA Finals a goal for you?
Halep: It’s goal to go to Singapore every year. I knew at the beginning of the year, or even the first half of the year, that it was going to be tough to qualify again. But now I think I’m close. It’s going to be a new experience there. Hopefully I can do better than last year. I have great memories from 2014. I like the court there, and the atmosphere. I just have to do my job until Singapore and then go there, because it’s one of the goals every player has.

WTA Insider: This week in Montréal, have you had any special routines throughout the week?
Halep: I had the same breakfast every morning for the 10 days at the hotel. Scrambled eggs and a chocolate croissant. At lunch, plain pasta with chicken – very boring. In the evening, I’d have a fish I don’t normally eat, but this week I had it every day. Cheesecake for dessert every night, and that worked pretty well.

WTA Insider: I guess playing doubles means you could afford a few extra calories.
Halep: I have dessert every day, never miss a day. It makes me feel better.

WTA Insider: Good to know that you can eat cheesecake and chocolate croissants and still win a Premier tournament.
Halep: That’s good!

WTA Insider: Looking forward, do you know what you plans are between now and Cincinnati?
Halep: I will stay in the US to practice. I just have to enjoy myself a little bit; I’m tired and need more energy to go ahead to the next tournament. I’m not going home because it’s too far and I don’t want to chance having jetlag. It’ll be a long trip for me, but it’s going to be nice because I’m enjoying my time more now in the US.

WTA Insider: You said in your press conference that you’ll probably have three or four days off, depending on how good of a negotiator you are.
Halep: I am pretty good! I got four already! Today, Darren said I could even take five, but four is ok (laughs).

WTA Insider: So if Simona Halep has four days off…
Halep: Sleeping the first two days, and then to the spa for beauty salon and nails, everything. I like to spend hours there. Then I will go visit something in the city where I’ll be and then shopping, because I promised myself that the doubles prize money will go towards shopping. I have enough, and it’ll take me more days now (laughs).

Hear more from Halep in the latest episode of the WTA Insider Podcast: