Tennis News

BIRMINGHAM, England – Madison Keys got her grass court season up and running with a rollercoaster win over Timea Babos at the Aegon Classic Birmingham.

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After threatening to run away with the contest early on, Keys was left hanging on in the end, eventually closing out a 7-6(3), 6-4 victory in an hour and 26 minutes.

Keys is an accomplished grass court player – she reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals 12 months ago and lifted the Eastbourne title in 2015 – but admitted afterwards that she is still finding her feet. “I think for the most part, I played pretty well. I think I started off really well, and then there’s definitely some bad moments in there,” Keys said.

“First match on grass is always really tough. She’s a really good player on grass, especially serving-wise. So it’s always tough to get a read returning. So overall, I was happy I was able to win, but definitely have some things to work.”

At first, though, Keys could do no wrong, coming out following a lengthy rain delay to win 12 of the first 14 points, cruising into a 5-2 lead. Babos hung doggedly onto the American’s coattails and got her reward in the ninth game, capitalizing on some loose play to break back.

Leading 3-1 in the subsequent tie-break, it was Babos’ turn to suffer a lapse of concentration, looping an inviting mid-court ball into the net. She would not win another point, sending another forehand into the net to surrender the set.

The second set followed a similar pattern, Keys starting and finishing the stronger to book her place in the second round before the rain returned.

“I think grass is one of those surfaces where when you’re playing well, you can play really well and it goes quick. But when you’re playing badly, it amplifies everything,” she added. “I think it’s important when you’re playing well to stay focused and not get ahead of yourself, and when you’re playing badly, slow things down and take a second and try to reassess.”

Also dodging the downpours to record a win was former Wimbledon junior champion Jelena Ostapenko, who saw off Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 7-6(2), 6-1. While in the final round of qualifying, there were wins for Tsvetana Pironkova, Tamira Paszek, Christina McHale and Katerina Siniakova.

BIRMINGHAM, England – Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova began her grass court campaign in style by brushing aside Lucie Safarova in the first round of the Aegon Classic Birmingham.

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With another gloomy forecast predicted, Kvitova will have been pleased to get on and off court in such a timely manner, wrapping up a 6-3, 6-2 win in just over an hour.

“I think the schedule was perfect today for me. Definitely. I think we played good match today. We finished before the rain obviously. But I think that it really doesn’t matter. I’m just happy I won,” Kvitova said.

Historically, Safarova’s name has been a welcome sight on the draw sheet for Kvitova, the latter winning all eight of their encounters. Among the more recent of these came en route to the second of Kvitova’s titles at the All England Club, in 2014, and she produced a similar level of tennis in Birmingham.

Having lost early at Roland Garros, the Czech has had plenty of time to acclimatize her game to the unique challenges presented by the brief grass court season.

“I practiced three or four times on the grass here. And I practiced twice indoors before today’s match,” she said. “I think with the timing everything was fine. It’s pretty fast and bouncing very low. So I was glad that we played some kind of short rallies today as well. But most of the time, it’s about the one-two shots in the rallies.”

#AegonClassic Shot of the Day time as @Petra_Kvitova blasts a huge forehand winner! #powerhttps://t.co/IuPJIC3KEp

— British Tennis (@BritishTennis) June 14, 2016

She got the ball rolling with one such exchange, a rasping forehand down the line bringing her a break in the second game. An ace down the T saved Safarova from falling a further break behind, but with Kvitova’s own serve on song she never looked in danger of rescuing the set.

The second was even more one-sided, Kvitova posting five games without reply as she cantered towards victory and a second-round meeting with Jelena Ostapenko.   

Also beating the rain was qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova, who defeated Lesia Tsurenko, 6-4, 6-2. 

MALLORCA, Spain – When the 19-year-old Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo takes the court against the No.3 seed Ana Ivanovic for a spot in the Mallorca Open quartefinals, she’ll be facing off against a very familiar opponent.

The two have never played before, at least not in real life, but when it comes to playing as Ivanovic in video games, Sorribes Tormo is an expert.

“It’s such a dream to play Ivanovic,” Sorribes Tormo said. “Back when she won Roland Garros, playing Wii was a big thing, I had the tennis game and I always picked her as my player. In fact, yesterday I was talking to my brother and he reminded me of it.

“Obviously we don’t play video games anymore because we’ve grown up, but she’s a player that I really like.”

Ivanovic and Sorribes Tormo are set to take the stage in Mallorca tomorrow at 7:00 pm local time, and it’ll be the first time the Spaniard plays on the tournament’s sunken center court. She comes into the matchup fresh off a grass court title at the ITF 50K in Essen.

“It’s a huge motivation to play on the center court,” she assured. “I’m in a moment where I’ve been playing very well, with confidence.

“I know that it is a match where I have to try to do my best and focus only on me. I have to forget who is at the other side of the net and do my job.”

Sorribes Tormo made her way to the second round after coming back from 0-3 down against fellow Spaniard Paula Badosa Gibert, 6-3, 7-5, while Ivanovic pushed past Pauline Parmentier 6-4, 6-4.

Modo Winner…?ON! @AnaIvanovic ya está en los cuartos en dobles. Mañana turno para el cuadro individual. pic.twitter.com/40t5JLcS75

— MallorcaOpen (@MallorcaOpen) June 15, 2016

– Via Mallorca Open

MALLORCA, Spain – Jelena Jankovic survived more than one scare at the Mallorca Open, where she found herself battling back from a love set down to advance 0-6, 6-4, 6-3 against Elise Mertens for a spot in the quarterfinals.

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“It was a very, very tough match,” Jankovic said afterwards. “I played against a young opponent who came through qualies and has done quite well recently. She’s played a lot of matches on grass and so she’s quite confident.”

Playing against the Belgian qualifier for the first time, Jankovic couldn’t find a way to make Mertens uncomfortable as her opponent ripped winner after winner and put the No.2 seed down 0-6 in 28 minutes.

“I was playing everything that she likes, because also I don’t know her game very well,” Jankovic said. “I didn’t know the way she plays or her style. I’ve just seen a little bit of her match yesterday, and she played very differently against me which was a surprise for me.”

The former No.1 found her rhythm in the second and third set. Although Mertens broke to start the second set, Jankovic quickly replied in kind and did a bit of problem-solving to expose the weaknesses in the 20-year-old’s game. From then on, it seemed almost inevitable as Jankovic grabbed the next two sets to complete her comeback.

Despite her dominating performance in the last half of the match, Jankovic herself never seemed comfortable on the grass throughout the match. Despite winning a title in Birmingham in 2007, grass has never been the Serb’s favored surface, evidence by her many slips and tumbles today.

“It’s not easy, on this surface,” Jankovic said. “I can play well on grass, but I just think it’s more mental for me than anything else. Maybe I just put it into my head that I don’t like the surface. Because I fell a few times, I became scared to move freely.

“I was scared to move and was a little bit tentative. On other surfaces I move without thinking and hit my shots, but here, once I fell down I became so scared. But that happens to everyone, and I just have to fight and keep playing.”

Jankovic will need to find her nerve on this surface again in her quarterfinal with Sorana Cirstea, who moved past Daniela Hantuchova 6-3, 6-4.

“I think on grass, the most important thing is mentality, because everything goes so quick,” Cirstea said. “If your mind is off for a few seconds, straightaway they can break you. One break can mean one set.

“Here it’s so important to stay focused every single point, it takes more energy. Even if the matches are shorter, it’s a lot on the mental side.”

Also moving on are Mariana Duque-Mariño, who dealt a huge upset to grass-court stalwart Sabine Lisicki, toppling her 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. No.8 seed Eugenie Bouchard also tumbled out, falling to Anastasija Sevastova 6-3, 6-3.