Tennis News

Santina Feeling The Heat: Co-No.1s Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza were largely in cruise control to start the 2016 season; winning four straight titles in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne at the Australian Open, and St. Petersburg, the most dominant team of the last five years rode a 41-match winning streak into the quarterfinals fo the Qatar Total Open, where they found themselves stunned by Elena Vesnina and Daria Kasatkina in a match tie-break.

Since then, the pair hoping to capture a fourth straight Grand Slam tournament – a Santina Slam – at the French Open haven’t won a title since – their longest drought since last spring, when they went five tournaments without a win before capturing their first major title at Wimbledon.

Red clay was always going to be the toughest ask for the top ranked team on the Road to Singapore Standings, as it is the only surface on which the pair has yet to win – but the two came close just two weeks ago in Stuttgart – where they reached the final. In an ironic twist, they found themselves out-gutted by Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic, a team undefeated on clay and riding their own winning streak with back-to-back titles at the Volvo Car Open and Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.

With a bye into the second round of the Mutua Madrid Open, Hingis and Mirza could soon face a rematch of the Australian Open final as No.6 seeds Lucie Hradecka and Andrea Hlavackova, who won last week’s J&T Banka Prague Open title with Margarita Gasparyan.

The “Caroki” Streak?: Speaking of Garcia and Mladenovic, the team who paired up in January ahead of the Olympic Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro has won their last 10 matches – including a decisive Fed Cup rubber over the Netherlands and a first round win in Madrid over Anna-Lena Groenefeld and CoCo Vandeweghe. The young Frenchwomen started the year with two finals in Sydney and Dubai, but have gone from strength to strength since the tour turned to clay – not only taking out Santina in Stuttgart, but also reigning Miami Open and French Open champions Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova in the finals of Charleston.

In a two-part interview with The Tennis Island, the pair proved that they bring as much energy off the court as they do on, embracing the looming pressure of playing in front of their home crowd in Roland Garros and employing tactics they hope translate into their singles games. Up to No.4 on the Road to Singapore Standings and the No.5 seeds in Madrid, Garcia and Mladenovic next play Australian Open semifinalists Xu Yi-Fan and Zheng Saisai, who reached the second round when Laura Siegemund and Daria Kasatkina were forced to retire due to the former’s illness.

Bucie or Bust: The only player representing two teams on the Road to Singapore Standings, Mattek-Sands is playing some of the best doubles of her career, winning the Indian Wells/Miami “Sunshine Double” with two different partners in Vandeweghe (No.11) and regular partner, Lucie Safarova (No.8). With a run to the Charleston final under their belts, the American/Czech duo will make their red clay debut in Madrid as the former couldn’t play Stuttgart; she was a little busy, after all, helping to lead the United States to a stunning upset victory over Australia in Fed Cup.

With all the talk about Hingis and Mirza, it’s easy to forget that the first half of 2015 belonged to Team Bucie, who were half way to the Calendar Year Grand Slam following back-to-back major victories at the Australian Open and French Open. They went on to capture their last title of the season at the Rogers Cup in Toronto before injury and illness derailed Safarova’s season, ultimately falling in the round robin stage of the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.

Semifinalists in Madrid one year ago, Mattek-Sands and Safarova earned the first of their two wins over Santina at the Caja Magica, repeating the feat a few weeks later in Paris en route to the title. The pair have a bye in the second round, but a recently reunited team looms in the quarterfinals…

Together Again: Ekaterina Makarova hadn’t played with Elena Vesnina since last summer, when a leg injury curtailed a season that had started so brightly for the Russian veterans. Leading 5-2 in the deciding set of the Wimbledon final, the 2013 French Open and 2014 US Open champions were not only a game away from denying Hingis and Mirza of their first Grand Slam title, but were also incredibly close to grabbing the third leg of a Career Grand Slam.

It was not to be, and as Hingis and Mirza went on their historic run through the rest of the season, Vesnina began to find success with young compatriot, Daria Kasatkina. With the fast-rising teenager, Vesnina got her revenge on Santina in Doha, ending their streak en route to the semifinals.

But as she told WTA Insider earlier this week, the plan was always to reunite with her partner of the last four years, especially with the Olympics in mind. In fact, Makarova and Vesnina played their first WTA tournament together here in Madrid four years ago, where they reached the final.  

Hometown Glory: Singapore finalists and Top 2 Spaniards Carla Suárez Navarro and Garbiñe Muguruza joined Garcia and Mladenovic in the second round with a 6-4, 7-6(4) win over Gabriela Dabrowski and Anastasia Rodionova, and both admitted to feeling relieved to be back on the doubles court for what is only their second tournament together in 2016.

“It’s true that sometimes when you play doubles, the nerves and the tension, you can share that with your partner and makes you play a little bit more solid and a little bit more freely,” Suárez Navarro said after her three-set win over Timea Babos on Sunday.

“I think yesterday we had a lot of fun on the court. I think the players we had, they were doubles players and they played a good match, an overall complete match. You had to stay focused. And not only that, I think that it’s of course a buildup for today’s match. You know how the court is laid out and you know how the people are going to be.”

Muguruza echoed her partner’s sentiment.

“I think that the doubles is the part that there are two people on the court and we help each other a lot. In the case of Carla and I, we know each other very well. Mutually we support ourselves and take the nerves off ourselves.”

#NationalHighFiveDay with @queen_v21 pic.twitter.com/BM2Zdeob1t

— Alla Kudryavtseva (@AllaK11) April 22, 2016

The Rivalry: In a season with few certainties, one thing has been all but guaranteed in 2016: a match between teams Alla Kudryavtseva and Vania King and Julia Goerges and Karolina Pliskova. The pairs have already met three times since the start of the season, with Pliskova and Goerges winning both of their hardcourt encounters at the Australian Open and Indian Wells – the latter after King and Kudryavtseva’s straight-sets win over Hingis and Mirza.

Faced with what Kudryavtseva has called their “kryptonite” for a third time in Charleston, the pair finally defeated the BNP Paribas Open finalists to reach the semifinals, and will have the chance to even the series this week in Madrid, as they are set to face off in the first round. For their part, King and Kudryavtseva have taken the serendipity in stride and enjoying a partnership that has already taken them up to No.9 on the Road to Singapore Standings.

“We’re texting each other every day, and we’re really cute!” the Russian told WTA Insider. “We’re always supporting each other and following each others’ live scores. It’s been a nice connection.”

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.

MELBOURNE, Australia – When Angelique Kerber steps on court for her opening-round match at the Australian Open next week, she will be the first woman to attempt to successfully defend her maiden Slam since Victoria Azarenka did so here in 2013. Much like Kerber, Azarenka came into the Australian Open that year with the No.1 ranking under threat, but the Belarusian came through an emotionally fraught campaign to raise the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Trophy once again, beating Li Na in a three-set final.

One of the keys to Kerber’s breakout run in Melbourne last year was her ability to keep the distractions at bay and keep her fortnight simple. Along with coach Torben Beltz, Kerber went out of her way to downplay the significance of the tournament as a major. It was just another tournament, Kerber told herself. She eschewed the fancier boutique lodging options in Melbourne and stayed at the tournament hotel.

Instead of escaping the site as soon as she could after her matches or practices to get away from the noise and chaos, she chose to eat her meals on-site. She went with the flow. She didn’t fight it. It worked.

After all, in case you forgot the legend of Angie Kerber, she was a point away from being on a plane back to Germany in the first round last year. After escaping with a win over Misaki Doi, Kerber was playing with house money for her next six matches, completely unencumbered by pressure or fear. It all culminated in a gutsy performance that stunned everyone, as she took down Serena Williams in three sets in one of the most thrilling major finals of the last decade.

A year on and Kerber is now a two-time major champion and World No.1. While the No.1 ranking is theoretically at stake in Melbourne, World No.2 Serena would have to reach the final in order to have a chance at overtaking the German, and the path for Serena to that final is a tough one.

The biggest question facing Kerber as she prepares for her Melbourne campaign is simply her state of mind. The concept of “defending a title” is an illusory one. Kerber’s task is not to defend but to do what she does every week she takes the court: try to win the title. No one gets extra points for defending a title.

Whatever accolades they may receive for “defending” is no more than for simply winning yet another major, an incredible accomplishment that stands on its own. In other words, Kerber’s task for the fortnight is not complicated.

So…does she believe that?

Kerber has started her season on a 1-2 clip, taking losses to Elina Svitolina and Daria Kasatkina, neither of whom are bad losses. She looks as fit as ever, but her game has been a touch loose. She’s been prone to leaking untimely errors and double-faults, the types of errors that are more indicative of rust and nerves in tough moments. If she can get on a roll through the first week of the tournament, those nerves should subside and her physical, grinding game should click into place.

The good news for Kerber is that her draw through the first week almost looks designed to help her find her rhythm. She opens against Lesia Tsurenko, who withdrew from the semifinals at the Hobart International with a viral illness, then either countrywoman Carina Witthoeft or a qualifier, with her first seed potentially being Irina-Camelia Begu in the third round. Those are three opponents Kerber should be able to find some rhythm against and gain some confidence.

For her part, Kerber is not an intrinsically complicated personality. She craves simplicity, to just work, and play, go to sleep, and do it all again. This is a new experience for the 28-year-old and a big test of her ability to focus on the task at hand and not get distracted by the white noise that surrounds any World No.1 who is asked to prove themselves week-in and week-out. It is impossible to hide or fly under the radar.

There is no circus like one that surrounds a World No.1 at a Slam. The question for Kerber is whether or not she can tame it in her first go-round.

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.