Wuhan: Kvitova vs Halep
Petra Kvitova takes on Simona Halep in the semifinals of the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open.
Petra Kvitova takes on Simona Halep in the semifinals of the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open.
WUHAN, China – Petra Kvitova produced a ruthless performance to power past No.4 seed Simona Halep and into a second Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open final.
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In stark contrast to Dominika Cibulkova, the winner of Friday’s first semifinal, Kvitova kept her time on court to a minimum, requiring only 67 minutes to wrap up a 6-1, 6-2 victory and move within touching distance of reclaiming the title she won in 2014.
“It’s amazing. I came to this tournament and really didn’t expect this kind of performance,” Kvitova said. “Physically I’m still so-so – I’m really happy that I’m not falling apart. But I played a really great match today in spite of everything, which really put the pressure on her.”
On her day, there are few on tour capable of living with Kvitova. Unfortunately, this campaign those days have been few and far between. Struggling with form and fitness, it was not until the Olympics that the Czech showed her true colors, losing a thrilling semifinal against Monica Puig.
She would walk away with bronze, and although the color of medal was not what she had wished, the achievement alleviated the pressure weighing heavily on her shoulders. “The Olympics is just one in four years. For me the Olympic Games are very important. I grew up in a family where we were always watching the Olympics, so it’s something special.
“Everything I did from the off-season to Rio, I was just going for the medal. I think that’s helped me a lot with everything. The pressure was better afterwards.”
At the US Open, Kvitova reached the fourth round, falling to eventual champion Angelique Kerber, and the return to Asia has seen her level rise further. Kvitova’s unforced error count is usually an accurate gauge of how she is feeling and against Halep she was particularly stingy. In the end, she finished with only 16, while rattling off 34 winners – many of them spectacular.
Ruthless @Petra_Kvitova powers past #Halep 6-1, 6-2 to reach her 1st 2016 final at Wuhan Open, maintaining late WTA Finals charge pic.twitter.com/SX1otJBDF4
— Xinhua Sports (@XHSports) 30 September 2016
The tone was set early on, Halep finding herself marooned several meters behind the baseline. From here she failed to track down a drop shot to slip 0-30 down in her opening service game. Kvitova bludgeoned another winner to bring up three break points, converting when she outmaneuvered the Romanian once more.
Halep had the chance to restore parity the following game, only to flash a forehand into the tape. The match was quickly slipping away in a blur of southpaw winners, Kvitova winning 18 of the next 19 points to take the set. The second set was almost as one-sided, and only a spirited rearguard effort from Halep in the final few games extended the contest beyond the hour mark.
Remarkably given her form, the win takes Kvitova through to her first final of 2016. And another against Cibulkova will continue her improbable late push for a spot at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
“I never have any expectations. I really love to play these big matches, in front of the crowd. Of course I will do my best tomorrow,” Kvitova added. “I think she’s improved a lot, so it will be a difficult match and I will fight again.”
BEIJING, China – Former No.1 Caroline Wozniacki kept up her impressive fall form with a 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 win over CoCo Vandeweghe, to reach the second round of the China Open.
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“I’ve been healthy,” she said in her post-match press conference. “I’ve been able to train well. I’ve been playing well. It’s a combination of that. It’s the end of the year. I have a few more tournaments left, so I’m going to try to do my best.”
Ranked No.74 in the world heading into the US Open, the Dane has lost just twice since then, reaching the semifinals in Flushing and winning her first title of the season at the Toray Pan Pacific Open. Against Vandeweghe, Wozniacki raced out to a 5-1 lead in the decider before the American began to come back.
“It’s hard. I mean, she serves big. Her first and second serve is pretty big. It’s not like you think, ‘Okay, she missed a first serve, now I have a good chance to attack on the second.’
“She’s just a tough player to play because you get no rhythm. It’s the first match. You want to get into the tournament. A combination of that is tough.”
Serving for the match for a second time, Wozniacki shook off missing out on two match points in the previous game to hold at love, booking a second round meeting with No.13 seed Roberta Vinci.
“I started off pretty well, could return quite a few of her serves, put her under pressure. Then in the second set she started serving a bit better. That got me a little bit too much into the defense. Then she went for some shots and broke me. All of a sudden I had to keep trying to fight back.
“In the third set, again, I managed to return pretty well. I think that made the difference.”
Vinci will represent a complete contrast from Vandeweghe, a challenge Wozniacki looks forward to solving in Beijing.
“It’s another uncomfortable player. She mixes it up. She plays the flat forehand. Mix of pace. I’m ready for it. I’m just going to go out there and enjoy.”
Kicking off the day’s action was No.8 seed Madison Keys, who currently rounds out the Top 8 on the Road to Singapore leaderboard.
“It’s definitely in the back of your mind every match; it’s just another thing to try to deal with,” Keys said after the match. “I’m happy to be in this position because it means I’ve had a good year. It’s a welcome stress!”
Hoping to clinch her WTA Finals debut, the young American can qualify outright by winning the title this week, but had some struggles against local wildcard Duan Ying-Ying, eventually coming through, 6-0, 4-6, 6-1.
“I had a really good first set, and she was probabaly a little bit nervous playing in front of her home crowd; I don’t think she played her best tennis. But in the second set, she played better and my level dropped. In the third, I was just trying to focus on keeping my energy up to get back into the match. Once I got some momentum, I was able to hang onto that.
“It’s definitely tough conditions, really humid out here. It’s not the hottest, but it’s not always easy to breathe out there with the humidity. That’s just where your fitness comes in, and focusing on doing your best.”
Up next for Keys is Kristina Mladenovic, who outlasted Jelena Jankovic, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(4); the pair last played at the Olympic tennis event, which also went to a third set tie-break.
“I’ve played Kiki a couple of times this year; the last time was in Rio and that was quite a thrilling match. She’d be a tough opponent.”
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.
Dominika Cibulkova’s journey back from last year’s Achilles surgery has been far from straightforward. However, over the past six months the Slovak has completed the rehabilitation with a sequence of results that have returned her to the Top 10.
In Katowice this March she returned to the winner’s circle, which she followed up by reaching a maiden Premier Mandatory final, in Madrid, and then further silverware, this time on the Eastbourne grass. Her latest run, to the final of last week’s Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open took Cibulkova’s 2016 win tally now stands at 44 – a number only bettered by World No.1 Angelique Kerber.
Strangely, given her assured play all week, Cibulkova had never previously won a match in Wuhan. But roused by an engaged crowd, the 27-year-old reeled off five in six days to come within touching distance of her first Premier 5 title and break new ground in the rankings.
The brilliance of her final opponent, Petra Kvitova – whose revival took her up to No.11 – ensured there was no silverware at the end of the week, but she was unable to stop Cibulkova from reaching a career-high No.8.
And she is not the only player on the rise:
Svetlana Kuznetsova (+3, No.10 to No.7): Cibulkova’s semifinal victim Kuznetsova continued her resurgence to consolidate her Top 10 status and reach her loftiest perch since June 2010.
Louisa Chirico (+11, No.74 to No.63): Although Chirico was handily beaten by contemporary Daria Kasatkina in the Wuhan second round, by coming through qualifying she begins the week at her highest ranking to date.
Kristyna Pliskova (+34, No.100 to No.66): Last week’s other title winner, Pliskova, did it the hard way coming through an opening test against Sara Sorribes Tormo, then winning a rollercoaster final with Nao Hibino. This ended a wait to join sister Karolina as a WTA title winner and also brought a new career-high ranking.
Angelique Kerber takes on Katerina Siniakova in the first round of the China Open.
Caroline Wozniacki takes on Roberta Vinci in the second round of the China Open.
Victoria Azarenka’s quest for the Indian Wells-Miami double continues as the seeds in the lower half of the draw wrap up the third round on Sunday.
An interview with Madison Keys after her win in the third round of the China Open.
MIAMI, FL, USA – No.2 seed Angelique Kerber looked down and out in the third round of the Miami Open as former No.41 Kiki Bertens flew through the opening set, but the German held steady as the Dutch qualifier became visibly unwell, retiring from the contest just as the reigning Australian Open champion began playing her best tennis, 1-6, 6-2, 3-0, ret.
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Despite breaking to start the encounter, the World No.3 struggled throughout the early stages as Bertens powered through the opening set in emphatic style.
“I think Kiki’s a great player,” Kerber told Nick McCarvel during her on-court interview. “She played very well in the first set and I was not finding my rhythm at the beginning.
“But I was trying to stay in the match, trying to fight and play my game. At the end, of course, it’s always sad when the opponent retires; I hope she gets very well very soon, but I’m happy to be in the next round.”
Bertens took a medical timeout early in the second set, suffering from a GI Illness that has caused several players problems through the first few rounds of the tournament. The 24-year-old nonetheless continued to push Kerber before the German broke away with back-to-back service breaks to level the match.
“For me, it’s not so easy,” Kerber admitted when asked about dealing with the knowledge that her opponent is under the weather. “But I’m trying to focus on my game, doing my stuff and not looking too much over the net.
“I think that helps me to stay in my rhythm and keep my focus.”
Up next for Kerber is another big-hitting youngster in Timea Babos; the Hungarian reached her first round of 16 at a Premier Mandatory with a 7-5, 6-0 win over Japanese wildcard Naomi Osaka.
Babos had enjoyed a solid start to the season but had lost back-to-back opening rounds in Monterrey and Indian Wells; a thrilling three-set victory over BNP Paribas Open semifinalist Karolina Pliskova propelled her to an even stronger level against Osaka, who rallied from 5-2 down in the opening set but was ultimately over-awed by her more experienced opponent, who made her WTA Finals debut in Singapore last fall.
“I had such a tough match against Karo Pliskova and it was good to have a day off yesterday and get ready for today’s match,” Babos said after the match. “I knew it would be a tricky one. She’s a big hitter. It was very difficult, especially in the first set. It was really powerful tennis and she was acing me a lot.
“But I guess at key moments, I was playing better, being more solid but aggressive at the same time. In the second set I found my game even more and I’m really happy to finish this way.”
Briefly the ace leader following a strong Australian summer and Middle East swing, Babos, now second behind Naomi Broady, credits a coaching change to Thomas Drouet – who helped Marion Bartoli to the Wimbledon title in 2013 – with her impressive rise in the rankings.
“Since November, I jumped around 40 spots, so it’s been a consistent improvement and I’m really happy. We’ve been working a lot in the two years since I changed coaches. Already, last year I had better results, but it’s also easier to start from the main draw and not be in qualifying all the time.
“I used to have to do a lot just to play big tournaments, where I’d be in main draw for doubles but qualies for singles. So now it also helps that I can be fresher, but now I have more belief and really enjoy playing.”
Babos has never beaten Kerber in three previous meetings, but their lone hardcourt encounter went to three sets back in 2012 – a mere weeks after Kerber herself had reached the final four at Wimbledon. Winning her first WTA main draw matches since the Australian Open, Kerber told the crowd about reuniting with childhood idol Steffi Graf when she practiced with her and husband Andre Agassi during a mid-match training week in Las Vegas.
It was a similar session 52 weeks ago that the former No.2 believes took her to new heights in 2015, culminating with her major title in Melbourne.
“I went there for a few days and practiced a few days there. It’s always an amazing feeling and an honor to be on court with both champions, to play with them and speak witht them. It’s always a great experience for me and I hope here I will play good and that it’ll help me a little bit for the next few tournaments.”
Point of the match!@AngeliqueKerber running ALL over the court!! #WTA https://t.co/m7fKUYPuar
— WTA (@WTA) March 27, 2016
Madison Keys takes on Svetlana Kuznetsova in the third round of the China Open.