Tennis News

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia/KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan – The St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy and the Taiwan Open are new additions to the WTA Calendar, the former headlined by top seed Belinda Bencic and former No.1s Ana Ivanovic and Caroline Wozniacki, while Venus Williams leads the field in the latter.

Bencic is coming off of her first career fourth round appearance at the Australian Open, and with few points to defend until the grass court season, the young Swiss Miss will be aiming to make the Top 10 debut that narrowly eluded her at the end of 2015.

Granted a first round bye, Bencic will face stiff opposition from the get-go, as she plays the winner of the first round encounter between Annika Beck – who also reached the fourth round in Melbourne, falling to eventual champion Angelique Kerber, or Lucie Hradecka. The high seed in her quarter is hometown favorite and No.5 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who has played well in Russia, having reach the final of the last two Kremlin Cup tournaments – winning in 2014.

A potential semifinal opponent for Bencic is No.3 seed Caroline Wozniacki, who took a late wildcard in the hopes of kick-starting her 2016 after a surprising first round loss in Australia. Things might not get much easier for the Dane, however, as she could face former Top 10 player Dominika Cibulkova in the second round. No.7 seed Kristina Mladenovic, currently playing Fed Cup in Marseille, is her projected quarterfinal opponent, should she get past either 2013 Wimbledon semifinalist Kirsten Flipkens or rising Russian Daria Kasatkina – who made a second straight Grand Slam third round in Melbourne.

No.2 seed Roberta Vinci and No.4 seed Ana Ivanovic flank the bottom half of the draw – Ivanovic could play another one of the young Russians, Margarita Gasparyan, in the second round – Gasparyan fell to World No.1 in the fourth round of the Australian Open – and is slated to face No.8 seed and Hobart International champion Alizé Cornet in the quarters. Vinci opens against either Jelena Ostapenko or Yanina Wickmayer, and could play No.6 seed Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in the last eight; Schmiedlova had an impressive summer swing in which she made her first career Premier quarterfinal at the Western & Southern Open as a qualifer.

Over in Taiwan, the elder of the Williams sisters has no first round bye in this 32-player draw, and opens against local wildcard Lee Pei-Chi. In an interesting quarters that features names to watch like Donna Vekic and Anastasija Sevastova – a former No.36 who made her return to tennis following a brief retirement at the start of 2015 – Williams could face fellow American and No.8 seed Alison Riske in the quarterfinals. No.3 seed Yulia Putintseva is also coming off a solid run at the Australian Open – beating Wozniacki en route to the third round – and is Williams’ projected semifinal opponent. The two played a rousing first round at Wimbledon last year, with the five-time champion coming out on top, 7-6(5), 6-4.

On the bottom half of the draw is the talented Japanesewoman, Misaki Doi, who held a match point against Kerber to start the Australian Open. Doi will open against Kristyna Pliskova, who hit a record number of aces in Melbourne, and could play No.7 seed and countrywoman Kurumi Nara in the quarterfinals. 

ACAPULCO, Mexico – 27-year-old Lesia Tsurenko captured her third WTA title at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel after a commanding victory over Kristina Mladenovic, 6-1, 7-5.

“I’m really happy to start the season like this: I had the semifinal in Hobart International and now this title here in Acapulco,” Tsurenko said after the match.

“It’s three of three now, it’s a 100% result for me and this makes me very happy,” she added, referencing her perfect success rate in WTA finals. “I’m very happy with this result, and to win the title here it’s just amazing.”

The No.2 seeded Mladenovic, who was seeking her second title in five weeks, found herself outhit from the start on Saturday night. The Ukrainian’s strong play from the baseline didn’t allow Mladenovic to find her rhythm; she was broken twice by Tsurenko and found herself down 4-0 after just 15 minutes, and was only able to hit 3 winners in the opening set.

.@LTsurenko thanks the @AbiertoTelcel fans for the great support ? #AMT2017 pic.twitter.com/h6lpwtuf4u

— WTA (@WTA) March 5, 2017

But it was far from smooth sailing after that, with eight consecutive breaks of serve starting out the second set.

It was Mladenovic who gritted out the crucial hold first and established a late foothold at 4-5, but Tsurenko stayed mentally strong to earn her own first hold of the set straight after. She broke once more and took the match with a strong service game for her first Acapulco title.

“It was a very difficult match, I felt very comfortable in the first set but in the second I felt quite nervous,” Tsurenko explained, decked out in the traditional Acapulco winner’s blue sombrero.

“She played better, and I think I was realizing that I could get the title and that was making me nervous. She really pushed me to play my best tennis because she was attacking a lot. I was just focusing on myself and doing everything that I can. I’m really happy to win.”

Love the Sombrero!

Congrats @LTsurenko, lift that @AbiertoTelcel trophy ? pic.twitter.com/JEGRbw7xAW

— WTA (@WTA) March 5, 2017

“I just want to congratulate Lesia,” Mladenovic said, delighting the Acapulco crowd by giving her runner-up speech in Spanish. “You’ve played great today and all week, and especially with these tough conditions. Congrats on the title and on the rest of the season.

“Acapulco is a very special place for me because three years ago was the first time I played the tournament, and I won the title in doubles.

“This year is just the second time I’ve played here and I’ve reached the singles final!”