Tennis News

PARIS, France – Look at the current WTA Top 30. Scan the list. Then pick the player with whom you’re the least familiar. Chances are, it’s No.28 Irina-Camelia Begu.

That could change over the course of this Paris fortnight. Begu is floating in Garbiñe Muguruza’s quarter of the draw and plays CoCo Vandeweghe in the second round at Roland Garros on Wednesday. Two of her four wins over Top 10 players have come in this month alone; if that form holds, she’ll be into the second week in Paris for the first time in her career.

The 25-year-old Romanian may not have the results of Simona Halep, the prodigious history of Sorana Cirstea, or the unique game-style of Monica Niculescu that makes you sit up and take notice. But heading into Roland Garros this year, no player on tour has posted more consistent results than Begu. After marking the fourth round of the Miami Open, she followed it up with a quarterfinal run at the Volvo Car Open, quarterfinals of the Mutua Madrid Open, and capped it all off with her career-best result, the semifinals of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, where she lost to eventual champion Serena Williams.

Having reached a career-high ranking at No.25 last year, Begu looks well on her way towards besting that number in what is shaping up to be a career year. It’s quite a turnaround considering her 2016 took a major blow right when it started. Begu injured ligaments in her knee in her first tournament of the season at the Shenzhen Open, where she was forced to retire in the second round.

“I was upset,” Begu told WTA Insider. “I was working really hard in the off-season and the first tournament I got injured. It was a really difficult moment for me.

“I didn’t practice for four weeks and I started slowly. It’s tough because in four weeks you lose your muscles and the first few days I couldn’t walk. It was tough but when you go back on court you try and enjoy every moment, because you never know when something like this is coming.”

Begu returned to the tour in March at the BNP Paribas Open; in her third tournament back she made the Round of 16 in Miami.

“In Indian Wells and San Antonio I didn’t play my best,” Begu said. “I was just trying to get confident back on court. But in Miami I was fighting for every ball. It doesn’t matter if I was feeling bad or if I had some problems. I was trying to fight for every ball. When you’re working hard everything is coming back.”

Once the tour moved to clay, her favorite surface, Begu flourished. After a bit of a sputter in Rabat, taking a 6-3, 6-4 loss to No.139 Richel Hogenkamp, Begu quickly got on track.

“After Rabat, I played so bad in that match and I was so disappointed with my attitude I had with my game,” Begu said. “One day I was only thinking about the match and what I did wrong and I was so disappointed with me. My coach was helping me a lot that day because I was so down. He was trying to help me to get through the moment and I went to Madrid and I was practicing so hard. He said to me if I work hard again and just be confident, the results will come again.”

Sure enough, the results did. She’s since scored wins over No.4 Garbiñe Muguruza and No.5 Victoria Azarenka. She admits her quick success after injury has been a surprise.

“Even if you feel good on the surface there’s so many tough players and every round is difficult,” she said. “It’s not like I feel so good on clay and I can beat everyone. No, I have to work for every match. I feel confident, but still I have to work for every match.”

Quick Hits with Irina-Camelia Begu…

WTA Insider: How did you first start playing tennis?
Begu: I was three-and-a-half years old and my aunt was a tennis coach and tennis player, Aurelia Gheorghe (playing for Germany, Gheorghe reached a career-high No.326 in 1989). I went with her to the practice and I was just [picking up] the balls. Then I started to pick up the racquet. It was funny in the beginning. The racquet was bigger than me.

When I was seven years old, when I started the real practice in Romania, my family and my aunt told me you only play if you want. You don’t need to play for us. I was so motivated. I really enjoy playing tennis. I still do. It’s a job and sometimes you want to sleep more, but still I enjoy it so much.

WTA Insider: When did you realize you might be able to make a living as a tennis player?
Begu: Maybe when I was 14. I was winning tournaments when I was 10 years old, but you never know what is happening. Tennis is an expensive sport and you have to play more tournaments, and it’s expensive.

When I was 14 I played the European Championships in Armenia and I made the semifinals and final, and then I start to think a bit that I can be a good tennis player. After, they picked eight girls and eight boys and the ITF made a one-month tour with these players. It was really nice for me. It was a really nice experience.

WTA Insider: Do you remember any of the other players who were on that ITF tour with you?
Begu: Grigor Dimitrov and Ricardas Berankis, I remember.

WTA Insider: What’s your favorite tournament?
Begu: I cannot say only one tournament. So I think Indian Wells, Rome, and Acapulco.

WTA Insider: What’s your favorite shot?
Begu: Backhand down the line.

WTA Insider: Favorite surface?
Begu: Clay.

WTA Insider: Where is your favorite place for a holiday?
Begu: I love the Maldives. It’s amazing. For me there’s nothing better than the Maldives.

WTA Insider: Do you prefer TV or movies?
I watch TV only when it’s tennis. I have a lot of movies on my laptop.

WTA Insider: Who do you like to watch when you’re watching tennis on TV?
Begu: I love Federer and I admire a lot Rafa. These are the two players I really enjoy when they are playing.

WTA Insider: What do you do to take your mind off tennis?
Begu: When I’m at home I really enjoy being in my kitchen and being in my house. I love being there. I go to the theater, I go to watch some movies at the cinema, go with some friends outside. I’m not so long at home, but when I am at home I like to do these things.

WTA Insider: Which of the four Slams would you like to win the most?
Begu: Australian Open.

WTA Insider: Really? Not Roland Garros?
Begu: It’s strange, no? I like clay court, but Australian Open is my favorite Grand Slam. The conditions and the organization is so good there. They make us feel so good there. Maybe it’s also because it’s the first tournament of the year. It’s nice.

WTA Insider: What’s your first memory of playing Roland Garros?
Begu: I was playing in qualies when I was 18 or 19 and I lost in the last round 6-4 in the third. It was tough. I was a bit disappointed but at the same time I was happy I could reach the third round of qualies.

WTA Insider: What’s the best win of your career so far?
Begu: This year, beating Azarenka in Rome.

Photos courtesy of Getty Images.

Elina Svitolina came to the Dubai Duty Free Tennnis Championships on a winning streak from winning her fifth title at the Taiwan Open, and on the cusp of a Top 10 debut.

The young Ukrainian made her first leap into the big time in the desert, scoring back-to-back wins over Angelique Kerber and Caroline Wozniacki to win the biggest title of her career.

“I always try to take one step at a time. It’s very important for me to not rush things, and to stay very positive with myself,” she told WTA Insider in her Champions Corner Interview. “I did a lot of work with all the coaches I’ve had and my new team, so it’s always nice to have different opinions on my game. With Justine as well, it was an amazing year.

“I’m very happy with the way I’m playing now. Of course, there’s so many things that I need to work on, and I’m looking forward to new challenges.”

Svitolina had shown flashes of brilliance in the past, reaching the final of the Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai and earning a pair of wins over World No.1s in 2016 – knocking out Kerber in Beijing and Serena Williams at the Olympic tennis event – but the 22-year-old is really on a roll now, winning 13 straight matches, breaking into the Top 10, and rocketing up to No.2 on the Road to Singapore leaderboard.

“Of course there’s been ups and downs with me, with my game and with my career. There will be more in the future. The only thing I can do is accept this and work hard and go on court, the gym, work even harder and always have this goal in my mind. That’s what drives me. I think I’m very lucky that it’s been going very consistently.”

All that success certainly helped her earn her the mantle of February’s WTA Player of the Month!

Final Results for February’s WTA Player Of The Month

1. Elina Svitolina (63%)
2. Kristina Mladenovic (27%)
3. Karolina Pliskova (10%)

2017 WTA Player of the Month Winners

January: Serena Williams

How it works:

Finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com 

INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – Kristyna Pliskova is ready to make her mark. As her twin sister No.3 Karolina Pliskova enjoyed a breakout season in 2016, Kristyna quietly carved her own path, grinding away on the ITF Circuit to break into the Top 100, capping off her season with her first title at the Tashkent Open.

Kristyna has continued to build on the momentum gained during her 2016 finish, having notched quality wins over the first three months of the season. She took Johanna Konta to three sets at the Shenzhen Open in January, beat Roberta Vinci in at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, and steamrolled Daria Kasatkina in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open, winning 6-0, 6-3.

Asked whether she was surprised by how easily she dispatched the No.33 seed, Kristyna spoke with the same candor and self-awareness as her sister.

“Not really because I know how I can play and this wasn’t even my best,” she said. “So I’m not that surprised. Of course, I’m happy because it was easy, by the score at least.”

“When I play fast (with power) it’s very difficult [for my opponents] to put everything in. Especially with [my] serve.”

Happy birthday to us??Love you❤️ pic.twitter.com/1ROwToOfRg

— Kristyna Pliskova (@KrisPliskova) March 21, 2016

Kristyna’s power game in built around that lefty serve. She holds the record for most aces fired in a match, hitting 31 against Monica Puig at the 2016 Australian Open. It’s an obvious difference from Karolina’s right-handed game, but it’s also the most significant, one that compels both sisters to insist that their games are different.

There’s just something about Czech lefties. Growing up together, Kristyna was the more highly-touted of the twins, and she made good on the hype when she won the 2010 Wimbledon junior title; Karolina won the Australian Open junior title that same year. En route, Kristyna beat the likes of Sloane Stephens and Yulia Putintseva, and later became the first of the sisters to crack the Top 100 on the WTA rankings. 

But the pro game brought different challenges, and it took Kristyna longer to find a level of consistency to build her ranking.

She finally got traction after the US Open. “I changed coaches because I spent a couple of months alone and it wasn’t working,” Kristyna told WTA Insider earlier this season. “I had no one to travel with. I went once with my father, once with my fitness coach, and it was a mess.

“During the US Open I found one coach, Martin Fassate. He was with Klara Koukalova and Petra Cetkovska, but Petra is injured. He has a lot of experience. He is really, really, really positive. That’s good for me. So we agreed to try in China. We won two tournaments out of three. Not bad.”

“I think I’m improving [my] standard level,” she told reporters in Indian Wells. “So I’m not going one tournament good and then three tournaments, first round, which is perfect for me. I’m happy, but I need more matches with the Top 10 players so I can get used to them a bit too. I think out of the Top 20 and Top 30, I think I’m fine. Not every time, but I feel confident with them. But I think Top 10 is different so we will see on Sunday.”

On Sunday she takes on World No.5 Dominika Cibulkova, who survived a tough test against Jelena Ostapenko in the second round, winning in three sets. It will be her sixth career match against a Top 10 player and she’ll be looking for her first complete match win (she beat Belinda Bencic by retirement last year in Miami).

“I’ve never played her,” Kristyna said. “I will ask Karolina, maybe she will say something. But she has a bad [head-to-head] against her too. So maybe I’ll just stick to my plan. I think last time she won, but, like, five times she lost. Maybe I won’t even ask,” she said, laughing.

Asked whether she thinks playing a Top 10 player is a big jump up, Kristyna said it was more about the mental game. “I played Angelique Kerber in Melbourne and when you go there and play No.1, I just had that in my mind. So she had the first set for free because I had this in my mind.

“I don’t think they play any different level, especially with the girls it can change the ranking a lot,” she said. If you play Serena it’s different. But all the other players I think everybody can beat everybody.”

“My goal is to reach Top 20, but it’s not going to be easy I know, because I have a lot of points to defend in October. But that’s my goal for now.”

❤ pic.twitter.com/bdIy7KnhOm

— Karolina Pliskova (@KaPliskova) February 4, 2017

Kristyna may be champing at the bit to pit her game against the the game’s best, but there’s definitely one player she’s perfectly happy to avoid.

“Not my sister!”

The two have yet to play a tour-level match and were actually slated to potentially face off in the third round at Indian Wells, before Serena Williams withdrew and Karolina was shifted to a different quarter. It was a change that drew a sigh of relief from both sisters, who dreaded the thought of a showdown. That match may not happen here in Indian Wells, but with Kristyna’s continuing rise it will surely come sooner rather than later.

Asked point blank whether she thought she was as good as Karolina, Kristyna did not flinch. “Yes, I do. Maybe better.”

Quick hits with Kristyna Pliskova:

WTA Insider: When did you first know you were good at tennis?
Kristyna: Well, I knew it since I was very little [laughs]. You just know. You just feel it, you can see it how you play. You never know when you’re 10 if you’re going to be really good. A lot of things can change. But when you play, you can feel it.

WTA Insider: When did you believe you could play tennis for a living?
Kristyna: With Karolina we were always traveling with mom since we were really small. We played a 10Ks in Croatia, where there were 128 in qualies. We had to win four rounds, I think? We always fought and we always knew were going to play, even if we made it when we were 18 or 19. I think we always believed.

WTA Insider: What was it like to transition from juniors to pros?
Kristyna: For us, I think it was better because we didn’t play that many junior tournaments. We played, since we were 16, 10ks, 25k ITF tournaments. So it really wasn’t that big of a change. The one year we played Grand Slams was just fun for us.

WTA Insider: What’s your favorite tournament?
Kristyna: Australian Open. It’s big. I like space. And the weather is nice and the staff is so nice.

WTA Insider: What tournament do you look forward to playing that you haven’t played?
Kristyna: I hope I can play Fed Cup one day. I think it can be soon.

WTA Insider: What do you like least about being a pro tennis player?
Kristyna: What I don’t like? I don’t like changing the food when we go from different countries. I’m just used to eating what my mom cooks, or what I cook, or what my boyfriend cooks.

WTA Insider: Do you have any hobbies?
Kristyna: I like shopping.
WTA Insider: Who’s worse, you or Karolina?
Kristyna: I think she’s winning now so she she just buys, and buys, and buys. We went shopping the other day and she had like six bags and I had like four bags. I’m thinking more about the money [laughs]. But we are both bad.

WTA Insider: Do you have any favorite TV shows?
Kristyna: I’m watching The Bridge right now. When I can I like to read something or drawing. It’s more like coloring. It’s good for my mind. I’m not really into sightseeing. If I do something I go shopping, but not going places. But at home I like to go to my parents. They live outside the city and they have some animals. My father has some chickens and rabbits. I help to take care of them. I like nature.

WTA Insider: What app on your phone do you use the most?
Kristyna: WhatsApp. Definitely.
WTA Insider: Who do you text the most?
Kristyna: My boyfriend. And then Karolina. During tournaments we don’t text much. We try to talk a lot but we have different schedules. When we are home, kind of a lot. But with boyfriends, it’s different because they get mad [laughs].

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.

PARIS, France – It was another rainy day in Paris on Day 6 at Roland Garros, but the Round of 16 is set. On Saturday, the favorites continued to deliver.

Four Americans into the Round of 16: Serena Williams, Venus Williams, and Madison Keys joined Shelby Rogers into the the fourth round on Saturday. Serena fought off Kristina Mladenovic, winning 6-4, 7-6(10) in two hours and 11 minutes in a rain-interrupted match. Venus moved her record against Alizé Cornet to 6-0 with a 7-6(5), 1-6, 6-0 win to move into the second week for the first time since 2010. Keys held off Monica Puig to win 7-6(3), 6-3 to make her first Round of 16 in Paris.

“It was always a goal mine to make second week, and then once I made second week the first time it became achievable, and then it became something that I wanted to do all of the time just to have the consistency,” said Keys. “Where I may not have had the consistency outside of Slams, I had it in the Slams.

“I just think it’s something that I’m getting more and more comfortable with. Obviously I’ve been playing well in the Slams for the past six, seven Slams that I’ve played in. I don’t think it’ll always be, Oh, I’m so happy, but right now I’m just really happy with how I’ve been doing and hope to keep it up.”

Carla Suárez  Navarro scores a big win: No.22 seed Dominika Cibulkova looked to be building a full head of steam as the tournament turned towards the second week but No.12 seed Suárez Navarro found a way to end her resurgent run on clay, winning, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 to make the fourth round for the third time in the last four years. The Spaniard appeared to injure her leg in the first set but was able to shake it off to battle for the win.

“During the first set I ran from the right side to the left side of the court, and I had the impression that I had some problems with my muscle,” she said. “But it was not a pulled muscle. And the pain vanished.”

Yulia Putintseva steamrolls through to her Round of 16 debut: Through three matches, Putintseva has lost just 10 games, posting scores of 6-1, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2, 6-1, 6-1 with wins over Aleksandra Wozniacki, Andrea Petkovic, and Karin Knapp. The draw didn’t offer much early resistance, especially given Petkovic’s recent slump, but Putintseva has looked ruthless. She’ll play Suárez Navarro for a spot in her first Slam quarterfinal.

Kiki Bertens wins 10 straight matches: Bertens has put in some hard yards over the last few weeks and it paid off in her marathon 6-2, 3-6, 10-8 win over No.29 seed Daria Kasatkina. The young Russian picked up a left leg injury late in the third set and could only arm in her serves, and Bertens steeled her nerves to score her 10th straight win, after winning the title last week in Nürnberg. She is into the fourth round for the second time in Paris and will play Keys.

Kristina Mladenovic credits the Serena serve: The Frenchwoman fought hard to stay in it against Serena, fighting off nine break points in the second set to get it to a tie-break. Then the rain came, and after a lengthy rain-delay at 6-6 she was faced with the prospect of coming out of the locker room to win a tiebreaker to stay in the match. She led 5-2 upon resumption but couldn’t hold off her nerves or Serena. A key forehand miss that would have given her 6-2 went wide, and Serena stormed back, finally converting her fifth match point.

“I think it was a good match, a beautiful match, as well,” Mladenovic said afterwards in French. “On both sides, I think. Sometimes there are days that she’s not really into the match or she has difficulties due to what she does, but today I think it was really difficult for both of us. I think I put out good tennis, solid, from the first to the last ball. And during the rallies I thought that ‘she was beatable.’

“But then, as I said, I told you, she’s exceptional, and her biggest strength is her serves. She hit me so much with those serves. But then I’m a bit frustrated. She’s such a great champion, and she manages to escape and find a way out with this weapon.

“Sometimes her statistical results with her serve are not as good as today, and this is what I felt today. There’s not much difference in the match. There’s just one break point. First set when we were 5-4, and then I seized this opportunity on the break point when it was 4-All, and then I took a risk and to be aggressive on my forehand where she serves really long balls in the second balls.

“But today she was so impressive with her serve. There were many games when it was 30-All, and each time it was a big first serve. And yet I think I returned quite well. This is incredible. There’s no moment when she went down. No, so on both sides it was a good fight, a beautiful fight.”

Round of 16 Set: Week 1 is in the books. Here’s how Week 2 tees up: Serena vs. Svitolina, Suárez Navarro vs. Putintseva, Bertens vs. Keys, Venus vs. Bacsinszky, Begu vs. Rogers, Kuznetsova vs. Muguruza, Halep vs. Stosur, Pironkova vs. Radwanska.

Kuznetsova tries to stop Muguruza on Sunday: The forecast doesn’t look great for Sunday, but the match of the day is undoubtedly Kuznetsova vs. Muguruza. The two have played only once, last year in Madrid, which Kuznetsova won 6-3, 5-7, 7-5 en route to the final.

The key for Kuznetsova: relax. The 2009 champion said she’s struggled to keep things in perspective this week. “I was better today because first matches I was extremely tense,” Kuznetsova said after beating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. “Today I said to myself, Look, you got to get out of this tense. I got to just play my game, and whatever happens, my goal for this year was trying to enjoy the tennis.

“Since I got a bit better ranking and everything I start to be tense again, and I don’t want it to happen. I had a great nap in the locker room while the guys were playing five sets. I was great. I was feeling much better.

“So I said, Okay, I just go out there and I want to be happy. That’s the only thing I was concerned about.”

Since being taken to three sets in the first round by Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, Muguruza has been on a tear. Her last four sets: 6-2, 6-0, 6-3, 6-0. A win over Kuznetsova you would expect her to make her first semifinal in Paris.

Photos courtesy of Getty Images.