St. Petersburg: Ivanovic vs. Kozlova
Ana Ivanovic takes on Kateryna Kozlova in the quarterfinals at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
Ana Ivanovic takes on Kateryna Kozlova in the quarterfinals at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
CHARLESTON, SC, USA — Monica Puig was the first of two main draw winners as the Volvo Car Open got underway in Charleston on Monday, as Katerina Siniakova was forced to retire with a back injury in the final set.
Siniakova received medical attention earlier in the match, and retired as the match hit the two-hour mark, trailing 6-4, 2-6, 1-4 to send the Puerto Rican in to the second round.
“It’s always nice to come back and play on the clay again — unfortunately she had to retire there in the third set,” Puig said after the match. “I thought it was some pretty good, high-quality tennis up until that point.
“She was definitely holding, clutching her back a little bit there in the second set, so I was obviously a little bit aware something was going on. I had to try and keep focus because sometimes when a player is feeling a little bit of discomfort, they start hitting the ball hard, going for their shots a little more. I had to really focus and pay attention.”
Puig, who reached the third round in Charleston last season, fell behind early as Siniakova broke in the first game and rode the advantage to a one-set lead. She flipped the script in the second set, breaking Siniakova at the first opportunity to open up a 3-0 lead en route to sending the match to a decider. While the Czech fought through valiantly in the decider, she dropped serve in the fourth game and was unable to continue much further from there.
.@MonicaAce93 is first through to @VolvoCarOpen Second round!
Siniakova retires due to injury pic.twitter.com/xcJH4OUG9S
— WTA (@WTA) April 3, 2017
The Puerto Rican played her first WTA main draw in Charleston in 2011 after coming through qualifying and the World No.40 is eager to use one of her most successful tour stops as a springboard on the road to the French Open
“I love the clay. I really enjoy playing on it. Not so much the green clay because you don’t really notice that you’re on clay as much as the red clay — I love getting off the court and seeing I’m all dirty!” she joked.
“You don’t really have to change up your game style, but you have to adjust to what you have to do as far as tactics and things like that,” Puig assessed, as she’ll face the winner of the match between Daria Kasatkina and Danka Kovinic in the second round. “That’s what my coach and I were trying to work on coming into this clay season, just to really be smart of there.”
Joining Puig in the second round as an early winner was Japan’s Naomi Osaka, who rallied for her first career main draw win in Charleston after dropping the first set against Johanna Larsson, 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-2.
Check out the rest of the opening round results here.
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MONTERREY, Mexico – Hundreds of Monterrey locals got a chance to be up close with the WTA’s biggest stars as the Abierto GNP Seguros put on a colorful display at one of the city’s most popular avenues, San Pedro de Pinta.
World No.1 and Monterrey top seed Angelique Kerber joined Donna Vekic in a mini-tennis exhibition match, before covering each other – and the crowd – in colorful powdered paint.
The pair even took to the stage afterwards, joining a local band to sing some tunes at Monterrey’s weekly festival.
Check out the best photos below, courtesy of the Abierto GNP Seguros!
An interview with Roberta Vinci after her finals win at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
We caught up with the multitalented Kristina Mladenovic last month at the Rogers Cup, where she chatted with us about some of secret talents.
Friendship was the theme of the day at a very hectic Volvo Car Open.
Roberta Vinci takes on Belinda Bencic in the final of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
NEW YORK, NY, USA – With defending champion Flavia Pennetta retiring from tennis at the end of last season, there will be a new champion in Flushing Meadows this year. But will it be a familiar face? Top seed Serena Williams comes into the US Open seeking her seventh title, a record-breaking 23rd major crown, while several former champions loom in the draw as well, like Samantha Stosur, Venus Williams, and Svetlana Kuznetsova. But with the No.1 ranking also at stake, will fellow top seeds Angelique Kerber, Garbiñe Muguruza and Agnieszka Radwanska make their mark?
Read on to delve into the US Open résumés of all the Top 16 seeds…
1. Serena Williams (USA)
17th appearance (84-10)
Best result: Champion (2001-2002, 2008, 2012-2014)
Best Grand Slam result: Champion (22): 1999 US Open, 2002 French Open, 2002 Wimbledon, 2002 US Open, 2003 Australian Open, 2003 Wimbledon, 2005 Australian Open, 2007 Australian Open, 2008 US Open, 2009 Australian Open, 2009 Wimbledon, 2010 Australian Open, 2010 Wimbledon, 2012 Wimbledon, 2012 US Open, 2013 French Open, 2013 US Open, 2014 US Open, 2015 Australian Open, 2015 French Open, 2015 Wimbledon, 2016 Wimbledon
2. Angelique Kerber (GER)
9th appearance (16-8)
Best result: Semifinal (2011)
Best Grand Slam result: Champion (1): 2016 Australian Open
3. Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP)
4th appearance (1-3)
Best result: Second round (2015)
Best Grand Slam result: Champion (1): 2016 French Open
4. Agnieszka Radwanska (POL)
11th appearance (19-10)
Best result: Fourth round (2007-2008, 2012-2013)
Best Grand Slam result: Final (1): 2012 Wimbledon
5. Simona Halep (ROU)
7th appearance (12-6)
Best result: Semifinal (2015)
Best Grand Slam result: Final (1): 2014 French Open
6. Venus Williams (USA)
17th appearance (69-15)
Best result: Champion (2000-2001)
Best Grand Slam result: Champion (7): 2000 Wimbledon, 2000 US Open, 2001 Wimbledon, 2001 US Open, 2005 Wimbledon, 2007 Wimbledon, 2008 Wimbledon
7. Roberta Vinci (ITA)
14th appearance (19-13)
Best result: Final (2015)
Best Grand Slam result: Final (1): 2015 US Open
8. Madison Keys (USA)
5th appearance (5-4)
Best result: Fourth round (2015)
Best Grand Slam result: Semifinal (1): 2015 Australian Open
9. Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS)
14th appearance (33-12)
Best result: Champion (2004)
Best Grand Slam result: Champion (2): 2004 US Open, 2009 French Open
10. Karolina Pliskova (CZE)
4th appearance (2-3)
Best result: Third round (2014)
Best Grand Slam result: Third round (3): 2014 US Open, 2015 Australian Open, 2016 Australian Open
11. Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP)
9th appearance (11-8)
Best result: Quarterfinal (2013)
Best Grand Slam result: Quarterfinal (5): 2008 French Open, 2009 Australian Open, 2013 US Open, 2014 French Open, 2016 Australian Open
12. Dominika Cibulkova (SVK)
9th appearance (12-8)
Best result: Quarterfinal (2010)
Best Grand Slam result: Final (1): 2014 Australian Open
13. Johanna Konta (GBR)
4th appearance (4-3)
Best result: Fourth round (2015)
Best Grand Slam result: Semifinal (1): 2016 Australian Open
14. Petra Kvitova (CZE)
9th appearance (16-8)
Best result: Quarterfinal (2015)
Best Grand Slam result: Champion (2): 2011 Wimbledon, 2014 Wimbledon
15. Timea Bacsinszky (SUI)
8th appearance (4-7)
Best result: Third round (2008)
Best Grand Slam result: Semifinal (1): 2015 French Open
16. Samantha Stosur (AUS)
13th appearance (21-11)
Best result: Champion (2011)
Best Grand Slam result: Champion (1): 2011 US Open
NEW HAVEN, CT, USA – Top seed Agnieszka Radwanska ended lucky loser Kirsten Flipkens’ dream run at the Connecticut Open, winning 6-1, 6-4 to book a semifinal against defending champion Petra Kvitova.
Watch live action from New Haven this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
Flipkens became one of two lucky losers to reach the semifinals after replacing the ailing Lesia Tsurenko and powering past Belinda Bencic and Caroline Garcia, but she just didn’t have enough in her arsenal of slices and volleys to grab her first win over the World No.4.
Radwanska dug from her own bag of tricks against Flipkens, switching up the pace between line to line rallies and killer dropshots.
But the Belgian didn’t roll over, and produced some spectacular tennis – and razor sharp shot-making – to earn the break right back and level the match at 2-1.
This rally from @FlipperKF and @ARadwanska ? #CTOpen16 pic.twitter.com/DKSevPxqjk
— WTA (@WTA) August 25, 2016
It was the last game Flipkens would win for a while, though, as Radwanska’s cerebral style of point construction kept her seemingly always a step ahead. She rattled off five games in a row to take the set and an early break in the second.
Finally finding her footing late in the match, Flipkens rallied to get the break back and began to meet Radwanska blow for blow, creating for some incredible rallies.
TWEENER SPOTTING! ?
But really, how AWESOME was that rally?! #CTOpen16 pic.twitter.com/PN5DPFqkoO
— WTA (@WTA) August 26, 2016
“It’s always entertaining for us, as well, playing rallies like this,” Radwanska said of the rally above. “Of course, she’s a very tricky opponent. You can really expect from her those kind of shots. Very good touch, very good hands. We had a lot of matches with rallies like this.”
Radwanska just stayed more consistent throughout and finally earned the decisive break at 5-4, taking the match after an hour and 22 minutes. The top seeded player hit 25 winners to 16 unforced errors – a high number for the usually tidy Radwanska – against Flipkens’ 21 winners and 27 unforced errors.
With the victory Radwanska is through to her first semifinal at the Connecticut Open, where three-time champion Petra Kvitova awaits across the net.
“I’m just very happy to make the first semifinal,” Radwanska said. “Especially that it’s a very strong tournament. It means I had a couple of good matches, a couple of good wins.
“Well, I guess now I have really nothing to lose, especially I’m playing Petra next.”