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News | WTA Tennis English

News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia – Venus Williams’ run at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy might have come to an abrupt end earlier in the week, but the former World No.1 still took time to take in the sights in the culture capital of Russia.

“This is a place I want to be, and have always wanted to visit because of the historic value, and because it’s a beautiful city,” Venus told press ahead of her participation in the tournament.

“I’m really interested in the local fashion and the designers here because I like to be inspired by different cultures. Those two things are on the top of my list.”

The Australian Open finalist took the opportunity to visit some of St. Petersburg most iconic cultural landmarks, like the Fabergé Museum and the famous Church On Spilled Blood:

Venus Williams

Venus Williams

Venus Williams

Venus Williams

Venus Williams

Venus Williams

Venus Williams

After her excursion, Venus took some time with her many Russian fans in an absolutely mobbed autograph session:

Venus Williams

Venus Williams

Venus Williams

Photos courtesy of St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy

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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Elina Svitolina roared into the Top 8 of the Road to Singapore leaderboard thanks to her victory in the Taiwan Open.

Cruising to the title, the top seed beat Peng Shuai, 6-3 6-2 in Sunday’s final in Taipei City. The success moves her up from No.17 all the way up to No.8.

“I’m No.13 in the world,” she said after the final. “So you expect players higher in the rankings to be able to raise their level in tight situations. It happened today at a good moment.”

Should Svitolina maintain this current form, the youngster could find herself making her debut at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. The Ukrainian barely missed out on a spot among the Greatest Eight last year, but made up for the disappointment by reaching the final in her first appearance at the Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai.

Over in Russia, Kristina Mladenovic’s stunning success in the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy has seen her rise 339 places to No.13 in the Road to Singapore.

The 23-year-old was awarded 470 ranking points for her thrilling 6-2 6-7(3) 6-3 win over Yulia Putintseva on Sunday, her first WTA title secured in her fourth final. Her defeated opponent moved into the Top 20 – up to 18th from 64th.

“The wait was definitely worth it,” said Mladenovic after her win. “To clinch my first WTA final here, especially at a Premier event, I feel really happy right now.”

Click here to check out the full Road to Singapore leaderboard.

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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

TALLINN, Estonia – Johanna Konta fought back from set a down to seal Great Britain’s place in the Fed Cup promotion play-off on Saturday.

The World No.10 and Heather Watson helped the British team beat Portugal 3-0 on Wednesday and Latvia by the same score on Thursday before facing Turkey in the final Pool C match today.

Watson, the World No.72, comfortably overcame Ipek Soylu 6-0 6-1 in the opener but says the match was deceptively hard.

“The score was 6-0 6-1, but it felt a lot closer than that in the games and she’s a good player but today I just felt that I was pretty flawless,” she explained after the match.

Konta was made to work harder for her success. After taking a 5-3 lead in the first set against Cagla Buyukakcay, Konta lost four straight games to hand the World No.86 the opening set.

But the 25-year-old raised her game after that setback to close out a 5-7 6-4 6-3 win and victory in the tie ahead of the final doubles match.

“I’m just really happy to come through that,” she said. “It wasn’t easy and she definitely played herself into the match and to give us the opportunity to go into the play-off tomorrow, I’m very happy for us and the team.”

Britain will face either face Hungary or Croatia for the prize of a World Group II play-off in April.

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