Tennis News

SYDNEY, Australia – Simona Halep made a winning start to the 2016 season on Tuesday night, grinding past giant-killer Caroline Garcia in her opening match at the Apia International Sydney.

Watch highlights, interviews and more video from Sydney right here on wtatennis.com!

Things didn’t go completely smoothly for Halep – after taking the first set, she watched on as Garcia came alive, ripping more than three times as many winners (10 to 3) to run away with the second set.

But the World No.2 regrouped in a big way, kicking her aggression up a notch – and pulling off some awe-inspiring winners off the ground – to close the unseeded Frenchwoman out, 6-4, 2-6, 6-1.

“It was a tough match. I actually expected a tough match because I know her pretty well. She’s strong and she hits the ball strong. She has a good serve,” Halep said. “I think I did well today though. Especially in the third set I think I was strong and solid – I played my best tennis in the third set.

“In the second set I did a step behind the baseline. Maybe that’s why she dominated me. But then I went closer to the baseline and hit the ball earlier, opened the court and made the points shorter.”

Halep was set to make her 2016 debut at the Brisbane International last week but had to pull out right before her first match there due to a left leg injury. Before playing her Sydney opener, she discussed the injury – and declared she was ready to get her 2016 season going in Sydney this week.

Next up for the No.1-seeded Halep will be No.5-seeded Karolina Pliskova, who played a near-flawless second set to run away with it against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova earlier in the day, 6-3, 6-0.

Halep has beaten Pliskova in both of their previous meetings, though both were tight two-setters.

There were mixed fortunes for the other two seeds in action on Tuesday, with No.4 seed Angelique Kerber having to withdraw from the tournament due to illness prior to her match against Ekaterina Makarova, but No.8 seed Belinda Bencic outdoing Bulgarian wildcard Tsvetana Pironkova, 6-3, 6-3.

Round out the winners were Sara Errani, who saved seven set points in the second set to edge Jelena Jankovic, 7-6(3), 7-6(8), Svetlana Kuznetsova, who outlasted Sabine Lisicki, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, Samantha Stosur, who gave her Aussie home crowd something to cheer about with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Daniela Hantuchova, and Puerto Rican qualifier Monica Puig, who beat Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, 6-1, 6-0.

All four quarterfinals of the Premier-level tournament will take the courts on Wednesday.

Sorry that I had to withdraw from @SydneyTennis it is always great to play in this city#sydney now recovery and getting ready for melbourne?

— Angelique Kerber (@AngeliqueKerber) January 12, 2016

Dropshot Podcast: Breaking down the Australian Open draw, are we headed for a Serena vs. Vika final in Melbourne?

On this Dropshot episode of the WTA Insider Podcast, Senior Writer Courtney Nguyen is joined by Web Editor David Kane to analyze the 2016 Australian Open draw, which is notably top-heavy, offering top seed Serena Williams a tricky path to her 22nd major title, and a bottom half that sees one name in particular stand out: Victoria Azarenka.

Nguyen and Kane discuss whether Simona Halep’s decision to play through pain at the Apia International Sydney will impact her chances in Melbourne, Camila Giorgi’s high-risk/high-reward game, Agnieszka Radwanska’s chances for her first major title, and much, much more.