Tennis News

DUBAI, UAE – Lauren Davis secured a quarterfinal spot in her debut appearance at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, staging an impressive comeback to beat Ekaterina Makarova 4-6, 6-1, 6-3.

“I love playing here – it’s my first time here in an amazing city…just the atmosphere here is so great,” the delighted American said in her on-court interview.

“I’m really happy with my persistence, resilience and how I handled myself despite losing a few games in a row.”

Comeback queen! ?@LaurenDavis93 comes from a set behind to beat Makarova 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 and reach @DDFTennis Quarterfinals! pic.twitter.com/EpCGOYoSFb

— WTA (@WTA) February 22, 2017

It was an inconsistent display from both players. Makarova made the initial breakthrough in a seesaw first set, but Davis was resurgent in the second, combining exquisite use of the forehand with grit to get herself back on level terms, as her opponent’s game utterly collapsed.

The Russian took an eight-minute bathroom break before the decider, but it did not help her regroup; she remained lackadaisical when it came to capitalising on break points in the final set.

The 23-year-old American took advantage, wrapping up the match in one hour and 57 minutes. Her reward will be a last-eight clash with either Christina McHale or Elina Svitolina.

THE WINNERS

It was a tightly drawn match from start to finish, but Serena Williams outgunned Angelique Kerber in straight sets to win her seventh Wimbledon title – a record-tying 22nd Grand Slam title.

Playing in their second Grand Slam final of 2016, the No.4 seed Kerber came out on fire against the World No.1, and neither player gave an inch. But when it was all said and done it was Serena, again, who clinched the match and The Championships, 7-5, 6-3.

With 22 major titles under her belt, Serena is now tied with Steffi Graf for the most Grand Slam titles in the Open Era. She now sits just two behind Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24.

“It’s been incredibly difficult not to think about it. I had a couple of tries this year and I lost to two incredible opponents – one of them being Angelique!

“But it makes the victory even sweeter, to know how hard I’ve worked for it.”

Read the full story and watch highlights here | As It Happened: Game by game analysis from WTA Insider

Not content to with just one Wimbledon crown, hours after her win in singles Serena was back out on Centre Court to join Venus Williams in the final of Ladies Doubles.

The sisters extended their doubles dominance and improved their record to 14-0 in Grand Slam finals by taking the title, powering past Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova 6-3, 6-4.

“It was really special to be out there again, to win Wimbledon in doubles. We love it, we love playing doubles, we love being together,” Serena said after the match.

“I had just enough time to change and get the ankles re-taped. It was fine. I didn’t want to warm down.”

Read the full story here.

Finally, Britain enjoyed a local champion as Heather Watson’s Wimbledon ended on the best possible note, triumphing on the final day of the fortnight in mixed doubles. She partnered with Finland’s Henri Kontinen to defeat doubles specialists Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Robert Farah, 7-6(5), 6-4.

Watson became the first British woman to win a Wimbledon Championship of any kind since Jo Durie, who also captured a mixed doubles crown in 1987. Virginia Wade remains the last women’s singles winner back in 1977.

Read the full story here.

RANKING MOVERS:
Notable singles ranking movers for the week of July 11, 2016.

Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) +47 (No.96 to 49): The week’s biggest ranking jump belongs to Shvedova, who reached her first Wimbledon quarterfinal.

Elena Vesnina (RUS) +26 (No.50 to 24): Vesnina had to wait a long time to reach her first ever Grand Slam semifinal – it took her 42 tries – but the feat earned her a spot back inside the Top 25. Even more impressive: she started the year ranked No.122 in mid-February.

Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) +4 (No.14 to 10): Kuznetsova’s run to the fourth round of Wimbledon earns her four very important ranking points, putting her back in the Top 10 for the first time since 2010.

Angelique Kerber (GER) +2 (No.4 to 2): Although she didn’t walk away the Wimbledon champion, Kerber grabbed a sweet consolation prize. The German returns to World No.2, her career-highest ranking.

UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS

BRD Bucharest Open
Bucharest, Romania
International | $226,750 | Clay, Outdoor
Monday, July 11 – Sunday, July 17, 2016

Ladies Championship Gstaad
Gstaad, Switzerland
International | $226,750 | Clay, Outdoor
Monday, July 11 – Sunday, July 17, 2016

Bank Of The West Classic
Standford, USA
Premier | $687,900 | Hard, Outdoor
Monday, July 18 – Sunday, July 24

Citi Open
Washington DC, USA
International | $226,750 | Hard, Outdoor
Monday, July 18 – Sunday, July 24

Ericsson Open
Bastad, Sweden
International | $226,750 | Hard, Outdoor
Monday, July 18 – Sunday, July 24

TOP 20 PLAYER SCHEDULES
1. Serena Williams
2. Angelique Kerber – Bastad
3. Garbiñe Muguruza
4. Agnieszka Radwanska
5. Simona Halep – Bucharest
6. Victoria Azarenka
7. Venus Williams – Stanford
8. Roberta Vinci
9. Carla Suárez Navarro
10. Svetlana Kuznetsova
11. Madison Keys
12. Dominika Cibulkova – Stanford
13. Petra Kvitova
14. Samantha Stosur – Washington DC
15. Belinda Bencic
16. Karolina Pliskova
17. Timea Bacsinszky – Gstaad
18. Johanna Konta – Stanford
19. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova – Stanford
20. Elina Svitolina

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
Best wishes to those celebrating birthdays this week:

Mona Barthel (GER) – July 11, 1990
Abigail Spears (USA) – July 12, 1981
Olivia Rich (AUS) – July 14, 1992
Alisa Kleybanova (RUS) – July 15, 1989

DUBAI, UAE – No.4 seed Agnieszka Radwanska’s Dubai campaign was cut short in the round of 16 after suffering one of the biggest upsets of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships against 17-year-old CiCi Bellis.

“I didn’t feel good from the beginning. I didn’t play really great, and I was trying everything. I did what I could today,” Radwanska told press after the defeat.

She added, “For me it was really hard to control the ball and make the angles. And also, my serve didn’t work at all. In those kind of tight matches, you need those things. When you don’t have it and you’re struggling pretty much from the beginning, then you have a problem.

“I was really struggling myself. I was really focusing on myself today, but I just wasn’t good enough.”

First Top 10 Win!

17 year old @CiciBellis99 knocks out 2012 champ Radwanska 6-4, 2-6, 6-2! #DDFTennis pic.twitter.com/ggGOaQUEDO

— WTA (@WTA) February 22, 2017

Despite playing against an unseeded teenager, experience told Radwanska to be wary, especially with the way Bellis had climbed the rankings and made a name for herself toward the end of last season.

“I never really think of the seeds or unseeded players,” she explained. “In today’s tennis, we don’t have ‘easy draws’ or ‘open draws.’

“Maybe you can say this from an outside [point of view], but on the court, there’s nothing ‘open.'”

Radwanska had only words of praise for Bellis, who is the youngest member of the WTA Top 100 and the youngest player to defeat a Top 10 opponent since Belinda Bencic posted back to back wins over Angelique Kerber and Jelena Jankovic at the 2014 US Open.

“Very solid. Very consistent. She can really play good rallies with good intensity, and I think that’s a really good thing for that kind of young player. I think she was the best today.”

Putting the loss behind her, Radwanska plans to stop by her home in Poland for a couple of days before making the trip to California for the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.