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Indian Wells Thursday: Bouchard Begins

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – The first round bottom half gets started at the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday as Eugenie Bouchard takes the court looking to continue her positive momentum.

Thursday
First Round

Stadium 1

Eugenie Bouchard (CAN #42) vs. [Q] Risa Ozaki (JPN #125)
Head-to-head: First meeting
Much ink was spilled in 2015 about Eugenie Bouchard’s second-season woes. Ranked as high as No.5, the Canadian ended the year outside of the Top 40 as she struggled to close out matches and string together victories.

But Bouchard seems to have put the past firmly behind her as she rides the momentum of a red-hot resurgence into Indian Wells – she’s made two finals and has won 13 out of 18 matches this year.

“I got here early for the tournament and I was working really hard in practice just trying to improve different areas of my game,” Bouchard said in Kuala Lumpur, where she reached the BMW Malaysian Open final. “I feel like I’ve improved already since last week and for me that’s just my goal right now – to improve every single week.”

Bouchard’s first test comes in the form of Japanese qualifier Risa Ozaki. Though the pair have never played before, Ozaki made her presence known in Kuala Lumpur when she pushed eventual champion Elina Svitolina to three sets in the round of 16.

The winner is set to face No.21 seed Sloane Stephens, whose two titles in 2016 are a WTA-leading figure.

Caroline Garcia (FRA #41) vs. Christina McHale (USA #62)
Head-to-head: McHale leads, 2-1

The first women’s match on Stadium 1 sees Caroline Garcia and Christina McHale battle it out for a chance to face the No.4 seed Garbiñe Muguruza in the next round.

Both players are coming off of strong showings in Latin America – Garcia made the semifinal in Monterrey and McHale the semifinal in Acapulco. McHale already has one title under her belt though, an ITF 50K she picked up in Maui, while in her last match in Monterrey Garcia struggled against eventual champion Heather Watson as a result of a lower back injury.

Despite the head to head skewing in McHale’s favor, all three of their previous encounters have been unbelievably close; both of McHale’s wins came after three sets, and in Garcia’s straight sets victory, both sets went to a tiebreak.

 Around the grounds…
It’s youth up against experience as Monica Puig faces WTA veteran Mirjana Lucic-Baroni and 18-year-old Daria Kasatkina takes on Daniela Hantuchova. Laura Robson seeks to put her injury woes behind her as she opens against Magdalena Rybarikova.

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Monterrey: Pavlyuchenkova Profile

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Three-time Abierto Monterrey Afirme champion Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova discusses her unlikely journey from bashing balls on the banks of the Volga to the top of the women’s game.

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Cepelova Ends Home Hopes In Tokyo

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

TOKYO, Japan – Jana Cepelova ended home hopes at the Japan Women’s Open Tennis with a hard-fought victory over Kurumi Nara in Friday’s quarterfinals.

Watch live action from Tokyo this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

Nara, the final Japanese representative in the draw, started brightly but it was Cepelova that finished the stronger to run out a 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 winner.

After losing three straight games to drop the first set, Cepelova soon fell a break behind in the second. Rahter than dwell on this setback, the Slovakian used it as a turning point, winning four of the next five games to level the match.

Her dominance continued into the decider a couple of early break giving her stranglehold she would not relinquish.

Since coming through qualifying to reach the third round of Wimbledon, Cepelova’s form has been mixed; clay court outings in Gstaad and Bastad both ended in the first round before she fell in the final round of qualifying for the US Open.

Now she is through to her first quarterfinal at a WTA tournament since last summer, where she will face No.7 seed Christina McHale after she battled past Viktorija Golubic, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.

Meanwhile, in the top half of the draw, Katerina Siniakova will take on the highest-ranked player left in the draw, No.6 seed Zhang Shuai.

Siniakova followed up her marathon encounter against Louisa Chirico with a far more straightforward 6-2, 6-4 win over Alison Riske. Zhang was made to work harder, recovering to beat Varvara Lepchenko, 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-3. 

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Serena Brushes Aside Siegemund

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – Serena Williams wrapped up the top half second round action at the BNP Paribas Open with a straightforward win over German qualifier Laura Siegemund, 6-2, 6-1.

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

Playing in her first match since reaching the final at the Australian Open and in the chilly nighttime conditions in Indian Wells, Williams found herself facing a break point right away in the first game of the match. Siegemund’s variety and a sneaky drop shot tripped her up, but the World No.1 shook off any lingering rust with ease to fend off the early assault.

From then on the match grew increasingly one-sided, with Williams simply outgunning the German qualifier, taking the ball early and attacking from every side of the court. A beautiful backhand down the line brought up set point for the top seed, which she took with one her signature swing volleys.

Siegemund continued to attack and even brought up another chance to break in the first game of the second set, but Williams roared back from 0-40 to brush it aside. Not taking the opportunity ended up being costly for Siegemund, and Williams won five straight games to wrap up the encounter in barely over an hour.

“My intensity was the key,” Williams said in her post-match interview. “[Siegemund] actually started out really strong in that first game when I was serving, she was close to breaking me.

“I knew right then and there if I wasn’t going to come out at 100% it would be a long match.”

Awaiting Williams in the third round is Yaroslava Putintseva, who earlier in the day knocked out the No.27 seed Kristina Mladenovic 6-4, 6-4.

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Dodin Dominates For Québec Crown

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

QUÉBEC CITY, Canada – French teenager Oceane Dodin thrilled the Coupe Banque Nationale crowd by capturing her first WTA title with a 6-4, 6-3 win over American Lauren Davis in the final.

“It was a very tough match, very difficult,” Dodin said after the win. “She plays very well, and runs everywhere! I’m just trying to improve my game so I’m there for every point, focus on my serve. That helped me so much in this match.”

Dodin twice reached the second round of major tournaments in 2015, but coming into this week in Québec, the fearless Frenchwoman had never won a main draw match outside the Grand Slams – though she did reach the semifinals of a WTA 125K Series event in Limoges.

“It’s very special for me. This is a very nice tournament; I feel like I’m in France because the people are very friendly and supportive of me! Everyone was with me today and that helps so much when it’s a tough score.”

But the 19-year-old got on a roll once she upset No.5 seed Naomi Broady, dropping just one more set en route to the title. Hitting 31 winners to just 26 unforced errors against Davis on Sunday, Dodin converted six of 10 break point chances and brought her aggressive ground game to net a whopping 26 times – winning 16 of those points. Up a set and a break, things started to tighten, but Dodin kept in front until the very end.

“After the first set, I started thinking, ‘One set and you’re going to win this tournament,’ so I started getting a little bit nervous and at 3-0, 40-0, I was like, ‘Oh my god!’ She made a little comeback, so at the end I was very nervous.

“I was thinking, ‘You can’t play a third set, so you absolutely have to win the second.’ My coach has helped me so much with the mental side, and I saw him like, ‘Go, go, go!’ So I’m very happy with myself.”

With the win, Dodin is set to crack the Top 100 for the first time in her career, and is the first teenager to win a WTA title in 2016. She received congratulations from countrywoman Caroline Garcia soon after:

Despite the loss, it was still a great week for Davis, who reached her second career WTA final in the last two months, having also finished runner-up at the Citi Open. Back in the Top 100 herself, Davis is opting to skip the Asian swing, planning instead to play the slate of indoor tournaments in Europe, primarily Linz and Luxembourg, before season’s end.

“I’ve gotten a lot of matches under my belt, and so I’m feeling a lot of confidence. Going into next season, I’m looking forward to playing even better.”

While youth prevailed in singles, it was a battle between four experience doubles players as top seeds and two-time Grand Slam champions Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka outlasted Russians Alla Kudryavtseva and Alexandra Panova in a pair of tie-breaks, 7-6(2), 7-6(2).

“With the no-ad scoring and super tie-breaks, it’s very rare to get an easy match on the WTA tour these days,” Hlavackova said after the win. “So that experience helped today; we didn’t have a good record in tie-breaks, super tie-breaks, or no-ads before Québec, so we took this tournament to try to change that. We did, and we’re very happy about it.”

Hlavackova and Hradecka now move up to No.5 on the Road to Singapore leaderboard, with a good chance of qualifying for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global for a second straight year.

“We’ve played together for so long that not every week can be perfect. But this week was proof that if you’re having fun, you have good results. I hope we can take this momentum into Asia.”

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