Tennis News

February 3rd marks the 30th annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day. NGWSD is a celebration created by the Women’s Sports Foundation, an organization founded by none other than WTA Founder Billie Jean King.

The theme for the 2016 NGWSD is entitled Leading the Way, and “is a nod to all those individuals and organizations who are on the front line for girls and women in sports: the organizations committed to advancing women’s issues, athletes who have overcome barriers, coaches who challenge their teams to succeed, girls who have faith in their own potential, and all those who continue to use the power of example to inspire greatness.”

Click here to learn more about NGWSD, and check out King’s tweet celebrating the day’s 30-year milestone:

Happy National Girls & Women in Sports Day! Join the @WomensSportsFdn in recognizing #girlswithgame across our nation #NGWSD

— Billie Jean King (@BillieJeanKing) February 3, 2016

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia – The comeback continued for two-time Wimbledon quarterfinalist Tamira Paszek on Monday, as the Austrian dispatched 2005 French Open quarterfinalist Sesil Karatantcheva, 7-6(3), 6-4, to reach the main draw of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.

Watch live action from St. Petersburg & Kaohsiung this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

Once a Top 30 player, Paszek came back to the game last spring and has rocketed up nearly 140 spots in the rankings since last fall. Starting the season at No.172, she had to play qualifying at the ASB Classic and the Australian, going on to reach the semifinals of the former to put herself within striking distance of a Top 100 return.

“The good part about playing qualies is that you get a lot of matches, and you get a good rhythm, which is especially important at the beginning of the year,” the 25-year-old told WTA Insider in January. “I’ve always been the type of person that tries to see the positive aspect of things, so I’m really looking forward to it.”

Awaiting the Austrian in the main draw is Carina Witthoeft; the two played once before in French Open qualifying back in 2014, with Paszek winning, 6-0, 6-1.

Joining Paszek in the main draw is Klara Koukalova; the former World No.20, who took out Patricia Maria Tig, 6-4, 6-3.

All four qualifiers will be in action again on Tuesday, along with Fed Cup heroines Monica Niculescu – who nearly led an upset of defending champion Czech Republic with a win over two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova – and Barbora Strycova, who took part in the decisive doubles rubber to defeat Romania, 3-2.

Niculescu begins her tournament as the No.9 seed – so bumped when Anna Karolina Schmiedlova withdrew due to a right ankle sprain – and takes on local wildcard Natalia Vikhlyantseva. Strycova takes on one of the qualifiers, Kateryna Kozlova; Kozlova defeated top qualifying seed Laura Siegemund, but the German nonetheless found her way into the main draw as a lucky loser.

Closing out play on Tuesday will be a pair of Russians, No.5 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and the fast-rising Margarita Gasparyan, who take on Koukalova and Bojana Jovanovski, respectively.

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.

KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan – Venus Williams has no intention of winding down any time soon. That much was made abundantly clear at the tail end of 2015, when the seven-time major winner rolled back the years to lift titles in Wuhan and Zhuhai, climbing back into the Top 10 in the process.

Even a stuttering start to the new campaign has failed to dampen the evergreen American’s enthusiasm. Williams is back in Asia this week for the inaugural Taiwan Open, in Kaohsiung, where she is top seed.

As headline act, Williams is afforded the luxury of a Wednesday start and the opportunity to sit down with wtatennis.com to talk sisterly inspiration, Taiwanese tennis and turning it up to EleVen.

On the inspiration behind her enduring success…
“Well I have this inspiration called Serena Williams! So that helps a lot. But also I love the game and it’s been wonderful to play this game. And when you love it it’s easy to give everything, every time.”

On Taiwan…
“I’ve already hit for a couple of hours on the court so I haven’t had the chance to see a lot. I’d love to see the mountains and the city. But from the plane it looked amazing!”

On the Amazing Chan Clan…
“First of all they’re really wonderful people. They welcomed me here and told me if I needed anything to let them know – so I think I’ll take them up on that. This year or last year I was watching them at the WTA Finals and it was unbelievable doubles – so exciting to watch it. Never played against them at the same time – I’ve played against them when they weren’t playing together and that was never easy. I guess now they’re going to be representing the country in the Olympics and that’s so awesome for tennis and so exciting for Taiwan.”

On her Olympic legacy…
“Oh the Olympics are very special. For me, the most important moments in my career were at the Olympics, especially being able to play with my sister. I’m hoping to have the honor to play again this year. Of course if you win it’s unbelievable but to participate is everything as well. I’m really looking forward to it – if I make it!”

On going all the way up to EleVen…
“I design a collection called EleVen by Venus and that stands for being better than a 10 and every time bringing your best. I just enjoy it. I love making active wear and I think one day we need to come to Taiwan – sooner rather than later.”