Tennis News

MIAMI, FL, USA – Down match point in the decider, Yaroslava Shvedova produced some of her best tennis to defeat 2008 runner-up Jelena Jankovic in the first round of the Miami Open on Wednesday, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(3).

“It was an amazing match, a battle there on-court,” Shvedova told WTA Insider after the match. “Jelena is a great opponent, a tough opponent, and I’m happy I could manage to play well, relax and enjoy it, which I was missing a little bit for the beginning of the year.”

Snapping a seven-match skid that dated back to the quarterfinals of the China Open in Beijing last fall, Shvedova scored a victory in the matchup for the second time, and now both of her career victories against Jankovic have come in final set tiebreaks; the lone win for Shvedova in the pair’s previous five matches came 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-6(6) in the second round of the 2009 US Open.

Great return! @Jelena_Jankovic sneaks the first set 6-4! #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/FQDmN1Bimq

— WTA (@WTA) March 22, 2017

In addition, the Kazakh handed the Serb her fourth straight defeat in the first round after Jankovic reached the semifinals in 2013. While the two hadn’t played since 2012 prior to Wednesday’s match, a tough battle was to be expected — the match was the fifth three-set affair between the two players as well.

“She’s a fighter and it’s always been tough to play against her,” Shvedova said. “I was talking with my coach after the match and he reminded me [of their three-setters]. Somehow, our games match-up and it’s not easy to finish quickly!”

In an opening set that went with serve for the first nine games, each player only carved out one break point opportunity and proved particularly successful behind their first deliveries — both won over 70 percent of the points played behind them in the set. However, Jankovic’s second break point chance in the set proved to be vital, as she rifled a backhand return winner down the line to seal the opener in 43 minutes.

The second set was nearly identical in both score and minutes played, but the path to pocketing the set proved different for the Kazakh. Shvedova hit back well in the second, winning over 40 percent of points on return and break twice to wrap up the middle set by an identical 6-4 score and send proceedings to a decider.

.@SlavaSays saves a match point to edge Jankovic 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(3)!

Advances to @MiamiOpen Second round! pic.twitter.com/Bx87UD9el7

— WTA (@WTA) March 22, 2017

With Jankovic ahead 3-2 in the final set, the pair rattled off four straight breaks of serve, the last coming as Shvedova broke the Jankovic delivery to 15 as she served for the match. Facing match point at 30-40, Shvedova reeled off the next three and rifled a forehand winner past Jankovic to knot the set at 5-5.

Trailing by a mini-break in the tiebreak, Shvedova rallied to knot the action at 3-3 before winning the next four points to score the come-from-behind win.

Looking to build on her first win of the year in March, Shvedova advances to face No. 17 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second round, against whom she is 2-3 overall.

“My preparation was not good because I got injured in the off-season and I couldn’t practice that well,” Shvedova said about her start to 2017. “I couldn’t get my feeling, my game, my confidence, everything — and I was just going to tournaments trying to get it. It was not easy sometimes, unlucky — now I’ve had some time to rest and relax and clear my mind, [and] I can start to go up from the bottom.”

STUTTGART, Germany – Fast-rising Timea Babos edged through a tense opening set and survived a late surge from Sabine Lisicki to defeat the German, 7-6(4), 6-3.

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

“I was really happy to play a night match on Center Court, especially after the opening ceremony,” Babos told press after the match. “I took it as a good chance; I knew I had to play solid against Sabine. She’s had many good results and is in front of her home crowd, so I tried to stay focused and solid.

Serving first throughout the match, Babos applied plenty of pressure to the Lisicki return from the start, earning the first break to take a 5-3 lead in the opening set. Despite failing to serve it out in the tenth game, Babos held firm to take the first set in a tie-break.

“I’m here with my fitness coach now, and he said I didn’t move so well!” Babos joked when asked about what she could have improved. “It’s my first match on clay since the French Open, so I have to adapt. It helps that it’s still indoors; it helps my serve. With the movement, it needs some adjustment. I grew up on clay, and I like clay, so there is no problem, but I need more time to get used to the movement.”

Lisicki dug an even deeper hole in the second set, but nearly pulled off a Houdini act for the ages; recovering from 1-5 down, she saved two match points before the Hungarian powerhouse sealed the match in just over 90 minutes.

“In the second set, she felt the match was going away from her and she started to punch the ball as hard as she could and started to serve even better, which is a huge weapon of hers.

“I’m happy that I was able to close it out at 5-3, because even at 5-1, I was doing only first serves and even some big serves and she ripped some winners.”

The tournament has had to deal with quite a few late arrivals thanks to a busy Fed Cup weekend, but Babos had her own reason for not getting to Stuttgart as early as she might have liked.

“I arrived last night; obviously I knew I was going to play today but I also had my five-year high school reunion on Saturday, so I wanted to attend that!”

Babos had a bright start on clay last year – reaching a final in Marrackech –  only to lose her next seven  matches on clay courts, despite taking out Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza to win the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in doubles with Kristina Mladenovic in between. This season, she is in the midst of playing her most consistent singles of her career, reaching quarterfinals in Shenzhen, St. Petersburg, and Katowice. Reaching the round of 16 in Miami, she pushed reigning Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber to three sets.

“I had a good start and an awful season! Last year was interesting because I played a lot better than what my results were, and I had to play a lot of qualies in the beginning of the season; I played eight tournaments in a row in qualifying. But everywhere I qualified, I lost early, so I was winning twice as many matches as I was losing but I couldn’t improve my ranking. I had a final on clay but then I didn’t play the way I should have, how I played in Marrackech. Then I got killed at the French Open by Angie [Kerber].

“This year, I was looking forward to it more; I’ve had some good results this year, and I improved my ranking a lot since the end of the season. I was one of the last to get here, and only wanted to play singles here, so I took it as a good opportunity. I tried to have fun and even with all the adjustments, I think it was a good start.”

Up next for the 22-year-old is No.3 seed Garbiñe Muguruza, who beat her in the round of 16 at the Qatar Total Open.

Earlier in the day, World No.22 Johanna Konta fell at her first hurdle on clay courts; playing one of eight German women in the main draw at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, the Australian Open semifinalist fell to Anna-Lena Friedsam, 6-3, 6-3.

“I think that is always to be expected first match on clay,” the Brit said after the match. “I think it’s not easy for anyone. I think she did a better job than I did today dealing with the conditions. So, I’m happy I’m involved in doubles here. So, I’m looking forward to that, just all the matches I can get going into Roland Garros on the clay is an added bonus.

“This was my first match on clay since last year, so for about a year,” she added with a laugh. “So, I just need to go a little easy on myself and also keep looking forward and keep enjoying the challenge of continuously trying to improve.”

ZHUHAI, China – Following their season-long success and resurgent Asian Swing performances, Johanna Konta, Carla Suárez Navarro and Petra Kvitova are set to lead a world-class field at the 2016 Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai.

Joining them at the season-ending event are Elina Svitolina, Roberta Vinci, Timea Bacsinszky, Elena Vesnina, Samantha Stosur, Barbora Strycova, Kiki Bertens, Caroline Garcia and wildcard Zhang Shuai. Timea Babos will be an alternate. Between all qualified competitors, they represent nine WTA singles titles won in 2016.

Here is a more in-depth look at the singles players competing in the 2016 Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai:

“We are looking forward to the second edition of the WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai, showcasing some of the top athletes on the WTA,” said WTA CEO Steve Simon. “This event features many of our top stars who have accomplished much success during the 2016 season and now have the opportunity to compete against each other for the Zhuhai title.”

The 2016 WTA Elite Trophy will run from November 1-6, 2016 at the custom-designed and state-of-the-art Zhuhai Hengqin International Tennis Centre. The event features both singles and doubles and will be staged in the southern Chinese coastal city of Zhuhai with a total prize money of over $2.2 million on the line.

The players will compete in four round-robin groups of three, with the winners of each group advancing to the semifinals. The six doubles teams will be split into two round-robin groups, with the winner of each advancing to the final.

The doubles field consists of Zheng Saisai and Xu Yifan, Arantxa Parra Santoja and Andrea Klepac, Olga Savchuk and Anastasia Rodionova, and Tatjana Maria and Oksana Kalashnikova, as well as the two wildcard teams of Wang Yafan and Liang Chen and You Xiaodi and Yang Zhaoxuan.

MIAMI, FL, USA — Taken to the brink for the second time in this matchup, No.3 seed Simona Halep again emerged victorious over rising Japanese teenager Naomi Osaka in the second round of the Miami Open on Friday, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.

“It’s really important that I could win this match today,” Halep said, after the match, referencing her struggles with a knee injury to begin 2017. “I think it was very, very difficult to play against her in the first match here at the tournament, but I’m really happy. I had no pain, I stayed there two hours, fighting, running all over the place… so it’s great.”

There was little to separate the two players for the duration of their nearly two-hour encounter, which included two rain delays, but Halep improved to 2-0 against Osaka after defeating her in the third round of the French Open last year.

With the teenager Osaka known for her blistering serve, it was Halep who cruised behind her delivery in the first set, dropping a total of three points.

While Osaka almost kept pace at the line for the duration, she blinked in the pivotal ninth game, falling behind 0-40 only to see Halep take the game on her third break point and serve out the set to love.

.@Simona_Halep wraps up the first set 6-4! #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/EF64odeBBj

— WTA (@WTA) March 24, 2017

After Osaka held serve to begin the second set, a brief shower forced the players off court, but upon resumption, Oskaka cranked up the heat on serve and off the ground.

After breaking in the first game out of the delay, Osaka stretched her run to 12 of the next 15 points played after the break to take a two break lead at 4-0. 

“I lost my serve after the rain and I was a little bit too upset,” Halep said. “She was very strong there, and I think I did my best third set this year. I think I played my best tennis. I didn’t expect her to play that good in the wind. She’s hitting the balls pretty hard and she adjusted well today. Her game is strong and she likes…to hit, and the wind was moving the ball a lot. From my side, I didn’t have pretty good timing to hit. She did very well.”

Halep steadied herself in the fifth game, using some all-court tennis to earn back one break and hold in her next game, but the undaunted Osaka held at love and broke to 30 to send the match into a decider.

.@Simona_Halep cancels out one of the breaks! #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/rwoP1u0L2v

— WTA (@WTA) March 24, 2017

Halep, who stroked 11 winners in the opening set, saw her stat line nearly reversed in the second, as she hit just four winners to balance 11 unforced errors.

A lengthy third game of the decider, which went to deuce five times, seemed to be the turning point for Halep early as the No. 3 seed broke the Osaka serve to move in front, 2-1. However, Osaka rallied back to knot the set at 3-3 with a break of her own, only to surrender serve at love in the next game to put Halep back in front.

After a second, lengthier delay due to weather, Halep hardly missed a beat, holding serving and breaking Osaka on her second opportunity to close out the match.

“I changed everything that I did before,” Halep said about her rain delay thoughts. “I said I had to be fired up from the first point, even if I did a double fault. I just wanted to stay there and fight for every ball.”

.@Simona_Halep moves into @MiamiOpen Third round!

Battles past Osaka 6-4, 2-6, 6-3! pic.twitter.com/Wdp0FR7p34

— WTA (@WTA) March 24, 2017

The Romanian advances to play the winner of the match between No. 32 seed Ekaterina Makarova and Anett Kontaveit.