St. Petersburg: Kristina Mladenovic's Shot Of The Day
Kristina Mladenovic had Saturday’s shot of the day at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
Kristina Mladenovic had Saturday’s shot of the day at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
Keys answered both questions decisively in 2016: Yes, she can.
My story began in Rock Island where I dreamed of playing on the big stage. Now I want to win it all @Nike #justdoit pic.twitter.com/PlaXuSIm1j
— Madison Keys (@Madison_Keys) July 21, 2016
Keys capped off an achievement-laden season by becoming the seventh player to qualify for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. While her two breakout results last year, where she made the Australian Open semifinals and Wimbledon quarterfinals, grabbed bigger headlines, Keys’ 2016 campaign was a truer encapsulation of her talent and potential. Starting the season at No.18, Keys proceeded to make the second week of all four Slams, becoming one of just four women to pull off the feat this season. Outside of the Slams she made the quarterfinals or better at eight of 12 events, highlighted by finals at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome and the Rogers Cup in Montréal. By comparison, Keys made just two quarterfinals last year.
Keys also picked up another title on grass by winning the Aegon Classic. With the Birmingham title, Keys became the first American woman to make her Top 10 debut since Serena Williams in 1999. When the dust settled, Keys finished the regular season with a 46-15 record, an impressive improvement over her 31-18 tally in 2015 and 27-22 in 2014.
“Sometimes it just takes a little bit of time for things to click and sink in,” Keys said. “Sometimes it’s just how someone words something one time, then it just makes sense to you. I definitely think working with Thomas [Hogstedt] has been a huge benefit for me.” Keys hired Hogstedt, who previously coached the likes of Li Na, Maria Sharapova, and Caroline Wozniacki, earlier this spring.
“But I also think it’s a process. It’s being ready to handle the situation has been a big thing for me. I think I’m putting myself in those positions and handling them a lot better. That just gives me more confidence. The more I’m in those tough situations, the better I feel about them.”
Indeed, her ability to come through in tough matches has been the biggest improvement in her season. Keys is 17-5 in three-set matches this season, compared to a sub-.500 mark of 6-10 last year. She still struggles with her rhythm and decision-making in matches, but this year she’s been able to limit the dips to brief spells.
“You look at my scores and there’s lulls and stuff but I feel like before it would spiral really quickly,” Keys said. “Now I’m stopping it and getting better at that. I think it’s that confidence of knowing ‘Don’t panic, you can do this.’ I think the biggest thing is knowing that those thoughts of panic are probably going to go into your brain and just accepting it. So that’s been the biggest thing. Not fighting it and trying to think I’m going to have the perfect mentality the entire time. That’s not going to happen. So just knowing it and accepting it has been a huge thing for me.”
After starting the season with a left forearm injury, Keys has seen the hard work in the gym and on the practice court pay off. She is stronger and faster than she’s ever been and the body that would let her down has stood tall throughout the season. The ability to trust her body has freed her up to focus on her game, which continues to improve as she matures. There’s a self-assuredness about Keys this season, a swagger that wasn’t there before. Winning matches and winning them on a consistent clip breeds belief.
.@Madison_Keys joins @FearlesslyGirl as their new ambassador–> https://t.co/aJdHCUVWgv #IAmFearlesslyGIRL pic.twitter.com/x07qQZ0QUJ
— WTA (@WTA) August 24, 2016
“I feel like I’ve definitely gained confidence in myself,” Keys said. “I think especially that I’ve had a lot of matches this year where I wasn’t playing my best tennis, and I was in some bad spots, but being able to figure that out. I think that’s given me just a lot of personal confidence.”
Peng Shuai talks through her win over Lucie Safarova in the semifinals of the Taiwan Open.
MOSCOW, Russia – Svetlana Kuznetsova survived a mid-match wobble to defeat Timea Babos in the Kremlin Cup quarterfinals and move one step closer to a return to the WTA Finals.
In a contest that ebbed and flowed throughout, top seed and defending champion Kuznetsova harnessed the home crowd support to eventually triumph, 7-5, 6-7(2), 6-2, after a fraction over two and half hours on court.
The result keeps alive the 31-year-old’s hopes of appearing at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. The Russian, who was a fixture at the season-ending showpiece for much of her early 20s, has not qualified since 2009, but will return should she lift the title in Moscow. If she fails in her quest, Johanna Konta will take the final spot in the eight-player draw.
Babos’ battling performance ensured that the outcome remained in the balance until the last. In the second set, she displayed particular character to break twice with her opponent serving for the match. A flawless tie-break ensured the match went the distance, and despite falling behind in the decider, another comeback looked on the cards when she reduced her arrears to 3-2.
However, a thigh injury halted this revival – and the match – allowing Kuznetsova to regroup during a length injury timeout. On the resumption, the Russian took control rattling off the final three games to set up a semifinal with No.4 seed Elina Svitolina.
“Where to start? My coach and Nastia [Myskina] said in the locker room that the points were very short, from one to three rallies. I didn’t run much. I think I was good for me that I had a third set even when I felt a little bit tired,” Kuznetsova told the Russian press. “In the third set I let the situation go and played better.
“It has prepared me a base for tomorrow’s match because the way I played during last two matches, the last four sets: yesterday’s and the first two from today…It won’t get me far.”
Earlier in the day, Svitolina delivered a clinical display to swat aside lucky loser Ana Konjuh, 6-1, 6-1. Svitolina has been in terrific form during the second half of the season, reaching the semifinals or better in three of her past five tournaments.
“It was a good match for me, I was serving well and seeing the ball good. This was a good game and I’m really happy that it’s another semifinal for me,” Svitolina told wtatennis.com.
“After Beijing I had one week off and I was at home, just trying to recover fast. These last two tournaments – here and in Zhuhai – are very important and I’m just trying to stay focused.”
An interview with Yulia Putintseva after her loss in the final of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
Daria Gavrilova takes on Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the quarterfinals of the Kremlin Cup.
Elina Svitolina had Sunday’s shot of the day at the Taiwan Open.
BOGOTÁ, Colombia – Top seed Elina Svitolina appeared on course for a regulation comeback when her Tuesday match with Alexandra Panova bled into Wednesday due to inclement weather. But the Russian, a 2012 finalist at the Claro Open Colsanitas, had other ideas as she saved a whopping five match points – three in a row in the third set tie-break – to oust the Ukrainian youngster, 7-5, 1-6, 7-6(6).
“I’m always happy to come back,” she said after the match. “It’s been my sixth year, probably. I like it here; I have lots of support and I play a good game here.
“Every point was very important because it was very close. Same as yesterday in the first set and today the final set was very close. I had to fight for everything, be aggressive, be prepared for everything because it could change very quickly.”
Panova hadn’t played a WTA tournament since the BMW Malaysian Open, which Svitolina went on to win, but a quarterfinal appearance at an ITF Challenge in Croissy-Beaubourg set her up in good stead against Svitolina, who won eight more points overall in a match that suffered multiple rain delays before it was finally postponed.
“Of course, it’s very difficult. We had two stops. The first one was pretty early, so it was almost like starting the match from the beginning. At the second stop it was getting dark, and it was not playable.”
Another upset happened earlier in the day, as former Swiss star Amra Sadikovic continued her second career by winning her first WTA main draw match since 2013, turning the tide against 2010 champion Mariana Duque-Mariño, 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4.
Sadikovic announced her retirement in the middle of 2014, and spent 14 months as a tennis coach before deciding to return to competition last summer.
“I had to play my best to beat her,” she said after the match. “For me, it was special to get to play on the center court, just awesome. I went out on court kind of nervous in the beginning, just trying to stay in there and play point by point and I ended up winning the match.
Undaunted by the vociferous local support, Sadikovic held her nerve to convert her only break point opportunity in the final set and clinch the upset in over two hours.
“When I play back home in Switzerland, everyone cheers for me. I was expecting that and I prepared myself. I talked to my coach who said, ‘Just try to stay in the moment and play point by point.’ It all worked out.”
As first round play came to its belated conclusion, half of the draw’s quarterfinalists were also decided on Wednesday. No.4 seed Lara Arruabarrena is the highest ranked woman remaining in the draw, and a second emphatic win – this time a 6-1, 6-0 defeat of Anne Schaefer – brought her into the last eight. Rio Open quarterfinalist Paula Cristina Goncalves earned another of the day’s upsets by eliminating No.6 seed Tatjana Maria, 6-4, 6-3. Qualifier Catalina Pella backed up her win over No.2 seed and defending champion Teliana Pereira by beating Elitsa Kostova, 6-3, 6-2, while No.5 seed Irina Falconi survived a tense second set tie-break to oust French veteran Sherazad Reix, 6-3, 7-6(2).
Highlights from the quarterfinals action at the Kremlin Cup.
MOSCOW, Russia – Ekaterina Makarova is looking forward to Russia’s Fed Cup tie against Chinese Taipei this weekend for a very special reason.
It’s hosted at the Druzhba Sport Complex, in Moscow – the venue in her hometown where she first began playing tennis herself.
“It’s in the stadium where I grew up,” she told the official Fed Cup site. “I was practicing for 12 years there – I took my first steps in tennis in that stadium so it’s a special place.”
Makarova, 28, is the senior player in a young Russia squad; this will be her eighth appearance in the competition. It is an experience she enjoys.
“I love to play for a team, for Russia,” she added.
The World No.39 comes into the tie after losing to good friend and doubles partner Elena Vesnina 6-3 6-1 in the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy round of 32. The pair were the 2016 doubles champions at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
They were seeded third in this year’s Australian Open doubles competition, but were knocked out in the quarterfinals by Andrea Hlavackova and Peng Shuai, 7-5 7-6.
In the singles competition, Makarova boasted a stunning win against Dominika Cibulkova in the third round, coming through 6-2 6-7 6-3, before falling at the hands of Johanna Konta, 6-1 6-4.