Tennis News

TOKYO, Japan – Former champion Caroline Wozniacki required nearly three hours to see off No.4 seed Carla Suárez Navarro in the second round of the Toray Pan Pacific Open on Wednesday.

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For the first hour and a half of an absorbing contest, Wozniacki seemed on course for a relatively straightforward victory. However, just as she had 24 hours earlier against Belinda Bencic, the Dane was forced to overcome a mid-match hiccup before eventually triumphing 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-4.

“This was such a tough match, we played for such a long time and we really both deserve to be here as winners as the standard was very high,” Wozniacki said. “Luckily I’m the one here and I’m happy to get through.”

Suárez Navarro looked to have turned the match in her favor when she reeled off four straight games to pinch the second set. However, the match took another twist at the start of the third set, a sudden rain delay stopping the Spaniard in her tracks.

On the resumption, Wozniacki reasserted her dominance to build an ultimately decisive lead. “I won the next three games after the rain and managed to regroup. She was on a bit of a roll so it came at a good time.”

Wozniacki, who went all the way to the title in 2010, will meet either Yulia Putintseva or Magda Linette in the quarterfinals.

More to follow…

SEOUL, South Korea – Kirsten Flipkens has hit her share of hot shots in the past; her tweener at the Connecticut Open was part of August’s Shot of the Month.

But the Belgian upped her flair and brought it to the Asian Swing; after a long rally with Dalian champion Kristyna Pliskova, Flipkens turned the tables on Karolina Pliskova’s twin sister with a behind-the-back backhand passing shot.

She went on to win the match, 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.

Check out the video right here on wtatennis.com!

INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – 2015 French Open semifinalist played stupendous tennis in the final set of a tense match to defeat former World No.5 Eugenie Bouchard, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2.

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

“I’m really happy about the way I played in the third set,” Bacsinszky told Andrew Krasny during the on-court interview, “it was like the first set a little bit.”

The first game foreshadowed the nearly two-and-half hour battle that was to come, as Bacsinszky broke on her fifth break point opportunity, and though the Canadian, who was looking to build on her tour-leading 15 WTA match wins, eventually steadied herself on serve, the Swiss star ultimately sealed the set.

Taking a nasty spill to start the second, Bacsinszky needed a lengthy medical timeout to address multiple cuts; Bouchard spent the time talking tactics with coach Thomas Högstedt and taking practice serves. The 2014 Wimbledon finalist broke serve for the first time soon after and went on to level the match with a second service break.

“I think Genie played really well, especially in the second; she pushed me a lot to make errors.”

Undaunted, Bacsinszky grabbed the initiative in the decider and never let go, relying on her laser sharp backhand and 31 winners overall – to only 25 from Bouchard – to serve out the win.

“I’m really glad I found a solution at the end.”

After the match, the former World No.10 thanked hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, who was in the crowd during the match, for helping to inspire her to push through the pain.

“The Great One was watching here, and he knows how it feels to get hurt in a hockey match. I fell right in front of him so I thought, ‘It’s all right; I have to show him I don’t feel the pain.'”

In order to back up her 2015 run to the quarterfinals, Bacsinszky will need to beat Daria Kasatkina – one of three 18-year-olds currently in the Top 50 – who saved a match point to defeat Monica Puig, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(2).

When you're comming from a Hockey Country ?? & you meet The Great Wayne Gretzky ??! @OfficialGretzky #ZKYnameEnding pic.twitter.com/DFDrnx38nB

— Timea Bacsinszky (@TimeaOfficial) March 13, 2016

Earlier in the day, No.9 seed Roberta Vinci rebounded from a thrilling second round win over Margarita Gasparyan – a match that needed a final set tie-break – to ease past BMW Malaysian Open champion and No.17 seed Elina Svitolina, 6-1, 6-3.

The 2015 US Open finalist burst out of the gate by winning the first four games, keeping her side of the stat sheet clean (20 winners to 11 unforced) while the Ukrainian youngster – who recently hired former No.1 Justine Henin as a coaching consultant – struggled with consistency, hitting 17 winners but 25 unforced errors.

“I played a great game today, so consistent, focused, aggressive,” Vinci said after the match, explaining, “Against her you have to play like this. She’s a great player, she has a good rally. But I think, well, I just played so good.”

The secret to her late-blooming success?

“I don’t have a secret. Just play and stay focused every single day. Stay calm in the court and outside the court, and just enjoy the life.”

Up next for Vinci is Magdalena Rybarikova, who outlasted No.7 seed Belinda Bencic, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

SEOUL, South Korea – Lara Arruabarrena won a topsy-turvy Korea Open Tennis final against Monica Niculescu on Sunday to capture her second WTA title.

Four years on from her only other WTA silverware, on the clay of Bogotá, Arruabarrena mastered the cement – and Niculescu’s unorthodoxy – to triumph, 6-0, 2-6, 6-0, in just under two hours.

Arruabarrena came out on the losing side in the pair’s only previous hardcourt encounter, last summer in Washington DC. But attacking Niculescu’s slice with gusto, she dominated the rematch from the outset.

Yet after racing through the first set the Spaniard handed Niculescu a lifeline, double faulting twice to surrender her serve in the fourth game of the second. It was an opportunity Niculescu grasped with both hands, producing some gloriously inventive tennis – and the odd head-scratching miss – to level the match.

When Arruabarrena then snatched at a routine volley in her opening service game of the decider, the contest looked in danger of slipping away. She found a way out of this hole and when she broke with a wonderful lob a few games later the match swung decisively in her favor.

Niculescu battled to the last, saving one match point. It was merely delaying the inevitable, Arruabarrena wrapping up victory at the second time of asking.

In the doubles final, No.2 seeds Kirsten Flipkens and Johanna Larsson had too much for Akiko Omae and Peangtarn Plipuech, running out 6-2, 6-3 winners in just over an hour.