St. Petersburg: Wednesday Highlights
Highlights from first and second round action at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
Highlights from first and second round action at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
CINCINNATI, OH, USA – Angelique Kerber is gunning for the No.1 ranking in Cincinnati, but the German isn’t the only one with designs on the Western and Southern Open title. Chris Oddo previews Saturday’s semifinals right here at wtatennis.com.
Saturday, Semifinals
Center Court
[4] Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP #3) vs. [15] Karolina Pliskova (CZE #17)
Head-to-head: Pliskova leads, 2-1
Key Stat: Pliskova leads all players in the ace category in 2016 with 394 through her first three rounds in Cincinnati.
Karolina Pliskova had the upper hand on Garbiñe Muguruza when they met head-to-head in 2015, defeating her in Dubai and then again a month later at Indian Wells, but it is Muguruza who has proven to be more comfortable on the big stage since the pair last met. The Spaniard is a Grand Slam winner and a Top 5 player now, while Pliskova has still to reach the second week of a major. But don’t be fooled by the Czech’s lack of Slam success. The 24-year-old is progressing steadily and it’s just a matter of time before she has her day in the sun. Will it be Saturday? Pliskova will need to serve effectively to win for the third consecutive time against Muguruza, and she knows she’ll have to make more first serves than she did on Friday in her quarterfinal win over Svetlana Kuznetsova. She only managed a 44% first-serve percentage in her three-set win over the Russian, but was pleased to earn her second Top 10 win of the year nonetheless. “I can serve big in the important moments which is good, but I have to get high with the percentage,” Pliskova said. “Still happy with the serve. I think it’s still winning the matches for me, so still the biggest weapon.” Speaking of weapons, the powerful Muguruza is not lacking in that department. She knows she’ll have to use her full arsenal to change her fortunes against the dangerous Pliskova. “She’s playing well,” Muguruza said on Friday after defeating Timea Babos in the quarterfinals. “I think this surface helps her a little bit with her style of game.” Muguruza has been focused and in the zone all week, and it has shown on the scoreboard. She’ll take a confident air with her on the court and let the chips fall where they may. “I’m satisfied the way I’m fighting and my spirit and energy on the court, so hopefully I can keep this until the US Open,” she said.
Pick: Muguruza in two
[2] Angelique Kerber (GER #2) vs. [3] Simona Halep (ROU #4)
Head-to-head: Halep leads, 4-2
Key Stat: Kerber could ascend to the No. 1 ranking for the first time with the title in Cincinnati.
Two steps from a career-changing milestone, Angelique Kerber continues to wear the blinders and deflect all pressure about climbing to the top of the WTA rankings. “I’m not feeling more pressure, to be honest,” she said after coming back from a set down to defeat Carla Suárez Navarro in the sweltering Cincinnati heat on Friday. “I learned a lot from last tournaments and last matches about pressure, and when I put the pressure too much on myself, I mean, that’s not the way I would like to play my tennis.” Though Kerber struggled early against the Spaniard, she drew upon a reservoir of confidence and found her second wind to win on Friday. It’s been a recurring theme for the German, and as the wins pile up, the confidence grows. “I knew I’m really fit and I worked a lot in the last few months and years to go out and try to play matches like that,” she said. “Of course when you win the matches you have much more confidence and you can do it and turn around matches and go for three sets after you lose the first one. That gives me for sure more confidence also for the next challenges.” The challenge will be a big one on Saturday, as Kerber will square off with the scorching-hot Simona Halep. The Romanian notched her 13th consecutive win on Friday night, taking down Agnieszka Radwanska in straight sets, and she is playing her best tennis of the season at the moment. Like Kerber, Halep fell behind early but stormed to the finish, taking 13 of the final 15 games from Radwanska. Will Halep be able to continue her run and rain on Kerber’s parade in Cincinnati, or will the German edge ever closer to a colossal milestone?
Pick: Halep in three
By the numbers…
1 – Number of singles semifinalists still alive in the doubles draw (Pliskova and partner Julia Goerges face Martina Hingis and CoCo Vandeweghe).
20-2 – Halep’s record since the start of Roland Garros this year.
46 – Kerber’s 2016 win total – more than any other player on tour.
183 – Number of consecutive weeks that Serena Williams has held the No. 1 ranking, which is second-most all time behind Graf (186).
Belinda Bencic has Friday’s shot of the day at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
Venus Williams takes on Yulia Putintseva in the semifinals of the Taiwan Open.
Vera Zvonareva broke her social media silence to make a big announcement – a couple of big announcements, actually. The former WTA World No.2 has been busy in her year away from the tennis courts.
Zvonareva announced via her Instagram that she’d recently tied the knot and became a mother.
But that’s not all: Zvonareva had a few more announcements in store for her fans, including a return to tennis (of sorts). She’s set to join the Eurosport team and take on a commentating role during this year’s US Open.
Congratulations Vera!
An interview with Belinda Bencic after her finals loss at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
Bank Of The West Classic champ Johanna Konta sits atop the Emirates Airline US Open Series, but Agnieszka Radwanska could sneak away with the jackpot in New Haven.
Ana Ivanovic, a Dubai Duty Free brand ambassador, glammed up for the event.
No.4 seed Petra Kvitova, who took a wildcard into the event, was also in attendance.
She joined Colm McLoughlin, Executive Vice Chairman of Dubai Duty Free, on the red carpet. DDF has been an ambassador for women’s tennis in the Middle East since 2004.
Doubles players Nichole Melichar and Darja Jurak donned some Emirati dresses for the party…
…and they made a new friend, too!
Defending champion Simona Halep also befriended the falcon.
Ivanovic finds time to snap a quick selfie…
…as Kvitova enjoys the best of Emirati hospitality.
This year the US Open is looking to make rain delays a thing of the past, having finally unveiled a retractable roof over the world’s largest tennis venue, Arthur Ashe Stadium.
It was a massive undertaking requiring two years under construction, and it was inaugurated a few weeks ago just in time for this year’s final Grand Slam.
CNN Open Court gives you some fast facts on everything you need to know about Arthur Ashe Stadium’s new retractable roof.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Brazilian qualifier Paula Goncalves is through to her first WTA quarterfinals after upsetting the No.2 seed Johanna Larsson 6-4, 6-4.
Playing on the smaller Court 1 of the Jockey Club Brasileiro, Gonçalves channeled the Brazilian fans’ energy to fuel her to the biggest win of her career.
“This stadium is small so the crowd feels very near to you,” she told RioOpen.com after the match. “This is great because I can feel the energy of the fans – this helps me even more.”
Galvanized by the support of the enthusiastic home crowd, Gonçalves didn’t lose her nerve when the Swede broke her serve to start the set 3-1. Instead she broke back twice, sending Larsson on the run with her powerful groundstrokes and taking the first 6-4.
Larsson opened the second set with another break but Gonçalves broke her right back, leveling the score. A net cord on match point sealed the result and kept Brazilian hopes for a home champion alive – the world No.285 is the last Brazilian player left in the Rio Open draw.
“All of the pressure was against her,” Gonçalves said of playing Larsson. “I came here very calm, like I did from the first game of qualifying. It has been a week where my tennis came together, so I just gonna take advantage of this moment and keep going.
“Beating players at her level, inside the Top 50, shows that it’s possible for me to dream bigger.”
No.3 seed Danka Kovinic advanced comfortably against Sílvia Soler-Espinosa, winning 6-2, 6-3 against the Spaniard.
“I expected a longer and tougher match, but I played really good so I’m glad that I finished after maybe a bit more than an hour,” Kovinic said after the match. The Montenegran player struggled in her previous match against the intense heat and humidity of Rio de Janeiro.
“I really feel better today. I played good because I had two days off. I think that helped for me a lot to adjust to this weather.”
Also into the quarterfinals are No.6 seed Lara Arruabarrena and Petra Martic.