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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MIAMI, FL, USA – The British media celebrated Johanna Konta’s win at the Miami Open with plenty of print space and air time – and are hoping she’ll rise even further up the rankings than her current career high of No.7.

Konta said in her post-match press conference that she hoped her journey in the tournament would garner lots of attention for the sport.

“If the coverage has been good then it’s great for us,” said the British No.1. “It’s promoting tennis, and hopefully promoting more people to play.”

And so it has proved – starting with a front-page splash in the Sunday Times. 

Comparisons are inevitably being drawn with Virginia Wade, Britain’s last female singles Slam winner – but Konta has played that down, although she admitted she would love to win Wimbledon.

The Daily Mail reported that she said: “It does sound quite monumental but winning Wimbledon is a dream and hopefully one day I will get an opportunity to play for such a title.” 

The Daily Telegraph’s tennis correspondent Simon Briggs assessed Konta’s chances of a Slam title thus: “How much further, then, can this late-blooming champion climb? Two years ago, Konta was ranked around the 150-mark, which did not even earn her a spot in the qualifying tournament here. Now she stands alongside Pliskova and world No 1 Angelique Kerber as one of the women most likely to worry Serena Williams.”

In the Guardian, Kevin Mitchell wrote: “Konta was clearly the better player in this match as well as the one in Melbourne. That was such a clear indicator of how far the British No1 has come in a relatively short time. There would not have been many takers backing Konta to beat Wozniacki even a couple of years ago. Now she has to set her sights higher.”

And of course Konta’s Fed Cup teammates were also thrilled for her – Naomi Broady and Heather Watson were straight on Twitter to publicly congratulate their friend.

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Swiss Misses Sail Into Rio Semis

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – World Co-No.1 Martina Hingis kept her hopes of a first Olympic medal alive as she and countrywoman Timea Bacsinszky blasted past No.3 seeds Chan Yung-Jan and Chan Hao-Ching, 6-3, 6-0 to reach the semifinals of the Olympic tennis event in women’s doubles.

Bacsinszky bounced back from a disappointing first round defeat in singles to play just her second doubles tournament of 2016 alongside Hingis, the reigning US Open, WTA Finals and Australian Open champion.

Together, the pair have dropped just one set through their first three matches, and were particularly dominant against the Chans – a formidable pair who were the last team to defeat Hingis and then-partner Sania Mirza before the duo went on a 41-match winning streak – winning the second set in just 35 minutes.

After going down an early break to start, the No.5 seeds broke serve six straight times to book a semifinal encounter No.6 seeds Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic. Hlavackova and Hradecka captured the silver medal at the London Olympics, falling to three-time Olympic champions Venus and Serena Williams, and saved three match points to defeat Russians Daria Kasatkina and Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-1, 4-6, 7-5.

Hingis is playing her first Olympic tennis event since 1996, when she was 15 years old.

On the top half of the draw, Czechs Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova kept up their giant-killing run with a three-set win over former World No.1s Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci. The Italians reunited for the Olympics, but fell in a tough 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 defeat to Safarova and Strycova, who began their tournament with a win over the Williams sisters.

Rogers Cup champions Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina had a rough itinerary down to Rio for the Olympics, but the Russians have made up for lost prep time in impressive fashion, easing past No.4 seeds Garbiñe Muguruza and Carla Suárez Navarro, 6-3, 6-4.

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Kerber Wins, Second Round Wraps Up

Kerber Wins, Second Round Wraps Up

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MELBOURNE, Australia – Angelique Kerber dodged the upset bug going around the Australian Open, grinding past Alexandra Dulgheru as the second round wrapped up at the Happy Slam Thursday.

The No.7-seeded Kerber had beaten Dulgheru in straight sets in both of their previous meetings and this one went much the same way as she beat the Romanian in an hour and 13 minutes, 6-2, 6-4.

Kerber, who was ranked No.7 in the world when the seeds were made but moved up to No.6 earlier this week, is now just two wins away from completing a Grand Slam quarterfinal set – she’s been to the quarterfinals or better at the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open, but never the Australian Open.

Other high-profile winners included No.3 seed Garbiñe Muguruza, who out-hit Kirsten Flipkens, 6-4, 6-2 (read more here), No.14 seed Victoria Azarenka, who continued her perfect start to the year with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Danka Kovinic (read more here), No.15 seed Madison Keys, who outlasted Yaroslava Shvedova, 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-3, No.20 seed Ana Ivanovic, who beat Latvian qualifier Anastasija Sevastova, 6-3, 6-3 (read more here), and No.21 seed Ekaterina Makarova, who beat Tatjana Maria, 6-4, 6-2.

Azarenka has now lost just 20 games in seven matches this year – an average of one game a set.

“I’m just really trying to stay in the moment,” Azarenka told reporters after the match. “I do want to keep improving from match to match, but from now on it’s only going to get tougher, so I really want to keep that focus and that intensity and that determination. Really that’s what I’m looking for right now, to keep applying the same effort, and paying attention to the details in preparation before the match.”

It wasn’t a perfect day for the seeds by any means, though, with No.11 seed Timea Bacsinszky going down to Annika Beck, 6-2, 6-3, No.18 seed Elina Svitolina falling to Japanese qualifier Naomi Osaka, 6-4, 6-4, No.19 seed Jelena Jankovic losing a heartbreaker to Laura Siegemund, 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4, and No.30 seed Sabine Lisicki succumbing to big-serving Czech upstart Denisa Allertova, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.

Karolina Pliskova, the No.9 seed, downed Julia Goerges in the feature night match, 7-6(5), 6-1.

With 18 seeds out already, the 2016 Australian Open has set the record for most seeds to go out before the third round of a Grand Slam since the majors switched to 32 seeds at 2001 Wimbledon.

The third round will kick off on Friday, with Serena Williams, Agnieszka Radwanska and Maria Sharapova among those in action – check back on wtatennis.com for all the latest from Melbourne!

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Did Puig Predict Medal Run in Rio?

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig is set to become Puerto Rico’s first women to win an Olympic medal as she advanced to the gold medal match with a three-set win over Petra Kvitova, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.

As a result, Puig will become the first woman representing Puerto Rico to win an Olympic medal and has the chance to become the first athlete from Puerto Rico – man or woman – to win a gold medal.

#PicaPower, the world No.34’s rallying cry on social media, became a worldwide trending topic on Twitter following her victory.

Entering the gold medal match, Puig has won a career-best 36 main draw matches in 2016, more than she won in the previous two seasons.

But perhaps most impressive… did Puig forecast her success in Rio back on July 27 when she shared with her Twitter following that she introduced “Rio Puig” to the Twitter-verse?

While Puig will become the first woman representing Puerto Rico to win an Olympic medal, Gigi Fernandez, born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, won two gold medals in doubles for the United States playing alongside Mary Joe Fernandez in 1992 and 1996. Gigi was quick to join in the celebration.

No matter what happens in Saturday’s Gold Medal match, we know Puig will have one fan firmly in her corner:

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News | WTA Tennis English

News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

BIEL/BIENNE, Switzerland – Former World No.1 Martina Hingis and fellow Olympic Silver medalist Timea Bacsinszky enjoyed a happy reunion at home, knocking out Diana Marcinkevica and Carina Witthoeft, 6-2, 6-3, in front of an enthusiastic crowd at the Ladies Open Biel Bienne.

“It’s really cool,” Bacsinszky said after the match. “What we have together, we shared so many big emotions and two unbelievable weeks. Those memories will stay with me forever.”

Martina Hingis, Timea Bacsinszky

Bacsinszky and Hingis paired up for the first time at the Olympic tennis event, stunning 2012 silver medalists Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka en route to the Gold medal match, where they lost a tense two-setter to Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina.

Back together in Biel/Bienne, the pair reunited with the upcoming Fed Cup semifinal in mind; the Swiss team takes on Belarus in two weeks for a spot in their first final since 1998, when Hingis helmed the squad in singles and doubles.

Timea Bacsinszky, Martina Hingis

“It was amazing to play again with her here, and great preparation for Fed Cup,” Bacsinszky added, “because you never know, if it’s 2-2 in a semifinal, you’ll want to have some matches under your belt to get the connection back.

“That was important for us, so that’s why we decided to play here. I’m thrilled to play here again in Switzerland with my home crowd!”

The Swiss are certainly looking strong at home. With Hingis and Bacsinszky cheering her on from the stands, Viktorija Golubic extended her winning streak to eight straight matches on Swiss soil, having won both singles rubbers in last year’s Fed Cup semifinal against the Czech Republic, her maiden title at the Ladies Championship Gstaad, and her first round match in Biel/Bienne, a nail-biting three-set win over Volvo Car Open semifinalist Laura Siegemund.

All photos courtesy of Ladies Open Biel Bienne.

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Hingis & Mirza Stay On Track

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MELBOURNE, Australia – Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza were held up for longer than usual en route to the last four of the Australian Open, eventually seeing off the stubborn resistance of Anna-Lena Groenefeld and CoCo Vandeweghe on Tuesday afternoon.

Having romped through their opening three assignments at Melbourne Park, Hingis and Mirza made the perfect start against No.12 seeds Groenefeld and Vandeweghe, pocketing the opening set in a brisk 23 minutes.

Thoughts of another routine victory were soon parked as their opponents capitalized on some uncharacteristically sloppy mistakes to level to contest. There, though, the surprises ended as the top seeds steadied the ship, breaking twice to close out a 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 victory.

The result extends Hingis and Mirza’s remarkable winning streak to 34 matches – a run stretching back to the end of last summer and bringing seven titles.

And their path to number eight was made a little simpler with the exit earlier in the day of No.2 seeds Chan Yung-Jan and Chan Hao-Ching.

The sisters were the last team to get the better of Hingis and Mirza, coming out on top in the Cincinnati semifinals, but their hopes of reaching a maiden major final together were dashed by Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka, 2-6, 7-5, 6-3.

No stranger to the business end of a Grand Slam – they lifted the French and US Open crowns in their first stint together – Hlavackova and Hradecka will now meet Xu Yi-Fan and Zheng Saisai, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 winners over home hopes Anastasia and Arina Rodionova in the evening session.

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