Tennis News

SINGAPORE – Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina produced a brilliant performance on Sunday afternoon to defeat Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova and lift the doubles title at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.

Watch interviews and highlights from Singapore on the WTA Facebook page!

A high-quality encounter was settled by a few moments of inspiration as the Russian pair closed out a 7-6(5), 6-3 victory after an hour and 38 minutes.

“It was such a great match. It was really a pleasure to play against Bethanie and Lucie and to be honest we really enjoyed playing it,” Vesnina told on-court interviewer Andrew Krasny afterwards. “We weren’t sure until the very end that we were going to win it. It was a really, really close match.”

Makarova and Vesnina have twice come up short at the year-end showpiece and more disappointment looked on the cards when they failed to serve out the opening set at 5-3. However, the ensuing tie-break – and ultimately the match – turned on a brilliant lob from Vesnina, leaving her partner with the simplest of winners. Two points later, Vesnina came up trumps again, her return finding the baseline to clinch the set.

They continued to make most of the running in the second, only to be denied by some wonderfully instinctive net play. At 4-3 the breakthrough finally came, Mattek-Sands sending a half-volley floating wide to surrender serve. There was still time for some late jitters, the previously immaculate Makarova firing long before swinging a serve out wide to close out victory at the fourth time of asking.

“It was a tough match and it was a little bit up and down. It was very important not to have a third set, because the deciding tie-break is a little bit tricky,” Makarova added. “Luckily we could stay solid and focused.”

The triumph comes on the back of a glorious summer in which the pair brought back Olympic gold from Rio. “This year for us has been amazing. The year-end Finals in Singapore is something we’ve been dreaming to win, so this is like a dream come true.”

For Mattek-Sands and Safarova, the result brings to an end an 18-match unbeaten run. It also denies Mattek-Sands the chance to overhaul Sania Mirza at the top of the rankings and finish as 2016 WTA Year-End No.1 Ranking, presented by Dubai Duty Free.

Petra Kvitova and Wimbledon go together like strawberries and cream. Since 2010, Kvitova has made the quarterfinals or better five times, winning the title twice in 2011 and 2014. The All England Club is where Kvitova has made her mark, emblazoned her name, and played her absolute best. And it’s where she’s been able to kickstart a season when she’s arrived on a sputter.

Kvitova has yet to get her game going in 2016. She made the quarterfinals or better at just two events this year and has slipped out of the Top 10 for the first time since 2013. She will be seeded outside the Top 8 for the first time since 2010. Despite it all, Wimbledon has a firm history of curing all that ails her. Kvitova just needs to get on a roll.

“I remember in 2011, I was injured in my leg, which wasn’t really nice,” Kvitova told WTA Insider. “I was coming from Eastbourne and I remember I was supposed to play on Monday but it was raining so I was so happy to play on Tuesday. I played the final in Eastbourne and I felt like the tournament just continued. It’s not like a new tournament, new Grand Slam, so I was just flowing.

“Nobody really expected – me neither – that I can play so well there. For me it was a really special moment and really a surprise. I didn’t know how to handle it.

“It was totally different [in 2014]. I think in the second Wimbledon I think there was kind of expectations already. It was much more difficult. I played three Czech girls on the journey. I didn’t really feel like I could win it again but I was just so focused. After the final I was just feeling so much deeper, so satisfied with everything. It was something more than the first one.”

Kvitova will be playing Wimbledon without her long-time coach David Kotyza. The two split after the Australian Open and she’s now coached by former ATP player Frantisek Cermak. Their best results of the season came in the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open and semifinals of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.

“I think that I’m kind of feeling that I am playing well, even though I kind of lost some of the matches in a couple of months,” Kvitova said at the Aegon International. “But I think it’s pretty good. The main thing is to stay healthy, for sure. Otherwise I feel good.”

Kvitova said the biggest struggle for her as been keeping focus in matches. “I do work with my mental coach,” she said. “I think it’s getting better, as well. But you never really know. Kind of these [tight] matches, it’s difficult, always under the pressure and the players are playing without any expectation or anything. Sometimes it’s difficult to stay still, very focused on every kind of point.”

In 2014, Kvitova arrived to Wimbledon without a title under her belt for the season. Her draw got her two fairly easy opening opponents before she locked in to beat Venus Williams, 5-7, 7-6(2), 7-5 in one of the best matches of that year. Kvitova then capped it off with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Eugenie Bouchard in just 55 minutes.

As Kvitova says herself, she doesn’t need much practice to matches to play well. They clearly help her confidence, but deep down Kvitova knows her game is there. She just needs to find it in time.

“I just know that it’s there,” Kvitova said. “[The way] you were training before you can’t really forget.”

Listen to more of Kvitova’s thoughts on the upcoming Championships in the latest episode of the WTA Insider Podcast:

Click here to read more about this year’s Wimbledon Contenders, courtesy of WTA Insider.

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.