Madrid: Halep Interview
An interview with Simona Halep after her win in the quarterfinals of the Mutua Madrid Open.
An interview with Simona Halep after her win in the quarterfinals of the Mutua Madrid Open.
Simona Halep takes on Irina-Camelia Begu in the quarterfinals of the Mutua Madrid Open.
Plenty of the stars have been relaxing over the Easter weekend – as best they can.
Andrea Petkovic isn’t impressed with the tweets she’s seen from a certain music festival.
There's no worse time or place to be on social media than Instagram during Coachella. We get it, you're a hippie! Now move along.
— Andrea Petkovic (@andreapetkovic) April 16, 2017
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Elena Vesnina have been at the soccer to see Spartak beat Zenit 2-1.
Ole ole oleole Спартак вперед!!✊?#холодинакакая#спасибозашарф @spartak_se pic.twitter.com/9s85liaRhB
— A. Pavlyuchenkova (@NastiaPav) April 16, 2017
Spartak-Zenit⚽️Спартак-Зенит⚽️Ваши прогнозы?Уже 1-0 Спартак? pic.twitter.com/Gn25OgWDaT
— Elena Vesnina (@EVesnina001) April 16, 2017
Christina McHale went to a different ball game – to watch the Yankees play the Cardinals.
Beautiful night for some baseball ??. Let's go Yankees !!!! pic.twitter.com/aT7Wbfbe2p
— Christina McHale (@ChristinaMcHale) April 17, 2017
Julia Boserup is just enjoying a beautiful view in Denmark.
Enjoying a few days in Copenhagen .. ? Cherry blossoms in full bloom pic.twitter.com/DMygMERzwP
— Julia Boserup (@juliaboserup) April 16, 2017
And Naomi Osaka is considering developing her tennis skills even further.
Does anyone know if mixed doubles is hard? Also, any opinions on it? Getting a bit curious.
— NaomiOsaka大坂なおみ (@Naomi_Osaka_) April 16, 2017
Watch this space…
A group of young Madrid fans got the chance to practice with their favorite WTA stars at the Caja Magica, including Christina McHale and doubles duo Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka.
Serena Williams is at the beach – and Melanie Oudin is running through swathes of mud.
Dominika Cibulkova takes on Louisa Chirico in the semifinals of the Mutua Madrid Open.
Sloane Stephens is on the comeback trail following surgery on her left foot – and her latest social media update shows her recovery is going well.
She tweeted: “Day 1 walking…EXCITED!” and accompanied that with a short video clip showing her smiling and taking a few tentative steps.
Day 1 walking… EXCITED!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/47PReC1EGT
— Sloane Stephens (@SloaneStephens) April 18, 2017
The American picked up the injury last summer, and although she had hoped rest would help her to recover from it, she announced at the start of 2017 that it would require an operation.
She plans to return to the tour this summer.
MADRID, Spain – Can Simona Halep cap off a banner week for Romanian tennis? Or will Dominika Cibulkova continue her role as spoiler?
WTA Insider Senior Writer Courtney Nguyen previews Saturday’s final at the Mutua Madrid Open with some help from Adrian Toca, founder of the influential Romanian tennis site Treizecizero.ro. Nguyen and Toca review a fantastic week for Romania in Madrid, which saw Halep, Irina-Camelia Begu, Sorana Cirstea, and Patricia Maria Tig make the quarterfinals. Toca explains the impact of Halep’s rise on tennis in Romania and looks ahead to a final that is very difficult to call.
Toca: In Romania it’s already a big story, to have four players in the quarters of this kind of tournament. We already knew about Simona, what she can do, what kind of tennis she can play. But having a lot of other girls that probably the tennis world wasn’t aware of them before, such as Patricia or having Sorana back, this made everything much sweeter for us.
Nguyen: Cibulkova, I’ve called her the most dangerous unseeded player in the draw. Thankfully for everyone, with her run here in Madrid, she will be seeded most likely from now on at the major tournaments for the rest of the year. As it is, it’s a very tough matchup for Simona. Dominika leads the head-to-head 3-1 and has the type of game that can bother Simona. I find it to be quite a bit of a toss-up match.
Toca: So for her being in this final, for a lot of people, it’s out of nowhere. Not surprisingly if you ask me because she was due to start winning at some point. So it’s a big deal for her. She seems in a good spot right now, in a good place. She said early in the week that she likes being again under the radar, not being considered anymore the favorite. For the first time in a while she managed the situation really good, being the top seed left in the draw. She kept on winning. Madrid is a tournament she adores. So having the opportunity to win such a big title will make her give everything on court tomorrow.
KEY INFORMATION:
Tournament Level: Premier 5
Prize Money: $2,735,939
Draw Size: 56 main draw (8 byes)/32 qualifying
Qualifying Dates: Saturday, May 7 – Sunday, May 8
First Day of Main Draw: Monday, May 9
Singles Final: Sunday, May 15, 1:30 PM
Doubles Final: Sunday, May 15 (after singles final)
MUST FOLLOW SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS:
@WTA
@WTA_Insider – WTA Insider, Senior Writer Courtney Nguyen
@InteBNLdItalia – official tournament handle
Get involved in conversations with the official hashtags, #ibi16 and #WTA.
TOURNAMENT NOTES:
· Three-time champion Serena Williams makes her 2016 clay court debut, and is playing just her fourth tournament of the season (Australian Open, Indian Wells, Miami).
· Mutua Madrid Open winner Simona Halep is seeded to play Williams in the quarterfinals after winning her second career Premier Mandatory title.
· No.4 seed Victoria Azarenka could face Williams in the semifinals, and is playing her first event since pulling out of Madrid last week with a lower back injury.
· For the complete draw click here.
WILDCARDS:
Francesca Schiavone (ITA), Karin Knapp (ITA), Claudia Giovine (ITA)
WITHDRAWALS:
Belinda Bencic, Sloane Stephens, Caroline Wozniacki, Camila Giorgi
ROME, Italy – Defending Olympic gold medal team Serena Williams and Venus Williams took a wildcard into the Internazionali BNL d’Italia and rekindled their doubles partnership for the first time since 2014.
Watch highlights, interviews and more video from Rome right here on wtatennis.com!
Even though their first doubles venture in almost two years ended in a straight sets loss to the all-Slovenian team of Andreja Klepac and Katarina Srebotnik 6-1, 7-5, the Williams sisters showed flashes of the prowess that saw them win 21 titles together, including back-to-back Olympic gold medals.
Venus, who had played her opening singles match a few hours before, admitted that fatigue could have played a factor in her doubles loss.
“I haven’t done that in a long time,” Venus said in her post match press conference. “But I knew what was going to happen going into it. Even if you get tired, you have to try to ignore it. I felt okay.
“I guess I don’t have to worry about it anymore this week. Hopefully I’ll have that problem for two weeks in the French Open.That would be an awesome problem to have.”
The packed crowed on Court 1 was witness to lots of flubbed errors and mistiming from Venus and Serena – who are both also competing in singles here in Rome – as they looked to shake off the rust and narrowly avoid a shut out in the first set. They showed their grit in the second, mounting a comeback from 4-2 down, but the Slovenians closed them out to book a second-round clash against the No.2 seeds Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova.
Despite the disappointing result, the Williams sisters have their eye on the future, including competing in Roland Garros and trying for a fourth gold medal at the Sumer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
“We haven’t played doubles in a while,” Serena said in her press conference yesterday. “Obviously we would love to play in the Olympics.
“I love playing with Venus. She’s the best partner, and hopefully she feels the same about me. We make a great team.”
As the Olympic race takes shape, lots of same-country doubles teams looking to get as much doubles action in as possible. Serena and Venus are the defending gold medal team, and will likely use their combined singles rankings to gain direct entry into the 32-team draw, as explained by WTA Insider.