Sydney: Bencic Interview
An interview with Belinda Bencic after her win in the quarterfinals of the Apia International Sydney.
An interview with Belinda Bencic after her win in the quarterfinals of the Apia International Sydney.
SINGAPORE – Down a set in her first-ever BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global semifinal, Dominika Cibulkova shifted into turbo to take out No.8 seed and story of the tournament, Svetlana Kuznetsova, 1-6, 7-6(2), 6-4. The win is guaranteed to take her at least up to a career-high ranking of No.6.
Read how the match unfolded in the WTA Insider Live Blog.
– Cibulkova hit through the occasion, and the pressure.
Familiar to big stages, the Slovak once struggled to maintain an aggressive mindset at the finish line of high-stakes encounters; it was just six months ago that she narrowly lost back-to-back three-setters to Agnieszka Radwanska and Garbiñe Muguruza in Indian Wells and Miami.
But Cibulkova’s mental evolution has been on full display in Singapore, and the No.7 seed resolved to play positive tennis, win or lose.
A “Come On” instead of a “POME”, but it still means the same for @Cibulkova. One game away! #WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/iL2afsB1dj
— WTA (@WTA) October 29, 2016
“I ended the second set really, really well,” she said after the match. “I was hitting full power and everything and I was going for it. I knew there is no other way than to go for it. I managed to put the balls in.”
Winning the last five matches against Kuznetsova made her a heavy favorite, especially considering the amount of matches the Russian had to play just to get to Singapore, let alone the semifinals. But Kuznetsova came roaring out of the gate, hitting nine winners to take the first set in 33 minutes.
“She was putting the pressure after my serve, because my percentage was really low and she was putting so much pressure from the second serve return.
“I knew I had to start serving better, I had to be the one being more aggressive on the court. I had to play my game, to be in on my forehand and to go for my shots.”
Cibulkova had caught the always-aggressive Kuznetsova’s winner total of 27 by match’s end, all the while keeping her unforced error count lower than the No.8 seed (31 to 35). Through a high-quality match, she took control when it mattered most.
“Today I managed to stay in the match, even [when] she was playing really, really good and she was overplaying me in the first set.”
A lovely dropshot from @Cibulkova. #WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/an8wDqduDD
— WTA (@WTA) October 29, 2016
– Kuznetsova let distractions get the best of her.
The Russian made it through two of the tensest weeks in her career to find herself in her first semifinal in Singapore. From a break down in the third, she won four straight games and appeared on course to replicate the form that took her through the first set.
But something wasn’t right. She spoke with umpire Kader Nouni during the changeover after breaking Cibulkova’s serve in the fifth game; Nouni assured her the issue – whatever it was – wasn’t falling afoul of the rules. She proceeded to lose the final four games of the match.
“Overall I was frustrated for other thing which I thought was a little bit unprofessional,” she said afterwards.
A red-eyed Kuznetsova came to press unwilling to specify the source of her distraction, but seemed to imply she took exception to noises coming from Cibulkova’s camp.
“She was OK,” she said when asked whether player or team caused any problems.
Ultimately, the two-time Grand Slam champion refused to blame the moment for the loss, chalking defeat up to tactical errors in the final stages of the match.
“Dominika played really good. She was really aggressive. I was short on some shots, and in the end I think she just was aggressive, and I was not.”
Still, it was a revelatory season for Sveta, who plans a well-deserved vacation after a hectic schedule through the Asian Swing.
“I’m just thinking about vacation right now and just letting [today’s loss] go. I have to go to bed and sleep, not to think about the matches, not to be nervous all the time. For the last five weeks, it was every single day I was thinking about the next day to play another match.
“So I’m dreaming of being able to relax, relax the nerves, and then I just want to have a good pre-season, and next year just to be consistent. I think I [have] got lots of confidence after finishing the year like this. I think I can do a lot of the things.”
– Cibulkova believes the best is yet to come.
Cibulkova hails from a generation that includes Grand Slam champions and former No.1s like Petra Kvitova, Victoria Azarenka, and Caroline Wozniacki. But it’s taken longer for the Slovakian dynamo to meet the expectations set by her cohort, something she blames on a lack of self-belief.
“I never saw myself as that good, or maybe not as a consistent player. He made me believe it. He had examples and I started to believe in myself much more.”
Saturday’s win puts her up to a career-high of No.6, but Cibulkova could finish the week inside the Top 5 – a ranking threshold that doesn’t faze the 27-year-old.
The on-court interview from @Cibulkova after an amazing victory! #WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/qYzxlwn9Kf
— WTA (@WTA) October 29, 2016
“Right now if I’m going to be deeper than Top 10, I’ll really believe I belong there. That’s most important thing: you have to be convinced that you belong there. Then it works.”
She’ll certainly hope it works in Sunday’s final against Angelique Kerber, a match that comes just shy of three years from her first major final at the Australian Open.
“That time I was new, and playing your first Grand Slam final was really tough. I’m happy I have this experience; for me to go on the finals in Australia, I was trying to do my best but I wasn’t convinced I could really win.
“With this experience now I’m a different player. Tomorrow I will go there and just want to win.”
Simona Halep takes on Karolina Pliskova in the quarterfinals of the Apia International Sydney.
NANCHANG, China – Duan Ying-Ying fought back to knock out No.8 seed Han Xinyun and book a spot in the quarterfinals of the Jiangxi Open on Thursday.
Watch live action from Nanchang this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
Long-time rivals on the ITF Circuit, this was the first time the players had met at a WTA event, and it was Han that reacquainted herself the quicker. However, after dropping the first set Duan slowly came back into contention in the second, pinching it after getting the better of a flurry of late service breaks.
She rode this momentum into the decider, opening up an early lead before reeling off the final three games to close out a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory.
“It’s been a while since I last played her so it took me some time to get used to her game, especially because she’s a lefty,” Duan said. “I lost the first set but changed strategy in the second and third and it worked.
“I’m happy with my performance today. And felt quite lucky that I won in the end. She moves very well on court. It’s quite difficult to play her.”
Elsewhere, there were mixed fortunes for the Chinese contingent; Liu Fangzhou provided further home cheer with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Jang Su Jeong, while Misa Eguchi ended the run of qualifier Zhu Lin, 6-4, 6-2.
Petra Kvitova, Johanna Konta, Carla Suárez Navarro, and more stepped out for the Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai’s official player party – see all the best photos right here!
Dropshot Podcast: Breaking down the Australian Open draw, are we headed for a Serena vs. Vika final in Melbourne?
On this Dropshot episode of the WTA Insider Podcast, Senior Writer Courtney Nguyen is joined by Web Editor David Kane to analyze the 2016 Australian Open draw, which is notably top-heavy, offering top seed Serena Williams a tricky path to her 22nd major title, and a bottom half that sees one name in particular stand out: Victoria Azarenka.
Nguyen and Kane discuss whether Simona Halep’s decision to play through pain at the Apia International Sydney will impact her chances in Melbourne, Camila Giorgi’s high-risk/high-reward game, Agnieszka Radwanska’s chances for her first major title, and much, much more.
Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or on any podcast app of your choice; reviews are always helpful, so if you like what you’ve heard so far, leave us one.
You can also get new episode alerts by following us on Twitter @WTA_Insider and stay tuned for more podcast episodes on the WTA website at wtatennis.com.
WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen | What are the biggest stories worth following at what promises to be an exciting Olympic Games? Check out a full draw analysis right her at wtatennis.com!
Dominika Cibulkova takes on Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semifinals of the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
An interview with Svetlana Kuznetsova after her win in the semifinals of the Apia International Sydney.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – How many people will cram into The Maria Esther Bueno Tennis Stadium to watch next Saturday’s singles final? Which nations are best represented in the draw? And whose record is Venus Williams set to match? These are just a few of the questions answered in an Olympic special of wtatennis.com’s By The Numbers.
10,000 – The Olympic Tennis Center’s main court seats 10,000 spectators and was named after Brazilian legend, Maria Bueno, who won 19 Grand Slam titles in the 1950s and 1960s
63 – Since its reintroduction in 1988, 63 different countries have been represented in the tennis competition
42 – The number of games it took the Soviet Union’s Larisa Savchenko to defeat Sara Gomer in Seoul in 1988. In terms of games played, Savchenko’s 6-7(3), 7-6(3), 9-7 victory remains the longest in the Games’ history
24 – World No.24 Alicia Molik, who won bronze at Athens in 2004, is the only unseeded player to collect a medal at the Olympics
18 – At 18 years old Ana Konjuh is the youngest player competing in the singles draw. In 1992, Jennifer Capriati, then 16 years and 132 days old, beat Steffi Graf to win gold
13 – Venus owns a 13-3 record in singles competition at the Olympic Games, the most match wins since tennis returned in 1988
12 – Serena (9) and Venus (13) boast by far the most singles match wins at this summer’s Games. Caroline Wozniacki (5) is next on the list, while the 14 seeds not named Williams have a combined total of just 12
10 – Atlanta gold medalist Lindsay Davenport was No.10 at the time of the Games. She is the lowest-ranked player to win the singles competition
5 -This will be Venus’ fifth Olympics equaling Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario’s record for most appearances
4 – China, Germany, Russia, and the United States all have the maximum of four representatives in the singles draw
3 – Serena and Venus have picked up doubles gold on each occasion they have competed together (2000, 2008 and 2012)
2 – The top seed has won gold at only two of the seven Games since 1988 – Graf (1988) and Justine Henin (2004)
1 – Serena’s solitary defeat in her two previous bids for singles gold came at the hands of eventual winner Elena Dementieva in the Beijing quarterfinals
0 – Prior to Rio, no Turkish tennis player had competed in the Olympic tennis competition. Cagla Buyukakcay will be the first
