Tennis News

The WTA’s Top 9 stayed the same after a week of action on the green clay of Charleston, where Daria Kasatkina took home her maiden title at the Volvo Car Open, and in Monterrey where Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova powered to a fourth Abierto GNP Seguros title.

The only major change in the Top 10 is the return of Madison Keys, who knocked out Venus Williams and leapfrogged Caroline Wozniacki to rise from No.11 to No.10.

Wozniacki was a win away from returning to the Top 10 for the first time since September 2015, but she was denied the chance by an inspired Jelena Ostapenko in the Charleston quarterfinals.

Here are the biggest ranking movers this week after Charleston and Monterrey:

Jelena Ostapenko +16 (No.66 to No.50): 19-year-old Ostapenko reached the third final of her career – and her first final on clay – at the Volvo Car Open this week. She took down a pair of seeds along the way, knocking out No.5 Caroline Wozniacki and No.11 Mirjana Lucic-Baroni. As a result, she’s earned herself a spot back inside the WTA’s Top 50.

Daria Kasatkina +13 (No.42 to No.29): Not only did 19-year-old Kasatkina reach her first WTA singles final in Charleston, but she also went all the way and took home her maiden WTA after a commanding win over Ostapenko. Her impressive performance sends her rocketing up the rankings, landing inside the Top 30 at No.29.

Shelby Rogers +3 (No.52 to No.49): It was an emotional week for Charleston native Rogers. She entered her home tournament with just one main draw win under her belt and admitted to struggling in front of her home crowd. But all that changed this week, where she put together an inspiring run to the quarterfinals, posting back-to-back wins over top seed Madison Keys and Naomi Osaka along the way. She lands at No.49, just one spot removed from her career-high of No.48.

Carla Suárez Navarro +2 (No.25 to No.23): After spending the last few years inside the WTA’s Top 20, Suárez Navarro’s ranking took a hit when a shoulder injury forced her off the tennis courts at the start of 2017. The Spaniard missed the Australian and Middle Eastern swings, and found herself outside the Top 20 for the first time since 2013. She turned it all around in Monterrey, halting her slide down the rankings with an impressive run to the semifinals.

Click here to check out the updated WTA rankings as of April 10.

BIRMINGHAM, Great Britain – Ricoh Open champion CoCo Vandeweghe notched the biggest win of her career on Wednesday, vanquishing top seed Agnieszka Radwanska, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3, to advance into the second round of the Aegon Classic and win her sixth straight match.

Watch live action from Birmingham and Mallorca this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

Vandeweghe had never taken a set from the World No.3 in all four of their previous encounters – three of which took place in 2015 – but the big-hitting American edged out the only service break in a 57 minute opening set – one that had begun on Wednesday – to snap the Pole’s seven-set streak.

“She’s a tricky oponnent any way you slice it – I mean that as a pun and literally!” she joked during her on-court interview. 

Radwanska held off Vandeweghe’s charge into the second set to hold serve just as the rain came to interrupt play once again.

“You have all these rain delays, a lot of breaks. It about keeping your mind on the game, which isn’t easy. But you have to do your best; I try to keep myself quiet, away from everybody. I don’t start thinking about other things, but hopefully this rain stays away for the rest of the week so we can play a full set all the way through. That would be nice!”

Rain…

…Again ☔️ #AegonClassic pic.twitter.com/hbT5ph8wyS

— WTA (@WTA) June 15, 2016

Losing serve to level the match, Vandeweghe rebounded well in the decider, racing out to a double-break lead; though she failed to serve out her first Top 5 win, she closed things out one game later to book a second round encounter with fellow American Christina McHale, hitting 48 winners to 33 unforced errors – forcing the issue far more than Radwanska’s 20 winners to 13 unforced.

Showing the sort of grass court efficiency that already earned her a title in the Netherlands, Vandeweghe also won 17 of her 24 forays at net, moving forward in the hopes of rushing the crafty Radwanska.

“I just stuck with my gameplan; I got myself into a little bit of trouble here and there in the first second and third set, but I just managed through it. Definitely the confidence from last week and winning the title helps get you out of that tricky situation. You’ve done it so well the week before that nothing really phases you and it’s just another match.

“She takes power and moves it around the court, but I didn’t think she could sustain it if I was able to be consistent with my power and pace. I thought I would overpower her, so that was my gameplan. 

“She was going to hit some amazing shots, but I think overall if I stuck with it, I was going to beat her.”

Speaking later in her post-match press conference, Vandeweghe admitted to having to overcome a crisis of confidence in her first round in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, one that largely stemmed from failing to qualify for the US Olympic team.

“My first match on the grass, I was really extremely nervous. I was playing a local wildcard, and I never heard of her. You never know what you’re going do get with a wildcard. I mean, I’ve been a wildcard before.

“Whether it’s someone that crumbles in front of their home, can’t perform to their abilities, someone that plays out their mind because they’re rising to the occasion, like, Holy cow, I’m finally in the WTAs.

“I’ve played the part in both of those scenarios. I was kind of thinking in the wrong mind frame of, I’ve had such great results on grass, I’ve got to do it again, points and seeding for Wimbledon.

“I was also kind of dealing with a major letdown of I didn’t make the Olympic team and that was one of my biggest goals. So it was definitely a hard moment for me that I really internalized. I didn’t talk to anyone on my team. It was just kind of a disappointing moment for myself, heartbreaking moment for myself.”

Hear more from Vandeweghe in her Champion’s Corner interview on the latest episode of the WTA Insider Podcast:

Disappointed in defeat, Radwanska nonetheless spoke well of her opponent in press after the match.

“She was really consistent and solid. No free points from her,” she said in her post-loss press conference. “You can really see how she won the tournament last week.

“She was really playing good game and very consistent for all three sets. That’s surprised me a little bit as well.

“For me, was tough. First match is always tricky pretty much without the practice on the grass. I think I needed a couple more days to adjust. Hopefully Eastbourne will be better.”

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— WTA (@WTA) June 15, 2016