Angelique Kerber's Best Shots Of 2016
Angelique Kerber hit many a hot shot in 2016 on her way to becoming World No.1 – watch all of her best shots of the year right here!
Angelique Kerber hit many a hot shot in 2016 on her way to becoming World No.1 – watch all of her best shots of the year right here!
‘S-HERTOGENBOSCH, Netherlands – No.3 seed Kristina Mladenovic battled through fatigue and a surging Russian qualifier Natalia Vikhlyantseva to reach the quarterfinals at the Ricoh Open, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.
Watch live action from ‘s-Hertogenbosch this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
Mladenovic acknowledged that the quick turnaround from the Roland Garros clay – where on Saturday she won a Grand Slam doubles title with partner Caroline Garcia – to the grass of ‘s-Hertogenbosch was tough on her. In fact, it left her participation in the Ricoh Open up in the air.
“I have to be honest, I’m a bit surprised to be in the quarterfinals here,” Mladenovic admitted. “But I love the tournament, grass is one of my favorite surfaces.
“I was thinking about maybe pulling out, because obviously there is fatigue. I’m a bit tired, but I wanted to commit because I love this tournament and that’s why I keep coming back a couple of years in a row.”
Standing between Mladenovic and the quarterfinals was Russian qualifier Vikhlyantseva, who last round scored an upset to oust Denisa Allertova. Vikhlyantseva played far above her No.254 ranking to take the first set from the Frenchwoman, breaking twice to rattle off the last four consecutive games and take it 7-5.
The Frenchwoman grabbed an early break in the second set to rally to a 5-2 lead. Despite Vikhlyantseva getting one back, Mladenovic closed her out at her next chance, 6-3. In the deciding set, Mladenovic again felt pushback from Vikhlyantseva, staying toe to toe with her all the way to 4-4 before pulling away to take the match and her spot in the quarterfinals.
Mladenovic chalked up her first set stumble in part to the unknown factor of playing a new opponent for the first time, although the only thing she’s thinking about now is a well-deserved break.
“I didn’t know much about her,” she said of the 19-year-old Russian. “She’s very young and seems to be very talented and not easy to play on grass. Not much rallying and she has good serve. But I just had to dig in there.”
“To be honest, I’m very satisfied to be into the quarters tomorrow. I guess I will have a day off to try to recover – I still feel like I’m on clay in Roland Garros!”
2014 champion CoCo Vandeweghe is also through to the quarterfinals of the Ricoh Open. Despite an innocuous-looking scoreline of 6-2, 6-3 over Nao Hibino, Vandeweghe survived a doozy with six break of serve in the first set alone. In the second set, she rattled off six straight games to turn around a 3-0 deficit.
“Today was a very tricky day for me, mentally,” Vandeweghe said afterward. “I wasn’t as focused as I would like to be. But I managed to overcome it today.
“That’s kind of the name of the game, to just keep moving on, keep going through the second round.”
Also through are Belgian qualifier Elise Mertens, who defeated Aleksandra Krunic 6-4, 7-6(3); and Madison Brengle, who edged through in a battle against Dutch favorite Richel Hogenkamp, 7-5, 5-7, 7-5.
Few were as stunned by Kiki Bertens’ Cinderella run to the semifinals of Roland Garros than Bertens herself. The Dutch star celebrated her almost improbable quarterfinal win over No.8 seed Timea Bacsinszky with a shrug.
“I was like, Can you believe it? Because I cannot. And also my parents were like, No, this is not happening. But, yeah, it is.”
Her run of 12 straight wins – not including a doubles victory over the Williams sisters – began as a qualifier at the NÜRNBERGER VERSICHERUNGSCUP, which she won before reaching the second week of a Grand Slam for just the second time in her career, all but guaranteeing her spot on the Dutch Olympic team at the upcoming Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.
“I think in the preseason I did a lot of work. Like the first three weeks was only physical practices, like two, sometimes three times a day.
“It was a hell really, but I’m really glad we did it. Like with my whole team we were working really hard every day.”
For all of those reasons, Bertens is your Breakthrough Player of the Month!
Final Results for May’s WTA Breakthrough Performance Of The Month
1. Kiki Bertens (69%)
2. Shelby Rogers (16%)
3. Yulia Putintseva (12%)
4. Louisa Chirico (3%)
2016 Breakthrough Performance Of The Month Winners
January: Zhang Shuai
February: Jelena Ostapenko
March: Nicole Gibbs
April: Cagla Buyukakcay
How it works:
Finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com
Former runner-up Chang Kai-Chen returned to the final of the OEC Taipei WTA Challenger with an impressive victory over No.8 seed Marina Erakovic.
An interview with Belinda Bencic before the start of the Aegon Classic Birmingham.
Earlier this year, Canada’s No.1 Eugenie Bouchard showed us how to make the perfect parfait, and now she’s back to shake things up with her favorite USANA MySmart Shake.
Watch to find out how to make a great on-the-go snack or a quick, nutritious breakfast with just five ingredients – and a packet of USANA MySmart Shake Whey Protein.
USANA is the Official Vitamin & Supplement Supplier of the WTA, and over 170 Athletes – including 8 out of the Top 10 and 15 out of the Top 20 use USANA products. Former No.1 Caroline Wozniacki, Samantha Stosur, Eugenie Bouchard, and Madison Keys are among several USANA ambassadors, and 2016 marks the 10th Anniversary of the USANA-WTA partnership.
Highlights from first round action at the Aegon International Birmingham.
Angelique Kerber has Tuesday’s shot of the day at the Aegon International Birmingham.
Caroline Wozniacki’s late-season resurgence made headlines during the Asian Swing, but her spectacular shotmaking was on song all season long. Watch all her best shots of 2016!
Irina-Camelia Begu takes on Belinda Bencic in the first round of the Aegon Classic.