Australian Open: Kristyna Pliskova vs Irina-Camelia Begu
Kristyna Pliskova takes on Irina-Camelia Begu in the second round of the Australian Open.
Kristyna Pliskova takes on Irina-Camelia Begu in the second round of the Australian Open.
An interview with Carla Suárez Navarro after her first round win at the Brisbane International.
Venus Williams had Sunday’s shot of the day at the Bank of the West Classic.
Life is a rollercoaster for Svetlana Kuznetsova, and while in Melbourne she stopped by Luna Park to take a ride on one in real life. (Fiona Hamilton, Tennis Australia)
Before the action, Sveta made sure to grab some popcorn and cotton candy, standard amusement park treats! (Fiona Hamilton, Tennis Australia)
Luna Park is a very historic amusement park – it opened in 1912! (Fiona Hamilton, Tennis Australia)
Sveta eased into the amusement park spirit with a ride on the Magical Carousel. (Getty Images)
Next up, Sveta took her whole team onto the Scenic Railway rollercoaster. (Fiona Hamilton, Tennis Australia)
Sveta looks like she’s having fun! Coach Carlos Martínez? Not so much… (Fiona Hamilton, Tennis Australia)
Opened in December 1912, the Scenic Railway is the oldest continually operating roller coaster in the world! (Getty Images)
“I was a little bit nervous before getting on, but it was not too big!” Sveta said after the ride. (Getty Images)
Scenic Railway is one of only three roller coasters in the world that require a brakeman to stand in the middle of the train – he looks pretty calm! (Getty Images)
“I don’t remember the last time I’ve been to a park like this! Visiting somewhere other than the tennis club, it’s already very good,” she added. (Fiona Hamilton, Tennis Australia)
SHENZHEN, China – World No.5 Agnieszka Radwanska registered an expected win, in unexpected circumstances, to get her 2016 campaign up and running at the Shenzhen Open.
Heavy rain forced the tournament organizers to move the majority of Tuesday’s order of play indoors, although the change of venue failed to distract Radwanska, who needed little over an hour to outfox Krunic, 6-4, 6-3, in her first match since lifting the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
“Of course we all saw the weather and knew it would be difficult,” Radwanska said. “There was not much time to wait and I was prepared for that. Of course I came here to play outdoors, but we both had the same conditions and I’m happy I played my match today.”
With memories of Singapore fresh in her memory, Radwanska did not take long to knock off any rustiness, saving three break points in the second set to keep another of the game’s more cerebral competitors at arm’s length.
“I feel like I played my last match in Singapore a week ago! It’s always tough to come back to the match rhythm, but actually I was feeling really good and didn’t have any problems doing what I wanted to do on court and for the first match I played good tennis so I’m happy with that,” she added.
“I think the first matches are always the worst and the toughest. Every tournament has different conditions, especially here – I’ve never played indoors at a tournament that was outdoors. It’s a little bit of a new experience but everything went well so that’s the most important thing.”
In the second round the Pole will face wildcard Zhang Shuai, a 6-3, 6-3 winner earlier on over Irina Khromacheva. Elsewhere, there were mixed fortunes for three of Radwanska’s fellow seeds, Petra Kvitova, Eugenie Bouchard and Johanna Konta.
No.6 seed Bouchard put her difficult 2015 season behind her with a determined performance against Donna Vekic, overcoming a mid-match blip to come through, 6-4, 1-6, 7-5.
Unlike Bouchard, Konta, the No.5 seed, arrived in China with plenty of momentum after a brilliant second half to the previous campaign. However, in her first seeded outing at a WTA event, she slipped to a surprise defeat to Wang Qiang, going down to the World No.110, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
In the final match, Kvitova’s Australian Open preparations suffered a setback when she was forced to retire midway through her match against Zheng Saisai with a gastrointestinal illness. Zheng, who took the first set 6-2, will now meet Anett Kontaveit for a place in the quarterfinals.
An interview with Petra Kvitova after her win in the first round of the Rogers Cup.
Six-time champion Serena Williams came through her first significant test at this year’s Australian Open, defeating Lucie Safarova in two high-quality sets.
Petra Kvitova and Alison Riske tried their hand at traditional Chinese calligraphy before the Shenzhen Open kicked off – how did their scripts turn out? Find out here.
An interview with Garbiñe Muguruza before her opening round match at the Rogers Cup.
MELBOURNE, Australia – Mirjana Lucic-Baroni caused the biggest upset of this year’s Australian Open by knocking out No.3 seed Agnieszka Radwanska in the second round.
In little over an hour on Margaret Court Arena, Lucic-Baroni struck 33 winners to complete a 6-3, 6-2 victory and set up a third-round meeting with another unseeded player, Maria Sakkari.
Lucic-Baroni will turn 35 in March and last progressed beyond the first round at Melbourne Park in 1998. However, even after dropping serve at the start of the second set, she refused to be derailed, reeling off the next six games to seal victory, and hand Radwanska her earliest loss at Melbourne Park in eight years.
Mirjana #LucicBaroni has that winning #AusOpen feeling in 2R pic.twitter.com/i3WQOQLBTS
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 19, 2017
A one-time teenage prodigy, Lucic-Baroni has returned to the limelight in recent years, winning a third career title at Québec City in 2014, and upsetting Simona Halep at the French and US Opens. These performances have imbued the Croat with the confidence that on her day she can compete with the game’s best.
“That was my first big win in a while and it was a shock,” Lucic-Baroni said when asked about her win over Halep at the 2014 US Open. “I know I have some good tennis in me still, that’s the reason I’m still out here playing at 34 – I’m no spring chicken – to get these moments and these feelings. It was really fun tonight.
“I know that I have the game to win a big match. I didn’t go in there to see a big court, I went in with a gameplan. I’ve been around too long to just gain experience.”
Like Halep, Radwanska proved powerless in the face of a barrage of winners, responding with just eight of her own.
“There’s not a lot I could do; she’s playing without pressure, full power. It’s hard to comment because it all went so fast,” Radwanska said in her press conference. “It’s always disappointing when you lose in the first week of a Grand Slam. I need to come back next year and do better.”
Lucic-Baroni now faces Sakkari, another player appearing at this stage of the tournament for the first time.
“I don’t feel like I’m that old. I’ve missed a few years on tour, but this time around I don’t have anything to prove, I’m just enjoying myself, playing for myself. I’m enjoying it, enjoying the moments and just trying to go as far as I can,” Lucic-Baroni added.