Indian Wells: Karolina Pliskova Vs Garbiñe Muguruza
Karolina Pliskova faced Garbiñe Muguruza in the quarterfinal of the BNP Paribas Open.
Karolina Pliskova faced Garbiñe Muguruza in the quarterfinal of the BNP Paribas Open.
Kristina Mladenovic talks about the confidence she has gained following her victory over Caroline Wozniacki.
Elena Vesnina takes on Venus Williams in the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open.
Check out all the action from Day 9 of the BNP Paribas Open.
Svetlana Kuznetsova takes on Karolina Pliskova in the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open.
The 2017 Aces For Humanity campaign was launched by USANA and the WTA at the BNP Paribas Open, where every ace hit by a WTA player at Premier-level events translates into a donation to the USANA True Health Foundation, whose mission is to provide the most critical human necessities to those who are suffering or in need around the world.
For every ace hit by any player the WTA donates $5, and for every ace hit by a USANA Brand Ambassador, it’s $10.
USANA Brand Ambassadors Caroline Wozniacki, Eugenie Bouchard, Monica Puig and Zheng Saisai hit 12 of the 476 aces in Indian Wells – raising a grand total of $2,560 throughout the fortnight. Wozniacki hit the most with seven aces.
Read more about the campaign here and see below to find out who’s hit the most aces so far!
#AcesForHumanity Fan Giveaway
It’s simple: before each WTA Premier tournament guess how many total aces will be hit.
Next up is the Miami Open in Miami. Last year there was a total of 539 aces hit. It’s now your turn, take your best guess of how many will be hit this year.
How To Enter:
• Follow @WTA and @USANAFoundation on Twitter and before each WTA Premier tournament tweet the number of aces you predict will be hit during the whole tournament (Singles, Main Draw)
• Include the hashtag #AcesForHumanity
• Beijing deadline is March 21 at 11:59pm ET
• The winner will be announced April 3rd
Aces For Humanity is a joint WTA and USANA initiative that benefits the USANA True Health Foundation, which provides critical human necessities to those in suffering or in need around the globe.
For full rules on how to enter, click here.
How have Angelique Kerber, Karolina Pliskova, Simona Halep and the rest of the Miami Open contenders fared in the past?
BOL, Croatia – No.7 seed Polona Hercog storms in to the final of the WTA Bol Open 125K in dominating fashion. She dropped just two games in her 6-0, 6-2 romp over No.4 seed Nao Hibino and didn’t face a break point all match long.
Watch free live streaming from Bol, Croatia all week right here on wtatennis.com!
Disappointingly for the local Croatian fans, No.5 seed Ana Konjuh was forced to retire from her match against Luxembourg’s Mandy Minella due to a lower back injury. Konjuh was down 3-6, 1-2 before calling the trainer for a medical time out and withdrawing.
“I’m sorry for the fans and I’m sorry for the tournament,” Konjuh told Croatian media after the match. “I tried to go on but today it didn’t work. I hope it will not be anything serious.”
Konjuh also added that she hopes to be back on court in time for Nottingham next week, where she is the defending champion and has been drawn to meet Britain’s Laura Robson in the first round.
Minella is set to face Hercog in her first WTA-level singles final, which you can watch live right here at wtatennis.com.
MIAMI, FL, USA – It was a bad day in the opening round of qualifying for two of Britain’s hopes in the Miami Open as Katie Swan and Naomi Broady fell at the first hurdle.
British No.3 Broady lost 7-5, 6-4 to New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic in what was expected to be a close match with only 15 places between the pair in the WTA rankings.
It was a similarly tight affair in the match between Swan and Risa Ozaki, the Japanese winning 6-3, 6-3, although the discrepancy in the rankings of over 250 places meant that this was somewhat of a more expected result.
Not the result I was hoping for…had a lot of chances but still loved being out there!! Let's keep it going ??? #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/QlTC5BdUSq
— Katie Swan (@Katieswan99) March 20, 2017
Elsewhere, WTA Insider reported a popular victory for 15-year-old Anastasia Potapova over rising Greek star Maria Sakkari and in-form second seed Magda Linette survived a second set blip to overcome Asia Muhammad in three tight sets.
There were also notable wins for Donna Vekic (d. Kayla Day 4-6, 6-2, 6-4), Varvara Lepchenko (d. Silvia Soler-Espinosa 7-5, 6-1), Madison Brengle (d. Sachia Vickery 6-1, 6-2) , Mona Barthel (d. Jaqueline Cristian 6-1, 6-1) and Francesca Schiavone (d. Kateryna Kozlova 6-3, 6-0).
MIAMI, FL, USA – Newly-minted World No.1 Angelique Kerber has officially reclaimed her spot at the top of the WTA rankings on Monday, a day before the Miami Open kicks off and where she’ll also be the No.1 seed for the first time.
But the big question for former World No.1 Chrissie Evert is how Kerber will cope with the pressures of having the target on her back once again.
Kerber is still searching for her first title of 2017 after falling in the fourth round of Indian Wells to eventual champion Elena Vesnina. The German went into the match leading 4-1 in their head-to-head record, but started off flat and allowed Vesnina to dictate the rallies, a contrast to the game she showed during her run to two Grand Slam titles last year.
She’s also yet to defeat a Top 20 player in 2017, falling to Elina Svitolina twice (Brisbane, No.14; Dubai, No.13) and later Vesnina (No.15).
“For me it’s nothing really to do with the physicality of her game,” Evert said in an ESPN phone call. “It’s not that the game is not there, the same game that she won the Australian Open with and the US Open with.
“I think it’s all in her head, and it is a big adjustment to have that No.1 bullseye on your back and to continue to play with the fearlessness that it took for her to get there. She went out of the box in big matches that she won last year; she took more chances. She played more fearless tennis. She went for more shots. She went for bigger serves. She went for bigger second serves.
“She really, to me, this year has gone back into the type of tennis she played two years ago when she was Top 5 in the world, but not No.1.”
Evert drew a comparison between Kerber and the resurgent Caroline Wozniacki – who’s added a bit more aggression to her counterpunching game to help her climb back on top following an injury-riddled 2016 season and consecutive slide down the rankings.
“She has to do what Wozniacki is trying to do now: taking a few more risks and being a little more aggressive,” Evert explained. “Those two, I see their games similar as far as their unbelievable defense and counterpunching, and it goes against their nature to really wind up and to attack right from the start. But they’ve got to learn to do that a little bit more.”
Evert, who was the year-ending World No.1 singles player in 1974-1978 and 1980-1981 and held on to the ranking for a total of 260 weeks, had some words of advice for what it would take for the German to regain her fearlessness.
“[Kerber] has to get back that aggressive mentality, and she’s got to really force it on herself because she’s not going to be No. 1 until she plays like she did at the US Open and like she did in Australia.
“The tennis is there, but she’s got to get back into that frame of mind, and she’s got to work on that. Only she can do it. You can listen to a thousand people or the best coaches in the world, but only she has to come to terms with that.”
– Photos courtesy of Getty Images