Sydney: Friday Highlights
Highlights from the finals action on Day 6 of the Apia International Sydney.
Highlights from the finals action on Day 6 of the Apia International Sydney.
Victoria Azarenka takes on Ysaline Bonaventure in the second round of the Brisbane International.
MONTRÉAL, Canada – Madison Keys bounced back from her All England Club disappointment with a confident win over Elena Vesnina in the first round of the Rogers Cup.
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Going into Wimbledon, Keys was tipped as a dark horse for the title, but saw her hopes dashed in the fourth round by Simona Halep. If the disappointment has lingered, the American hid it well against Vesnina, rattling off the final nine games of the match to complete a 6-4, 6-0 victory.
While Keys’ memories of Wimbledon 2016 will be tinged with disappointment, for Vesnina it was the best fortnight of her career. The Russian defeated a number of higher-ranked players to become the first unseeded semifinalist for five years.
Against Keys, she started brightly enough, confidently holding her opening four service games. However, her opponent’s booming delivery was equally dominant and when she wavered in the ninth game, tugging a couple of forehands into the tramlines, it triggered a sea-change in fortune.
Keys closed out the first set before breaking again in a marathon opening game of the second. As Vesnina’s head dropped, the No.10 seed ruthlessly pounced to book a second-round meeting against Madison Brengle.
Konta Too Good For Rogers
Less than 48 hours on from upsetting Venus Williams to lift her maiden WTA title, Johanna Konta was back on court facing another American, Shelby Rogers.
While the performance this time was less spectacular, the result was the same, Konta’s 6-4, 6-2 win setting up a second-round meeting against either Vania King or Timea Babos.
The Briton started strongly and while unable to secure an insurance break she successfully kept Rogers at arm’s length to take the opening set. In the second both players struggled to hold serve, but once again it was Konta coming out on top at the crucial moments.
This time last year, Konta – then ranked well outside the Top 100 – was competing in the less salubrious surroundings of nearby Granby. She ended up leaving with the trophy, a feat she repeated at another ITF Circuit event the following week in Vancouver before really announcing herself by reaching the fourth round of the US Open.
Now the Top 10 beckons. Only three other British players – Virginia Wade, Sue Barker and Jo Durie – have achieved this feat, and should Konta keep this latest winning run alive – and other results go in her favor – she could join the club in Montréal.
Russians March On
Another player with an outside chance of reaching the Top 10 in the not-too-distant future is Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. At Wimbledon, the gifted Russian reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal since 2011, falling in two tight sets to eventual champion Serena Williams.
At the Stade Uniprix, Pavlyuchenkova was given a real scare, conjuring up a miraculous drop volley to save match point in the final set of her 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 win over Yulia Putintseva. Also taken the distance in their opening round outings were compatriots Alla Kudryavtseva and Daria Kasatkina.
Kudryavtseva, who came through qualifying, upset Kristina Mladenovic, 7-6(5), 1-6, 6-3, while Kastakina shook off a slow start to defeat the in-form Misaki Doi, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.
Elise Mertens has Friday’s shot of the day at the Hobart International.
MONTRÉAL, Canada – Reigning Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber acquitted herself well in her first hardcourt match since Miami; despite a second set wobble, the No.2 seed stood tall in the end to defeat unseeded Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in the second round of the Rogers Cup.
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“It was a really tough match. She played really strong and tough, and I knew it would be a tough match. But I was trying to keep focusing until the last point, and staying in the match. I’m really happy about my first match here.”
Playing just her second match since after reaching the Wimbledon final – having pulled out of the Ericsson Open due to an elbow injury – but played the crucial points well against an in-form Lucic-Baroni on Wednesday night.
“I knew she was playing well, but I was trying to focus on my game. It was a good match.”
Getting out to a quick 5-2 lead in the opening set, Kerber was suddenly confounded by the Croatian No.1, who broke serve in the opening game of the second and never looked back to force a decider.
Follow all the action from Day 3 of Montréal at the WTA Insider Live Blog!
“In the second set, she played great and won the important points. I wanted to come back strong in the third set and play my game.
Conserving her energy well throughout the one hour, 38 minute match, the World No.2 didn’t face a break point in the final set, breaking serve on her second opportunity – ultimately clinching the match on her own serve at love.
“It’s just great to be here. I love to play here in Montréal. The fans are amazing; it’s always full and they always stay until the end!”
Up next for Kerber is No.17 seed Elina Svitolina, who outlasted Canadian wildcard Francoise Abanda, 7-6(2), 7-6(3) early on Wednesday. Svitolina is currently working with Justine Henin, who appeared as her on-court coach during the match.
“It was my first match on hard court after a long time. It was not so easy.” – Angelique Kerber pic.twitter.com/mG745ZuMyW
— Coupe Rogers (@CoupeRogers) July 28, 2016
MELBOURNE, Australia – The 2017 Australian Open begins on Monday in Melbourne, with World No.1 and defending champion Angelique Kerber headlining the first night session on Rod Laver Arena. What else do you need to know about your favorite WTA stars as the first Grand Slam tournament of the season gets underway?
Click here for a full analysis of the draw, courtesy of WTA Insider.
1. Kerber contends for first-ever major title defense.
Kerber came away with an impressive haul of Grand Slam titles in 2016, bookending the season with wins Down Under and the US Open – taking the No.1 ranking at the latter. 2017 is a new ballgame for the German, who will seek to defend a major title for the first time in her career. Her first opponent is Lesia Tsurenko, with the likes of Eugenie Bouchard and Roberta Vinci looming in her section of the draw.
2. Serena could reclaim No.1 in Australia.
In the other half of the draw stands 22-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams, who is firmly in the hunt for her seventh Daphne Akhurst Memorial Trophy in Melbourne. The American would have to reach the final to have a chance at wresting the No.1 ranking from Kerber; click here to find out how it would all have to shake out.
3. Radwanska feeling in Grand Slam rhythm.
Armed with a new racquet, No.3 seed Agnieszka Radwanska is the high seed in Serena’s half of the draw, projecting a rematch of their 2016 semifinal encounter Down Under. Radwanska shrugged off a tough week in Shenzhen to reach the final at the Apia International Sydney, but has a potentially tricky opener against Tsvetana Pironkova. The Bulgarian beat Radwanska in their most recent meeting at last year’s French Open.
4. Halep in hot pursuit of first major title.
No.4 seed Simona Halep also started her year in Shenzhen, but arrived last week for some early preparation in Melbourne on the advice of coach Darren Cahill. The Romanian opens against American Shelby Rogers, and is aiming to build on her pair of quarterfinal appearances earned in 2014 and 2015.
5. Cibulkova seeking Singapore stepping stone.
No.5 seed Dominika Cibulkova ended 2016 on an all-time high, winning the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global and reaching a best-ever ranking of No.5. The Slovak’s biggest major success came in Melbourne, where she reached the final back in 2014.
6. Is this Pliskova’s breakthrough moment?
Karolina Pliskova fell before the second week in her first 17 Grand Slam appearances, but made up for lost time in style at the US Open, where she rolled past both Williams sisters en route to the final. The Czech looked just as tough in Brisbane to start 2017, winning the tournament alongside new coach David Kotyza and moving back up to a career-high of No.5.
7. Muguruza feeding off good Melbourne memories.
Garbiñe Muguruza enjoyed a strong start to the season before injury forced her to retire from the Brisbane International semifinals. Still, the the No.7 seed feels fit and fresh ahead of the Australian Open, starting off against New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic on Monday.
8. Kuznetsova rounds out Top 8.
Kuznetsova burned some serious rubber on the Road to Singapore last fall, narrowly qualifying to become the story of the tournament, reaching the semifinals. This year, Kuznetsova is feeling calm as she hopes to surpass the quarterfinals, her previous best finish in Australia.
9. Venus & Serena headline the doubles draw.
The Australian Open women’s doubles draw came out on Sunday, with Wimbledon winners Venus and Serena Williams coming in as the most dangerous floaters in the draw, seeded No.15. The pair could play No.2 seeds Lucie Safarova and new World No.1 Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the third round.
10. No.1 up for grabs in Australia.
The singles No.1 isn’t the only ranking under threat at the Australian Open. Mattek-Sands narrowly took the top spot from Sania Mirza in Brisbane, ending the Indian star’s 91-week reign. But Elena Vesnina and the French team of Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic all have a shot of taking No.1 during the fortnight. Click here to find out how.
Simona Halep neutralized Karolina Pliskova’s big serve in her 6-3, 6-3 win Thursday to reach the Rogers Cup quarterfinals.
During the match, Halep won 51% of return points that were put in play against Pliskova, the WTA ace leader, who has won 62% of her service points this season.
SAP Coaches View shows Halep moved in when facing Pliskova’s second serve, playing 48% of them from inside the baseline. She won 62% of second serve points in the match, including 22% of points which she returned from inside the baseline.
Halep took advantage of her opportunities to break Pliskova. She won 57% of the games in which she held a break chance, breaking four times in seven games.
This performance is in keeping with how Halep has played all season. She stands second on the WTA for return points won in 2016 at 49%.
The SAP Coaches View combines scoring information direct from the chair umpire with tracking data from HawkEye to allow for an in depth look at five different aspects of a match. Each tracking option can be filtered to narrow the focus to specific situations within a match, such as break points. This information is available directly to coaches in real-time during a match on their SAP tablet and also available to them online after matches.
“Return of serve” tracking shows where each service return was struck, differentiating between first and second serves, with an emphasis on how many serves are returned from inside the baseline. This data can be filtered by a particular score.
Halep returned to a second straight Rogers Cup quarterfinal thanks to her return game.
MELBOURNE, Australia – An ageless Venus Williams played remarkable tennis in the high heat of the Australian Open, knocking out a game Kateryna Kozlova, 7-6(5), 7-5.
“Girl, I don’t know,” Venus joked when asked how she got the job done during her on-court interview. “I know how to play tennis, and I like to think I’m good at this. She hasn’t had the years I’ve had, the grey hair I’m dyeing, the wrinkles I’m hiding.”
V never goes out of style.#ausopen pic.twitter.com/jUf4wJ9eeN
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 16, 2017
Seeded No.13, Venus was playing just her second match of 2017 after withdrawing from the ASB Classic due to right-arm pain, and was taking on a tricky opponent in Kozlova, who took her to three sets at the US Open last summer. In an ironic twist, the 22-year-old was born the same year Venus turned pro back in 1994.
“You’re trying to make me feel old!” joked Williams.
Kozlova served for the first set but the seven-time Grand Slam champion’s experience shone through when it mattered most, breaking the young Ukrainian to win the ensuing tie-break.
“Just from the warm-up it looked like she was just ready to go, hitting it solid,” she said in her post-match press conference. “I really have to give her a lot of credit for playing a match that was not a lot of errors and just relentless.
“I guess when I walk out there I have to expect that from my opponents and not an easy first round, but a great first round to get through, for sure.”
She twirls her way to 2R. Go #Venus #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/hzCSYDY3Jp
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 16, 2017
Venus appeared to struggle with the heat at times, relying on ice towels to keep cool during the changeovers.
“I’m a Floridian, so I’m pretty good with heat,” she admitted. “But obviously, if it’s going to be hot, I think with players, you can train in the heat the week before. This last week it was kind of cool, actually, a lot of the time. So it’s definitely a wildcard, like, total wildcard.”
Despite losing some momentum in the second set, the American rebounded to take the last three games of the match and advance into the second round after just over two hours.
Up next for the former World No.1 is either Stefanie Voegele or Kurumi Nara.
A wonderful start for #Venus #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/QVhFuaUdDg
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 16, 2017
BRISBANE, Australia – Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza won their 10th WTA doubles title together in Brisbane and have now won 26 matches in a row – the longest doubles winning streak in 22 years.
Saturday’s final was a tight affair early on, as Hingis and Mirza’s opponents in the final, Angelique Kerber and Andrea Petkovic, rebounded from a 2-0 deficit with four games of their own to build a 4-2 lead. But the No.1-seeded Swiss-Indian combo flipped the script completely from there, rattling off 11 of the last 13 games of the match to get by the German wildcard pairing in straight sets, 7-5, 6-1.
“They’re obviously very good players, so we knew we had to come out and play our best,” Mirza said. “We let the lead go a little bit after 2-0, and we were both trying to find our form again on the court. It was big we broke on the deuce point at 6-5, and after that the tide really changed in our favor.”
Though she came out on the losing end, Kerber still made history – she’s the first player in the tournament’s history to reach both the singles and doubles finals. She was runner-up in singles too.
“It wasn’t my night tonight. I lost two finals,” she said at the trophy ceremony. “But it was still a great week, and congratulations to Sania and Martina – you are the best, good luck in Melbourne!”
And so, Hingis and Mirza’s winning streak lives on – at 26 matches in a row it’s the longest doubles winning streak since Gigi Fernández and Natasha Zvereva won 28 matches in a row together in 1994.
Hingis and Mirza also hit double digit WTA doubles titles together – Indian Wells, Miami, Charleston, Wimbledon, US Open, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Beijing and WTA Finals in 2015, and now Brisbane.
Even more impressive? Hingis and Mirza are actually 10-1 in WTA doubles finals together.
They’re playing again this week coming up, at the Apia International Sydney – again as top seeds.
“Every match at the beginning of the season is a good match, just trying to get that confidence going,” Hingis said. “It’s great we already have this Brisbane title in our pockets, and we’re really looking forward to Sydney. We’ll get a couple days off before we play and then we will start again.
“I always have such great support in Australia so I really look forward to the next tournaments.”
#Hingis/#Mirza with their hardware! Their 10th tournament title together ?????????? #BrisbaneTennis pic.twitter.com/eRsqqDOod8
— Brisbane Intl (@BrisbaneTennis) January 9, 2016
MONTRÉAL, Canada – No.10 seed Madison Keys edged past Venus Williams in a tight three sets to snap up one of the last quarterfinal spots in the Rogers Cup.
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Keys has looked dominant in all of her matches so far in Montréal, her first tournament since her run to the fourth round of Wimbledon. Although she went into the match against Williams trailing 2-1 in their head to head, she had the added confidence of splitting their last two matches on hard courts – both of which were three-set battles.
“I’m excited,” the 21-year-old said yesterday at the prospect of playing Williams. “It’s always tough playing her.She’s obviously a great player.
“She did well last week, so it’s going to be a tough match. But I’m looking forward to it.”
Williams started out shaky in the opening set as her service woes reared their head once again. She’s struggled with normally trusty shot all tournament long, and in the first few games barely managed to crack the 90 miles per hour mark. Keys, a strong returner, took advantage of the lapse and stayed aggressive to take the opening set 6-1 in just 20 minutes.
“Her first serve was definitely slower than normal,” Keys acknowledged after the match. “But it was funny, her second serve was a lot slower, but because of the court it was bouncing a lot higher than normal. So while her first serve was a little easier to return, her second serve was really tough.”
Williams looked in trouble again in the second set as she quickly went down a break, but the 2014 champion shook off the disappointing start. Keys allowed more errors to spray from her racquet as Williams backed up her vulnerable serve with pinpoint groundstrokes – especially off of the forehand wing. She dominated the tiebreak to force a deciding set.
But after the enormous effort it took to get back on course, it just didn’t look like Williams had any more left in the tank for the final set. She couldn’t maintain her level, allowing Keys to get back to her attacking ways. Keys broke early on in the set and relied on her serve to keep her nose ahead until she took the match 6-1, 6-7(2), 6-3.
She’s set to face Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the next round, whose monumental effort against Agnieszka Radwanska earned her a spot in the quarterfinals.
“It’s going to be a tough match,” Keys said of her always-aggressive Russian opponent. “She’s always tricky because she definitely fights till the end and she’s going to hit a lot of winners.
“I think it will be similar to today, you know, kind of deciding when to just get the ball back in a good, neutral spot, or when to kind of pull the trigger and be a little bit more aggressive.”