Sydney: Friday Highlights
Highlights from the semifinal round action at the Apia International Sydney.
Highlights from the semifinal round action at the Apia International Sydney.
The first round of the Olympics gets underway on Saturday, with several intriguing matches, including 2000 gold medalist Venus Williams’ clash against Kirsten Flipkens.
An interview with Svetlana Kuznetsova after her win in the final of the Apia International Sydney.
An interview with Johanna Konta before her first round at the Olympic tennis event.
Watch all of the best shots of the Apia International Sydney – right here!
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Four-time Olympic gold medalist Serena Williams survived some breezy conditions to ease past unseeded Aussie Daria Gavrilova, 6-4, 6-2, to reach the second round of the Olympic tennis event.
“It felt really good to be out htere today,” Serena said after the match. “It’s been a long time; four years ago I was out here playing the Olympics, so it’s really cool to be here again.”
Serena swept the singles and doubles events four years ago in London, but struggled early on against Gavrilova, who was making her Olympic debut. Racing out to a 5-2 lead in the opening set, Serena found herself pegged back to 5-4 against the combined forces of the Aussie and the dust storm known as a “haboob,” but played her best tennis when it mattered most to put herself a set from victory after 49 minutes.
“Early on it was super windy, and it was a survival of just who could get the ball in; it wasn’t quality tennis because of the strange and tough conditions. But I got through it.”
No sweat from Serena. She’s fired up and breaks Gavrilova to pocket the set 6-4. Patience will be the key to winning on these slow courts.
— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) August 7, 2016
Gavrilova is a former Youth Olympic gold medalist in 2010, and began 2016 with a bang, winning the Hopman Cup alongside countryman Nick Kyrgios and reaching the round of 16 at the Australian Open; the youngster continued to fight in the second set, digging out of a marathon sixth game to keep herself in contention, but ultimately succumbed on her third match point.
Hoping to win her fifth Olympic gold medal – and second in singles – Serena will next play the winner of Johanna Larsson and Alizé Cornet for a spot in the third round. The American will also begin her doubles campaign with sister Venus, who took a heart-breaking loss to Kirsten Flipkens on the first day of play last night.
“We just want to have the chance. Hopefully we can win a couple of matches, and see how it goes. We love playing doubles, period, so every four years, we know we have a chance where we’re guaranteed to get some matches.”
At the start of the weekend, Serena got a shoutout from former United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is currently the Democratic nominee for the 2016 presidental election:
Four gold medals and counting: Today, @SerenaWilliams hits the court in Rio to add to her collection. pic.twitter.com/iOMV0FH38S
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) August 6, 2016
No.2 seed Angelique Kerber was not too far behind her American rival on Sunday, winning the last five games of her first round match against Mariana Duque-Mariño, 6-3, 7-5.
The 2012 Olympic tennis event quarterfinalist was coming off a run to the semifinals at the Rogers Cup, but didn’t have things all her own way against the Colombian, who took a 5-2 lead in the second set – holding a set point on her own serve at 5-3 – before the German came back to book her place in the second round.
Kerber will next play Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard, who sailed past Sloane Stephens, 6-3, 6-3; Bouchard beat Kerber in their most recent encounter at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.
“It's an honor to play for ??. I will give everything to win a medal.”
Kerber on #Rio2016: https://t.co/OTneLotFCe pic.twitter.com/Un61YNfp0t
— WTA (@WTA) August 5, 2016
MELBOURNE, Australia – Simona Halep and Garbiñe Muguruza will open their 2016 Australian Open accounts on Tuesday in Melbourne, as will Venus Williams and a host of other top players. Here’s a rundown of what’s to come.
Tuesday, Day 2
First Round
[3] Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP #3) vs. Anett Kontaveit (EST # 85)
Head-to-head: First meeting
Key Stat: Muguruza owns a 7-3 record at the Aussie Open in three appearances.
What can one of the WTA’s biggest breakout stars of 2015 possibly do for an encore in 2016? We’ll soon find out as the explosive Garbiñe Muguruza readies herself for a first-round encounter with Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit. “For sure I want to do better,” Muguruza told reporters when asked about how she’d like to perform in 2016. “I know this is a very important tournament for us, so it’s where you want to do well.” Though inexperienced, the Spaniard’s first-round opponent has proven to be a tough out at majors already in her young career. Kontaveit won her first career Grand Slam match then rolled all the way to the second week of last year’s U.S. Open, before finally falling to Venus Williams in the round of 16.
Pick: Muguruza in three
[8] Venus Williams (USA # 10) vs. Johanna Konta (GBR # 47)
Head-to-head: Williams Leads 1-0
Key Stat: Konta served for the match against Williams at Wuhan last year, but ended up losing 7-5 in the third.
Venus Williams reached the quarterfinals of both hard court majors in 2015—a feat that she hadn’t accomplished since 2010—and the 35-year-old has experienced a run of form that has landed her the No. 8 seed in Melbourne. So is it high time for the seven-time major champion to defy our expectations once again and wreak some havoc down under? To do that Williams will have to get past rising Brit Johanna Konta. Ranked 98 spots higher in the rankings than she was at this time last year, Konta has grown by leaps and bounds. She upset Garbiñe Muguruza at the U.S. Open last year en route to her first round of 16 at a major, and despite the fact that she’s gone 0-2 thus far in 2016, she comes in with newfound confidence in her game on the big stage.
Pick: Williams in three
[14] Victoria Azarenka (BLR #16) vs. Alison Van Uytvanck (GER# 43)
Head-to-head: First meeting
Key Stat: Van Uytvanck has jumped 66 rankings spots in the last year, rising from 106 to her current perch at 44.
With all the injuries ailing the top five players heading into Melbourne, many have tabbed two-time Australian Open champion Azarenka as a favorite to take the title down under. And why shouldn’t they? For the first time in what feels like eons, Azarenka is in perfect health. And she started the season by ripping through the Brisbane draw, tying the record for fewest games dropped during a title run. Though she’ll face a stern test in rising star Alison Van Uytvanck in the first round, Azarenka isn’t about to let the pressure get to her. “I just feel excited,” Azarenka said. “Not thinking about the chances. As I said, I try to live in the moment. Carpe diem.”
Pick: Azarenka in two
[2] Simona Halep (ROU #2) vs. [Q] Shuai Zhang (CHN # 132)
Head-to-head: Halep leads, 1-0
Key Stat: Halep entered 2014 with a 10-14 record at the majors. She’s gone 27-8 at Grand Slams in the last two seasons.
Despite being troubled by left Achilles soreness off and on for the last two weeks, No. 2 seed Halep told reporters over the weekend that she’s in good stead. “I feel good now,” she asserted. “I played many days without pain. So I feel ready to start and hopefully to be healthy till the end.” If that’s the case then Halep could very well make a deep run in Melbourne. The 24-year-old freely admits it is on her to-do list. “I think to win a Grand Slam, I don’t know if it’s going to happen this year, but this is my biggest goal,” she told reporters on Sunday. Halep’s opponent, Shuai Zhang, will certainly have her hands full with the world No. 2. She enters Melbourne with a 0-14 record in Grand Slam main draw matches, having won just two sets.
Pick: Halep in two
Around the Grounds: Still seeking a major breakthrough, 9th-seeded Karolina Pliskova will face the youngest woman in the draw, 17-year-old wild card Kimberly Birrell of Australia… A semifinalist last year in Melbourne, American Madison Keys gets things underway with a battle against Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan… American Victoria Duval will play her first Grand Slam match since being declared cancer-free last year. She enters on a protected ranking, and will play her first tour-level match since Wimbledon 2014. Her opponent will be 18th-seeded Elina Svitolina.
Petra Kvitova strode purposefully past former World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki and into the third round of the Olympic Games on Monday.
Johanna Konta survived a tense ending to an otherwise straightforward upset over former No.1 Venus Williams; wtatennis.com contributor Chris Oddo looks at the keys to Konta’s win.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – No.3 seed Garbiñe Muguruza was sent crashing out of the Olympic tennis event in Rio after a decisive 6-1, 6-1 defeat at the hands of Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig.
Competing in her first ever Olympic Games, 22-year-old Puig notched her first ever victory over a Top 5 player against the No.4-ranked Muguruza to claim the biggest win of her career.
“I think it is. I consider it the biggest win of my career because it’s at the Olympics. This happens once every four years,” Puig said, grinning in the mixed zone after the match. “Right now, I’m in the clouds. I can’t even believe it because truly it was incredible.”
Muguruza’s usually aggressive game was lacking its bite, and she couldn’t seem to find her rhythm, getting caught a step or two late to the ball time and time again. The Spaniard struck almost twice as many unforced errors as Puig, 29 to 15. Her powerful serve fired off seven double faults, and she was broken six times throughout the hour-long encounter.
Puig took advantage of Muguruza’s lapse and came out of the gate on fire, breaking in the fourth game to quickly build up a 4-1 lead, which she backed up by breaking again and snapping up the opening set. Puig’s zinging forehand and dogged, line-to-line defense powered her through the next set as she broke Muguruza four more times to reach her first ever Olympic quarterfinals.
“I still have goose bumps,” Puig said of serving for the match and her emotional reaction afterward. “You just go into shock, you are trying to keep it together the whole time because you know in that last game, serving at 4-1 especially to consolidate that break, you’re so close to winning you start getting emotional, there’s no hiding it, you start feeling those butterflies, those nerves.
“So I think it’s all that coming out, you keep it bottled up. It’s like a Coca Cola bottle if you shake it, you shake it, you shake it, it’s going to explode. I just tried to not explode till the right moment and it worked.”
The win is a banner result for Puig, who started out the year ranked No.94. Her newly-found consistency has seen her reach the quarterfinals or better at six events as well as climb all the way to a career-high No.33.
“I know what I want to achieve and I’m letting the world know that Monica Puig is here. It’s my time,” she said. “I’ve always been there, but I’ve never been able to maintain the level. But I’m doing it now and I’m in such a good moment.
“I want the medal, and I’m going to do what it takes to reach this goal… I always seem to play my best when I play for my country.”
Puig is set to play against Germany’s Laura Siegemund in the next round for a spot in the semifinals.
.@MonicaAce93 agradece el apoyo del pueblo de Puerto Rico luego de su victoria hoy en #Rio2016. ????? pic.twitter.com/RLUyH3ofaB
— Comité Olímpico PUR (@ComiteOlimpico) August 9, 2016