Tennis News

THE WINNERS

CoCo Vandeweghe overcame Kristina Mladenovic and the worst of the Dutch weather to recapture the Ricoh Open on Sunday afternoon. Vandeweghe, who also won the title in 2014, follows in the footsteps of Justine Henin and Tamarine Tanasugarn as only the third player in the tournament’s 21-year history to win it on two occasions.

“It was actually really difficult – we had three rain delay stops – so it was really difficult to get yourself back into the match and make sure you’re fresh and light and ready to go. Especially the last rain delay in the first set. I was really trying to get myself moving,” Vandeweghe said.

“I got myself in a bit of a pickle in the second set, but I battled my way out of it, and sometimes the name of the game is just battling through adversity and problems you cause for yourself.”

Read the full story here. | WTA Insider Champion’s Corner

Top seed Karolina Pliskova overcame Alison Riske in a rain-affected Aegon Open Nottingham final on Sunday to capture her fifth WTA title.

Afternoon showers pushed the start of play back a couple of hours, at one point even raising the possibility of a Monday final. When the clouds did eventually clear, Pliskova held her nerve to triumph 7-6(8), 7-5, in a fraction under two hours.

“It’s been a great week for me, I really didn’t count on having such early success on the grass so I am feeling good ahead of Wimbledon,” Pliskova said.

Read the full story here.

RANKING MOVERS:
Notable singles ranking movers for the week of June 13, 2016.

CoCo Vandeweghe (USA), +11 (No.43 to 32): Vandeweghe’s run to her second Ricoh Open title in three years earns her the biggest ranking jump of the week. She’s now back at her career-high ranking of No.32 after jumping up 11 spots.

Madison Brengle (USA), +8 (No.68 to 60): Brengle reached her first WTA semifinal at ‘s-Hertogenbosch of 2016 to jump up eight spots to No.60.

Alison Riske (USA), +8 (No.89 to 81): Riske’s run to the final of Nottingham, her second WTA final this year, inches her up to No.81.

Monica Puig (PUR), +6 (No.49 to 43): Puerto Rico’s Puig has been steadily climbing up the rankings all year long: she started off 2016 at No.92 and with her run to the Nottingham semifinals she’s up to No.43, just shy of her career-high ranking of No.41.

Kristina Mladenovic (FRA), +3 (No.32 to 29): Mladenovic backed up her French Open doubles title with a run to the Ricoh Open final and as a result she gained a spot in the Top 30, ever-closer to matching her career-high ranking of No.27.

UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS

Aegon Classic Birmingham
Birmingham, Great Britain
Premier | $780,900 | Grass
Monday, June 13 – Sunday, June 19

Mallorca Open
Mallorca, Spain
International | $226,750 | Grass
Monday, June 13 – Sunday, June 19

Aegon International Eastbourne
Eastbourne, Great Britain
Premier | $711,778 | Grass
Sunday, June 19 – Saturday, June 25

The Championships, Wimbledon
London, Great Britain
Grand Slams | – | Grass
Monday, June 27 – Sunday, July 10

TOP 20 PLAYER SCHEDULES
1. Serena Williams – Wimbledon
2. Garbiñe Muguruza – Mallorca, Wimbledon
3. Agnieszka Radwanska – Birmingham, Eastbourne, Wimbledon
4. Angelique Kerber -Birmingham, Wimbledon
5. Simona Halep -Wimbledon
6. Victoria Azarenka – Wimbledon
7. Roberta Vinci – Eastbourne, Wimbledon
8. Belinda Bencic – Birmingham, Eastbourne, Wimbledon
9. Venus Williams – Wimbledon
10. Timea Bacsinszky – Eastbourne, Wimbledon
11. Petra Kvitova – Birmingham, Eastbourne, Wimbledon
12. Svetlana Kuznetsova – Eastbourne, Wimbledon
13. Flavia Pennetta
14. Samantha Stosur – Eastbourne, Wimbledon
15. Carla Suárez Navarro – Birmingham, Eastbourne, Wimbledon
16. Madison Keys – Birmingham, Eastbourne Wimbledon
17. Karolina Pliskova – Birmingham, Eastbourne, Wimbledon
18. Elina Svitolina – Birmingham, Wimbledon
19. Johanna Konta – Birmingham, Eastbourne, Wimbledon
20. Sloane Stephens – Eastbourne, Wimbledon

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
Best wishes to those celebrating birthdays this week:

Venus Williams (USA) – June 17, 1980

Traditionally the start of the grass court season is the time for surprises, the well-manicured lawns paying scant regard to the reputation of tennis’ great and good.

This year’s opening two events, the Aegon Open Nottingham and the Richo Open, proved no different, throwing up a number of eye-catching results. Coming through the wreckage to lift the silverware were two a the game’s biggest servers: Karolina Pliskova and CoCo Vandeweghe.

Their success has resulted significant moves on the Road To Singapore leaderboard. Nottingham champion Pliskova, who narrowly missed out on qualifying for last year’s BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, is up to No.18, while ‘s-Hertogenbosch winner Vandeweghe leapt from No.84 to No.43.

With many of the leading contenders for Singapore waiting until Birmingham and Mallorca to begin their grass court preparations, much of the movement was restricted to lower down the leaderboard. Belinda Bencic made a successful return from the back injury that forced her out of the French Open, reaching the semifinals in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, a result that took her from No.34 to No.27.

Bencic’s conqueror Kristina Mladenovic was rewarded for her eventual runner-up finish with a jump from No.70 to No.49 on the leaderboard. Meanwhile, Alison Riske, the runner-up in Nottingham’s rain delayed final is up to No.55 from her previous position of No.72.

Wimbledon preparations continue apace this week in Birmingham and Mallorca, where Garbiñe Muguruza, Agnieszka Radwanska and Angelique Kerber are all competing.

RTS Ranking Movers

Karolina Pliskova: No.26 to No.18 (+8)
Monica Puig: No.21 to No.19 (+2)
Belinda Bencic: No.34 to No.27 (+7)
CoCo Vandeweghe: No.84 to No.43 (+41)
Kristina Mladenovic: No.70 to No.49 (+21)
Madison Brengle: No.64 to No.54 (+10)
Alison Riske: No.72 to No.55 (+17)

Click here to see the full Road To Singapore leaderboard standings following Nottingham and ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

Maria Sharapova has filed an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport seeking to annul or reduce her two-year suspension for a failed drug test at the Australian Open in January. The parties have agreed to an expedited track for the case, which will allow CAS to issue its decision no later than July 18th, 2016.

Last week, an independent tribunal appointed by the International Tennis Federation found that Sharapova committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation, and imposed a period of ineligibility of two years. Under the tribunal’s decision, Sharapova would be allowed to return on January 27, 2018.

According to a statement from CAS regarding Sharapova’s appeal, “Ms. Sharapova seeks the annulment of the Tribunal’s decision to sanction her with a two-year period of ineligibility further to an anti-doping rule violation. Ms. Sharapova submits that the period of ineligibility should be eliminated, or in the alternative, reduced.”

CAS further confirmed the parties have not decided whether or not a hearing would be held on appeal. However, “at the request of the parties, this arbitration procedure will be kept confidential and the CAS will not comment any further on this matter.”

MIAMI, FL, USA – No.7 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova overcame a slow start and an inspired Taylor Townsend to beat the American qualifier, 6-4, 6-2, joining No.10 seed Johanna Konta, who beat Pauline Parmentier, 6-4, 6-0 in the fourth round of the Miami Open.

Townsend has long been a talented prospect, having won the 2013 Australian Open junior title and finishing runner-up to Belinda Bencic at that year’s Wimbledon Championships. Qualifying for the main draw and upsetting Roberta Vinci in her previous match, the American looked on course for another upset as she took the first break from Kuznetsova in the opening set.

“I’d never played her before, but still, to face her it’s a bit different,” she told WTA Insider after the match. “It took me time to adjust to her game. I got broken right away, and I was serving against the sun, so it was a little bit difficult.”

But Kuznetsova is in good form herself, reaching the final at last week’s BNP Paribas Open; relaxed and focused, the Russian took four straight games to reclaim the break and the opening set from Townsend, who put up quite a fight in the final game before dropping serve.

“She plays good tennis, different than other girls. I took time to adjust, changed my strategy, and in the end it worked pretty well. But she’s very talented.”

.@TaylorTownsend is still fighting! #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/mjVHUCAPvJ

— WTA (@WTA) March 26, 2017

The 2006 champion and 2016 finalist raced ahead to start the second and never looked back, despite some impressive variety from the 20-year-old.

Up next for Kuznetsova is either former No.1 Venus Williams or qualifier Patricia Maria Tig, who stunned No.22 seed and Top 20 debutante Kristina Mladenovic in the preceding round.

“It’s a great match-up, and it’s great to play Venus again, one more time. We’re both having great results, so I’m looking forward to that match.”

Absolutely INCREDIBLE get from @SvetlanaK27! ??? #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/HUGwo3qNiD

— WTA (@WTA) March 26, 2017

Earlier in the day, Konta worked through a tense opening set to roll through against Parmentier.

“I’m happy to have come through that,” Konta said after the match. “Although the scoreline doesn’t show it in the second set, I still had to work hard within every single point. I really tried hard not to take my foot off the gas and stay focused on what I wanted to achieve.”

The Frenchwoman has displayed impresisve tennis of late, and nearly beat World No.1 Angelique Kerber in Indian Wells.

.@JoKonta91 slaps away the backhand! #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/DKRY56Taqr

— WTA (@WTA) March 26, 2017

“She’s been very strong with her forehand, and her serve is actually quite a big weapon, as well. I was quite happy with how I could neutralize it and look towards having good variety on my returns. I also made it difficult for her to find her spots on the forehand; I didn’t give her too many opportunities to set up, because when she does, she can be very tough to play.”

With 19 winners to just five unforced errors to advance, it was night and day for the British No.1 on Sunday after her tough opening round win over Aliaksandra Sasnovich, which went deep into a third set.

.@JoKonta91 comes flying out of the blocks in the second! #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/Iy5BofgqVJ

— WTA (@WTA) March 26, 2017

“The bonus of getting through any match is having the opportunity to play again. I have another opportunity to get better and to perform well.

“Those stats obviously look better on paper, and that’s good to hear. There’s other moving factors in a match, but I was still very happy I was able to stick with my plan and not divert from that in any way.

“Each match puts forward different challenges, so it’s hard to compare and decide which has been my best performance. My first round was very good, for example, because I could get through a difficult situation. Today was a cleaner match, so in that sense, it was also a good performance.”

.@JoKonta91 is flying through the second set! ? #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/qLxVIX2SNl

— WTA (@WTA) March 26, 2017

Standing between Konta and a second straight quarterfinal in Miami will be the winner of No.8 seed Madison Keys and Lara Arruabarrena.

“I played Madison in Beijing last year. I think I played Lara once before, but not for many years. We all know Madison has a big game, so if I end up playing her, I’ll be expecting to play someone with a lot of weight of shot. I haven’t watched Lara play too much, but she’s been around a while and won a title at the end of last year. She’s a tough player, so either way it’ll be a tough match.”

.@JoKonta91 reaches @MiamiOpen Round of 16!

Cruises past Parmentier 6-4, 6-0! pic.twitter.com/5VqbM7wsYO

— WTA (@WTA) March 26, 2017

MIAMI, FL, USA – No.3 seed Simona Halep barreled into the fourth round of the Miami Open, conquering Estonian qualifier Anett Kontaveit, 6-3, 6-0.

“I think I played my best match of the year,” Halep told WTA Insider after the match. “I was confident, and knew what I had to do: push and make her run. I hit some winners, which was very good for me. I was moving well, so I think everything went pretty well for me tonight.”

The Romanian has been plagued by knee issues throughout the 2017 season, forced to pull out of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy and the Middle East Swing to heal the injury.

.@Simona_Halep is in unstoppable form! #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/TKoMqmEWZt

— WTA (@WTA) March 27, 2017

Coming into Miami, the former French Open finalist had yet to win back-to-back matches this year, but struck down that stat in decisive fashion on Sunday night, rolling past Kontaveit in 55 minutes.

“I felt good when I came to site, and was sure that it was going to come together because I work every day. At one point, it has to come.

“I felt the best that I have this year. I can move without pain or anything, and I’m confident, which is the most important thing.”

Kontaveit is a talented youngster in her own right, a former junior Slam finalist who knocked out No.32 seed Ekaterina Makarova en route to the third round, but had no answers to her opponent’s unstoppable form, her 17 winnes undone by 24 errors in total.

“My first match here was close,” she said of her opener against Naomi Osaka. “I had some trouble in the first match. After that, I saw that I could resist and stay strong. Today, everything was flowing. I didn’t plan anything, and I won’t plan anything else. I just want to go there and give my best.”

Incredibly aggressive under the lights, Halep struck 19 winners to just 13 unforced errors and broke serve five times to book a round of 16 match-up with 2011 US Open champion Samantha Stosur.

“It’s going to be a tough match, for sure. I know how I have to play, because she’s very dangerous. Her forehand is strong, and so is her serve. I’m here to do my job, and to try to win because that’s what I want.

“Nothing special. I just expect a tough one and I’ll go there to fight.”

Rampant @Simona_Halep secures last spot in @MiamiOpen Round of 16!

Breezes past Kontaveit 6-3, 6-0! pic.twitter.com/caRwhYhzSj

— WTA (@WTA) March 27, 2017

Halep and Stosur last played at Roland Garros 10 months ago, when the Aussie won on a wet and rainy day in Paris, locking up their head-to-head at four wins apiece.

The former World No.2 has won their last four hardcourt matches, though two of those three required a third set. But Halep might have a secret weapon.

“Something is waiting for me already, a Nutella crepe. I’ve eaten one every day, and maybe that’s why I’m winning!”

“I played my best tennis this year” -@Simona_Halep #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/HNTVf8WywX

— WTA (@WTA) March 27, 2017