Tennis News

The second half of the Middle East swing continues at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, the first Premier 5 event of the year. Meanwhile in Hungary, WTA action returns to Budapest for the first time since 2013 at the Hungarian Ladies Open.

Here’s what’s on tap for this week on the WTA:

CURRENT TOURNAMENTS:

Dubai:

Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships
Premier 5 | $2,365,250 | Hard
Top-ranked players: Angelique Kerber, Karolina Pliskova, Dominika Cibulkova, Agnieszka Radwanska
Defending Champion: Sara Errani

Budapest:
Hungarian Ladies Open
International | $226,750 | Hard
Top-ranked players: Timea Babos, Lucie Safarova, Andrea Petkovic, Julia Goerges
Defending Champion: None (First Staging)

UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS:

Acapulco:

Abierto Mexicano Telcel
International | $226,750 | Hard
Top-ranked players: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Monica Niculescu, Jelena Ostapenko, Kristina Mladenovic
Defending Champion: Sloane Stephens

Kuala Lumpur:

Alya WTA Malaysian Open
International | $226,750 | Hard
Top-ranked players: Carla Suárez Navarro, Elina Svitolina, Caroline Garcia, Yulia Putintseva
Defending Champion: Elina Svitolina

Indian Wells:

BNP Paribas Open
Premier Mandatory | $6,993,450 | Hard
Top-ranked players: Serena Williams, Angelique Kerber, Karolina Pliskova, Simona Halep, Dominika Cibulkova
Defending Champion: Victoria Azarenka

TOP 20 PLAYERS’ SCHEDULES:

1. Serena Williams: Indian Wells
2. Angelique Kerber: Dubai, Indian Wells
3. Karolina Pliskova: Dubai, Indian Wells
4. Simona Halep: Indian Wells
5. Dominika Cibulkova: Dubai, Indian Wells
6. Agnieszka Radwanska: Dubai, Indian Wells
7. Garbiñe Muguruza: Dubai, Indian Wells
8. Svetlana Kuznetsova: Indian Wells
9. Madison Keys: Indian Wells
10. Johanna Konta: Indian Wells
11. Petra Kvitova
12. Venus Williams: Indian Wells
13. Elina Svitolina: Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, Indian Wells
14. Carla Suarez Navarro: Kuala Lumpur, Indian Wells
15. Caroline Wozniacki: Dubai, Indian Wells
16. Elena Vesnina: Dubai, Indian Wells
17. Timea Bacsinszky: Indian Wells
18. Victoria Azarenka
19. Samantha Stosur: Dubai, Indian Wells
20. Barbora Strycova: Dubai, Indian Wells

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

Kateryna Kozlova (UKR) – February 20, 1994
Klara Koukalova (CZE) – February 24, 1982
Eugenie Bouchard (CAN) – February 25, 1994
Chen Liang (CHN) – February 25, 1989

BRISBANE, Australia – No matter who wins Saturday’s final at the Brisbane International, one player will walk away with a drought-busting win. No.22 Victoria Azarenka is in her first final since Doha and aiming for her first title since Cincinnati in 2013, nearly two and a half years ago. Looking to stop her is No.10 Angelique Kerber, who will try and snag her first win in six tries over Azarenka.

The first week of the year began with much hand-wringing over the withdrawals and retirements of the Top 3 seeds in the tournament, with defending champion Maria Sharapova, World No.2 Simona Halep, and No.3 Garbiñe Muguruza exiting the tournament under a cloud of injury. It will end with a rematch of the best women’s match of 2015, when Azarenka got the better of Kerber in the third round of the US Open, winning 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 in a grueling match.

“We always bring the best out of each other, I think,” Azarenka said. “I mean, I hope we do. It was a pretty amazing match, so I hope we can put on a good show. I think the final deserves that.”

Azarenka has been in blistering form all week. She has dropped just 13 games in four matches, posting two bagel sets along the way. Her run in Brisbane most assuredly puts her on the shortlist of favorites at the Australian Open – she is, after all, a two-time champion in Melbourne – but Azarenka doesn’t want to get ahead of herself.

“I’m feeling pretty good right now,” she said. “I’m not saying anything besides that. It’s irrelevant. Tomorrow is a match. I’m looking forward to that. I never jump ahead. It can seem so close, yet so far. Done those mistakes before, and I’ll stick to being present.”

Kerber has looked just as sharp this week. Aside from dropping the first set of her tournament to Camila Giorgi, Kerber has been untouchable, notching wins over Giorgi, Madison Brengle, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and Carla Suárez Navarro. Most notably Kerber has unveiled a more aggressive gamestyle. A change of strings during the off-season – she now uses a Yonex hybrid and natural gut – has given her more pop on her groundstrokes.

“I was working a lot in the last few weeks on this, so I’m trying to transform it to the matches,” Kerber said of her newfound aggression. “It works good right now. Of course I must take the decision and just go for it and not hope that the other one will miss. I will try to make the points by myself.”

Looking towards Saturday’s final, the big focus point will be Kerber’s serve. Azarenka is one of, if not *the* best returner in the game when she’s at her best. Much of her 5-0 record against the German is a result of her ability to dominate Kerber’s second serve. Kerber hopes her off-season work on her serve will pay off now.

“I worked a lot in my off-season on my serve, and I’m feeling that the serve is also a little bit faster,” she said. “Also I’m trying to go for it with my second serve, not only pushing the ball. Of course that needs time. I think I’m on the good way. I’m feeling better on my serve.”

So will we see another three-set epic on Saturday? Kerber’s 2015 was defined by her participation in the year’s best matches. Earlier in the week Kerber’s compatriot and doubles partner Andrea Petkovic – the two are into the doubles final against Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza – was asked why her friend always finds herself embroiled in dramatic matches against the game’s best.

“I think one part of her game style is that she plays fast but just not too fast to make the other girls play well,” Petkovic said. “She’s too good for the lower-ranked players, but for the top players I think she [hits] exactly the pace they need to play really well.

“But Angie is somebody, when she gets challenged, she gets the best out of her as well. So I think these two things coming together just make for Hollywood, popcorn, great movie nights.”

Come back on Saturday as WTA Insider live blogs the final from Brisbane. The final begins at 7:30pm local time, 9:30am GMT.