Montréal: Shot Of The Day (Thursday)
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova had Thursday’s shot of the day at the Rogers Cup.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova had Thursday’s shot of the day at the Rogers Cup.
Victoria Azarenka has Saturday’s shot of the day at the Brisbane International.
An interview with Angelique Kerber after her win in the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup.
BRISBANE, Australia – The unseeded Alizé Cornet is through to the final at the Brisbane International after Garbiñe Muguruza was forced to retire due to injury.
“I was really focused on my match but I could tell [Garbiñe] was not playing like usual,” Cornet said in her post-match interview. “She was not running or hitting the ball as well as usual. But I was just trying to stay focused on what I had to do.”
The No.4 seeded Spaniard looked off from the start, her usually powerful groundstrokes lacking their bite. She struggled to hold serve in the opening game under Cornet’s all-court assault, fending off two break points.
But Muguruza was broken in her very next service game after a string of long rallies which saw her struggle to hit through the ball, and finally retired trailing Cornet 1-4, citing a right thigh injury.
.@GarbiMuguruza retires after being down 1-4.@AlizeCornet moves into the @BrisbaneTennis Final! pic.twitter.com/ydFI8tBXqA
— WTA (@WTA) January 6, 2017
“Of course, it’s not the way I wanted to get to the final but its part of the game,” Cornet explained. “We understand sometimes we have some physical issues. Tennis is more and more tough on the body.
“But well, it’s good for me because I will have a little bit of rest before the big final tomorrow.”
Aside from securing a spot into her second career Premier-level final, the win guarantees Cornet a seed at the Australian Open. The Frenchwoman’s ranking will rise as high as No.31 by virtue of reaching the final, and could go as high as No.26 should she take home the title.
Cornet awaits the winner between No.6 seed Elina Svitolina and No.3 seed Karolina Pliskova.
An interview with Jelena Jankovic after her win in the first round of the Apia International Sydney.
Svetlana Kuznetsova has Friday’s shot of the day at the Rogers Cup.
Lauren Davis came out on top in a battle of rising stars at the ASB Classic, where she defeated Ana Konjuh in straight sets to take home her first WTA title.
MELBOURNE, Australia – There were some major moves on the new WTA Rankings this week – Agnieszka Radwanska going from No.5 to No.4, Angelique Kerber from No.10 to No.7, and Victoria Azarenka from No.22 to No.16 after winning her first WTA title since 2013 at the Brisbane International.
With Top 4, Top 8 and Top 16 seeds so critical at majors, those moves couldn’t have come at a better time, as these rankings are the ones the seeds are made from for the first major of the year.
With that, here are the projected seeds for the Australian Open:
(1) Serena Williams (USA #1)
(2) Simona Halep (ROU #2)
(3) Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP #3)
(4) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL #4)
(5) Maria Sharapova (RUS #5)
(6) Petra Kvitova (CZE #6)
(7) Angelique Kerber (GER #7)
(8) Venus Williams (USA #10)
(9) Karolina Pliskova (CZE #11)
(10) Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP #12)
(11) Timea Bacsinszky (SUI #13)
(12) Belinda Bencic (SUI #14)
(13) Roberta Vinci (ITA #15)
(14) Victoria Azarenka (BLR #16)
(15) Madison Keys (USA #17)
(16) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN #18)
(17) Sara Errani (ITA #19)
(18) Elina Svitolina (UKR #20)
(19) Jelena Jankovic (SRB #21)
(20) Ana Ivanovic (SRB #22)
(21) Ekaterina Makarova (RUS #23)
(22) Andrea Petkovic (GER #24)
(23) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS #25)
(24) Sloane Stephens (USA #26)
(25) Samantha Stosur (AUS #27)
(26) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS #28)
(27) Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (SVK #29)
(28) Kristina Mladenovic (FRA #30)
(29) Irina-Camelia Begu (ROU #31)
(30) Sabine Lisicki (GER #32)
(31) Lesia Tsurenko (UKR #33)
(32) Caroline Garcia (FRA #34)
** Flavia Pennetta (ITA #8) and Lucie Safarova (CZE #9) would have been seeded but are not competing at the Australian Open due to retirement (Pennetta) and bacterial infection (Safarova).
Simona Halep takes on Angelique Kerber in the semifinals of the Rogers Cup.
Karolina Pliskova talks through her performance in her victory in the final of the Brisbane International.