Tennis News

KAOHSUING, Taiwan – Misaki Doi’s finally roused her slumbering campaign to life on Monday with a straight set win over Kristyna Pliskova at the Taiwan Open.

Watch live action from St. Petersburg & Kaohsiung this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

A miserable start to 2016 saw Doi fall at the first hurdle in Auckland, Hobart and finally the Australian Open. The third and final of these defeats Down Under was particularly galling, Doi holding a match point against eventual champion Angelique Kerber in the first round of the Australian Open.

Perhaps buoyed by Kerber’s subsequent heroics at Melbourne Park, Doi came out with a spring in her step against Pliskova, breaking serve twice to take the first set. She repeated the trick in the second set to wrap up a 6-3, 6-4 victory in little over an hour.

Also advancing in the bottom half of the draw was qualifier Yuxuan Zhang, a 5-7, 7-6(3), 6-2 winner over lucky loser Hiroko Kuwata.

Meanwhile, in the top half there were wins for Urszula Radwanska and Anastasija Sevastova.

Radwanska was given a stern examination by local wildcard Hsu Ching-Wen, before coming through, 6-4, 7-6(1). Sevastova was pushed even harder, fighting back to see off Kristina Kucova, 4-6, 7-6(0), 7-6(3), in a match lasting nearly two and a half hours.

Tuesday will see most of the remaining seeds, including home favorite Hsieh Su-Wei, in first round action. The only exception is top seed Venus Williams, who will wait until Wednesday to get her challenge underway against Lee Pei-Chi.

CINCINNATI, OH, USA – World No.3 Garbiñe Muguruza fought past an early challenge from CoCo Vandeweghe to make her way into the third round of the Western & Southern Open for the first time.

Watch live action from Cincinnati this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

Curiously enough for the reigning French Open champion, this tournament has never been one where she’s seen much success. In fact, she’s never scored a win in any of her three previous appearances in Cincinnati. Muguruza made sure to fix this stat after powering past Vandeweghe, 7-6(4), 6-2.

“I’m finally happy I won my first match here, and against a very difficult opponent,” Muguruza said afterwards. “CoCo is very powerful, but I’m happy to be into the third round.

The Spaniard started out very tentatively against the big hitting Vandeweghe, striking three double faults in one game and flubbing a backhand to meekly surrender the first break at 4-2. But instead of allowing herself to panic, Muguruza put together the aggressive game she’s relied on in the past and broke back immediately to erase the lead. She kept it up well into the tiebreak and through the second set, where she broke twice more to wrap up the match after an hour and 25 minutes.

Both players posted similar numbers in the winner to unforced errors count, with Muguruza striking 21 winners and 20 unforced errors and the American hitting 22 and 21, respectively. Despite Vandeweghe outplaying and outserving Muguruza for much of the first set, Muguruza proved more dominant on the key points. She converted all three break points she created while Vandeweghe only converted one of two.

Now with a win in Cincinnati finally under her belt, what are the rest of the No.4 seed’s goals for the year?

“Well, first of all not get injured,” Muguruza laughed in her on-court interview. “Of course and keep showing this level and keep winning a lot of matches, if I can, and perform well.”

She awaits the winner between Kurumi Nara and No.16 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova for a spot in the quarterfinals.

More to come…

SALT LAKE CITY, USA – Climbing to the summit of women’s tennis is no easy matter. Staying there, though, is arguably even more challenging.

No stone is left unturned in the quest for the slightest competitive edge. Therefore, it is no surprise that many players are paying increasing attention the nutritional side of their preparation.

Kristina Mladenovic and Alizé Cornet are two players famed almost as much for their exceptional physical conditioning as for their technical brilliance, and on Tuesday were unveiled as the latest big names to trust their health to USANA Health Sciences.

The two Frenchwomen join USANA’s 700-plus stable of athletes who back their performances with the global nutritional company’s NSF-tested products, including fellow WTA stars Caroline Wozniacki, Eugenie Bouchard, Madison Keys, Samantha Stosur, Sloane Stephens, Monica Puig and Zheng Saisai.

Currently the highest-ranked French player in both singles and doubles, Mladenovic is one of the brightest young talents on tour. Still just 22, Mladenovic already has one WTA title in singles and a further 12 in doubles, as well as two Grand Slam mixed doubles crowns alongside Canada’s Daniel Nestor.

“I’m excited to be part of Team USANA,” Mladenovic said. “I have been using USANA vitamins and supplements for a few years and have seen the difference that it has made in my health and fitness. As one of USANA’s Ambassadors, I’m looking forward to sharing my positive experience with others and letting them know what USANA can do for them.”

Heading into her 10th year on tour, Cornet recently captured her fifth WTA singles title, at the Hobart International, taking down fellow USANA Brand Ambassador Eugenie Bouchard in the final. The former World No.11 has reached the last 16 at three of the four majors and also holds three wins over Serena Williams.

“USANA vitamins and supplements have been an important part of my nutrition routine for years,” Cornet said. “I believe in USANA products and I am thrilled to be an Ambassador.”

USANA has been the Official Health Supplement Supplier of the WTA since 2006 and continues to provide its high-quality, NSF-tested nutritional products to more than 170 WTA athletes, including 15 athletes in the WTA Top 20, and eight of the Top 10.

SINGAPORE – Down a set in her first-ever BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global semifinal, Dominika Cibulkova shifted into turbo to take out No.8 seed and story of the tournament, Svetlana Kuznetsova, 1-6, 7-6(2), 6-4. The win is guaranteed to take her at least up to a career-high ranking of No.6.

Read how the match unfolded in the WTA Insider Live Blog.

– Cibulkova hit through the occasion, and the pressure.

Familiar to big stages, the Slovak once struggled to maintain an aggressive mindset at the finish line of high-stakes encounters; it was just six months ago that she narrowly lost back-to-back three-setters to Agnieszka Radwanska and Garbiñe Muguruza in Indian Wells and Miami.

But Cibulkova’s mental evolution has been on full display in Singapore, and the No.7 seed resolved to play positive tennis, win or lose.

A “Come On” instead of a “POME”, but it still means the same for @Cibulkova. One game away! #WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/iL2afsB1dj

— WTA (@WTA) October 29, 2016

“I ended the second set really, really well,” she said after the match. “I was hitting full power and everything and I was going for it. I knew there is no other way than to go for it. I managed to put the balls in.”

Winning the last five matches against Kuznetsova made her a heavy favorite, especially considering the amount of matches the Russian had to play just to get to Singapore, let alone the semifinals. But Kuznetsova came roaring out of the gate, hitting nine winners to take the first set in 33 minutes.

“She was putting the pressure after my serve, because my percentage was really low and she was putting so much pressure from the second serve return.

“I knew I had to start serving better, I had to be the one being more aggressive on the court. I had to play my game, to be in on my forehand and to go for my shots.”

Cibulkova had caught the always-aggressive Kuznetsova’s winner total of 27 by match’s end, all the while keeping her unforced error count lower than the No.8 seed (31 to 35). Through a high-quality match, she took control when it mattered most.

“Today I managed to stay in the match, even [when] she was playing really, really good and she was overplaying me in the first set.”

A lovely dropshot from @Cibulkova. #WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/an8wDqduDD

— WTA (@WTA) October 29, 2016

– Kuznetsova let distractions get the best of her.

The Russian made it through two of the tensest weeks in her career to find herself in her first semifinal in Singapore. From a break down in the third, she won four straight games and appeared on course to replicate the form that took her through the first set.

But something wasn’t right. She spoke with umpire Kader Nouni during the changeover after breaking Cibulkova’s serve in the fifth game; Nouni assured her the issue – whatever it was – wasn’t falling afoul of the rules. She proceeded to lose the final four games of the match. 

“Overall I was frustrated for other thing which I thought was a little bit unprofessional,” she said afterwards.

A red-eyed Kuznetsova came to press unwilling to specify the source of her distraction, but seemed to imply she took exception to noises coming from Cibulkova’s camp.

“She was OK,” she said when asked whether player or team caused any problems.

Ultimately, the two-time Grand Slam champion refused to blame the moment for the loss, chalking defeat up to tactical errors in the final stages of the match.

“Dominika played really good. She was really aggressive. I was short on some shots, and in the end I think she just was aggressive, and I was not.”

Still, it was a revelatory season for Sveta, who plans a well-deserved vacation after a hectic schedule through the Asian Swing.

“I’m just thinking about vacation right now and just letting [today’s loss] go. I have to go to bed and sleep, not to think about the matches, not to be nervous all the time. For the last five weeks, it was every single day I was thinking about the next day to play another match.

“So I’m dreaming of being able to relax, relax the nerves, and then I just want to have a good pre-season, and next year just to be consistent. I think I [have] got lots of confidence after finishing the year like this. I think I can do a lot of the things.”

– Cibulkova believes the best is yet to come.

Cibulkova hails from a generation that includes Grand Slam champions and former No.1s like Petra Kvitova, Victoria Azarenka, and Caroline Wozniacki. But it’s taken longer for the Slovakian dynamo to meet the expectations set by her cohort, something she blames on a lack of self-belief.

“I never saw myself as that good, or maybe not as a consistent player. He made me believe it.  He had examples and I started to believe in myself much more.”

Saturday’s win puts her up to a career-high of No.6, but Cibulkova could finish the week inside the Top 5 – a ranking threshold that doesn’t faze the 27-year-old.

The on-court interview from @Cibulkova after an amazing victory! #WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/qYzxlwn9Kf

— WTA (@WTA) October 29, 2016

“Right now if I’m going to be deeper than Top 10, I’ll really believe I belong there. That’s most important thing: you have to be convinced that you belong there. Then it works.”

She’ll certainly hope it works in Sunday’s final against Angelique Kerber, a match that comes just shy of three years from her first major final at the Australian Open.

“That time I was new, and playing your first Grand Slam final was really tough. I’m happy I have this experience; for me to go on the finals in Australia, I was trying to do my best but I wasn’t convinced I could really win.

“With this experience now I’m a different player. Tomorrow I will go there and just want to win.”

On this episode it’s all about the Russians. Senior Writer for WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen previews this week’s tournaments in St. Petersburg and Taiwan and look to the new generation of Russians – Margarita Gasparyan, Elizaveta Kulichkova, and Daria Kasatkina – who are eager to put their stamps on the tour. Their collective success is an important development for a country that has produced two No.1s in Maria Sharapova and Dinara Safina, swept the podium at the 2008 Olympics, and won three of the four majors in 2004. There has been a notable gap in talent after Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova’s protogenic rise. That’s about to change.

Gasparyan, Kulichkova, and Kasatkina are all in action this week and after a solid last six months, they are all in the Top 100, which means you’ll be seeing more of them in the main draw at tour events. So now’s the time to get to know them.

Gasparyan on switching from a male coach to a female coach, former player Elena Makarova: “She’s not just a coach. She’s a friend. I like to work with a woman. When you have a male coach you cannot speak about everything with him. Maybe just tennis. When you have tennis you can tell all. How you feel, tennis, boyfriends, everything. I’m relaxed. I don’t think a lot of tennis all the time.”

Kasatkina on the Russian resurgence: “I think it’s because of Russian character. We have not the best conditions. So that’s why we fight all the time for everything.”

Kulichkova on her friendship with Kasatkina: “We’re not so alike in terms of liking the same things. We probably like the three same things, everything else is different. But still we’re best friends. It works nicely. So if someone says friendship in women’s tennis doesn’t exist it’s a lie! We are the proof. It exists.”

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