Insider Notebook: Scouting Report

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

Andrea Petkovic readies for Jelena Ostapenko: No one would have slated this semifinal when the draw came out. 18-year-old Ostapenko had won just on main draw match all year and came to the Qatar Total Open thinking she would have to play through qualifying. But she paved her own way, knocking out No.5 seed Petra Kvitova and then Zheng Saisai on Thursday to become the third 18-year-old to advance to a semifinal this year.

Watch live action from Doha & Acapulco this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

Can Ostapenko go one further? She’s already into the Top 60 by virtue of her career-best run at a Premier tournament and could move into the Top 50 if she makes the final. She’ll face Andrea Petkovic, who played a top-notch match to beat No.3 Garbiñe Muguruza 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 for her first Top 5 win since 2013. It will be the first meeting between Petkovic and Ostapenko, but the German admitted to taking notice of Ostapenko late last year.

“I saw her playing qualifying in Linz last year, and I said to myself, Wow, this girl’s really talented,” Petkovic told reporters. “I think she’s going to do some damage on tour. It’s really nice to see I have a great [prediction skills].”

Agnieszka Radwanska and Roberta Vinci put on a clinic: Remember this match at the end of the year when you’re asked for the best WTA matches of the season. This will be on the short list.

Any fan thirsty for the days of all-court tennis need look no further than the shot-making extravaganza put on between Radwanska and Vinci. Radwanska came back from a set down to win 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 to advance to her third straight semifinal this season — she still has just one loss to her name, to Serena Williams at the Australian Open – but as stadium announcer Andy Taylor said, she broke the internet with her highlights. Catch up on all the happenings here.

One of the most notable trends of the day in Doha: Net play. Zheng Saisai started off the morning with some net-rushing – how great was it to see a Sneak Attack By Saisai? – Muguruza continued the trend with over 30 forays into the forecourt, and Radwanska and Vinci combined for over 100 net points between them.

Carla Suárez Navarro returns to the Top 10: The Spaniard beat Elena Vesnina 6-3, 7-6(3) to advance to her second semifinal of the season (Brisbane). She’ll play Radwanska next, but Thursday’s win means Suárez Navarro will knock Flavia Pennetta out of the Top 10 on Monday, and she could move as high as No.6 if she wins on Friday.

Love means nothing: Few players give as thoughtful post-match interviews as Petkovic and she didn’t disappoint after her quarterfinal win. Here she is reflecting on her career so far:

“Tennis has always been a great love and hate story for me,” Petkovic said. “I love it so much that I hate it at the same time. I guess love and hate are very close together. It’s torn me apart, but it has also given me the most beautiful moments of my life. I wouldn’t want to miss anything of it.”

Garbiñe Muguruza makes progress: It was undoubtedly a disappointing and frustrating result for Muguruza, who looked to have the match back on her terms early in the third set before getting broken and letting her frustration get the best of her. But Muguruza played her best tennis of the year this week in Doha and there was a lot to like about how committed she was on her returns and getting herself at the net. The negatives? She picked up a left thigh injury during the match and Petkovic exposed her weak low volley.

Just win, baby: Petkovic is sharing her coach Jan de Witt with ATP veteran Gilles Simon. The two trained together during the off-season at de Witt’s academy in Halle and she says she’s trying to get over her penchant for perfectionism and just focus on winning.

“I actually learned quite a few things with Jan and Gilles, both of them, because men approach the game much differently than women,” she explained. “They are just less emotional and much more rational.

“I think girls — I don’t know, maybe I’m leaving myself out the window right now — but I think girls, they always want to play the perfect match. For example, I think especially Gilles Simon, because he’s also this type of player, he’s totally fine winning a match where the other guy has 65 unforced errors. He still sees his positives, what he did to the other guy that he did unforced errors.

“I think the girls, they win 6-2, 6-3, and the one missed a lot of balls, and they’re like, Yeah, I didn’t play so well. The other girl was bad. Putting so much pressure on this perfectionism that women I think a lot of time have.

“It’s really nice to get this other side, Yeah, I won, good for me. I think it’s good to have this attitude about just pushing through and winning matches no matter how ugly or how good they are.”

Called it: Earlier in the week, I highlighted the team of Elena Vesnina and Daria Kasatkina as a potential darkhorse Olympic doubles team. The two have already won a title in Moscow and made the quarterfinals two weeks ago in St. Petersburg. On Thursday they snapped Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza’s 41-match win streak, knocking out the Co-No.1s 2-6, 6-4, 10-5 to advance to the Doha semifinals.

Yanina Wickmayer? Yanina Wickmayer!: The Belgian announced on Facebook that she has a memoir coming out soon.

She’s also into the Acapulco semifinals after beating No.3 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 7-6(3). Wickmayer will play No.2 seed Sloane Stephens, who held off a solid challenge from Naomi Osaka, winning 6-3, 7-5.

Petko jokes: Here’s exchange between Petkovic and the stadium announcer:

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