BRISBANE, Australia – As the No.2 seed, Garbiñe Muguruza gets a first round bye at the Brisbane International – but she now knows who she’ll play in the second round of the Premier-level event.

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That would be Varvara Lepchenko, who needed just an hour and 13 minutes to beat Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, 6-2, 6-1. With the win, she’s the first player to win a WTA main draw match in 2016.

Muguruza beat Lepchenko in straight sets the pair’s only previous meeting, at Wimbledon last year.

On Saturday, Muguruza met the press as part of her All Access Hour interviews. The first question was something many have been thinking about – after such a sensational 2015 that saw her make her first Grand Slam final at Wimbledon and finish as the World No.3, how will she follow it up in 2016?

“Well, for me it’s actually not going to be different,” Muguruza declared. “I’m just going to try to do the same as last year. I know people will expect more because they saw a great level of tennis in the last tournaments, which is normal, so I understand it’s going to happen, but I won’t change anything.

“I’m just going to keep working hard and going out to the court and trying to perform the best that I can, and try and use the things that I’ve been working on in practice. And we’ll see what happens.”

And what about this week’s Brisbane International? “It’s my first tournament of the year, so I’m trying not to expect anything. I just want to feel healthy and have good energy after all the work I did in the pre-season. I’m not thinking about winning, though obviously you want to win, of course!”

The World No.3 was also asked about the upcoming Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, and whether she and her doubles partner, Carla Suárez Navarro, would make any adjustments leading up to it. And they will.

“We’re going to play less tournaments for sure,” Muguruza said. “We’re maybe going to play only three or four tournaments in doubles, which is quite a big change. We’re going to slow down a little bit.”

She was then asked about potentially playing mixed doubles with ATP legend Rafael Nadal.

“Well that would be amazing!” Muguruza beamed. “Conchita Martínez is the one who’ll decide in the end who plays the mixed doubles. But if I have the opportunity to play with Rafa, that would be great!”

Lepchenko wasn’t the only first round winner on Sunday, with four other players moving through to the second round: Andrea Petkovic, who outdid Teliana Pereira, 6-1, 6-2; Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who upset No.5 seed Timea Bacsinszky, 6-2, 6-1; Dominika Cibulkova, who outlasted Yanina Wickmayer, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4; and Alizé Cornet, who won an all-French encounter against Kristina Mladenovic, 6-3, 6-4.

SHENZHEN, China – The lead-up to the Australian Open is a quick one – two weeks of WTA events before the first Grand Slam of the year – so any time saved is an advantage. And Agnieszka Radwanska caught a break on the way to Shenzhen, her first stop before Melbourne: a private jet.

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“I came here two days ago right after I played an exhibition in Thailand, and it was a good surprise from the exhibition director over there,” the World No.5 said. “It makes life very easy, especially since I wanted to be here as soon as possible, so we took the private jet right after the last match ended!”

And the thrills didn’t stop there – Radwanska is excited to be at this year’s Shenzhen Open.

“It’s my first time here, and it’s always exciting to play somewhere for the first time. The calendar is pretty similar every year, so playing somewhere for the first time always makes me happy – it gives me something else. I haven’t seen the city yet because I’ve been adjusting to the weather and the courts and everything, but I’ll see some of the city later. I’ve heard there’s some good shopping here.”

Speaking of the courts, Radwanska has been getting some solid practice in – outside and inside.

“It’s been going well so far,” she said. “The courts here in Shenzhen are very good, and there are a lot of courts here, which also makes life easier. You can find a practice court whenever you want.

“The weather hasn’t been the best so far, so it’s great they also have indoor courts.”

Radwanska was the form player of the fall season – she won 17 of 21 matches and picked up three WTA titles at Tokyo, Tianjin and the WTA Finals. She’s hoping to keep her Asian momentum alive.

She’s not taking anything for granted, though, including her first round opponent, Aleksandra Krunic.

“It’s not going to be easy,” Radwanska said. “I’ve never played her, which is always a challenge. I saw a couple of her matches and she can play really great tennis, too. It’s not an easy one, for sure.

“But it’s important to get some good matches before a Grand Slam, so I’m looking forward to it.”

Favorite Thing To Do In NYC

August 27, 2014

Maria Sharapova, Petra Kvitova, Agnieszka Radwanska, Victoria Azarenka, Ana Ivanovic and Genie Bouchard tell us their favorite things to do in New York City.

Two thousand five hundred and one matches, across 59 tournaments and five continents. While numbers never tell the whole story, when it comes to the 2015 WTA season, they certainly make for a good read.

So at the start of the new year, SAP and wtatennis.com wave goodbye to the old one with a countdown of some of its more eye-catching figures.

10,582,642 – Despite missing the final few months of the season, the peerless Serena Williams still managed to pass the $10 million mark in prize money for just the second time in her career. 

230 – The number of minutes needed by Francesca Schiavone to defeat Svetlana Kuznetsova in the second round of the French Open, making it the longest match of the season. Honorable mentions go to Petra Martic and Wang Yafan for their three hour, 27 minute effort in Dalian.

130 – World No.130 Teliana Pereira was the lowest-ranked player to win a title when she went all the way in Bogotá.

128 – The speed in miles per hour of the fastest serve of the year, unleashed, unsurprisingly, by Serena Williams at the BNP Paribas Open.

81.1 – Serena’s 120mph-plus bombs helped her win 81.1% of her service games.

79 – Karolina Pliskova can confidently lay claim to being the busiest women in tennis, playing more matches (79) on tour than anyone else. 

72 – By common consensus, Daria Kasatkina is the next big thing in Russian tennis. After enjoying a distinguished junior career, a string of impressive showings has aided a charge up the rankings that saw Kasatkina finish a year she started well outside the Top 300 perched handily at No.72.

51.9 – Sara Errani may not possess the most fearsome of serves, but she more than makes up for it when receiving. Last year she won a higher percentage of games (51.9%) and points (50.8%) on return than any other player.

46 – A few days after upsetting Ajla Tomljanovic in Seoul, the evergreen Kimiko Date-Krumm celebrated her 46th birthday.

31 – Errani was taken to three sets on 31 occasions in 2015, underlining her reputation as one of the game’s most dogged competitors by prevailing in 19 of them.

17 – At 17 years and five months, Ana Konjuh‘s victory in Nottingham saw her crowned the youngest WTA singles title winner in nearly a decade.

5 – Angelique Kerber enjoyed a return to form in 2015, picking up four titles, in Charleston, Stuttgart, Birmingham and Stanford. However, she was still unable to match Serena’s WTA-leading tally of five (Australian Open, Miami, French Open, Wimbledon, Cincinnati).  

0 – Number of times Belinda Bencic lost in her five encounters against Top 5 players, including that memorable upset of Serena Williams en route to the Toronto title.