Tennis News

CINCINNATI, OH, USA – No.5 seed Agnieszka Radwanska won the last nine games of a late-night third round encounter with No.10 seed Johanna Konta, 6-7(1), 6-4, 6-0, to complete the quarterfinal line-up at the Western & Southern Open.

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“She’s a great player,” Radwanska said during her on-court interview. “We never played before, but I’ve seen many of her matches, and she’s played great tennis. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, and it was an exciting match playing together for the first time. I’m just so happy with the win.”

Konta needed to reach the semifinals in Cincinnati to have a chance of making her long-awaited Top 10 debut, and appeared on course to keep that dream alive when she reeled off the last seven points of the first set tie-break.

“It was a very tight match in the beginning. The tie-break slipped away too quickly, that’s for sure.”

Flick lob from @ARadwanska! ? https://t.co/0EUn8aOrGp

— WTA (@WTA) August 19, 2016

A tired looking Radwanska trailed the Brit 4-3 on serve in the second set but somehow caught fire when it mattered most, hitting 27 winners throughout the three-setter to 31 unforced errors, and converting six of her 10 break point opportunities.

What was the Pole’s secret to success as Thursday night became Friday morning?

“I was able to break at the end of the second set, and I think I started to play better tennis and much more aggressive. I think I woke up because I had eight ladies dancing in front of me; that just woke me up!”

Shutting Konta out after midnight, Radwanska booked the last remaining spot in the quarterfinals, where she’ll play No.3 seed Simona Halep, who is riding a 12-match winning streak.

“I’m just very happy to make the quarterfinals here, especially since it’s always a strong tournament with no easy matches,” she said after the match. “Andrea, Johanna in the first two matches, and now Simona in the next match. I just hope I can play the same good tennis tomorrow.

“I think against Simona, I have nothing to lose; she’s having a great season and playing really good tennis. I’m just going to go out and enjoy.

“But first, rest tonight!”

How did @ARadwanska pull out the win?

Eight dancing ladies @CincyTennis! ???? https://t.co/4JktDPxOWW

— WTA (@WTA) August 19, 2016

Belinda Bencic was on course for a career-best season when she became the youngest Top 10 debutante since Caroline Wozniacki in 2009, but lower back and left wrist injuries have kept her sidelined through most of the spring and summer.

“You only realize how much you miss tennis when you can’t play tennis,” she told WTA Insider on Wednesday.

Making her long-awaited return at the Western & Southern Open, Bencic is keeping things in perspective despite an opening round loss to Timea Babos. Take a listen as the Swiss Miss shares her stories from her time off the tour, what she’s been binge-watching on Netflix, and what she thinks of the Pokémon GO craze in the latest Daily Dispatch episode of the WTA Insider Podcast:

Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn or on any podcast app of your choice to ensure you never miss an episode when they go live. Reviews are always helpful, so if you like what you’ve heard so far, leave us one. You can also get new episode alerts by following us on Twitter @WTA_Insider.

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CINCINNATI, OH, USA – Five years ago, Germany’s top-ranked woman was asked to handicap her countrywoman at the Western & Southern Open. Having recently made her Top 10 debut, Andrea Petkovic told members of the media to keep an eye out for one player in particular.

“She’s going to come back,” Petkovic said of Angelique Kerber. “I called her and I asked her to come to my academy where I train, and she came there for four weeks and practiced really, really hard.”

Kerber had been ranked as high as No.45 to start the 2011 season, but briefly dropped out of the Top 100 that summer. At the time of Petkovic’s press conference, she had lost 15 of her last 18 WTA main draw matches.

“I promise you she’s going to be at least Top 30 like in six months, because she worked really, really hard and she’s a great player and she’s definitely going to come back.”

To say that Petkovic proved prescient would be the understatement of the decade. Within a week, Kerber reached the semifinals of a WTA International event in Dallas, Texas as a qualifier. Two weeks after that, the then-World No.90 was in the final four of the US Open, upsetting Agnieszka Radwanska and Flavia Pennetta along the way.

“She was helping me in practice,” she said of Petkovic’s advice after her win over Pennetta. “She told me, ‘You can do it. You play very well. You need to play consistent your tennis and not think about something or not think that you can win or you can lose. Just go on the court, play your tennis.’ Yeah, she helps me a lot.”

Kerber ultimately fell to eventual champion Samantha Stosur, but nonetheless beat Petkovic’s prediction by well over three months, cracking the Top 30 for the first time on October 2, 2011.

A lot has changed since then. The reigning Australian Open champion, Wimbledon runner-up, and Olympic Silver medalist is now in pole position to end Serena Williams’ 183 straight weeks atop the WTA rankings. Should she take home the trophy at the very tournament where Petkovic first made her bold prediction, Kerber would become the oldest woman to debut at World No.1 since a 25-year-old Jennifer Capriati in 2001.

She spoke about the pressure of having to back up her Melbourne run, and how it was familiar to her feelings following her 2011 breakthrough, after her opening round win over Kristina Mladenovic:

Angelique Kerber is done proving to people that she belongs. Now she plays for herself. #CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/39eyX49kfJ

— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) August 18, 2016

With dangerous veteran Barbora Strycova looming in the third round, Kerber still has a tough road to reach the top spot, but it’s proving tougher and tougher to bet against the German, especially with the Cincinnati breeze at her back.

In her downtime in Montréal a few weeks ago at the Rogers Cup, Petra Kvitova paid a visit to the WTA Media TV truck to find out a little bit more about the people who broadcast her matches all around the world.

She learned about everything that goes into producing a tennis match, from switching between the eight to 12 cameras per court, keeping match stats, creating slow motion replays, and much more.

“It’s amazing how many cameras there are at the same time on the same court!” Kvitova said. “When I play, sometimes I just see one camera!”

A joint venture between the WTA and Perform Group, WTA Media will produce all main draw singles matches and semifinals and finals of all doubles matches from 2017.