WTA Stars Shine At Tokyo Player Party
Garbiñe Muguruza, Agnieszka Radwanska, Caroline Wozniacki and Naomi Osaka were among the WTA stars who turned heads at the Toray Pan Pacific Open player party.
Garbiñe Muguruza, Agnieszka Radwanska, Caroline Wozniacki and Naomi Osaka were among the WTA stars who turned heads at the Toray Pan Pacific Open player party.
TOKYO, Japan – No.2 seed and defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska was one game from elimination against the always-dangerous Barbora Strycova, but the Pole turned things around to advance into the quarterfinals of the Toray Pan Pacific Open, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.
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“The first match is always tricky, especially at a really strong tournament like here,” Radwanska said in her on-court interview. “You’re playing someone in the Top 20, Top 30, so it’s never easy. I’m just very happy with that match; it wasn’t easy, but I was just better in a couple of points.”
First set ? @ARadwanska!
Leads Strycova 6-3! #TorayPPO pic.twitter.com/fxiEB3MGyS
— WTA (@WTA) September 21, 2016
Radwanska last played Strycova at the French Open, where the former World No.2 survived a three-setter on the terre battue, and it quickly became clear it would be a similar struggle on Wednesday as the Czech veteran raced out to a 5-1 lead in the second set despite dropping the first.
“I’ve known her for a long time, so I know she’s a great player with great hands. She can do everything on court, with great touch and is very often at the net. She made some incredible shots, so I’m very glad the last point was mine!”
3rd Set!@BaraStrycova rallies to force a decider vs Radwanska 3-6, 6-3! #TorayPPO pic.twitter.com/86nj44xbIm
— WTA (@WTA) September 21, 2016
Strycova is in the midst of a career-best season after reaching the final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and came into Tokyo just two spots shy of her career-high ranking of No.19 – earned in late August. Thrice up a break in the decider, she served for the match at 5-4, but Radwanska gamely broke back and saved break points of her own in the next game to engineer victory in two hours and 16 minutes.
“I know it’s late but thank you for staying. Hopefully I will see even more of you the day after tomorrow!”
It is sure to be quite a quarterfinal match-up come Friday as the No.2 seed is set to take on Olympic tennis event champion Monica Puig; the Puerto Rican knocked out former Tokyo champion Petra Kvitova in three sets to earn her best result since becoming her country’s first-ever Olympic Gold medalist. Former World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki also looms as a possible semifinal opponent, making the fight for the Toray Pan Pacific Open trophy likely a photo finish.
.@ARadwanska with the drop shot and lob! #TorayPPO pic.twitter.com/PmjW1E7MD6
— WTA (@WTA) September 21, 2016
SEOUL, South Korea – Big-hitting Italian Camila Giorgi recovered from a set down to dismiss Mona Barthel in a battle of two former Top 30 players, 2-6, 6-1, 6-4, to reach the quarterfinals of the Korea Open.
Barthel began the year ranked at World No.45, but a virus kept her off court between the Australian and French Open; the German had won just two matches since Wimbledon heading into her match against Giorgi. Still, she reminded fans why she’s been ranked as high as No.23 in the world with a stunning opening set, winning 10 of 13 points off the Italian’s second serve and saving all three break points faced.
Giorgi has also seen her ranking slip from the start of the season, but took the experience from beating Barthel less than a month ago at the Connecticut Open and overcame a few frustrating moments to turn the tables on the 26-year-old, wrapping up the topsy-turvy tussle in just under 100 minutes.
The win puts the 24-year-old into her fifth WTA quarterfinal of the 2016 season – all at International level events – and will be looking to reach her second semifinal of the year, her first since finishing runner-up at the Katowice Open.
Up next for the former World No.30 is No.3 seed and Australian Open quarterfinalist Zhang Shuai, who edged past mixed doubles Olympic Gold medalist and US Open women’s doubles champ Bethanie Mattek-Sands, 6-3, 7-5.
New Haven semifinalist and No.2 seed Johanna Larsson followed up Giorgi’s heroics with a three-set thriller of her own, knocking out rising Ukrainian Kateryna Kozlova, 6-3, 1-6, 6-2.
TOKYO, Japan – Former champion Caroline Wozniacki required nearly three hours to see off No.4 seed Carla Suárez Navarro in the second round of the Toray Pan Pacific Open on Wednesday.
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For the first hour and a half of an absorbing contest, Wozniacki seemed on course for a relatively straightforward victory. However, just as she had 24 hours earlier against Belinda Bencic, the Dane was forced to overcome a mid-match hiccup before eventually triumphing 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-4.
“This was such a tough match, we played for such a long time and we really both deserve to be here as winners as the standard was very high,” Wozniacki said. “Luckily I’m the one here and I’m happy to get through.”
Suárez Navarro looked to have turned the match in her favor when she reeled off four straight games to pinch the second set. However, the match took another twist at the start of the third set, a sudden rain delay stopping the Spaniard in her tracks.
On the resumption, Wozniacki reasserted her dominance to build an ultimately decisive lead. “I won the next three games after the rain and managed to regroup. She was on a bit of a roll so it came at a good time.”
Wozniacki, who went all the way to the title in 2010, will meet either Yulia Putintseva or Magda Linette in the quarterfinals.
More to follow…
TOKYO, Japan – Monica Puig produced a typically gutsy comeback to upset former champion and No.7 seed Petra Kvitova and reach the quarterfinals of the Toray Pan Pacific Open.
Watch live action from Tokyo this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
Despite playing much of the contest on the back foot, Puig played the more assured tennis when it mattered to run out a 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 winner.
“It was difficult conditions today – the conditions were heavy and the roof was open this time – so it took me a little bit of time to adjust,” Puig said. “I just kept fighting and that’s what got me through today.”
The Puerto Rican, who also beat Kvitova on her way to Olympic gold this summer, is yet to lose to a left-hander in 2016 and will now face either defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska or Barbora Strycova.
“I didn’t know I hadn’t lost [to a left-hander], but they’re very difficult to play and always tricky,” she said when quizzed on her record after the match.
More to follow…
A week and a half ago tennis crowned a new queen when Angelique Kerber lifted the US Open to mark her ascent to the World No.1 ranking.
Watching on from the stands was Billie Jean King, the woman after whom tournament’s home is named, and who 43 years earlier paved the way for Kerber and company by defeating Bobby Riggs.
Dubbed by promoters as ‘The Battle of the Sexes’, on September 20, 1973 King took on Riggs, an ageing former major champion and shameless misogynist who claimed he could still beat any of the leading women on the fledgling Women’s Tennis Association.
Luckily, she did win. Playing to an audience of 30,472 in the Houston Astrodome – and over 100 million watching around the world on television – King abandoned her serve-and-volley game to defeat Riggs from the back of the court, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.
When Riggs hit a high backhand volley into the net on match point, King flung her racket into the air in celebration. “I thought it would set us back 50 years if I didn’t win that match,” she said later. “It would ruin the women’s tour and affect all women’s self-esteem.”
For his part, Riggs told reporters that King simply “played too well.” The two eventually became friends, and even spoke a few days before Riggs died of prostate cancer in 1995.
Over four decades on, the match remains a landmark moment in the gender equality movement, one that transcended sport.
43 years ago today I played Bobby Riggs in a match that changed my life & was all about equality. To celebrate let's shine a light on others
— Billie Jean King (@BillieJeanKing) September 20, 2016
Elina Svitolina takes on the WTA Frame Challenge, but can she topple Alize Cornet and become the new leader? Find out on wtatennis.com!
TOKYO, Japan – The WTA’s biggest stars took a break from their hectic Tokyo preparations to step out for the Toray Pan Pacific Open’s official player party earlier this week.
Agnieszka Radwanska, Garbiñe Muguruza, Karolina Pliskova, Madison Keys, Caroline Wozniacki, Petra Kvitova, Naomi Osaka and more stars shined at the big night.
See all of the best player party photos right here on wtatennis.com, courtesy of the Toray Pan Pacific Open:
An interview with Garbiñe Muguruza ahead of her participation in the Toray Pan Pacific Open.
TOKYO, Japan – Agnieszka Radwanska kickstarted last season’s Asian Swing with a win at the Toray Pan Pacific Open, taking the momentum all the way to Singapore to capture the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
Seeded No.2 in Japan’s Premier event, Radwanska is hoping for a little bit of history repeating in Tokyo. Check out her thoughts on her bid to make a Singapore return in her pre-tournament interview.
Radwanska plays her opening round match on Wednesday night against Barbora Strycova.