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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

SYDNEY, Australia – Johanna Konta ended home hopes at the Apia International Sydney with a straight set win over Daria Gavrilova.

Following the first-round exits for Samantha Stosur and Arina Rodionova, Gavrilova was the last Australian remaining in the singles draw. However, to the disappointment of a partisan crowd, Konta withstood a late rally to run out a 6-1, 6-3 winner and secure a quarterfinal meeting against Daria Kasatkina.

The No.6 seed made a flying start, breaking in the opening game and dropping only four points during a dominant first set display. Another early break in the second continued this momentum, and while Gavrilova fought gallantly until the end she was unable to prevent Konta closing out victory at the sixth attempt.

In the previous match on court, Kasatkina upset World No.1 Angelique Kerber to leave Konta as the only seed remaining in the top half. “I knew going into the match it was going to be an incredibly tough one, she’s one of the best fighters on tour,” Konta said to BT Sport.

“It’s such a strong tournament, such depth, I know going into every single match that it’s going to be a tough one and I’m just going to have to, first and foremost, take care of things my end.”

Twelve months ago, Sydney-born Konta was about to announce herself to the tennis world with a semifinal run at the Australian Open. Now she is perched at No.10 in the world and, having also reached the semifinals in Shenzhen, is enjoying another profitable start to the tennis calendar.

“I’m just happy I have accumulated already a few matches under my belt in the first few weeks of the season. I feel quite pleased about that,” she added.

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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

SYDNEY, Australia – Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova won an all-Russian battle with defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova to advance into the quarterfinals of the Apia International Sydney.

“I’m really happy, not only because she’s defending champion, but also my fellow player,” she said after the match. “She’s Top 10 and has had a really incredible year last year. I knew it’d be a really tough match and I was just trying to play good tennis, and take this as prep for Melbourne.”

Pavlyuchenkova had lost five of her last six encounters with her veteran compatriot, and things seemed to be moving in similar fashion to start Tuesday’s match.

Kuznetsova twice moved ahead by a break of serve to start, and served for the opening set at 5-4, only to see Pavlyuchenkova reel off the last three games to nab just her third set from her fellow Russian.

“I think I did everything well! I wasn’t serving as well as I did yesterday; I was a little upset with that, but I’m so happy that even with a lower first-serve percentage, that I was able to win the match in two sets.”

The pair exchanged breaks early in the second, with last year’s Wimbledon quarterfinalist moving ahead 5-2 after a long service game, eventually clinching the win in one hour and 38 minutes.

“It’s just very different conditions here; last week was my first match of the year, plus it was cold, windy, with fast courts. I had Goerges there and she was just serving bombs so it was difficult for me to get into any rallies.

“I had zero expectations here; I was just trying to enjoy the tennis, but it’s working good so far.”

Up next for Pavlyuchenkova is either Eugenie Bouchard or No.3 seed Dominika Cibulkova.

“Cibulkova had an incredible year last year as well; she won the Masters and is in really good form. She’s a great fighter. I’ve never played Bouchard before. I don’t think we’ve even practiced together. I don’t know what to expect so I think I’ll watch some of their match today.”

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News | WTA Tennis English

News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

HOBART, Australia – Lucky loser Veronica Cepede Royg needed five match points but eventually prevailed over former World No.9 Andrea Petkovic to reach the quarterfinals of the Hobart International.

The Paraguayan recovered strongly from being blanked out of the second set, completing a 6-3, 0-6, 6-4 comeback to book her place into her first WTA quarterfinal since June.

“Petkovic is a great player, she’s tall and so she has a great serve,” Cepede Royg told press afterward. “It was a tough match, but I’ve had tough matches before and I think I know how to play against the top players.

“I had to do my game, be aggressive and move. And I think I did.”

The No.129-ranked Cepede Royg opened the match with a break, playing confident and aggressive tennis against the former Top 10 German.

But Petkovic found her groove in the second set, cutting down on the unforced errors and dictating play with her backhand. And as the German’s lead grew, the Paraguayan’s confidence seemed to diminish, responding passively and second-guessing herself.

Andrea Petkovic

“It’s not easy to see the score at 6-0,” Cepede Royg said. “But my coach came and said to just relax, enjoy this moment, do your game and fight for every point.”

“You have to change your mentality. I was thinking too much in the match, so I focused more in my game.”

With that renewed mindset, the World No.129 turned it around in the decider and broke back to stop Petkovic’s run at 1-1 and keep the German under pressure.

They stayed on serve until a marathon final game, which saw Petkovic save four match points to keep herself alive but couldn’t serve it out. The Paraguayan eventually prevailed on the fifth time of asking, finally breaking the Petkovic serve to take the match and a spot in the quarterfinals.

“Oh man, I was thinking, ‘Oh my god, I’ve had five match points!'” Cepede Royg laughed. “I tried to be more aggressive and not think too much, just put the ball in the court and go for it. It was so difficult but I did it.”

The victory, her first WTA main draw win in almost six months, puts her through to the second quarterfinal of her career since last year’s Mallorca Open. She’ll play the winner between Australia’s Lizette Cabrera and Croatian qualifier Jana Fett for a spot in the semifinals.

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