Moscow: Kuznetsova vs. Cornet
Svetlana Kuznetsova takes on Alizé Cornet in the second round of the Kremlin Cup.
Svetlana Kuznetsova takes on Alizé Cornet in the second round of the Kremlin Cup.
Watch live action from Moscow & Luxembourg this week at WTA Live Powered By TennisTV!
The World No.12 knew she had to win the tournament, which is also being contested by Singapore rival Svetlana Kuznetsova, to reach the finals, but was trailing the Australian, 6-3, 3-0, when she pulled out.
It was Suárez Navarro who made the brighter start, finding her range in rallies from the off and breaking after Gavrilova sent a forehand long. The Australian had a chance to get back on terms immediately but squandered three break points and the Spaniard recovered to hold.
The No.3 seed missed an opportunity to extend her lead in the third game of the match but both players settled after the frantic opening and became more comfortable on serve.
With Suárez Navarro serving at 4-3, Gavrilova rallied, producing some stunning winners to finally draw level after a marathon game. The World No.37 ground out a hold and soon found herself with two set points on the Suárez Navarro serve; she took the second thanks a forehand into the tramlines.
Suárez Navarro, who had to undergo treatment between sets, had the chance to get on the front foot at the start of the second but sent a routine backhand wide on break point. A string of unforced errors then handed Gavrilova a break to love and the Australian soon had a clear lead.
After Suárez Navarro missed a further chance to break the Gavrilova serve and slumped to a 3-0 deficit in the second set, she announced to the umpires that she was retiring, ending her chances of reaching Singapore.
The last @WTAFinalsSG spot is down to Jo Konta or Svetlana Kuznetsova. Scenario is simple: If Sveta wins Moscow, she's in. If not, Jo is in.
— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) October 19, 2016
“I thought I played pretty well, it was a tough battle, I’ve practised with her a lot of times,” Gavrilova said after the match.
“[There were] a few pretty tough games, I think we played the first four games for like 40 minutes, and then I found momentum.
“I lost my serve at the very beginning, but I felt like I was still in it and I had a lot of chances and then finally it all worked out.
“I feel very different to how I felt last year; I was really tired last year. This year, I had a few days off after the US Open and regrouped and had my training in Melbourne and now I’m just enjoying the last few tournaments.”
Suárez Navarro’s withdrawal means that only Kuznetsova can prevent Johanna Konta from filling the final spot in Singapore.
Simona Halep gives a sneak preview of the player lounge and more after arriving in Singapore for the WTA Finals.
MOSCOW, Russia – As the last Premier-level event of the year and the last tournament before the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, the Kremlin Cup has been witness to many last-minute qualification campaigns from hopefuls looking to claim the final spots into the WTA’s season-ending event.
This year is no different, with a three-way battle royale set to play out over the eighth spot.
“We all know that VTB Kremlin Cup is the last chance to get into WTA Finals in Singapore,” Carla Suárez Navarro admitted during her WTA All Access Hour.
Defending champion and top seed Svetlana Kuznetsova and No.2 seed Suárez Navarro are on a collision course in Moscow, and the stage looks set for a finals day showdown with more than just the title at stake. If Kuznetsova or Suárez Navarro walk away with the Kremlin Cup crown, they’ll qualify for the WTA Finals.
However, Johanna Konta looms in background; if Kuznetsova and Suárez Navarro fail to claim the title then Konta – who is not competing this week – takes the eighth Singapore spot by default.
But if they’re feeling any pressure, both players are quick to shrug it off and focus on the task at hand.
“If I win the tournament, it would be amazing and that’s what I am expecting,” Kuznetsova said during her All Access Hour. “But I don’t want to go that far ahead. My goal is to concentrate for tomorrow. I know I will to my best and to fight in every match.”
“There are a lot of good players [here in the draw],” Suárez Navarro shrugged. “Every match will be tough for sure, I don’t think too much about Singapore.”
Kuznetsova took a last-minute wildcard in order to defend her title – and make a last-minute push for Singapore – though she explained that it was due to a scheduling error, and not a late change of heart.
“There’s a lot of talks around, but I am concentrated on my schedule and if I feel I can do it and want to play here. I really wanted to be here. I just didn’t choose the right time to sign in,” the Russian explained with a rueful smile.
“I am a tennis player and want to concentrate on every match and to show a good level of the game,” she added. “If I get in, it’s good. But I am more concentrated on my performance here.”
For Suárez Navarro, the situation is all too familiar. Last year, she made the trip from Beijing to Moscow and fell just short of qualifying for the Finals.
This time, the Spaniard is keen to change the outcome, especially since her fortunes rest completely on her racquet.
“Some players do follow the results of others, but it is not my case, it all depends on me,” she explained. “Probably because it is the end of the year, I don’t think about other tournaments. I should play match after match and it won’t be easy for me.”
“But I feel better this year, I have more experience.”
Simona Halep and Madison Keys are in Singapore preparing for next week’s BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, where there are 1,500 ranking points on offer and a prize purse of 7,000,000. The glamourous side of tennis will be on full display in Singapore, which is why it’s important to also remember where these women have come from.
Writing for CNN.com, tennis journalist Danielle Rossingh explored the tough financial burdens placed on young players and the sacrifices their families must make to help their daughters achieve their dreams. The article certainly caught the eye of one famous tennis mom:
Only a parent knows the true cost of developing a tennis player. They r the ones who live it. https://t.co/VqDynOMmh5
— judy murray (@JudyMurray) October 18, 2016
According to CNN.com, Simona Halep, who will be playing in her third straight WTA Finals, was able to break through on the junior circuit thanks to the help of Corneliu Idu, a supportive businessman from her hometown of Constanta.
Idu, one of the wealthiest men in Constanta, was the owner of the Tenis Club Idu, where Halep played. His money helped her enter events on the European junior circuit for two years up to the age of 16.
“That was it, I didn’t have any other sponsors,” said Halep, now 25. “My parents did their best to get me to where I am today, but it was good for us we had that help.”
Madison Keys has qualified for her first WTA Finals, after becoming the first American to make her Top 10 debut since Serena Williams in 1999.
Keys vividly remembers the sacrifices that were made for her tennis career, including uprooting the entire family including three siblings to Florida from Minnesota so she could enroll in the Evert Tennis Academy at the age of 10.
“It was not an easy decision,” the seventh-ranked Keys said in an interview in Wuhan. “My mom did not want me living in a dorm. My mom was like, ‘I don’t want a 15-year-old raising my 10-year-old.’ It was tough for my sisters and it was tough for my mum. She left a job that she really enjoyed doing, and my sisters obviously had been going to school.”
Read the full article on the cost of raising a tennis champion at CNN.com here.
Caroline Wozniacki’s excellent run of form continued as she overcame Madison Brengle 6-2, 6-2 in the first round of the BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open.
The Dane, who has lost just three matches since the US Open and won the Toray Pan Pacific Open and the Hong Kong Open in recent months, suffered a slow start to the match, dropping serve in the opening game.
However, Brengle’s lead was short-lived, with Wozniacki finding her range and winning six games in a row to take the set. She carried her good form into the second set, skipping into a 5-0 lead and though she dropped serve and was unable to complete the bagel, she recovered to book her place in the next round.
Top seed Petra Kvitova also cruised through her opening encounter, beating Su-Wei Hsieh 7-5, 6-0.
The two-time Wimbledon champion went ahead early, breaking the World No.81 in her second game but she was unable to consolidate her advantage. Hsieh had the chance to serve for the set at 5-4, but was broken to love and lost serve again when trying to force a tiebreak.
From then on, Kvitova was well on top and did not lose a single game in the second set.
Kristyna Pliskova had to battle from a set behind to beat Oceane Dodin 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
The Czech broke in the opening game of the match but her advantage was short-lived as she saved seven break points before eventually succumbing to the pressure on the eighth. Dodin subsequently broke to love to move ahead and was able to serve out the set.
In a tight second set, Pliskova eventually went ahead in the penultimate game and held her nerve to level the match. After being broken in the first game of the decider, Dodin failed to get back on level terms and exited the tournament.
Meanwhile, Misaki Doi’s defence of her Luxembourg title came to a premature end at the hands of American qualifier Lauren Davis, who emerged with a highly creditable 6-1, 6-2 victory.
The No.6 seed never found her feet and slipped to a 4-0 deficit before she won her only game of the first set.
She began the second in better form, moving a break up in the first game but she soon four successive games. Davis made no mistake from there and the World No.85 emerged from the match with a famous scalp.
Kiki Bertens had no such problems in progressing, though she had to overcome a plucky Annika Beck to secure her 6-4, 6-4 victory.
The Dutchwoman had led 5-2 and seemed to be cruising in the first set but the German got back on terms, only to lose her serve once more. Bertens let a break slip again in the second set but, with Beck serving to stay in the match, the No.3 seed broke to book her place in the second round.
Meanwhile, Mona Barthel cruised past Carina Witthoeft 6-1, 6-4, Johanna Larsson brushed Pauline Parmentier aside 6-4, 6-2, Tereza Smitkova defeated Sorana Cirstea 6-3, 6-3 and Andrea Petkovic survived a scare to defeat Mandy Minella 1-6, 7-5, 6-4.
Sania Mirza celebrates her 80th consecutive week as the doubles World No.1 this week. Mirza became the first Indian woman to hold the No.1 ranking last season after winning the Volvo Car Open in Charleston with her former partner Martina Hingis.
Today I complete 80 consecutive weeks as the number 1 player in d world?its been an amazing journey and just inspires me to work harder @WTA pic.twitter.com/BsHoeU0YAT
— Sania Mirza (@MirzaSania) October 18, 2016
Mirza’s charge towards No.1 began in 2014. Pairing with Cara Black the duo made the semifinals or better at 10 of their 22 events and closed out their season by winning 14 of the their final 16 matches. Mirza and Black capped off their fantastic season by winning the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. The successful team parted ways after that win due to Black’s desire to focus on her young family, and Mirza would win the Brisbane International title with Bethanie Mattek-Sands before finding immediate success with Martina Hingis. Team “SanTina” won their first 14 matches together, including titles at the BNP Paribas Open, Miami Open, and Volvo Car Open. With that 14th win, a 6-0, 6-4 win over Casey Dellacqua and Darija Jurak in the Charleston final, Mirza made history and fulfilled a lifelong dream.
The Indian star was finally the World No.1. The milestone was a big statement for Indian women in sports, where women athletes have yet to stand on equal ground.
“You have to believe that as a woman and as a girl you are not a weakness; you’re a strength,” Mirza said after winning in Charleston last year. “Anything is possible. If you put your mind to it, you put sacrifices to it, you put hard work to it, anything is possible, no matter where you’re from. Even if that means you’ve grown up playing on courts made of cow dung. And I think for me that’s women empowerment, and I hope that we get there one day where women believe that anything is possible.”
“I’m used to people rolling their eyes,” Mirza said after winning Charleston. “Tennis at that point when I was six years old, there was no clay courts; there was no hard courts. We used to play and practice on courts made out of cow s***. No jokes. I mean that was the only court that was available.”
“So to come from there and pick up a tennis racquet and have the guts to say, okay, I am going to go and play at the highest level in the world is against all odds. Whether I got to No. 1 or not, it would have always been worth it, but now, today, to me and myself, I’m so happy to give this back to my country, to be the first ever No. 1 from India.”
“We all have a story. Every tennis player out there has an amazing story. And it all just seems worth it today. And no one can take it away from me.”
Since taking over the top spot, Mirza has had to fend off a charge from her former doubles partner for the No.1 ranking. After Mirza and Hingis split ways this summer, the two faced off with their new partners in their very next tournament, in the final of the Western & Southern Open. If Mirza and her partner, Barbora Strycova won, Mirza would hold on to No.1. If Hingis and her partner CoCo Vandeweghe won, Hingis would hold on to No.1. Mirza and Strycova rallied from behind to win their first title together, giving Mirza sole ownership of the No.1 ranking.
“I think as tennis players it means a lot to us,” Mirza said in Cincinnati. “Imagine being No. 1 at what you do in the whole planet. I’ve had that privilege for the last year and a half.
“We all want to be No. 1. That’s why we play tennis. Very few people get to be No. 1 in the world. It’s the thing as an athlete you dream as a child. To be No.1 in the world is the most amazing thing.”
Photos courtesy of Getty Images
Lucie Safarova crashed out of the first round Kremlin Cup in straight sets at the hands of Daria Gavrilova.
The Czech, fit again after struggling with injuries throughout 2016, also failed to make to the second round in Beijing at the beginning of October and succumbed to a 6-2, 6-2 loss.
The match started evenly, with the first five games going with serve before the 2015 French Open finalist’s effort disintegrated, losing seven games in a row to hand Gavrilova the first set and a 3-0 love lead in the second.
Safarova failed to craft a single break point throughout and dropped serve once more in the final game of the match as the Australian skipped into the second round.
“Lucie had a hard time getting used to [the surface],” Gavrilova said after the match.
“I tried to play more long rallied, but she was making a lot of mistakes in her second or third shots. She didn’t perform her best today.”
She plays Carla Suárez Navarro in the next round.
Meanwhile, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova had to fight hard to overcome Katreina Siniakova 7-6 (2), 5-7, 7-5.
The Russian raced into a 5-1 lead in the opening set but was pegged back by the 20-year-old, who twice broke Pavlyuchenkova when she was serving for the set. However, the No.7 seed regained her composure in the tiebreaker to move ahead.
Pavlyuchenkova started the second set brightly but, after taking a 3-0 lead, her serve let her down and Siniakova won four straight games to turn the encounter on its head. Despite Pavlyuchenkova’s best efforts to get back on level terms, her serve let her down and Siniakova levelled the match.
In the final set, Siniakova took a two-break lead but Pavlyuchenkova dug deep to level the match and avoided a tiebreaker by breaking the Czech’s serve at 6-5.
Jelena Jankovic emerged victorious in a topsy-turvy match with Jelena Ostapenko, who failed to hold serve throughout.
After exchanging breaks, Jankovic found some stability on serve, confirming a hold with an ace before a pair of unforced errors gave her an advantage. Though Ostapenko broke back, she was unable to find her serve and a second hold from the Serb gave her the first set 6-3.
Ostapenko’s woes continued in the second set as she once again failed to hold once but was able to make inroads on the Jankovic serve. The Serb held to go 3-1 up and was able to continue breaking Ostapenko until she secured a place in the second round.
Elsewhere, Alizé Cornet eliminated Shelby Rogers in straight sets. The first set was a tight affair, with the pair exchanging breaks in the fifth and sixth games before the 26-year-old saved two set points to take the tiebreak 8-6.
She immediately went a break up in the second set and though the American broke back, Cornet regained her advantage to confirm her place in the next round.
Ekaterina Makarova overcame American qualifier Nicole Gibbs 7-5, 6-1. Both players routinely broke one another in the first set and the 23-year-old lost three straight games, having been serving for the set.
Makarova made no mistake from there, roaring into a 4-0 lead in the second and she sailed into the second round.
Finally, Julia Görges beat Dankta Kovinic 7-6 (3), 6-3, Anna Blinkova came from a set down to overcome Anastasija Sevastova 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (10), Ana Konjuh defeated Barbora Strycova 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 and Kristina Mladenovic marched past Anna Kalinskaya 6-4, 6-2. Finally, Lesya Tsurenko was forced to retire after losing the first set 6-3 to Yulia Putintseva.
Simona Halep wasn’t sure she would even make it to the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global this year. The World No.4 overcame illness and injury at the start of the season and finally found her footing on her beloved clay. She never looked back. With every match she won – finishing the regular season at 44-16 – she grew in confidence and became one of the tour’s most reliable winners.
Now she’s put herself in position to finish the season in the Top 5 for the third straight year.
The 25-year-old Romanian began her year behind the eight-ball. After finishing last year at a career-high No.2, Halep’s off-season training block was cut short due to illness that left her hospitalized for a few days. To make matters worse, in her race to prepare for the start of the season she re-injured her Achilles. Halep is a confidence player and the foundation of her game is her body. If she can’t trust it, everything else falls apart. She would win just two matches in her first four tournaments.
All of a sudden, Singapore felt like a world away.
“At the beginning of the year, the first four months were very tough for me,” Halep told WTA Insider. “I didn’t know if I could play this year because I was very sick and I couldn’t play 15 minutes on court. I had infections.”
But after a solid training block with her coach Darren Cahill at the conclusion of the Middle East swing, Halep began to find her game. She scored back-to-back quarterfinals in Indian Wells and Miami, and continued that steady momentum to capture her first title of the season at the Mutua Madrid Open. Her confidence slowly grew from there.
“I won Madrid and then I thought there was a chance I could go to Singapore, but I didn’t even think until the US Open that I could qualify. I said that I had a chance but I didn’t believe 100% that I could go there. So I’m really happy I could go there for a third year.”
In addition to Madrid, Halep would go on to make the quarterfinals at Wimbledon and then go on a 13-match win streak, winning the Bucharest Open and Rogers Cup in Canada. In fact, Halep finished her season by making the quarterfinals or better at six of last seven tournaments of the regular season.
“I feel from the practices that my level is very high,” Halep said. “Of course you never know when you go on court and playing against one tough opponent, but still I’m confident my game is in my hands. At the beginning of the year it was very difficult to think like this.”
Despite her slow start to the season, Halep would ultimately become the third woman to qualify for Singapore, behind Angelique Kerber and Serena Williams. Given her start to the season, it is a credit to her work ethic and resilience that she found a way to turn her season around.
“After May in Madrid, I played very well. I lost a few matches against Serena and Kerber in the last three, four months. So, yeah, I feel good. I feel that I deserve to be there. Of course, I didn’t win a Grand Slam yet, but still I played very well in the big tournaments.”
Halep has always counted Singapore as one of her favorite tournaments. It’s the site of her biggest career win, over then No.1 Serena Williams in group play in 2014. With the good vibes of the city and a good amount of rest and recovery, Halep is looking to improve on her 2015 performance, where she failed to advance out of group.
“You have to play well there because everyone from the top eight is playing crazy tennis, so I have to be ready.”
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.
World No.2 Serena Williams will not take part at BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global after receiving medical advice regarding a troublesome shoulder injury.
The 35-year-old 22-time Grand Slam champion made the announcement late on Sunday after missing all of the Asian Swing due to that same issue; shoulder problems also kept her out of the Rogers Cup and Western & Southern Open earlier in the summer.
“I was looking forward to competing in Singapore this year and playing against the best players in the world,” said Williams.
“However, I have received disappointing news from my doctor that I must undergo a series of medical treatments for my shoulder, and will be off the court for the next several weeks.
“I will miss coming to Singapore for the year-end Finals and playing in front of my fans but truly hope to be back soon.”
Williams has participated in eight tournaments this season, winning two titles at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia and Wimbledon, where she tied Stefanie Graf for the Open Era record of Grand Slam titles. She also reached the finals of the Australian Open and French Open, and tied Graf for the all-time record of most consecutive weeks at World No.1, at 186 straight weeks.
“We’re as disappointed as the fans not to see Serena finish her season in Singapore,” says WTA CEO Steve Simon. “We wish her a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing her back competing, fit and healthy.”
Angelique Kerber, Simona Halep, Agnieszka Radwanska, Karolina Pliskova and Garbiñe Muguruza, Madison Keys and Dominika Cibulkova have already qualified for the tournament, which starts on October 23 and ends on October 30.