Tennis News

Through to the quarterfinals at this week’s Rogers Cup in Montréal, British No.1 Johanna Konta is closing in on making her WTA Top 10 debut.

Konta will face Kristina Kucova, a qualifier fresh off a surprise win over hometown favorite Eugenie Bouchard Thursday night, in the second night match on Central. Depending on how the day unfolds, Konta could possibly secure a Top 10 spot with a win over Kucova.

But Konta’s climb also depends on Svetlana Kuznetsova, seeded No.9 in Montréal, and her upcoming quarterfinal result against No.5 seed Simona Halep. A look at the scenarios:

• If Kuznetsova loses, Konta can secure a Top 10 spot with a win over Kucova tonight.
• A win by Kuznetsova, would mean Konta must reach the final this week to move into the Top 10.
• Konta would face the winner of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Madison Keys in the semifinals.

It has been 32 years since the Top 10 included a British woman, when Jo Durie graced the Top 10 (week of August 20, 1984) at No.10 before dropping out following a first round loss at the 1984 US Open.

Only three British woman have found their way to the Top 10: Virginia Wade (career-high of No.2), Sue Barker (career-high of No.3) and Durie (career-high of No.5).

Carla Suárez Navarro and Dominika Cibulkova will both drop out of the Top 10 after Montreal.

MONTRÉAL, Canada – Simona Halep capped off a productive Friday afternoon at the Rogers Cup by teaming up with Monica Niculescu to reach the doubles semifinals.

Watch live action from Montréal this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

A few hours after defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova in the singles quarterfinals, Halep was back out on court alongside Niculescu. If Halep was feeling any fatigue she hid it well, playing her part in a surprise 6-4, 3-6, 10-8 win over No.2 seeds and reigning French Open champions Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic.

The last time Halep made it this far in doubles at a WTA event came alongside Maria Elena Camerin in Linz in 2012, since when she has focused her attention primarily on singles. However, her decision to take a wildcard with fellow Romanian Niculescu to help acclimatize to the North American cement has proven to be an inspired one.

In front of a healthy number of their compatriots on the Banque Nationale court, both players rose to the occasion during an entertaining finale. With Halep imperious from the baseline, they rallied from 7-4 down to complete the upset when Niculescu fired a backhand past the stranded Mladenovic.

“Playing with Monica, she’s very tough and very concentrated during the matches. But she motivates me pretty well,” Halep said. “Today it was a crazy match. The opponents are playing well; they won the French Open, it was a good win for us.”

Meeting them for a place in the final will be Andreja Klepac and Katarina Srebotnik, who saw off Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Heather Watson, 6-3, 4-6, 10-7.

On the other side of the draw, there was another surprise as Christina McHale and Asia Muhammad knocked out top seeds Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza. Early breaks in both sets made the difference in a tight contest as the American duo ran out 6-4, 6-3 winners.

Restoring a sense of order at the Stade Uniprix were No.4 seeds Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina, who moved one step closer to their first title since 2014 with a 7-6(1), 6-0 victory over Australian wildcards Daria Gavrilova and Samantha Stosur.

Semifinal @katemakarova1 @CoupeRogers ?Полуфинал? #teamrussia #teamvesninamakarova pic.twitter.com/rIpPagfB7x

— Elena Vesnina (@EVesnina001) 29 July 2016