Eastbourne: Puig Interview
An interview with Monica Puig after her win in the quarterfinals of the Aegon International.
An interview with Monica Puig after her win in the quarterfinals of the Aegon International.
EASTBOURNE, England – No.11 seed Johanna Konta is back into the quarterfinals at the Aegon International Eastbourne after coming back from a set down to oust two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova.
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Konta, an Eastbourne resident, has enjoyed vocal support from the home crowd at the event that last year saw her reach her career-first Premier-level quarterfinal. But the levelheaded Brit, as always, keeps even the support at arms’ length.
“Quite honestly, it makes a difference in the sense that it’s nice to be at home,” she said ahead of the match. “But in terms of how I mentally prepare or how much I let in, it does not make a difference.I really do try to keep myself in my own head space.”
The Brit has faced off against the No.5 seed Kvitova once before, when Kvitova halted Konta’s big breakthrough at last year’s US Open in the round of 16. Konta learned her lessons and, despite facing the Czech on her best surface, was able to put her nerves aside and defeat her, 5-7, 6-4, 6-0.
“She plays incredibly well on the grass,” Konta acknowledged. “She’s a two-time Wimbledon champion, so I think her results speak for themselves.
“I just need to stay in points when I need to but also look to take my opportunities whenever they arise.”
That’s easier said than done against the two-time Grand Slam champion – something that Konta discovered early on in the first set when she saw her 5-2 lead erased by Kvitova. Konta was serving for the set – she even held a set point – when Kvitova broke serve and rattled off the next four games to turn the match around on the Brit.
“I told myself to just really keep going,” Konta said. “Really keep in mind the things that I did well and take as much from that as I can. I just tried to have a very short memory and keep moving forward, keep moving on.”
Konta switched up her strategy against Kvitova in the second and third sets, becoming more aggressive on the return to neutralize Kvitova’s powerful serve and keep her back on her heels. She won over 70% of the points behind her first serve in the last two sets, whereas Kvitova struggled to put pressure on Konta, and couldn’t bring up a break point in the final sets.
Konta grabbed a decisive break in the fifth game of the second set, then dealt Kvitova a surprising bagel set to close out the match after two hours and fourteen minutes.
“I’m not sure there are words that are big enough to describe that win!” Konta grinned after the match.
“It’s definitely one of my biggest wins, even though I don’t think she’s in the Top 10 this week. She has been a Top 10 player or Top 5 player for years and years and years now.
“She really is a champion, and so I am very happy with the level I was able to produce, you know, even if it didn’t go my way and just kept plugging away throughout that whole match.”
Konta will face the winner of the round of 16 match between Andrea Petkovic and Ekaterina Makarova which has been postponed for tomorrow due to rain.
“I'm not sure there are words big enough to describe it!”
-@JoKonta91 reaction after defeating Kvitova https://t.co/T20is8UVla
— WTA (@WTA) June 22, 2016
Highlights from third round action at the Aegon International.
World No.2 Garbiñe Muguruza lifted her first major title just two weeks ago at Roland Garros and the 22-year-old Spaniard is set to return to Wimbledon where she finished as runner-up last year. But just how far can she go? The question was put to Chris Evert during an ESPN conference call with reporters on Tuesday.
“I mean, who is going to be next, the next No.1 player, after Serena is gone? You’ve got to put your money on Muguruza because first of all, you have to have power in today’s game.”
While Muguruza became the third consecutive first-time Grand Slam winner, it’s the Spaniard’s power, Evert contends, that separates her from the field of rising WTA stars.
“When I look at the next three, I look at Radwanska, Kerber and Halep. I don’t think either of those three are going to end up No.1 in the world. They don’t have that sort of overwhelming power. Muguruza does have it, very much like Serena, following in her footsteps.
“Muguruza, she still has to mature a little bit. She’s still young. She still has to probably get a little more consistent with her results in the smaller tournaments. But when I look at winning Grand Slams, you’d have to say Muguruza, you’d have to look at Madison Keys, Victoria Azarenka, and Petra Kvitova – the power players more now more so than the consistent counter-punchers.”
While the expectations remain lofty for Muguruza, Evert also tempered expectations, citing the difficulties of making the immediate adjustment from clay to grass. There’s a reason why only seven players have won the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year. Muguruza played one grass court tournament before Wimbledon, losing in the opening round to former Wimbledon semifinalist Kirsten Flipkens at the Mallorca Open.
“She’s come a long way,” Evert said. “I think she’s going to have a tough Wimbledon. It’s very hard to carry that momentum. Very few people have won the French and Wimbledon back-to-back, especially at that young of an age.
“That will be a real curiosity for me if she can carry that momentum and confidence and do well, think about last year reaching the finals, or is she going to have a hard time resetting, especially in dealing with people’s expectations.”
Agnieszka Radwanska has Wednesday’s shot of the day at the Aegon International Eastbourne.
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Agnieszka Radwanska takes on Eugenie Bouchard in the third round of the Aegon International.
EASTBOURNE, England – Petra Kvitova got her Wimbledon preparations back on track with a hard-fought win over Timea Babos at the Aegon International Eastbourne on Tuesday.
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Following a frustrating week in Birmingham, Kvitova got some much-needed time on the grass, prevailing in a high-quality encounter, 6-4, 7-6(5). In the third round she will face either Lesia Tsurenko or Johanna Konta.
Kvitova was forced to play second fiddle for much of the opening set, struggling to hang onto her own serve and making little inroad on her opponents’. However, having barely coughed up an error in the opening half hour, at 4-4 Babos suddenly found herself two break points down after a couple of loose groundstrokes.
Sensing her moment, Kvitova ghosted into the net to scythe away the volley. The No.5 seed’s willingness to move forward proved decisive in the following game, too, fending off a couple of break points on the way to serving out the set.
The second set was just as evenly contested, but once again it was Kvitova – who finished the match with 30 winners – playing the more positive tennis at the decisive moments, guiding a backhand down into the corner to close out victory.
“I’m kind of feeling that I am playing well, even though I lost some of the matches in a couple of months,” she said after the match. “It wasn’t easy today, she was serving really well and it was very difficult to break her – I had to wait for my chances.”
After a brilliant first-round display against Lucie Safarova in Birmingham last week, Kvitova spent the next couple of days waiting for the rain to subside before losing a stop-start match with Jelena Ostapenko. And despite more difficult conditions on the south coast, Kvitova is relishing the time on court ahead of her favorite major.
“It’s always good to get more matches under your belt going into Grand Slams, especially Wimbledon when we don’t have that many events on grass. I’m glad to win today and still be in the draw!”
Tight match today, Timea made life very difficult for me. Happy to survive! ?? #AegonInternational pic.twitter.com/0dS1ms66I7
— Petra Kvitova (@Petra_Kvitova) June 21, 2016
Monica Puig takes on Caroline Wozniacki in the third round of the Aegon International.
EASTBOURNE, England – Former champion Agnieszka Radwanska advanced at the Aegon International Eastbourne when Mirjana Lucic-Baroni retired from their second-round encounter on Tuesday.
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Radwanska, who was leading 6-4, 2-1 when Lucic-Baroni retired with gastrointestinal illness, will now face Eugenie Bouchard for a place in the quarterfinals.
“It was still a tough match – she was playing really good tennis – and I’m happy I could get some time on the grass, but we’re all hoping she gets better soon,” Radwanska said.
Since making her debut a decade ago, Radwanska has been an ever-present at Devonshire Park, lifting the title in 2008 and finishing runner-up to Belinda Bencic in 2015. This time she is top seed and following an early exit in Birmingham is in need of time on grass ahead of Wimbledon.
“I really like these courts and I’m always feeling great here – it’s my 10th time here!”
Not every day you buy tickets from @ARadwanska! See Aga in #AegonInternational action at https://t.co/JtHMBtT7rU pic.twitter.com/TNrP3yms0K
— British Tennis (@BritishTennis) 21 June 2016
Her next opponent, Bouchard, is also no stranger to success on grass, reaching the Wimbledon final two years ago. Since then, Bouchard has endured an up and down time on tour, but is eager to rediscover the form that fueled her initial rise up the rankings.
“I’ve had some results that I wasn’t satisfied with, so coming into this week I really kicked myself in the butt,” she said. “I told myself to go after it and not have any regrets.”
There were certainly no regrets against No.15 seed Irina-Camelia Begu, whom Bouchard brushed aside, 6-3, 6-1.
Also springing an upset in the top half were Kristina Mladenovic, who saw off No.4 seed Timea Bacsinszky, 6-1, 7-5, and Kateryna Bondarenko, a 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 winner over No.6 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.