Tokyo: Shot Of The Day (Saturday)
Agnieszka Radwanska has Saturday’s shot of the day at the Toray Pan Pacific Open.
Agnieszka Radwanska has Saturday’s shot of the day at the Toray Pan Pacific Open.
What was the key to Caroline Wozniacki’s Toray Pan Pacific Open title? SAP Coaches View breaks down the Dane’s clutch approach to break points and aggressive return stance.
Caroline Wozniacki takes on Agnieszka Radwanska in the semifinals of the Toray Pan Pacific Open.
WUHAN, China – Before main draw action got underway at the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open, the WTA stars set to take the court took to the red carpet for the Player’s Party. No.4 seed Simona Halep and No.5 seed Karolina Pliskova each struck a pose for the cameras, along with some of the biggest names in women’s tennis.
Check out the best photos courtesy of Getty Images:
Simona Halep (ROU)
Karolina Pliskova (CZE)
Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS)
Lucie Safarova (CZE)
Belinda Bencic (SUI)
Caroline Garcia (FRA)
Petra Kvitova (CZE)
Madison Keys (USA)
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS)
Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP)
Naomi Osaka takes on Elina Svitolina in the semifinal of the Toray Pan Pacific Open.
TOKYO, Japan – Former World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki continued her late-season resurgence by upsetting Agnieszka Radwanska in the semifinals of the Toray Pan Pacific Open.
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Continuing the form that took her to the US Open semifinals, Wozniacki, who lifted the title in the Japanese capital six years ago, returned to the final after a thrilling 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 victory over the No.2 seed.
Radwanska had her chances, serving for the match at 5-3 in the second set, but ultimately Wozniacki, who committed just 29 unforced errors during their two hours and 51 minutes on court, was just too consistent.
“I think every time I play her, we play really tough matches – and long ones. Luckily I managed to win that second set and then we both fought so hard in that third one,” Wozniacki said.
In the final she will face Japanese wildcard Naomi Osaka, who fought back to reach her maiden WTA final with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Elina Svitolina.
“I don’t really think too much about it,” Osaka said. “I just know [Wozniacki] is gonna get a lot of balls back and I feel like I’m just going to have to be patient and stick to the game plan – when I think of a plan.”
Osaka entered the tournament having never won a match at Toray, and has now become the first Japanese finalist since Kimiko Date-Krum 21 years ago. It’s also the first WTA-level final for the 18-year-old.
“I don’t really feel pressure here since the first match, since everyone is ranked higher than me. I’m a wildcard, so I just try to do my best. But this, for sure, it’s my best tournament.”
An interview with Naomi Osaka after her win in the semifinal of the Toray Pan Pacific Open.
GUANGZHOU, China – Lesia Tsurenko edged past defending champion and No.2 seed Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to claim the title at the Guangzhou International Women’s Open.
Playing Guangzhou for the second time in her career, Tsurenko capped off her trip to the sprawling Chinese port city by taking home her second career title after a nearly two-hour-and-thirty-minute clash against Jankovic.
“I think today I played really good tennis, except maybe in the second set when I felt a little bit tired,” Tsurenko said in her post-match press conference. “But I said to myself that I have to give it all in the final set, and I was fighting for each point. I had to give 100 percent to win this title.”
The Tashkent Open is up next for the Ukrainian, who is coming off a career-best week at the Grand Slams with a fourth round appearance at the US Open. She plans to forgo Wuhan and heads to the Uzbekistani capital build on the recent success.
“I’ll go to Tashkent and I think I’ll be more relaxed there,” Tsurenko explained. “I will try to play good tennis, not losing too much energy and I will see maybe I will come back to China and play Beijing. But for now I am focusing on Tashkent.”
It was a taxing week for Jankovic, who also reached the semifinals in doubles with former No.1 Martina Hingis.
“It’s tough, because this tournament took a lot of energy out of me,” said the Serb, who has been struggling with shoulder issues throughout the season. “It’s so hot and humid here, and also when you take into consideration that it’s only my second tournament on hardcourt because I’m coming back from an injury.”
On the doubles side, No.4 seeds Asia Muhammad and Peng Shuai took home the title with a 6-2, 7-6(3) victory over Olga Govortsova and Vera Lapko. Guangzhou was the pair’s first tournament together, and they didn’t drop a set en route to the title.
“Not many times when you play with someone for the first time, you get to win the whole tournament,” Muhammad said. “I’m really excited that we were able to do that. Our games mesh really well, and I really mean it when I say this but it doesn’t feel like it’s the first time we’ve played together. That’s something very positive that we have.”
An interview with Caroline Wozniacki after her win in the semifinals of the Toray Pan Pacific Open.
TOKYO, Japan – No.2 seeded Sania Mirza and Barbora Strycova took home their second doubles title of the year, handily defeating the unseeded Chinese duo of Liang Chen and Yang Zhaoxuan 6-1, 6-1, in the final of the Toray Pan Pacific Open.
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“We were playing great from the beginning to the end,” Strycova said in their post-match press conference. “We actually didn’t make any errors in the first set and we felt great on the court. I think it was one of the best matches we played together.”
Mirza and Strycova, who first teamed up in Cincinnati and won their first title at the Western & Southern Open, overcame a tough draw which saw them face off against home favorites Misaki Doi and Kurumi Nara in the first round. After edging past the Japanese duo 6-7(3), 7-5, 10-8, Mirza and Strycova cruised against Kato Miyu and Xu Yifan before battling past Gabriela Dabrowski and María José Martínez Sánchez to reach the final.
Liang and Yang faced a tougher road to the Tokyo final, needing to battle past two seeded teams – the No.1 seeded Chan Hao-Ching and Chan-Yung-Jan in the first round, then the No.3 seeds Raquel Atawo and Abigail Spears before booking a clash against the No.2 seeded Mirza and Strycova.
“It’s great to play your best tennis in the final, we were happy to do that,” Mirza said. “We played very solid, and we kept our concentration the whole match. Like [Barbora] said, it was one of the best matches that we played.”
The victory puts Mirza and Strycova one step closer to a potential spot in the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. Entering Tokyo the duo sat at No.19 on the Road to Singapore Leaderboard, trailing the Top 8 by about 500 points. With 470 points now in the bag, the team received a major boost in their standings.
Tokyo ✅ ??
Smiles ✅
Title #2 for team ✅
Title #40 ✅?? @BaraStrycova https://t.co/9xo3Trl8Ey— Sania Mirza (@MirzaSania) September 24, 2016