Ivanovic & Wozniacki At The Races
Queens of the court Ana Ivanovic and Caroline Wozniacki have both reigned supreme in women’s tennis. But how did they fare spending a day watching the sport of kings?
Queens of the court Ana Ivanovic and Caroline Wozniacki have both reigned supreme in women’s tennis. But how did they fare spending a day watching the sport of kings?
QUÉBEC CITY, Canada – Julia Boserup held off a spirited challenge from CiCi Bellis to win their all-American quarterfinal at the Coupe Banque Nationale.
Two years on from her only previous venture this far at a WTA event, World No.125 Boserup displayed great composure to close out a 7-6(0), 6-4 victory, setting up a semifinal showdown against Océane Dodin.
Boserup, who is enrolled in an online degree at Penn State, does not graduate until December, and recent success is providing a welcome distraction from looming deadlines. In July, then ranked outside the Top 200, Boserup came through qualifying to reach the third round at Wimbledon.
Her latest run could well take her into the Top 100. And against Bellis she showed enough to suggest that this may not be her ceiling. After a shaky start, Boserup pinched the first set, then played the more assured tennis at the conclusion to the second, fending off a break point before striking decisively in the following game.
1re demi-finale @WTA en carrière pour Océane Dodin qui bat Van Uytvanck 6-2, 6-4 en quarts de finale. #CoupeBN pic.twitter.com/ewadEglgaS
— CoupeBanqueNationale (@CoupeBN) September 16, 2016
Earlier on, Dodin, appearing in her maiden WTA quarterfinal, made another breakthrough by defeating Alison Van Uytvanck, 6-2, 6-4. While Dodin is entering uncharted waters this week, it should come as no real surprise given her recent form on the ITF Circuit, where she has won 13 of her last 15 matches.
In the top half of the draw, qualifier Lauren Davis withstood a late fightback to defeat Alla Kudryavtseva, 6-3, 7-6(4). Davis had won all three of the pair’s previous meetings and was made to work hard for number four, closing out the contest after spurning three match points and a comfortable second set lead. In the last four Davis will face either Tereza Martincova or Jessica Pegula.
TOKYO, Japan – Jana Cepelova ended home hopes at the Japan Women’s Open Tennis with a hard-fought victory over Kurumi Nara in Friday’s quarterfinals.
Watch live action from Tokyo this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
Nara, the final Japanese representative in the draw, started brightly but it was Cepelova that finished the stronger to run out a 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 winner.
After losing three straight games to drop the first set, Cepelova soon fell a break behind in the second. Rahter than dwell on this setback, the Slovakian used it as a turning point, winning four of the next five games to level the match.
Her dominance continued into the decider a couple of early break giving her stranglehold she would not relinquish.
Since coming through qualifying to reach the third round of Wimbledon, Cepelova’s form has been mixed; clay court outings in Gstaad and Bastad both ended in the first round before she fell in the final round of qualifying for the US Open.
Now she is through to her first quarterfinal at a WTA tournament since last summer, where she will face No.7 seed Christina McHale after she battled past Viktorija Golubic, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.
Meanwhile, in the top half of the draw, Katerina Siniakova will take on the highest-ranked player left in the draw, No.6 seed Zhang Shuai.
Siniakova followed up her marathon encounter against Louisa Chirico with a far more straightforward 6-2, 6-4 win over Alison Riske. Zhang was made to work harder, recovering to beat Varvara Lepchenko, 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-3.
August was packed with plenty of amazing shots – we narrowed it down to the five best.
In the end, it was perennial Shot Of The Month winner Agnieszka Radwanska who survived a thrilling rally with Kirsten Flipkens at the Connecitcut Open. Keeping her cool as the lucky loser from Belgium attempted a tweener, Radwanska won the point and later the title in New Haven.
Click here to watch all of August’s finalists.
Hear from Radwanska after her New Haven win in the WTA Insider Podcast:
Final Results for August’s WTA Shot Of The Month
1. Agnieszka Radwanska (67%)
2. Angelique Kerber (19%)
3. Eugenie Bouchard (9%)
4. Elina Svitolina (3%)
5. Johanna Konta (2%)
2016 WTA Shot of the Month Winners
January: Caroline Wozniacki
February: Agnieszka Radwanska
March: Agnieszka Radwanska
April: Monica Niculescu
May: Simona Halep
June: Agnieszka Radwanska
July: Simona Halep
How it works:
Five shots are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com
Monica Puig came to the Olympic tennis event under the radar, but Puerto Rico’s top tennis talent blistered through a tough draw to take home her country’s first gold medal.
“I just saw an improvement every single match I played,” she said after the match. “In every match I got better and better. I started getting faster. I started getting more powerful. I started believing in myself even more. With every match that passed, I just continued to learn and continued to grow.
“I just achieved one of my biggest dreams.”
That dream nearly didn’t come true, as Olympic qualification came down to the wire for Puig, but once in the draw, she knocked out the game’s biggest names, including Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, reigning French Open champion Garbiñe Muguruza, Petra Kvitova, and future No.1 Angelique Kerber in a thrilling three-set final.
“There’s no denying that tonight was nerve‑wracking for me. I just tried to keep as calm as possible. Inside, I was about, like, to explode at any minute. Both the semifinal and final were incredibly hard‑fought. I’m just so pleased with how I was able to keep my composure and come through.”
Here more from Puig in the WTA Insider Podcast:
The first Puerto Rican woman to medal – and the first Gold medalist from Puerto Rico – earned an astounding 350,000 votes to help earn her the mantle of August’s WTA Player of the Month!
Final Results for August’s WTA Player Of The Month
1. Monica Puig (97%)
2. Angelique Kerber (2%)
3. Karolina Pliskova (1%)
2016 WTA Player of the Month Winners
January: Angelique Kerber
February: Carla Suárez Navarro
March: Victoria Azarenka
April: Angelique Kerber
May: Garbiñe Muguruza
June: Serena Williams
July: Simona Halep
How it works:
Finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com
Karolina Pliskova had a thrilling finale to her summer hardcourt swing, backing up her biggest-career title at the Western & Southern Open with a run to a first Grand Slam final at the US Open.
“I’m so proud of myself,” she said after a narrow loss to Angelique Kerber in the championship match. “If someone would tell me I’m going to play finals in this tournament before two weeks I would take it.”
Pliskova ends her head-to-head series with the new World No.1 at 1-1 after winning their Cincinnati meeting and keeping Kerber from taking the top spot until her triumph in Flushing. She also became the fourth player ever to defeat both Williams sisters at the same major tournament. Saving a match point against No.6 seed Venus Williams, the Czech powerhouse stunned top seed Serena Williams in straight sets in her first semifinal.
“I’m just gonna take it tournament by tournament and try to play the game what I was playing last three weeks. I think I really did a good job. I improved in a lot of things, especially the game what I have been playing, not only against the players which are under me, but with the top players which are in front of me.
“I think that’s the key how I can, you know, be even better than I am.”
Hear more from Pliskova on her breakthrough run on the WTA Insider Podcast:
Up to a career-high of No.6 and in pole position to make her debut appearance at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, Pliskova is your Breakthrough Player of the Month!
Final Results for August’s WTA Breakthrough Performance Of The Month
1. Karolina Pliskova (64%)
2. Anastasija Sevastova (18%)
3. Ana Konjuh (18%)
2016 Breakthrough Performance Of The Month Winners
January: Zhang Shuai
February: Jelena Ostapenko
March: Nicole Gibbs
April: Cagla Buyukakcay
May: Kiki Bertens
June: Elena Vesnina
July: Kristina Kucova
How it works:
Finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com
QUÉBEC CITY, Canada – Alla Kudryavtseva took out top seed and hometown favorite Eugenie Bouchard, 6-2, 6-3, to advance into her second WTA quarterfinal of 2016 at the Coupe Banque Nationale.
“The crowd was amazing; it was a sold out match today, and it was very nice to play singles in a full stadium,” she told WTA Insider after the match. “We started with some good points. I was in trouble in the second game, but I was able to come up with good shots on break points.
“From then on, I kind of rolled – talk about being in the zone! – I was hitting my shots very well, and it was just working. It was just electric and I love how engaged the crowd was – though sadly, they were engaged against me! But it was still nice to have the full house atmosphere, and by the end I really felt like they appreciated the level of tennis I was playing.”
Kudryavtseva has been ranked as high as No.56 in singles, and the doubles star has shown signs of possibly improving upon that career with a run to the quarterfinals at the Internationaux de Strasbourg and a quality week of wins at the Rogers Cup. But it all came together for the Russian as she headlined the night session in Québec City as she saved three early break points to roar out to a set and double break lead, clinching the match two games later – setting up match point with a screaming forehand winner – in just over an hour.
“I don’t get to play indoors as much anymore now that I don’t train as much in Russia. But I put some good hours in, playing two doubles matches, and I think that helped me get used to the surface, the Center Court, and being in the groove of the tournament – not having too much of a break between my first and second round singles matches.
“Things kind of worked, and isn’t it nice when things just work out?”
Up next for the Russian is American nemesis Lauren Davis, a qualifier who has won each of their previous three meetings – a stat about which Kudryavtseva is keenly aware.
“Horrible match-up for me! Horrible! She beats me every time! But every week is different, and every match is different, different surface – although, we have actually played indoors before.
“But I’m just enjoying my time on the singles court right now, coming off a big win. I just hope to bring a good level tomorrow, and I’m sure things will work out if I do that.”
Earlier in the day, France’s Oceane Dodin reached her first WTA quarterfinal with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Sachia Vickery, while Alison Van Uytvanck ended lucky loser Barbora Stefkova’s run in the second round, 6-4, 6-3. Finally, Jessica Pegula completed the quarterfinal line-up by defeating young Canadian hope Francoise Abanda, 7-6(2), 7-5.
Kudryavtseva sort avec le sourire après avoir battu Bouchard 6-2, 6-3 et Abanda rentre sur le terrain. #CoupeBN pic.twitter.com/dxySdHTLlo
— CoupeBanqueNationale (@CoupeBN) September 16, 2016
ZHUHAI, China – With the dust settled after an action-packed fortnight at the US Open, there were major shifts on the WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai leaderboard. Some of the WTA’s biggest stars – including defending champion Venus Williams, Roberta Vinci, Madison Keys and Johanna Konta – moving up in contention.
The year’s final tournament will run from November 1 to 6, and like last year the singles draw will feature 11 of the top ranked players and one wildcard, with the winner collecting 700 rankings points.
Here’s the latest leaderboard update for the WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai as of September 12, 2016:
In this episode of WTA Behind The Tour, take a glimpse into what daily life is like in charge of a big WTA event.
Tournament director Anne Worchester makes sure all the players feel at home at the Connecticut Open. Prior to her current role, Anne was CEO of the WTA, and is the youngest person to hold that role to date.
“A tournament director oversees the show,” Anne said. “So I also oversee marketing and public relations. I do all the player recordings and player relations for the tournament, which is a part of my job that I love.”
Besides keeping the New Haven tournament running smoothly, the most important part of Anne’s job involves forming relationships with the players.
“The best part of being a tournament director is getting to know the players,” she added. “I think the mentoring aspect of this job is the most rewarding.”
Learn more about Anne’s work – and hear her favorite tournament director stories – in the latest episode of WTA Behind The Tour.
Click here to watch all the episodes of WTA Behind The Tour!
Go inside a day in the life of Anne Worchester, tournament director at the Connecticut Open, and see what goes into running a WTA tournament.