Tennis News

WINNERS

Irina Falconi captured her first WTA title in historic fashion, becoming the first American woman to win the Claro Open Colsanitas as she recovered from a break down in the final set to defeat Sílvia Soler-Espinosa, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.

Starting the week at No.92, Falconi is tentatively set to return to the Top 70, close to her career-high ranking of No.64. The Ecuadorian-American also dedicated her win to her birthplace, which had just suffered an earthquake on Sunday.

Read the full story here.

Meanwhile, Fed Cup World Group semifinals came to their thrilling conclusion on Sunday, as the Czech Republic and France each swept the decisive doubles rubber to advance to the 2016 Fed Cup final in November.

GAME, SET, MATCH: WTA Insider

Game: Irina Falconi dedicates her win to Ecuador.

The Ecuadorian-born American captured her first title in grinding, clay court fashion, beating Sílvia Soler-Espinosa from a break down in the final set to win the Claro Open Colsanitas 6-2, 2-6, 6-4. It was a particularly impressive run for the 25-year-old given she had previously never made it past the third round of any tour-level clay court event. In addition to beating Soler-Espinosa in the final, she also took out an in-form Lara Arruabarrena in the semifinals 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.

A Georgia Tech standout who made her big splash at the 2011 US Open when she defeated No.14 seed Dominika Cibulkova in the second round, Falconi dedicated her win to the victims and survivors of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Ecuador on Saturday.

“My father is there right now, actually,” Falconi said. “He wanted to come here and watch me play, but obviously with the earthquake travel became complicated. First of all, thank god all my family is fine. But I know it’s a very difficult situation for so many people over there.

“The last 24 hours we’ve just been praying constantly for all the families and the children – I knew there’s a lot of people who’ve been killed already. We’re sending over a lot of prayers.”

Set: Doubles on display at Fed Cup.

Given the Fed Cup format, which sees the doubles played as the final rubber it’s easy to focus solely on the singles rubbers as being the decisive matches. But both France and the defending champion Czech Republic booked their spots in November’s final via the decisive doubles.

The Czechs overcame a heroic performance by 23-year-old Viktorija Golubic, who stepped in for an injured Belinda Bencic to earn two singles wins over Karolina Pliskova and Barbora Strycova, by stunning Martina Hingis and Golubic. Pliskova and Lucie Hradecka teamed up for a surprising 6-2, 6-2 rout of the Swiss team give the Czechs a 3-2 win and put them into their fifth final in six years.

For Amelie Mauresmo’s French squad, it was Charleston champions Kristina Mladenovic and Caroline Garcia who secured the win in the final rubber. They too had to overcome a strong singular performance. In this case it was No.94 Kiki Bertens stunning them both in singles. But Mladenovic and Garcia showed their doubles form, beating Bertens and Rachel Hogenkamp 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 to take France into their first Fed Cup final in 11 years.

Match: Simona Halep, Belinda Bencic, and Caroline Wozniacki fighting injuries.

All three were set to be key cogs in their respective Fed Cup machines but as the European clay season kicks off they’re all battling injury. Halep was finally fit and healthy over the US hardcourt spring but she rolled her ankle in her first singles match for Romania on Saturday against Andrea Petkovic. She was able to come out the next day for a three-set battle with Angelique Kerber but is now racing the clock to find her fitness for what should be a strong part of the season for the 2014 French Open finalist.

Bencic and Wozniacki’s injury woes are far more serious. Bencic is out for at least four weeks due to a back injury, while Wozniacki turned her ankle during practice. Last year the Dane made the final in Stuttgart and the quarterfinals in Madrid. With over 500 points to defend over the next few weeks, Wozniacki could see herself unseeded at the French Open if she can’t get back on the court soon.

RANKING MOVERS:
Notable singles ranking movers for the week of April 18, 2016.

Irina Falconi (USA), +25 (No.92 to 67): Falconi earned the biggest ranking jump of the week when she became the first American to win the title at the Claro Open Colsanitas in Bogota.

Lara Arruabarrena (ESP), +10 (No.86 to 76): Arruabarrena had a dominating run in Bogota – the Spaniard only lost five games in three matches leading up to the semifinals – an as a result she jumps up to No.76, inching closer and closer to her career-high ranking of No.70.

Wang Qiang (CHN), +9 (No.88 to 79): One of three Chinese players ranked inside the Top 100, Qiang Wang rises to a career-high ranking of No.79 after winning back-to-back ITF-level titles.

Timea Bacsinszky (SUI), +1 (No.17 to 16): Bacsinszky rises one spot to No.16, trading places with Elina Svitolina who suffered a surprise first-round loss at the Claro Open Colsanitas.

UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS

Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
Stuttgart, Germany
Premier | $693,900 | Clay, Indoor
Monday, April 18 – Sunday, April 24, 2016

TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup
Istanbul, Turkey
International | $226,750 | Clay, Outdoor
Monday, April 18 – Sunday, April 24, 2016

GP SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem
Rabat, Morocco
International | $226,750 | Clay, Outdoor
Monday, April 25 – Saturday, April 30, 2016

J&T Banka Prague Open
Prague, Czech Republic
International | $226,750 | Clay, Outdoor
Monday, April 25 – Saturday, April 30, 2016

TOP 20 PLAYER SCHEDULES
1. Serena Williams
2. Agnieszka Radwanska – Stuttgart
3. Angelique Kerber – Stuttgart
4. Garbiñe Muguruza – Stuttgart
5. Victoria Azarenka
6. Simona Halep – Stuttgart
7. Petra Kvitova – Stuttgart
8. Roberta Vinci – Stuttgart, Prague
9. Maria Sharapova
10. Belinda Bencic – Stuttgart
11. Carla Suárez Navarro – Stuttgart
12. Flavia Pennetta
13. Svetlana Kuznetsova – Stuttgart, Prague
14. Venus Williams
15. Lucie Safarova – Stuttgart, Prague
16. Timea Bacsinszky – Rabat
17. Elina Svitolina –
18. Karolina Pliskova – Stuttgart, Prague
19. Ana Ivanovic – Stuttgart
20. Sara Errani – Stuttgart

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
Best wishes to those celebrating birthdays this week:

Misa Eguchi (JPN) – April 18, 1992
Maria Sharapova (RUS) – April 19, 1987
Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) – April 23, 1983

The Fed Cup World Group semifinals came to their thrilling conclusion on Sunday, as the Czech Republic and France each swept the decisive doubles rubber to advance to the 2016 Fed Cup final in November.

Both ties were tied at the end of Day 1, and the Swiss team still appeared poised for a massive upset over the Czechs – who had won four titles in the last five years – but Karolina Pliskova earned a crucial victory in revese singles over Timea Bacsinszky, recovering from her surprising loss to World No.129 Viktorija Golubic, 6-4, 6-2.

Golubic was far from finished, however; playing in front of her home crowd in Lucerne, the 23-year-old pulled off another stunning comeback on Sunday – this time against Barbora Strycova, 3-6, 7-6(6), 6-1. With the tie coming down to the decisive doubles, the momentum looked to be back on the Swiss side – especially with co-No.1 Martina Hingis taking the doubles court with Golubic. But Pliskova had a talented partner of her own in Lucie Hradecka, and the pair managed to put away the Swiss once and for all, 6-2, 6-2.

“Obviously yesterday was a tough match and tough day for me because I didn’t expect to lose this one,” Pliskova said after the 3-2 victory over Swizerland. “Even physically I was a little bit down. I just had a good dinner, went to sleep and woke up on a new day with new energy and just tried to do my best.”

“I am happy with how we played,” Hradecka added. “Maybe I expected a closer match but I know if we play fast and we don’t give them a lot of time, it would be an advantage for us. It was great and I really enjoyed it.”

Here is the moment Czech Republic reached the #FedCupFinal for the 5th time in 6 years! #CzechFedCupTeamhttps://t.co/Ysv2kWQi8r

— Fed Cup (@FedCup) April 17, 2016

Over in Trélazé, the Dutch team didn’t want their miracle run to end at the hands of the French, pushing the vaunted team to the brink after tying the contest on Saturday. Kiki Bertens went 2-0 in singles when she earned a 7-5, 6-4 win over Kristina Mladenovic, but Caroline Garcia recovered from her Day 1 loss to defeat Richel Hogenkamp, 6-3, 6-4 – forcing the decisive doubles rubber.

Garcia and Mladenovic had just won their first title of 2016 together at the Volvo Car Open, but Bertens and Hogenkamp put up one last resistence as they edged to within six points of victory after taking the second set. The French ultimately proved too strong in the end, taking the rubber and the 3-2 tie, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Led by coach and former Fed Cup stalwart Amélie Mauresmo, France is now into its first Fed Cup final since 2005, the last of three consecutive years where they reached the championship stage (winning in 2003). The Czechs will be looking to win their fifth title in six years, and with Petra Kvitova and Lucie Safarova possible additions to the team come November, would appear to be the favorites for another Fed Cup trophy.

Relive the moment France reached the 2016 #FedCupFinal! @KikiMladenovic @CaroGarcia #TeamFranceTennishttps://t.co/gsNwQfCTIZ

— Fed Cup (@FedCup) April 17, 2016

BOGOTA, Colombia – No.5 seed Irina Falconi captured her first WTA title in historic fashion, becoming the first American woman to win the Claro Open Colsanitas as she recovered from a break down in the final set to defeat Sílvia Soler-Espinosa, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.

Playing in her first career WTA final, Falconi had already earned the biggest win over the week when she took out No.4 seed Lara Arruabarrena in the semifinals, and looked on course for a seamless victory when she took the first set. But Soler-Espinosa, who had only won one WTA main draw match before Bogota, wouldn’t go down without a fight, leveling the match with a 6-2 set of her own and engineering an early break in the decider.

Six points from defeat down 3-4, 0-30, Falconi earned the break back and broke serve to win the title on her third championship point.

Starting the week at No.92, Falconi is tentatively set to return to the Top 70, close to her career-high ranking of No.64.

More to come…

KEY INFORMATION:
Tournament Level: Premier
Prize Money: $795,707
Draw Size: 28 main draw (4 byes)/32 qualifying
Qualifying Dates: Saturday, April 16 – Monday, April 18
First Day of Main Draw: Monday, April 18
Singles Final: Sunday, April 24, 1.30pm CEST
Doubles Final: Sunday, April 24 (after singles final)

MUST FOLLOW SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS:
@WTA
@WTA_Insider – WTA Insider, Senior Writer Courtney Nguyen
@PorscheTennis – official tournament handle
Get involved in conversations with the official hashtags, #PTGP and #WTA.

TOURNAMENT NOTES:
· Defending champion Angelique Kerber returns to action after retiring from the Charleston semifinals with a viral illness.
· The only other former winner in the draw is Julia Goerges, who triumphed in 2011. Former finalist Ana Ivanovic (2014) has also made the trip to southern Germany.
· Agnieszka Radwanska is top seed and playing her first match since pulling out of her home event, the Katowice Open, with a reoccurrence of a long-standing shoulder injury.
· For the complete draw click here.

WILDCARDS:
Julia Goerges (GER), Anna-Lena Friedsam (GER)

WITHDRAWALS:
Belinda Bencic, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Madison Keys

BOGOTA, Colombia – Irina Falconi and Sílvia Soler-Espinosa will meet for the first time as they face off on Sunday in the final of the Claro Open Colsanitas, after advancing past tough semifinal matchups in three-set battles.

The Ecuadorian-born American Falconi overcame a mid-match wobble to move past the on-fire Lara Arruabarrena, who had only dropped five games in the three matches leading up the semifinals. But the Spaniard couldn’t find any answers for Falconi’s dictating play or her short-angled inside out forehands in the day’s first semifinal match.

Arruabarrena quickly found herself down a set and 2-4, but she was able to bring herself back from the brink of defeat as Falconi’s groundstrokes misfired. The American held steady in the third set though, breaking early to get a lead ahead at 3-1, and hanging on to win the match 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 after almost two hours.

Falconi, who is into her first WTA final at the Claro Open Colsanitas, is set to face Soler-Espinosa for the title, who overcame a tough challenge from Brazil’s No.2, Paula Cristina Goncalves.

The 25-year-old from Sao Paolo has found great success on the South American red clay: she made her WTA main draw debut in Rio de Janeiro, where she made the quarterfinals and her semifinal appearance here in Bogota is her career best. By contrast, Soler-Espinosa came to Bogota having only won one match all year. She found her game on the red clay, and in the last round she ended Amra Sadikovic’s fairytale comeback – the Swiss retired in 2014 and reached the quarterfinals in her WTA return this week.

Goncalves found her usually reliable serves under fire early on. She lead the pack having hit 22 aces in three matches, but against Soler-Espinosa she was broken in the fifth game of the match, giving the Spaniard just enough of an edge to take the opening set. They stayed in touching distance during the second set, with Goncalves recovering from 2-4 down to force a tiebreak and send the match into a deciding set. But the tide turned as the Brazilian lost her serve in the longest game of the match to go down 2-4 again in the final set. Soler-Espinosa didn’t let her escape a second time, though, and booked her spot in the final 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-2.

More to come…

Day one of Fed Cup World Group semifinals action ended with a stalemate, leaving Switzerland, Czech Republic, France and Netherlands all drawing even at 1-1.

Barbora Strycova kicked off the action with a win for the Czech Republic in their semifinal against Switzerland. Strycova faced off against Timea Bacsinszky – an opponent who she’s defeated in straight sets in all three of their previous encounters. She didn’t deviate from the script in today’s Fed Cup encounter, either, putting Bacsinszky away in a near shut out 6-0, 6-2 to put the Czech visitors ahead.

With the Swiss No.1 Belinda Bencic having withdrawn from the tie due to a lower back injury, it was up to Fed Cup debutante Victorija Golubic to produce the tennis of her life against the Czech Karolina Pliskova. The world No.129 dealt Pliskova the upset of the day, coming back from a set and a break down to secure a point for the home side, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Proceedings played out similarly in France’s semifinal against the Netherlands. In front of a home crowd at the Arena Loire, France’s No.2 Caroline Garcia came up short against an on-fire Kiki Bertens, who has won all of her singles ties for the Netherlands in 2016. She powered past the Frenchwoman 6-4, 6-2 in just over an hour.

“There was a lot of tension in this match and a lot of expectation from outside,” Garcia said after the match. “She played a great match and served very well.”

France’s No.1 Kristina Mladenovic took to the court to right the ship for the home side against Richel Hogenkamp, defeating her comfortably 6-2, 6-4 to save a point for France, leaving the tie a draw at 1-1.

“I think this is the first time I’ve stepped out onto the court after a 0-1,” Mladenovic said. “Every tie is different and this time we are in front of a home crowd in a semifinal.

“It’s never easy to come on the court when you see your teammate in tears in the locker room, but I’m happy with the way I managed to win this match.”

BOGOTÁ, Colombia – Lara Arruabarrena closed in on her first WTA final since 2012 with a quick-fire win over Sachia Vickery at the Claro Open Colsanitas on Friday.

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

In a tidy display, No.4 seed Arruabarrena broke five times to wrap up a 6-2, 6-0 victory in exactly an hour. Meeting her for a place in the final is the tournaments only other remaining seed, Irina Falconi, a 6-1, 6-4 winner over Catalina Pella.

Four years ago, Arruabarrena lifted her first and to date only WTA title in the Colombian capital and she has looked like a woman on a mission in the early rounds – dropping a grand total of five games in three matches.

In the top half of the draw, another Spaniard, Sílvia Soler-Espinosa takes on Paula Cristina Goncalves.

Soler-Espinosa secured a hard-fought 6-4, 6-4 win over Arma Sadikovic, while Goncalves defeated Elina Svitolina’s conqueror, Alexandra Panova, 6-4, 6-3.

The partnership of SAP and the WTA took home the award for Best Partnership, Single Sport, on Friday’s 2016 Sports Technology Awards.

The Sports Technology Awards celebrate breakthrough technologies in sports. The partnership between SAP and the WTA triumphed over other successful entities including WSC Sports/NBA and Toshiba/Rugby World Cup 2015.

In 2013, SAP and the WTA began working together to create solutions in order to elevate the sport for players, coaches and fans. Last year at the Bank of the West Classic, SAP and the WTA unveiled SAP Tennis Analytics for Coaches, which gives coaches access to real-time performance data during live match play.

SAP and the WTA were also shortlisted for Best Use of Technology by a Sponsor. To see all winners and nominees from the 2016 Sports Technology Awards, click here.

To read more about SAP and the WTA partnership, click here.

LUCERNE, Switzerland – Barbora Strycova will begin the Czech Republic’s bid to reach a third consecutive Fed Cup final when she takes on Switzerland’s Timea Bacsinszky on Saturday afternoon.

With the lynchpin of his all-conquering side, Petra Kvitova, absent, Petr Pala will look to Strycova and Karolina Pliskova to pave the way to yet another victory. Both players have been part of the Czech set-up for several years now and even teamed up for the decisive doubles victory in last year’s final against Russia.

Although Strycova has tasted defeat in her last three singles rubbers, she will take comfort in her fine record against her opening day foe; in three career meetings against Bacsinszky, Strycova has never conceded a set, winning the most recent of these, at last year’s US Open, for the loss of just five games.

“I don’t know if it’s a huge confidence [boost] but it is a little bit because last year I played her,” Strycova said. “The other two matches were many years ago so I don’t count that. It’s going to be a different match tomorrow because the whole crowd are going to push her to play her best tennis. I have to be ready for that.”

Pliskova, meanwhile, takes a near-perfect Fed Cup record into her singles meeting with World No.129 Viktorija Golubic. In eight Fed Cup matches, Pliskova’s sole defeat came at the hands of Maria Sharapova, and in February’s first-round tussle with Romania she dealt with the contrasting challenges of Simona Halep and Monica Niculescu before claiming the crucial third point alongside Strycova in doubles.

Eight hundred kilometers away, in Trélazé, France will play host to the Netherlands in the weekend’s other semifinal. Despite their impressive victory over Russia in the previous round, the Netherlands will start as underdogs against a strong French side attempting to reach its first final since 2005.

French captain Amélie Mauresmo has elected to open the tie with Caroline Garcia, who will face Dutch No.1 Kiki Bertens. Garcia sits over 50 places higher in the rankings than Bertens, and the gap in the second singles rubber is even wider, pitting World No.28 Kristina Mladenovic against No.139 Richel Hogenkamp.

After their heroics in Moscow, Mauresmo is wary of looking past the Dutch: “It [the Dutch winning in Moscow] was definitely a surprise and it keeps us on our toes,” Mauresmo said.

Mauresmo’s team also includes Alizé Cornet and the in-form Pauline Parmentier, who are scheduled to play together in Sunday’s doubles. “I’m very lucky in this tie,” Mauresmo added. “In some ties I had easier choices to make. The four girls came into this week either with a lot of wins behind them, great confidence on the surface or coming out of doubles wins.”