Venus Rewriting History At Wimbledon
WTA Insider David Kane | Five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams is on course to tie an all-time record at the upcoming Championships – which is it?
WTA Insider David Kane | Five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams is on course to tie an all-time record at the upcoming Championships – which is it?
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.
Johanna Konta takes on Petra Kvitova in the third round of the Aegon International Eastbourne.
Simona Halep began the French Open as a heavy favorite, but her tournament ended in heavy conditions and with heavier disappointment.
“It was impossible to play, in my opinion,” she said after her fourth round loss to Samantha Stosur. “And to play tennis matches during the rain, I think it’s a bit too much.”
The Romanian had been in control of the match before an 18-hour washout forced her and her Aussie opposition onto a drizzling court that her feeling pain in her back and Achilles. And those were just the physical effects.
“I was far to think about the title, but I think that I had a chance. If the courts are dry here I have a chance, because I like the conditions when it’s normal weather.
“In Madrid was different. That’s why I played so well. I like those conditions.”
From her press conference, it was clear that she felt robbed of a golden opportunity at what has been her most successful Grand Slam tournament. But the former World No.2 is hardly a clay court specialist.
Two weeks after narrowly losing to Maria Sharapova in the 2014 French Open final, the Romanian shrugged off the disappointment and channeled it into her best-ever Wimbledon result. In her first quarterfinal at the All England Club, she dismantled former finalist Sabine Lisicki before disaster struck against Eugenie Bouchard.
Up a break in the opening set, Halep took a heavy turn on her ankle, eventually fading in two sets and missing out on the chance to play Petra Kvitova – a player she had never lost to – for Wimbledon glory.
“It was difficult to continue because I twisted my ankle and it was very hard,” she said at the time. “I felt a big pain in the moment, and I couldn’t push anymore in my leg. My first serve was really bad after that. Yeah, it was difficult to continue.”
This year, Halep has shown steady improvements after a slow start to the season, but injury concerns in the form of a persistent Achilles injury ruled her out of the Aegon Classic.
“I started to feel it since I came here,” she said at the start of last week. “I have some fluid inside the tendon so the doctor says that I have to rest for a few days. It’s nothing serious but it’s a bit sore. I have almost two weeks to recover before Wimbledon so I will take a few days rest and then some treatment and then start to play again.
“This was my first tournament on grass and it was important to have some matches but I cannot change things. It’s important to take care of my body.”
Under the tutelage of reknowned coach Darren Cahill, Halep has been eager to match and surpass the heights she hit in her peak 2014 season. But while she won many matches throughout that auspicious year, she also prioritized her health above all other committments, frequently amending her schedule to ensure she was ready to perform on the game’s biggest stages.
Disappointed as she was to have left Paris without the trophy, the Romanian won’t feel her form cost her the chance. Taking the time to reset her body and mind ahead of what promises to be a stressful time of year may be the best decision the former semifinalist could have made. Fit and ready to wade past the undertow of uncertainty that cut her campaign short one year ago, Halep will be keen to ensure her preparation meets opportunity at Wimbledon.
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All photos courtesy of Getty Images.
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Petra Kvitova and Wimbledon go together like strawberries and cream. Since 2010, Kvitova has made the quarterfinals or better five times, winning the title twice in 2011 and 2014. The All England Club is where Kvitova has made her mark, emblazoned her name, and played her absolute best. And it’s where she’s been able to kickstart a season when she’s arrived on a sputter.
Kvitova has yet to get her game going in 2016. She made the quarterfinals or better at just two events this year and has slipped out of the Top 10 for the first time since 2013. She will be seeded outside the Top 8 for the first time since 2010. Despite it all, Wimbledon has a firm history of curing all that ails her. Kvitova just needs to get on a roll.
“I remember in 2011, I was injured in my leg, which wasn’t really nice,” Kvitova told WTA Insider. “I was coming from Eastbourne and I remember I was supposed to play on Monday but it was raining so I was so happy to play on Tuesday. I played the final in Eastbourne and I felt like the tournament just continued. It’s not like a new tournament, new Grand Slam, so I was just flowing.
“Nobody really expected – me neither – that I can play so well there. For me it was a really special moment and really a surprise. I didn’t know how to handle it.
“It was totally different [in 2014]. I think in the second Wimbledon I think there was kind of expectations already. It was much more difficult. I played three Czech girls on the journey. I didn’t really feel like I could win it again but I was just so focused. After the final I was just feeling so much deeper, so satisfied with everything. It was something more than the first one.”
Kvitova will be playing Wimbledon without her long-time coach David Kotyza. The two split after the Australian Open and she’s now coached by former ATP player Frantisek Cermak. Their best results of the season came in the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open and semifinals of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
“I think that I’m kind of feeling that I am playing well, even though I kind of lost some of the matches in a couple of months,” Kvitova said at the Aegon International. “But I think it’s pretty good. The main thing is to stay healthy, for sure. Otherwise I feel good.”
Kvitova said the biggest struggle for her as been keeping focus in matches. “I do work with my mental coach,” she said. “I think it’s getting better, as well. But you never really know. Kind of these [tight] matches, it’s difficult, always under the pressure and the players are playing without any expectation or anything. Sometimes it’s difficult to stay still, very focused on every kind of point.”
In 2014, Kvitova arrived to Wimbledon without a title under her belt for the season. Her draw got her two fairly easy opening opponents before she locked in to beat Venus Williams, 5-7, 7-6(2), 7-5 in one of the best matches of that year. Kvitova then capped it off with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Eugenie Bouchard in just 55 minutes.
As Kvitova says herself, she doesn’t need much practice to matches to play well. They clearly help her confidence, but deep down Kvitova knows her game is there. She just needs to find it in time.
“I just know that it’s there,” Kvitova said. “[The way] you were training before you can’t really forget.”
Listen to more of Kvitova’s thoughts on the upcoming Championships in the latest episode of the WTA Insider Podcast:
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All photos courtesy of Getty Images.
Highlights from first and second round action at the Aegon International.