Charleston: Madison Keys Pre-Tournament Interview
Hear from Madison Keys before the start of the tournament.
Hear from Madison Keys before the start of the tournament.
With the American hardcourt swing wrapped up after Indian Wells and Miami, the clay season begins in earnest at the Premier-level Volvo Car Open in Charleston. But for those not ready to switch surfaces, the Abierto GNP Seguros in Monterrey has drawn a world-class field.
Here’s what’s on tap for this week on the WTA:
CURRENT TOURNAMENTS:
Volvo Car Open – Charleston
Tournament Level: Premier
Prize Money: $710,900
Draw Size: 56 main draw (8 byes)/32 qualifying
Surface: Green clay, outdoors
Qualifying Dates: Saturday, April 1 – Sunday, April 2
First Day of Main Draw: April 3
Singles Final: Sunday, April 9, NB 1:00 pm EDT
Doubles Final: Sunday, April 9, 10:30 am EDT
Top-ranked players: Madison Keys, Venus Williams, Caroline Wozniacki, Elena Vesnina, Sam Stosur
Defending Champion: Sloane Stephens
TALKING POINTS:
– Five former Charleston champions are present: Andrea Petkovic (2014), Samantha Stosur (2010), and ex-No.1s Caroline Wozniacki (2011), Jelena Jankovic (2007) and Venus Williams (2004)
– Reigning Charleston champion Sloane Stephens is unable to defend title she won by beating Elena Vesnina 12 months ago due to her continuing recovery from foot surgery
– Madison Keys is top seed – a status she has enjoyed only once before at a WTA event (2015 Strasbourg) – and will continue her comeback having returned from a wrist injury at the Indian Wells-Miami double-header
Abierto GNP Seguros – Monterrey
Tournament Level: International
Prize Money: $226,750
Draw Size: 32 main draw/32 qualifying
Surface: Outdoor hard
Qualifying Dates: Saturday, April 1 – Monday, April 3
First Day of Main Draw: Monday, April 3
Singles Final: Sunday, April 9, NB 3:30 pm CDT
Doubles Final: Sunday, April 9, 1:00 pm CDT
Top-ranked players: Angelique Kerber, Carla Suárez Navarro, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Caroline Garcia, Timea Babos
Defending Champion: Heather Watson
TALKING POINTS:
– World No.1 Angelique Kerber is competing at this year’s tournament, having reached the final here in 2013
– No.2 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova returns to Monterrey for her sixth time, clinching the title on three occasions – 2010, 2011 and 2013
UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS:
Claro Open Colsanitas – Bogota
International | $226,750 | Clay
Monday, April 10 – Saturday, April 15
Top-ranked players: Kiki Bertens, Katerina Siniakova, Peng Shuai, Johanna Larsson, Lara Arruabarrena
Defending Champion: Irina Falconi
Ladies Open Biel Bienne
International | $226,750 | Indoor Hard
Monday, April 10 – Sunday, April 16
Top-ranked players: Barbora Strycova, Timea Babos, Roberta Vinci, Laura Siegemund
Defending Champion: None, first staging
Porsche Tennis Grand Prix – Stuttgart
Premier | $710,900 | Indoor Clay
Monday, April 24 – Sunday, April 30
Top-ranked players: Angelique Kerber, Karolina Pliskova, Simona Halep, Dominika Cibulkova, Agnieszka Radwanska
Defending champion: Angelique Kerber
TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup
International | $226,750 | Clay
Monday, April 24 – Sunday, April 30
Top-ranked players: Elina Svitolina, Timea Babos, Yulia Putintseva, Irina-Camelia Begu, Eugenie Bouchard
Defending champion: Cagla Buyukakcay
TOP 20 PLAYERS’ SCHEDULES:
1. Angelique Kerber: Monterrey, Stuttgart
2. Serena Williams
3. Karolina Pliskova: Stuttgart
4. Dominika Cibulkova: Stuttgart
5. Simona Halep: Stuttgart
6. Garbiñe Muguruza: Stuttgart
7. Johanna Konta
8. Agnieszka Radwanska: Stuttgart
9. Svetlana Kuznetsova: Stuttgart
10. Venus Williams: Charleston
11. Madison Keys: Charleston, Stuttgart
12. Caroline Wozniacki: Charleston
13. Elina Svitolina: Istanbul
14. Elena Vesnina: Charleston, Stuttgart
15. Petra Kvitova
16. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova: Monterrey
17. Samantha Stosur: Charleston, Stuttgart
18. Barbora Strycova: Biel, Stuttgart
19. Kristina Mladenovic: Stuttgart
20. Timea Bacsinszky
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
Best wishes to those celebrating birthdays this week:
Madison Brengle (USA) – April 3, 1990
Asia Muhammad (USA) – April 4, 1991
Darija Jurak (CRO) – April 5, 1984
Sorana Cirstea (ROU) – April 7, 1990
CiCi Bellis (USA) – April 8, 1999
Hear what Elena Vesnina has to say before the beginning of the tournament.
Karolina Pliskova moves up to the top of the Road to Singapore leaderboard – but Miami Open champion Johanna Konta is now hot on her heels, jumping seven places to No.2.
Check out Monica Puig’s shot of the day at the Volvo Car Open!
CHARLESTON, SC, USA — Monica Puig was the first of two main draw winners as the Volvo Car Open got underway in Charleston on Monday, as Katerina Siniakova was forced to retire with a back injury in the final set.
Siniakova received medical attention earlier in the match, and retired as the match hit the two-hour mark, trailing 6-4, 2-6, 1-4 to send the Puerto Rican in to the second round.
“It’s always nice to come back and play on the clay again — unfortunately she had to retire there in the third set,” Puig said after the match. “I thought it was some pretty good, high-quality tennis up until that point.
“She was definitely holding, clutching her back a little bit there in the second set, so I was obviously a little bit aware something was going on. I had to try and keep focus because sometimes when a player is feeling a little bit of discomfort, they start hitting the ball hard, going for their shots a little more. I had to really focus and pay attention.”
Puig, who reached the third round in Charleston last season, fell behind early as Siniakova broke in the first game and rode the advantage to a one-set lead. She flipped the script in the second set, breaking Siniakova at the first opportunity to open up a 3-0 lead en route to sending the match to a decider. While the Czech fought through valiantly in the decider, she dropped serve in the fourth game and was unable to continue much further from there.
.@MonicaAce93 is first through to @VolvoCarOpen Second round!
Siniakova retires due to injury pic.twitter.com/xcJH4OUG9S
— WTA (@WTA) April 3, 2017
The Puerto Rican played her first WTA main draw in Charleston in 2011 after coming through qualifying and the World No.40 is eager to use one of her most successful tour stops as a springboard on the road to the French Open
“I love the clay. I really enjoy playing on it. Not so much the green clay because you don’t really notice that you’re on clay as much as the red clay — I love getting off the court and seeing I’m all dirty!” she joked.
“You don’t really have to change up your game style, but you have to adjust to what you have to do as far as tactics and things like that,” Puig assessed, as she’ll face the winner of the match between Daria Kasatkina and Danka Kovinic in the second round. “That’s what my coach and I were trying to work on coming into this clay season, just to really be smart of there.”
Joining Puig in the second round as an early winner was Japan’s Naomi Osaka, who rallied for her first career main draw win in Charleston after dropping the first set against Johanna Larsson, 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-2.
Check out the rest of the opening round results here.
Check out CiCi Bellis’s shot of the day from the Abierto GNP Seguros.
The theme of the Abierto GNP Seguros player party was “glow in the dark,” and Caroline Garcia, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and plenty of WTA players were on hand to light up the night.
MIAMI, FL, USA – The British media celebrated Johanna Konta’s win at the Miami Open with plenty of print space and air time – and are hoping she’ll rise even further up the rankings than her current career high of No.7.
Konta said in her post-match press conference that she hoped her journey in the tournament would garner lots of attention for the sport.
“If the coverage has been good then it’s great for us,” said the British No.1. “It’s promoting tennis, and hopefully promoting more people to play.”
And so it has proved – starting with a front-page splash in the Sunday Times.
No stunts required – win as big as Konta is starting to, it gets attention. Front page of the Sunday Times. pic.twitter.com/VQKgSUsnt9
— DavidLaw (@DavidLawTennis) April 2, 2017
Comparisons are inevitably being drawn with Virginia Wade, Britain’s last female singles Slam winner – but Konta has played that down, although she admitted she would love to win Wimbledon.
The Daily Mail reported that she said: “It does sound quite monumental but winning Wimbledon is a dream and hopefully one day I will get an opportunity to play for such a title.”
An unforgettable two weeks for @JoKonta91 at the @MiamiOpen! ? pic.twitter.com/XuN5Snv16F
— WTA (@WTA) April 2, 2017
The Daily Telegraph’s tennis correspondent Simon Briggs assessed Konta’s chances of a Slam title thus: “How much further, then, can this late-blooming champion climb? Two years ago, Konta was ranked around the 150-mark, which did not even earn her a spot in the qualifying tournament here. Now she stands alongside Pliskova and world No 1 Angelique Kerber as one of the women most likely to worry Serena Williams.”
In the Guardian, Kevin Mitchell wrote: “Konta was clearly the better player in this match as well as the one in Melbourne. That was such a clear indicator of how far the British No1 has come in a relatively short time. There would not have been many takers backing Konta to beat Wozniacki even a couple of years ago. Now she has to set her sights higher.”
And of course Konta’s Fed Cup teammates were also thrilled for her – Naomi Broady and Heather Watson were straight on Twitter to publicly congratulate their friend.
She came, she saw, she 'kontad' ? best tweet I've seen today! Killing it JK ? @JoKonta91
— Naomi Broady (@NaomiBroady) April 2, 2017
Congrats @JoKonta91 ! ?????? #killinit
— Heather Watson (@HeatherWatson92) April 1, 2017
See how Johanna Konta made the most significant rankings climb of her career.