Tennis News

ROME, Italy – Former World No.5 Eugenie Bouchard emerged on top of a match that featured 14 breaks of serve against former No.1 Jelena Jankovic, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3, to advance into the second round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. Reigning Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber looms as her next opponent.

Watch highlights, interviews and more video from Rome right here on wtatennis.com!

“I think I’m still on that journey of trying to, you know, be the best player I can be,” she said in her post-match press conference. “I feel like I have been working hard every single day, and I feel like I have good guidance, I’m on the right path.

“So I think it’s just making sure I still continue to believe in myself, and, you know, trusting that if I do all the right things, if I work hard, if I have the talent, if I have good guidance, you know, one day it has to come.”

The 2014 Wimbledon runner-up recovered from an early break to win four of the next five games and clinch a one-set lead, but twice fell behind a double break to Jankovic, who was playing her second match on clay in 2016 thanks to a right shoulder injury. The Serb recently reunited with Ricardo Sanchez, with whom she’d worked at the time she finished 2008 No.1 in the world, and went on to level proceedings at a set apiece.

“I played well on several occasions, and I think I did pretty well in that second set,” Jankovic told press after the match. “I think mentally and as well physically I went down in that third set. I was getting physically tired and then mentally, as well, because I haven’t been playing matches, and as well I lost a little bit of strength and just being on the court for a while.

“It’s only my second match since Indian Wells, so it’s been a while since I have been competing on a daily basis and just being out there.”

3rd Set!@Jelena_Jankovic storms back to force a decider vs Bouchard 4-6, 6-2! #ibi16 https://t.co/nAbq201T08

— WTA (@WTA) May 10, 2016

For her part, Bouchard – who also returned to former coach Nick Saviano – had lost a similarly topsy-turvy three-setter at the Mutua Madrid Open to Irina-Camelia Begu; undaunted in Rome, she raced ahead 3-0 in the decider and never looked back, hitting 29 winners in the nearly two-hour match to 32 unforced errors, and winning 12 of her 16 approaches to net.

“I knew it would be a tough battle. I have played her a couple of times before, and, you know, she gets a lot of balls back. She’s tough. She stays with you. I just had to keep being tough.

“I realized that she started controlling too many points, so in the third set I decided no matter what, you know, even if I make a couple more mistakes I need to step in and go for it. I think that made the difference.”

Earning her first win on red clay this season, the Canadian booked a second round encounter with No.2 seed Angelique Kerber, who is looking to shake off her own early Madrid defeat to Barbora Strycova, and earned a bye in the round of 32. 

“I feel like it’s my first year on tour again. I feel like it’s 2013 again where I’m playing all these tournaments almost for the first time and obviously not expected to win these matches.

“So it’s been an interesting experience kind of going back to that, and refreshing, as well, and challenging, as well. I play seeds early on. I go and play smaller tournaments. It’s a different lifestyle for me.

“But I’m grinding and I truly love that. I see it as a challenge.”

.@GenieBouchard edges Jankovic 6-4, 2-6, 6-3!

Sets @InteBNLdItalia Second round vs @AngeliqueKerber! #ibi16 pic.twitter.com/oe15UC11b5

— WTA (@WTA) May 10, 2016

ROME, Italy – 2015 Internazionali BNL d’Italia semifinalist Daria Gavrilova edged past former Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki, 6-1, 7-6(3), to set up a second round meeting with Mutua Madrid Open champion Simona Halep in the second round.

Watch highlights, interviews and more video from Rome right here on wtatennis.com!

“It was a tough match,” she said following her win. “I played really well in the first set and then in the second set I had chances to break her in the second game, but then I got broken in the next game. Then I was a break down until 4-2, so it could have gone either way – we were both making a lot of mistakes.

“I’m happy that I could manage my nerves in the tie-break and play a pretty clean tie-break.”

Gavrilova raced through the opening set, but Lisicki, who has only won back-to-back matches once in 2016, was on course to turn things around early into the second by taking a 4-1 lead of her own.

With some help from an on-court coaching session with Nicole Pratt, Gavrilova roared back to serve for the match after winning four games in a row, but Lisicki had one more momentum swing in store, getting to within one game of a decisive set.

First set ? @Daria_Gav

Races through the opening set vs Lisicki 6-1! #ibi16 https://t.co/6mZf6qt9kT

— WTA (@WTA) May 10, 2016

Holding serve to force a second set tie-break, the youngster bounded onward and upward to clinch the match in 82 minutes. Though both she and the German each hit 18 winners, Lisicki was ultimately undone by 26 unforced errors to only 17 from Gavrilova. 

“I love it [being back in Rome]. I was very surprised we played on the Grandstand; when I saw the schedule, I was like, ‘Woah, this is so cool.’ And you know the fans here are like really into it, so it means a lot to the players.

Up next for the Aussie is No.6 seed Simona Halep, who is coming off of her second career Premier Mandatory title at the Mutua Madrid Open.

“I know I have Halep next because she had a bye. I know that’s going to be a tough match, but I’m really looking forward to it.”

Earlier in the day, No.9 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova eased through her first round match with Caroline Garcia. Though the Frenchwoman has been playing some of her best tennis in doubles with partner Kristina Mladenovic, that success has yet to translate in singles, as Garcia fell, 7-5, 6-2.

“I had a tough one against her in Miami, 7-6 in the third,” Kuznetsova said after the match. “I’m really happy I was able to get it done in two sets today. I don’t think I played my best game, but I feel better playing on clay, for sure.”

Mladenovic also had trouble in her first round with Jelena Ostapenko, as the young Latvian took out the World No.28, 6-3, 6-1.

Mladenovic qualified for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global last fall alongside Timea Babos, who is in the midst of a career-best season in singles; the Hungarian powerhouse blasted past qualifier Kiki Bertens, 6-1, 6-4.

Samantha Stosur saved a match point against Alison Riske in their first round before Gavrilova’s countrywoman pulled through, 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-1. Lesia Tsurenko similarly recovered from a set and a break down to defeat qualifier Julia Goerges, 1-6, 7-6(5), 6-3.

No.11 seed Timea Bacsinszky had no problems against Yanina Wickmayer, setting up a second round match with Tsurenko, 6-2, 6-2.

ROME, Italy – Serena Williams left little doubt about her clay court form after easing into the third round with a straightforward win over Anna-Lena Friedsam 6-4, 6-3 at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

Watch highlights, interviews and more video from Rome right here on wtatennis.com!

“I feel pretty good,” Williams said in her press conference before the match. “I wasn’t feeling really good for the past several weeks and even the past few days. But right now I’m better.

“I will see how I’m doing when I step on the court for the first time, but overall I think I’m feeling a lot better.”

She hadn’t played a tennis match in a month and a half – since her round of 16 appearance in Miami and subsequent withdrawal from the Mutua Madrid Open – but the three-time Rome champion was too much for Friedsam to handle.

The 22-year-old Friedsam – who reached a career-high ranking of No.50 this week – is making big strides in the WTA and finding the confidence to back up her big game. Earlier this year she reached the semifinals of Shenzhen and the final of the 125K event in San Antonio, and last year at the French Open she stretched Williams to three sets in their only previous encounter – the World No.1 had to battle back from a set down to advance on her way to the title.

Things were more straightforward in Rome, the first match of Williams’ 2016 clay campaign. She broke once to snag an early lead at 2-1 in the first set, then three times in the second set to put the match away after an hour and fifteen minutes. She struck 27 winners and 18 unforced errors to Friedsam’s 16 and 21.

“I was really happy with my level,” Williams said after the match. “I think I was really consistent. I think I was mentally consistent. I started out fast. Those are some of the things I wanted to work on [and] I was really happy about that.”

In the day’s other second-round match, last year’s finalist Carla Suárez Navarro survived a tricky second set to advance past Teliana Pereira 6-1, 7-5.

“I played a really good match, but the second set I tried to close the match but it was really tough,” Suárez Navarro said. “She came back really good and I was really, really nervous.

“You have to know how to finish that kind of match, so I’m happy because it was tough for me.”

WTA Insider Senior Writer Courtney Nguyen checks in from the Foro Italico in Rome where the Internazionali BNL d’Italia is already underway. She recaps the the weekend in Madrid, where Simona Halep capped off a big week for Romanian tennis by winning her first title of the season. Hear from Halep as she discusses her surprising week and how it all came together in the Champion’s Corner.

You’ll also hear from 30-year-old Czech veteran Barbora Strycova. The World No.38 joins the podcast to discuss her career, which was nearly ended by a failed drug test in 2012. After serving a six-moth ban for negligently ingesting a banned substance, Strycova came one match away from ending her career. It’s a good thing she didn’t.

Strycova candidly opens up about her ban — the lowest moment of her career — as well as her redemptive run to the 2014 Wimbledon quarterfinals. Self-aware, honest, and funny, it’s a conversation you won’t want to miss.

Halep on being reluctant to handicap her chances at the start of the week: It’s amazing that I could win this tournament. I feel that I had everything in my hands, every match. I felt that I played my best tennis in every match and kind of deserving the title because I won it. I didn’t receive presents during the matches. Day by day I believed more that I had a chance to win it.

At the beginning of the tournament it’s normal to feel that you hesitate a little bit because it’s just the start and you don’t know actually what’s going to happen in the first round because the first round is always the toughest in the tournament. And after my months before coming here, it was tough to believe I could win it.

Halep on the rise of her fellow Romanians: I didn’t read anything since a long time ago and I’m not going to start to read again. I heard a tough story about my joke about “the Easter present” about the second set [bagel against Irina-Camelia Begu]. They make everything negative so I’m not going to read.

But in my opinion it’s a big thing that many Romanians are playing in the last matches here in this tournament – also men’s doubles – so it’s a good point point for our country and maybe it will help our juniors.

Strycova on picking tennis over figure skating: At age 12, I had to decide if I wanted to stick with figure skating, because I was pretty good at it, or tennis. I chose tennis because it was my choice, and nobody was pushing it. I was last on the ice a year ago; I can do some small jumps but you have to be careful because you can fall down and break a leg! I love that sport, and I still like to listen to my favorite music and be on the ice, doing what I used to do when I was young. It’s really relaxing.

Strycova on whether her on-court intensity dates back to her childhood: Oh my god, so much! You would see such a crazy Bara, you would not believel I am so emotional. I’m intense. I love to win and hate to lose. Back then, I was crabby. On one side, I was very positive, but also very negative. I’d throw racquets, screaming, crying. My whole career, I’ve been fighting to be positive and calmer. But I need that sometimes, I just need to know how to deal with it, and make sure it’s not hurting you.

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