Indian Wells: Kvitova vs. Gibbs
Petra Kvitova takes on Nicole Gibbs in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open.
Petra Kvitova takes on Nicole Gibbs in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open.
INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – Top seed Serena Williams powered through a tough, but decisive victory over 2015 BNP Paribas Open champion Simona Halep, 6-4, 6-3, to reach the semifinals.
Watch highlights, interviews and more video from Indian Wells right here on wtatennis.com!
With strong crowd support from her compatriots, Halep started strong with an early service break, but Williams proved undaunted throughout the 68-minute affair, putting down 28 winners and only 24 unforced errors, breaking serve four times to defeat the defending champion and reach her second straight Indian Wells semifinal.
“It’s a lot of love in this stadium, and a lot of Romanians,” Serena jokingly told Andrew Krasny during her on-court interview, offering her apologies to Halep’s unflappable fanbase. “Sorry guys, but there’s definitely a lot of love here.”
Williams and Halep had played two tricky matches in 2015, including a three setter almost exactly 52 weeks ago in the semifinals of the Miami Open; with the Romanian beginning to show signs of improvement after a slow start to the season, the American admitted to being on her guard coming into the match.
“She obviously has been in good form the past couple years,” she said during her post-match press conference. “So, yeah, I feel really good just to get under there and buckle down and to win that.”
Up next for the World No.1 is soon-to-be new World No.2 Agnieszka Radwanska, who eased past two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova, 6-2, 7-6(3). The two last played in the semifinals of the Australian Open, which Williams won in two emphatic sets.
“She knows how to play in big stadiums and big matches, big games. Obviously she does everything so well, including running, and this is a good surface for her because it’s a slow surface. I think I expect there will be a lot of long rallies. Honestly, I will be ready.
“I really like Aga on and off the court. I think she’s super exciting to watch on the court, and off the court I think she’s really one of the nicest people. Regardless, I think it will be a really good matchup. Whoever wins will go into the final.
“It’s unfortunate it can’t be a final, but we’ll see how it goes. I don’t think she’s won this tournament yet, but obviously she probably wants to. We will see how that goes.”
Agnieszka Radwanska takes on Jelena Jankovic in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open.
INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – On Wednesday afternoon Sara Errani and Oksana Kalashnikova claimed the latest upset of their fledgling partnership, ousting Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka in the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open.
Watch highlights, interviews and more video from Indian Wells right here on wtatennis.com!
Playing only their third match together, Errani and Kalashnikova took a while to find their feet against the No.4 seeds, dropping a one-sided opening set. However, their turned the match on its head in spectacular fashion to take the second set and then outplay the Czechs in the decisive match tie-break.
Errani and Kalashnikova’s 3-6, 6-3, 10-5 victory means that only one of the eight seeded teams – No.3 seeds Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova – has made it through to the semifinals in Indian Wells.
We did it again ???? Forza ?@SaraErrani @BNPPARIBASOPEN
— Oksana Kalashnikova (@OksKalashnikova) March 17, 2016
Meeting them for a place in the final will be Julia Goerges and Karolina Pliskova, 6-4, 6-3 winners over Vania King and Alla Kudryavtseva.
In the previous round, King and Kudryavtseva sent shockwaves through the draw by knocking out top seeds Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza, and against Goerges and Pliskova they carried on from where they left off, surging into a 4-1 lead.
This proved to be a false dawn, though, as Goerges and Pliskova pegged back then overhauled them to make it through to the last four of a WTA event together for just the second time.
On the other side of the draw, Babos and Shvedova will take on the all-American team of Bethanie Mattek-Sands and CoCo Vandeweghe.
Simona Halep takes on Barbora Strycova in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open.
Serena Williams takes on Kateryna Bondarenko in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open.
– Top half of the draw holds up: Seeds may have fallen early but the projected quarterfinals held up in the top half. No.1 Serena Williams cruised to a 6-2, 6-2 win over Kateryna Bondarenko, while No.5 and defending champion Simona Halep advanced via a retirement from an ill Barbora Strycova, who pulled the plug down 6-3, 1-0. The two will face off for the first time since the 2015 Western & Southern Open final, which Serena won 6-3, 7-6(5). It will be the first real test for both women, as they’ve cruised through the early rounds without dropping a set.
“I really like her game,” Serena said. “I like how she’s aggressive. She’s a fighter. She killed me at one point, so I definitely have to be ready. It’ll be a really good match I think for both of us to kind of see where we want to be at this point in the year.”
“I’m happy that I am again in the quarterfinals,” Halep said. On Wednesday she’ll be playing her biggest quarterfinal since the US Open. Finally healthy after an injury and illness addled start to the season, Halep has found some of her best tennis in a long time here in the desert.
“I feel good here. I started to feel my game. I started to feel very well on court. I move well. It’s the most important thing. Of course the matches, it’s important to win a match, but it’s better to feel that you are like strong on court and then to think about winning a match.”
The day’s other quarterfinal sees No.3 Agnieszka Radwanska and No.8 seed Petra Kvitova face off for the first time since the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global final last fall, which Radwanska won, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3. A win on Wednesday would move Radwanska up to No.2 in the rankings.
“I just remember it was very, very tough match,” Radwanska said when asked to recall that Singapore match. “Long, tight, everything was tighter, every game, point by point. A little bit different surface, different conditions, definitely.
“I think always against her you really have to play good tennis and be careful definitely on her serve. She’s really using her left hand very good for that. Well, but I just hope we can play on the same level as we played in Singapore.”
Radwanska was able to move past Jelena Jankovic in straight sets to advance but Kvitova found herself once again mired in a long, grueling three set match, beating Nicole Gibbs, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. It was the third consecutive three-set match she played this week. After skipping the tournament last year, Kvitova joked she was just trying to give fans more bang for their buck. She’s had an off day after each of her matches but will have less than 24 hours to recover for Wednesday’s quarterfinal.
“The last match we played in Singapore was different conditions, definitely, playing indoor compared here,” Kvitova said. “Weather should be very warm and outdoor. Aga is playing really good game. I just probably will need, you know, playing really good way, tactically well, playing aggressively, going for it.
“We’ll see. Like I [have to] catch a lot of balls and playing really smart. I have to be ready.”
– Victoria Azarenka the heavy favorite to make the final: In the more unpredictable bottom half of the draw, the 2012 champion held off Sam Stosur, 6-1, 4-6, 6-1, to advance to her third quarterfinal of the season. Azarenka is now 14-1 on the season, with that sole loss coming to Angelique Kerber at the Australian Open. A title run here would put her back in the Top 10 for the first time since August 2014, moving up as high as No.7.
Azarenka faces surprise quarterfinalist No.97 Magdalena Rybarikova, who advanced after Roberta Vinci retired with a left foot injury. Coming into Indian Wells, Rybarikova had not won back-to-back main draw matches since the Istanbul Cup last July. This week she’s beaten Laura Robson, Daria Gavrilova, Belinda Bencic, and now Vinci to make the quarterfinals. Azarenka is 2-0 against Rybarikova and has never dropped a set to her.
The last quarterfinal features two of the best young talents on tour, with 18-year-old Daria Kasatkina continuing to build on her blistering 2016 season against No.18 seed Karolina Pliskova. The two have never faced each other.
Playing in her Indian Wells debut, Kasatkina rolled past No.12 seed Timea Bacsinszky, 6-4, 6-2. Kasatkina broke down the Bacsinszky game with a healthy diet of heavy forehands to the Swiss’ forehand, breaking down the weaker wing time and time again. It was a smart, tactical match from the young Russian and the best match of her tournament so far.
Kasatkina on that jumping backhand: “From 12 I started playing like this. All the Russians, Safin, Kuznetsova play this shot! I like it.”
— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) March 16, 2016
– Azarenka goes strength to strength: Azarenka has continued to build on her already stellar return game. She says her forehand return in particular has improved immensely and she’s now able to generate more pace and angle from that side. She’s also seeing her hard work in February pay off on the match court this week.
“I started to be more efficient on my movement, which is big part of my game, to be able to find angles, cut angles, and just overall placement of the ball,” Azarenka said. “I worked a lot on my serve to be able to create easier serving games and going for my shots, developing power speed, and now need to work a little bit more on accuracy.”
– Top 10 rankings watch: Radwanska can overtake Angelique Kerber and can climb to No.2 in if she is able to reach the semifinals…. Garbiñe Muguruza will maintain her current ranking at No.4…. Halep will fall between No.5 and No.7…. Vinci will reach a career-high ranking after Indian Wells…. Azarenka can return to the WTA Top 10 on Monday if she wins the title at Indian Wells (No.7).
– More rankings news: Konta will move into the Top 25 on Monday, the first Brit in the Top 25 since Jo Durie in 1987…. Jelena Jankovic will fall out of the Top 20 on Monday…. Kasatkina will make her Top 40 debut and overtake Margarita Gasparyan as the Russian No.5 and can even overtake the No.4, Ekaterina Makarova, if she makes the final.
– Chapeau, Gibbsy: Nicole Gibbs’ fantastic week finally came to an end against Kvitova but she’ll move up into the Top 80 on Monday and snag a new career-high ranking. Chin up.
Well… $h!+#keepingtheroutine #icebath #recovery #comingforyoumiami ? pic.twitter.com/Oz4RfO2prz
— Nicole Gibbs (@Gibbsyyyy) March 15, 2016
– Judy Murray steps down: The news broke this week that Judy Murray will step down as captain of Great Britain’s Fed Cup team after five years.
It won't be the same without you gorgeous @judmoo ?@FedCup pic.twitter.com/pGxT3vArQ6
— Heather Watson (@HeatherWatson92) March 15, 2016
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.
Magdalena Rybarikova takes on Roberta Vinci in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open.
SAN ANTONIO, TX, USA – Daria Gavrilova snatched victory from the jaws of defeat against Maria Sakkari on Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals of the San Antonio Open.
After a rocky start to the tournament, top seed Gavrilova continued to live dangerously, coming within two points of defeat against Sakkari before eventually prevailing, 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-3.
This January, Sakkari qualified for and then reached the second round of the Australian Open, where she lost in three sets to current World No.6 Carla Suárez Navarro.
Against Gavrilova, she once again proved herself capable of competing with the WTA’s very best. However, the Greek was unable to capitalize on her opportunities – she twice came within a game of victory and held a 5-3 lead in the second set tie-break – as Gavrilova finished strongly to dash hopes of a maiden Top 50 win.
“I think the match was pretty even and in the beginning I was just missing a few more balls than her and even sometimes I was a bit too passive,” Gavrilova said. “But I was just trying really hard and wanted to prove to myself that I could come back and win that match.
“I was fighting very hard. She’s playing well and probably having the best year of her life so I knew it was going to be pretty tough and I’m happy with the result.”
Up next for Gavrilova is Alison Riske after she overcame an erratic start to knock out No.7 seed Kirsten Flipkens, 7-5, 6-1.
“I got off to a bit of a rough start and I felt like I was spraying balls kind of everywhere,” Riske said. “So I knew when I could settle down a bit and start putting balls in the court, whether that be in the first or second [set], I felt like things could turn around to my advantage. I was very happy with the way I fought and obviously how it turned out!”
In the bottom half of the draw there were wins for Samantha Crawford, Donna Vekic and Misaki Doi.
Crawford followed up her first-round upset of No.2 seed Irina-Camelia Begu with an equally impressive 6-1, 6-3 victory over Carina Witthoeft. No.6 seed Doi was pushed rather harder, edging past Han Xinyun, 7-6(5), 7-6(4), while Vekic defeated Kiki Bertens, 7-6(3), 6-3.
An interview with Simona Halep after her win in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open.