Tennis News

Carla Suárez Navarro played some of the best tennis of her career at the Qatar Total Open to win her second career title and find herself one spot away from her season goal of reaching the Top 5.

The Spanish veteran dropped two games in the semifinals against reigning WTA Finals champion Agnieszka Radwanska, and recovered from a set down to dispatch 18-year-old Jelena Ostapenko, 1-6, 6-4, 6-4.

“I think in the final set I played really aggressive,” she told WTA Insider in the latest Champion’s Corner. “With my backhand I played more aggressive than with my forehand. I felt more confident today at the end of the match with my backhand. That helped me win the match.”

Suárez Navarro started the week ranked No.11,  but the title brought her ranking all the way up to a career-high of No.6.

“I feel really, really close. I know all the top players, I know if you want to be in the Top 5 you have to have good tournaments like this or like Melbourne to take points. Also, at the tournaments where there are all the top players, I know I’m close.

“But I know the year is very long. I want to take the experience of last year where I start really good but I lost confidence a little bit and I couldn’t end the year inside the Top 10. But I know the key and I know the things I have to do to be there. But I’m really excited about No.6 and I’m really close to No.5.”

 Starting the year well, Suárez Navarro reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open for the first time since 2009 when she upset then-World No.6 Venus Williams in the second round.

“I started really good in Melbourne. I had good matches there. I lost to Aga. I want to take the experience of last year to play better in the Grand Slams. The Grand Slams are really important tournaments and when you are in the Top 20, you want to win good tournaments, big tournaments. You have to be there.

“I think the key is working and practicing really hard.”

With plenty of hard work and momentum from the Middle East Swing, Suárez Navarro appears poised for a breakout spring as February’s WTA Player Of The Month!

Final Results for February’s WTA Player Of The Month

1. Carla Suárez Navarro (44%)
2. Roberta Vinci (40%)
3. Sara Errani (16%)

2016 WTA Player of the Month Winners

January: Angelique Kerber

How it works:

Finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com 

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Elina Svitolina booked her place in the quarterfinals of the BMW Malaysian Open with a topsy-turvy win over qualifier Risa Ozaki on Thursday evening.

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After breezing through her opening match, Svitolina, the No.2 seed, seemed on course for another routine victory when she took a one-sided opening set.

However, in the end she was made to sweat – by both Ozaki and the Malaysian capital’s humidity – before running away with the match, 6-1, 3-6, 6-0.

Struggling with a preexisting back problem, Svitolina lost a series of tit for tat games to drop the second set to her unheralded opponent. A visit from the trainer helped alleviate her discomfort and refocus the mind as the Ukrainian nipped the potential upset in the bud.

“My back was a bit sore. I had an injury at the Australian Open so I need to take care of it and that’s why today I was worrying a bit about my back,” Svitolina said. “After the timeout I came out strong and was playing great and playing my game. So I’m really happy and it was good that I came back strong.

“I was a little bit injured, a little bit off my game. But she started playing well and that’s why I was a little bit struggling. All the games were advantage, deuce, advantage, deuce, so it was just a few points the difference. But this happens sometimes so I was just trying to be focused – and of course the conditions were not easy, too.”

Also advancing in Svitolina’s half of the draw was qualifier Zhu Lin, a 7-5, 6-2 winner over Zarina Diyas.

In the top half, there was success for a couple more unseeded players, Naomi Broady and Cagla Buyukakcay. Broady beat Yang Zhaoxuan, 6-4, 6-3, while Buyakakcay defeated top seed Roberta Vinci’s conqueror, Chang Kai-Chen, 7-5, 6-3.

INDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA, USA – Former World No.1 Maria Sharapova announced that she would be unable to participate in the upcoming BNP Paribas Open due to an ongoing left forearm injury that saw her miss the Middle East Swing.

“I am extremely disappointed that I am unable to compete in this year’s BNP Paribas Open,” she said. “I have been focused on healing my left forearm injury and tried to get my body to be 100% ready to play this event, as it is one of my favorites on the WTA and so close to my home in LA. I know the tournament will be a great success this year and I will be anxious to return next year and hopefully many years after.”

A two-time winner in Indian Wells (2006, 2013), Sharapova pulled out of the Brisbane International to start the season due to pain in her left forearm, and though she reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, the Russian has not played a match since.

With her withdrawal, Mariana Duque-Mariño moves into the main draw.

Due to a forearm injury, @MariaSharapova is out of #BNPPO16. “I'm extremely disappointed.” https://t.co/Cdfw4Uuv9g pic.twitter.com/vOPkCpf1du

— BNP Paribas Open (@BNPPARIBASOPEN) March 3, 2016

MONTERREY, Mexico – No.2 seed Caroline Wozniacki dodged a stern second-round challenge from Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, advancing to the quarterfinals of the Abierto Monterrey Afirme 6-4, 6-4.

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“It was very tough,” Wozniacki said after the match. “[Lucic-Baroni] plays really strong and really hard from the baseline and I didn’t have much time to get ready for my shots. So yeah, I’m very happy to be through.”

Wozniacki found herself in trouble early on – she quickly found herself down 4-2 in the first set, overpowered by Lucic-Baroni’s heavy groundstrokes and returns. After a word with her coach, Wozniacki came back with more aggression, winning the next four games to take back the set 6-4.

The pair contested a tight second set, holding serves and trading breaks at 3-3, staying level until Wozniacki sealed the match with a final break to Lucic-Baroni’s serve as the Croatian sent a forehand wide.

“I think I just kept my head cool and just got that extra ball back, try to get a little extra pop in my shots when she was attacking me,” Wozniacki said of her first-set comeback. “I got a lot of returns back and I kept the ball deep.”

Wozniacki is set to face Britain’s Heather Watson in the Monterrey quarterfinals.

Earlier in the evening, No.1 seed Sara Errani was no match for the inspired performance of 20-year-old Anett Kontaveit, who sent her packing 6-1, 6-3.

Kontaveit’s first-round win over Cibulkova – a former Australian Open finalist – fired a warning shot to her Monterrey rivals, and although Errani had never played against her she knew to expect a challenge.

“No, I have seen her on television in a couple of games but I don’t know her,” Errani said ahead of their match. “I have seen her play very well, hit the ball very hard, but let’s see.”

Errani was confounded by Kontaveit’s short-angled forehands and pace, and once the Estonian found her footing in the match there was no looking back. After Errani’s service hold in the first game of the set, Kontaveit won the next six to win the first set 6-1 in barely 22 minutes. Errani’s troubles continued in the second set; though Errani broke Kontaveit’s serve twice, the 20-year-old kept the pressure on and kept the points short, marching to a 6-1, 6-3 victory.

MONTERREY, México – Monterrey is a long way – culturally, geographically and meteorologically – from Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova’s hometown of Samara.

However, the city will always be a home away from home for Pavlyuchenkova. In 2010, Monterrey’s Sierra Madre Tennis Club was the site for a teenage Pavlyuchenkova’s maiden WTA title and the subsequent years have brought two further titles and countless more memories.

Unfortunately for the Russian, this year’s visit to the Abierto Monterrey Afirme ended in disappointment – a first-round loss to Pauline Parmentier dashing hopes of a fourth trophy and first at the tournament’s new home, Club Sonoma.

During her stay, the 24-year-old did have time to sit down and discuss her unlikely journey from bashing balls on the banks of the Volga to the top of the women’s game.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Eugenie Bouchard continued her recent resurgence with a dominant second-round win over Kurumi Nara at the BMW Malaysian Open on Wednesday.

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Following a difficult 2015, Bouchard has been quietly playing herself back into form with encouraging showings at Shenzhen, Hobart and Doha. Against Nara she impressed once again, breaking four times to wrap up a 6-1, 6-2 victory.

“No match is easy. I was focused on every single point and I just tried to stay aggressive and that worked well today,” Bouchard said.

Struggles on the court and injuries off it precipitated a slide down the rankings for Bouchard. However, with the help of new coach Thomas Hogstedt – whom she teamed up with last autumn – the Canadian is relishing the rebuilding process.

“I’m on the right path, but I’m not expecting it to come in one day,” she added. “I know it’s a long journey and I had a lot of time off because of injury. It’s going to take a least a few months to get back to where I was, but I’m just trying to stay positive and focused on one tournament at a time.

“This is an opportunity to get more matches and that’s what I need right now, so I’m happy I got two here already and I’m looking forward to a couple more, hopefully.”

Rather than instigate a complete overhaul, Hogstedt, whose previous charges include Maria Sharapova, Li Na and Tommy Haas, is tinkering with his new pupil’s game.

“He thinks highly of my game and he really believes in my style of play. We’ve been working a lot on trying to stay low during the point, the footwork a little bit – I play my best when I’m in position for each ball. Some basic things like that, but it’s important to make sure everything’s as good as it can be – if you can improve something 1% it’s important because against the top players it makes a difference.”

There were contrasting fortunes for the other two seeds hoping to join Bouchard in the quarterfinals. No.3 seed Sabine Lisicki overcame a slow start to defeat Barbora Krejcikova, 7-5, 6-3, while former champion and No.7 seed Hsieh Su-Wei went down to Kristina Kucova, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. 

After two months of unexpected results, what does it all mean as the tour prepares for the grueling high-stakes tournaments in tennis’ version of March Madness at the BNP Paribas Open and Miami Open?

On this episode, WTA Insider Senior Writer Courtney Nguyen and Web Editor David Kane reconvene to discuss the action at the Qatar Total Open in Doha, where Carla Suárez Navarro emerged from the beaten and battered draw to win the biggest title of her career. They also talk about the impressive week from 18-year-old Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, who tore through the Doha draw to make her second WTA final, and have mixed emotions surrounding Agnieszka Radwanska, Garbiñe Muguruza and Andrea Petkovic’s recent results.

Courtney and David also discuss the action at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco, where Sloane Stephens and Dominika Cibulkova played one of the best matches of the year in the final, which saw Sloane edge it out to become the first woman to two titles this year.

Kane on Suárez Navarro: “It’s very impressive but I still think there are a lot of questions about what this means for Suarez Navarro in terms of where she goes from here. She ended up having the best week of the top-ranked players but still, when she is in really high pressure situations against the biggest names in tennis, how will she stand up? I think mentally we’ve seen her answer a lot of those questions so far this year alone. Setting goals to be in the Top 10? Check. Top 5? Really close. Of all the players to make New Year’s Resolutions, I think you want to model your New Year’s Resolution game after Suárez Navarro. She’s one of the few big names getting things done in 2016.”

Nguyen on Radwanska: “I’m curious to see what she does in Indian Wells and Miami. Was this just a bad day at the office, a tough turnaround of 24-hours to play that match, or is it more of a sign? Obviously she’s great on hardcourts and is a former champion in Miami. If she can rebound there, then she’s all right. She’s still one of the best players at the start of the season. So maybe it was just a bad day. We’ll see.”

Nguyen on ‘Winning Ugly’: “On some level you wonder if this is a generational thing. If you are younger and you’ve grown up in this era of parity, in this era of everyone’s on upset alert at all times, everyone can pull up an upset at all times, and you’re just used to it, maybe you don’t panic as much because it’s the new normal. It is just what you are to expect in a tennis match.”

Kane on Stephens: “This is the best I’ve seen Sloane Stephens play a match from start to finish. For all the hype and all the prognosticating about the future and the potential of Sloane Stephens we really saw everything from her in this final. We saw the power, we saw the athleticism, most impressively we saw the defense, and more impressively, we saw she did not get down on herself.”