Tennis News

LONDON, England – On Thursday morning The All England Club announced the seeds for the most historic tournament on the tennis calendar, Wimbledon. Here is the full list:

Updated 6/23/16 to reflect the withdrawal of No.6 seed Victoria Azarenka (knee injury):

(1) Serena Williams (USA #1)
(2) Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP #2)
(3) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL #3)
(4) Angelique Kerber (GER #4)
(5) Simona Halep (ROU #5)
(6) Roberta Vinci (ITA #7) 
(7) Belinda Bencic (SUI #8)
(8) Venus Williams (USA #9) 
(9) Madison Keys (USA #10)
(10) Petra Kvitova (CZE #11) 
(11) Timea Bacsinszky (SUI #12)
(12) Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP #13)
(13) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS #14)
(14) Samantha Stosur (AUS #16)
(15) Karolina Pliskova (CZE #17)
(16) Johanna Konta (GBR #18) 

(17) Elina Svitolina (UKR #19)
(18) Sloane Stephens (USA #20)
(19) Dominika Cibulkova (SVK #21)
(20) Sara Errani (ITA #22)
(21)Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS #23)
(22) Jelena Jankovic (SRB #24)
(23) Ana Ivanovic (SRB #25)
(24) Barbora Strycova (CZE #26)
(25) Irina-Camelia Begu (ROU #27)
(26) Kiki Bertens (NED #28)
(27) CoCo Vandeweghe (USA #29)
(28) Lucie Safarova (CZE #30)
(29) Daria Kasatkina (RUS #31)
(30) Caroline Garcia (FRA #32)
(31) Kristina Mladenovic (FRA #33)
(32) Andrea Petkovic (GER #34)

There are some dangerous floaters among those to have missed the cut, including Caroline Wozniacki and former finalists Sabine Lisicki and Eugenie Bouchard.

Qualifying at Roehampton’s Bank of England Club finishes later this week, with main draw action starting on Monday June 27.

EASTBOURNE, Great Britain – Monica Puig continued her stellar grass court season with a thrilling victory over former No.1 Caroline Wozniacki, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, to reach the quarterfinals of the Aegon International.

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The Puerto Rican star is in the midst of a career-best season, matching her best French Open result by reaching the third round and making her first-ever grass court semifinal at the Aegon Open in Nottingham.

“I have had up-and-down results with grass courts in the past,” Puig said in her post-match press conference. “You know, I had fourth round at Wimbledon, and early exits in all the tournaments. So it’s a surface where you have to really work at it in the first week and a half, you know.

“I tried to use Nottingham as a good preparation for Wimbledon and getting used to the body on how I’m supposed to get really low and just feel everything out.”

Wozniacki, by contrast, is attempting to kickstart her season after an ankle injury forced her to sit out the entirety of hte clay court season. With a solid win over No.7 Samantha Stosur in the second round, the Dane looked on course to build even more momentum ahead of the Wimbledon Championships, surviving a titanic sixth game and eventually running away with the first set in 50 minutes.

“She’s a great player and she makes you work for every single point, so it was really up to me to stay very focused in my game plan and what I wanted to accomplish out there in the court.”

One break separated the two in the second set, with Puig converting and racing out to a 2-0 lead in the decider after leveling the match at one set apiece.

“I think Monica played really well today,” Wozniacki said after the match. “I just have to take that and then just bring it with me to next week.

“There are a couple of things you can always improve on, but generally I’m feeling good, I’m feeling confident. And again, I’m not seeded so hopefully I can get a nice draw for myself.

“I feel like the draws haven’t been with me the last year, so I’m like hopefully eventually it’s going to turn, right? I’m hoping it’s going to start at Wimbledon.”

Wozniacki had one last surge in the final set, winning three games on the bounce, but Puig proved too strong in the end, serving out the win in two hours and 15 minutes.

“I was aggressive there at the end,” Puig noted. “You know, it’s never easy also to close out a match when you’re serving, especially when it’s 5-4. You know, anything can happen, and then all of a sudden you’re 5-5, fighting to get your lead back.

“I stayed with my game plan the whole way and the way that I was just extremely positive throughout the match.”

Up next for Puig is another youngster in Kristina Mladenovic, who edged past Anna-Lena Friedsam, 6-4, 7-6(4).

And the fun continues!!!! ?☺️ (Photo credit: @JJlovesTennis ) pic.twitter.com/IoULNdK4RF

— Monica Puig (@MonicaAce93) June 22, 2016

EASTBOURNE, England – Top seed Agnieszka Radwanska booked her place in the quarterfinals of the Aegon International Eastbourne after swatting aside Eugenie Bouchard on Wednesday.

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In an impressive display, Radwanska broke five times to complete a 6-3, 6-3 victory in little over an hour. Next up will be the familiar face of Dominika Cibulkova, whom she has already met twice this season. Cibulkova overcame a slow start to see off Kateryna Bondarenko, 7-6(3), 6-3.

Radwanska is appearing at Devonshire Park for the 10th straight year, and against Bouchard she looked at home from first point until last. It did not take her long to hit the front, taking advantage of a couple of loose strokes from the Canadian to break in the third game.

This cushion proved more than enough to hand her the opening set, then tightening her grip on proceedings by jumping out to a 3-1 lead in the second. Bouchard continued to battle away, but even when drawing level at 3-3 never looked likely to solve Radwanska’s riddle.

Radwanska reestablished her advantage with another moment of brilliance, this time in the form of a shoveled forehand lob, closing out the match moments later with a swinging serve down the T.

The numbers were just as pleasing on the eye as the shotmaking, Radwanska offsetting her 16 winners with only nine unforced errors. “I think it was a really great match from the beginning to the end. I was playing such good tennis the whole match and I’m very happy with my game and hoping I can play better and better,” Radwanska told Annabel Croft after the match.

“I was serving much better today. And I think the key to today’s match was the serve at the end which helped me close out the match in two sets.”

Going by recent evidence, the Pole will do well to win her next match inside the distance. Radwanska and Cibulkova met twice this spring, the spoils shared from high-quality encounters in Indian Wells and Madrid.

“We’ve played so many great matches. Playing against her is never easy – she’s a great fighter from the baseline,” Radwanska added. “I think now the tournament reaches another level, so every match is going to be difficult.”

EASTBOURNE, England – No.11 seed Johanna Konta is back into the quarterfinals at the Aegon International Eastbourne after coming back from a set down to oust two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova.

Watch live action from Eastbourne this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

Konta, an Eastbourne resident, has enjoyed vocal support from the home crowd at the event that last year saw her reach her career-first Premier-level quarterfinal. But the levelheaded Brit, as always, keeps even the support at arms’ length.

“Quite honestly, it makes a difference in the sense that it’s nice to be at home,” she said ahead of the match. “But in terms of how I mentally prepare or how much I let in, it does not make a difference.I really do try to keep myself in my own head space.”

The Brit has faced off against the No.5 seed Kvitova once before, when Kvitova halted Konta’s big breakthrough at last year’s US Open in the round of 16. Konta learned her lessons and, despite facing the Czech on her best surface, was able to put her nerves aside and defeat her, 5-7, 6-4, 6-0.

“She plays incredibly well on the grass,” Konta acknowledged. “She’s a two-time Wimbledon champion, so I think her results speak for themselves.

“I just need to stay in points when I need to but also look to take my opportunities whenever they arise.”

That’s easier said than done against the two-time Grand Slam champion – something that Konta discovered early on in the first set when she saw her 5-2 lead erased by Kvitova. Konta was serving for the set – she even held a set point – when Kvitova broke serve and rattled off the next four games to turn the match around on the Brit.

“I told myself to just really keep going,” Konta said. “Really keep in mind the things that I did well and take as much from that as I can. I just tried to have a very short memory and keep moving forward, keep moving on.”

Konta switched up her strategy against Kvitova in the second and third sets, becoming more aggressive on the return to neutralize Kvitova’s powerful serve and keep her back on her heels. She won over 70% of the points behind her first serve in the last two sets, whereas Kvitova struggled to put pressure on Konta, and couldn’t bring up a break point in the final sets.

Konta grabbed a decisive break in the fifth game of the second set, then dealt Kvitova a surprising bagel set to close out the match after two hours and fourteen minutes.

“I’m not sure there are words that are big enough to describe that win!” Konta grinned after the match.

“It’s definitely one of my biggest wins, even though I don’t think she’s in the Top 10 this week. She has been a Top 10 player or Top 5 player for years and years and years now.

“She really is a champion, and so I am very happy with the level I was able to produce, you know, even if it didn’t go my way and just kept plugging away throughout that whole match.”

Konta will face the winner of the round of 16 match between Andrea Petkovic and Ekaterina Makarova which has been postponed for tomorrow due to rain.

“I'm not sure there are words big enough to describe it!”

-@JoKonta91 reaction after defeating Kvitova https://t.co/T20is8UVla

— WTA (@WTA) June 22, 2016

World No.2 Garbiñe Muguruza lifted her first major title just two weeks ago at Roland Garros and the 22-year-old Spaniard is set to return to Wimbledon where she finished as runner-up last year. But just how far can she go? The question was put to Chris Evert during an ESPN conference call with reporters on Tuesday.

“I mean, who is going to be next, the next No.1 player, after Serena is gone? You’ve got to put your money on Muguruza because first of all, you have to have power in today’s game.”

While Muguruza became the third consecutive first-time Grand Slam winner, it’s the Spaniard’s power, Evert contends, that separates her from the field of rising WTA stars.

“When I look at the next three, I look at Radwanska, Kerber and Halep. I don’t think either of those three are going to end up No.1 in the world. They don’t have that sort of overwhelming power. Muguruza does have it, very much like Serena, following in her footsteps.

“Muguruza, she still has to mature a little bit. She’s still young. She still has to probably get a little more consistent with her results in the smaller tournaments. But when I look at winning Grand Slams, you’d have to say Muguruza, you’d have to look at Madison Keys, Victoria Azarenka, and Petra Kvitova – the power players more now more so than the consistent counter-punchers.”

While the expectations remain lofty for Muguruza, Evert also tempered expectations, citing the difficulties of making the immediate adjustment from clay to grass. There’s a reason why only seven players have won the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year. Muguruza played one grass court tournament before Wimbledon, losing in the opening round to former Wimbledon semifinalist Kirsten Flipkens at the Mallorca Open.

“She’s come a long way,” Evert said. “I think she’s going to have a tough Wimbledon. It’s very hard to carry that momentum. Very few people have won the French and Wimbledon back-to-back, especially at that young of an age.

“That will be a real curiosity for me if she can carry that momentum and confidence and do well, think about last year reaching the finals, or is she going to have a hard time resetting, especially in dealing with people’s expectations.”