Stuttgart: Muguruza Interview
An interview with Garbiñe Muguruza after her win in the second round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
An interview with Garbiñe Muguruza after her win in the second round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
STUTTGART, Germany – Petra Kvitova snatched victory from the jaws of defeat against Monica Niculescu on Thursday to secure a quarterfinal spot at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
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In the opening round, Kvitova barely broke a sweat, defeating the outgunned Louise Chirico in under an hour. However, against Niculescu she faced a very different test, and for the best part of two sets it was one she was failing.
After seeing a commanding second set lead disappear, Kvitova was forced to fend off three set points at 6-5, saving the first with the help of a net cord, before producing a couple of delightful touches to escape the immediate danger.
She rode this momentum through the subsequent tie-break, leaving Niculescu to rue her missed opportunities. This frustration boiled over in the decider, Kvitova easing into a 3-1 lead as she cantered down the home straight.
Kvitova’s reward is a meeting with No.3 seed Garbiñe Muguruza on Friday. Also advancing to the last eight was Carla Suarez Navarro, who impressed during a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Anna-Lena Friedsam.
An interview with Roberta Vinci after her win in the first round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
STUTTGART, Germany – 2015 US Open finalist Roberta Vinci served out a tense first round encounter with former Top 10 player Ekaterina Makarova on Wednesday, dispatching the Russian, 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-4.
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Vinci and Makarova had played five times before, with the latter winning their most recent encounter at last year’s Australian Open, but it was Vinci who took the early initiative following three straight service breaks to start the match, racing out to a 5-2 lead in the first set tie-break and converting her first set point shortly thereafter.
“It was a tough match; Makarova is a great player, a difficult player with the left hand,” Vinci said after the match.
The second set featured six service breaks as Makarova recovered from losing serve to start to take a 5-3 lead in the hopes of leveling the match, ultimately breaking the No.6 seed to even out the contest.
“The court is fast, and I was a set and 3-1 with a lot of chances to go 4-2, but I lost the second set. The beginning of the third, I stayed focused, didn’t think about the second set, played aggressively because the court is fast, and it’s not easy to defend.”
Undaunted, Vinci promptly took an early lead in the decider and never looked back, clinching the win on her ifrst match point. In all, the match was quite high-quality affair, with each woman hitting over 40 winners and just around 30 unforced errors; the Italian veteran provided the cleaner hitting of the two with 44 winners to 31 unforced while Makarova struck 40 winners and 33 errors of her own.
Vinci also struck six aces to her unseeded opponent, who couldn’t find any aces in her arsenal on Wednesday, striking three double faults instead.
Cheeky cross-court backhand winner from @Roberta_Vinci! #PTGP https://t.co/93BoP5nmUg
— WTA (@WTA) April 20, 2016
“I’m happy because I played two bad matches in Fed Cup, so now here it’s nice to come and win this match.”
Vinci next plays 2011 champion Julia Goerges; the ASB Classic finalist outfoxed Alizé Cornet, 6-4, 6-0, to reach the second round in one hour and 16 minutes.
Karolina Pliskova won a more topsy-turvy firts round on Court 1; playing last year’s French Open finalist Lucie Safarovs, Pliskova edged past her countrywoman, 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-5, in well over two and a half hours.
The big-serving Czech dynamo snuck off with an opening set of 12 straight service holds, and held off a late surge from Safarova, who won her first set of 2016 and recovered from a 5-3 deficit in the final set.
In the last match of the day session, Andrea Petkovic outsteadied Kristina Mladenovic to win a fourth straight encounter agains the French youngster, 6-2, 6-4. Completing the round of 16 line-up, Petkovic will next take on top seed Agnieszka Radwanska.
First set ? @JuliaGoerges
Wins the opening set vs Cornet 6-4! #PTGP https://t.co/9HvNtA26Hi
— WTA (@WTA) April 20, 2016
It took her about three tries, but Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova successfully completed the WTA Frame Challenge. How well did she do? That’s a different story…
STUTTGART, Germany – Defending Stuttgart champion Angelique Kerber survived an inspired start from qualifier Annika Beck in her opening match at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix to make her way into the quarterfinals in a 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 comeback.
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The pair of Germans previously met at this year’s Australian Open, when Kerber beat Beck in straightforward fashion: 6-4, 6-0 in the fourth round on her way to the title. But the two go back even further as members of the German Fed Cup team.
“It is always difficult to play against a German, of course, and especially in my first match here,” Kerber said of the matchup.
This time, the defending Stuttgart champion faced a gutsier performance from the young German, who was into the second round here for the first time.
The qualifier came out swinging in the opening set, playing aggressively and keeping Kerber on her toes by doggedly running down every shot. She dictated play with her serve, too, winning 82% of points from her first serve against Kerber’s 61%. Kerber found herself in danger, dropping the first set after 46 minutes.
Upset Alert@BeckAnnika grabs the opening set vs Kerber 6-4! #PTGP https://t.co/VrWEaFoYrk
— WTA (@WTA) April 20, 2016
Dropping the first set only served to galvanize the defending champion, who raised her level and aggression in the next set.
“I tried to dictate the game more. I tried simply to seize the opportunity and go, which is not so easy,” Kerber said. “It’s always easier to say rather than to do because Annika gets the ball back so often and makes few mistakes. But I tried to just stay in the match and play point by point at the end.”
After trading breaks of serve, Kerber shook off a break point in order to notch the only hold of the second set. That lead would prove to be key, and Kerber came roaring back to level the score. It was one-way traffic from there, Kerber finding her range and hitting 46 winners to 31 unforced errors to Beck’s 26 and 18.
“The faith is definitely always there, whether I win or lose the first set,” Kerber said. “I know that I am fighting to the end and I know what to do in the important moments.
“I have in recent weeks and months proved myself and thus I have the confidence to really take the initiative. I think, at the moment, that’s my strength, to know what I can trust myself.”
Check out the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix Opening Ceremony and highlights from the Player’s Party here on wtatennis.com.
Irina Falconi did not know what to expect when she arrived in Bogota, Colombia for the Claro Open. Ranked No.92, the former Georgia Tech standout had lost seven of her last eight matches and she was about to play in tricky conditions on her least favorite surface, clay.
Then after advancing to the semifinals without dropping a set, the Ecuadorian-born American woke up on Saturday to the news that a 7.8 magnitude earthquake had torn through Portoviejo, Ecuador, the very city in which she was born. Somehow she was able to focus on the tournament and beat two clay-court stalwarts in Lara Arruabarrena and Sílvia Soler Espinosa to win her first 1st career title and boosted her ranking back up to No.67.
After the match, Falconi dedicated the win to the victims and survivors in Ecuador, but she’s vowed to do more.
WTA Insider spoke to Falconi on Monday. No surprise here: It’s been a difficult few days for the Falconi family.
Insider: How surprised are you that your first WTA title was on clay?
Falconi: Yeah, I’m pretty surprised. It’s funny because when people ask me what my favorite surface is I always say grass, and then hard court. To be the first American to win this tournament is pretty exciting.
I knew that coming in I had points to defend, which is a weekly struggle. I knew it was going to be tough with the altitude. There were going to be some challenges going there. It was more emotional. I wouldn’t say it was surprising because I know I put in the work to succeed on the court. But I would say it was just emotional.
Insider: At what point during the week did you think “Hey, I’m playing well. I could win this?”
Falconi: I think I thought that maybe at the first Championship Point. I knew that Lara Arruabarrena in the semis was going to be tough. I know Catalina Pella was going to be tough in the quarterfinals. She had just beaten the defending champion. I knew she was playing well. Then Sherazad Reix was going to be tough. She gets a lot of balls back and she can be tough being a lefty. And in the first round, as a 15 year-old you can come out and just swing away. My whole mentality the entire week was every single point. Be present at every single point. That really helped me.
I still couldn’t believe it after I won. It took three match points. There are still moments when I’ll be – like today I was walking through the airport, and I’m like ‘Oh wow, that’s really cool that happened.’
Insider: How different are the conditions in Bogota? You have the altitude but it’s also clay. It must be a very unique court.
Falconi: After 11 days being on it I can probably play on it now (laughs). I hit a drop shot the first day that ended up being a lob. That gives you an idea of what we’re dealing with. A kick serve can go over your head. You try and lob someone and it could end up in the stands. But both players have to deal with it.
Insider: I’m always curious about how players put together their schedules. Why did you choose to play Bogota?
Falconi: I won two matches there last year. I lost to Elina Svitolina in a really tough match. I knew I could play on the surface and in the conditions.
Honestly, I had a pretty crappy couple of weeks before that. I think I maybe won just one match in five weeks. So I thought, ‘Ok, let’s try and get some matches and get some momentum going.’
Insider: Tennis players lose pretty much every week. How do you stay positive when you’re stuck in a rut and your form isn’t delivering the results you’re after?
Falconi: At the end of the day you’re a week away. You’re a week away from getting your mojo back, cracking the Top 100, getting into a main draw at a Slam. You’re one good week away from hitting your career high. My coach and I always say, you need five good weeks out of the whole year to be Top 100. Five good weeks. Then you have a few ok weeks, and then you have 10 bad weeks, and you can be Top 100 in the world.
Above all you have to have that mentality that it does take a few matches until you can find your rhythm. You never know what could happen. If you would have told me a few weeks ago that this would happen, that I would win this, I would have been like “Right, sure, have you seen my record this year?”
Insider: Are you the type of person who finds it easy to stay positive? Or do you skew negative?
Falconi: It can get extremely tough if you allow it to. If you ask anyone I try to stay super positive. I’ve dealt with friends, players, co-workers I guess who are in the same boat as me, they’re toxic sometimes because they’re so negative.
It’s just a matter of instilling in your own mindset and other people’s mindset that I understand what you’re going through but you have to see it in a positive. Obviously it’s hard to stay positive after losing four first rounds in a row. But at the end of the day if you just continue chipping away and you know what you’re doing is good, it all pays off in the end.
Insider: You were born in Portoviejo, Ecuador, which was one of the most heavily affected cities in the earthquake. You still have a lot of family there. I believe after the match that your father was actually in Ecuador when the earthquake hit on Saturday?
Falconi: He actually happened to leave just the day before it happened. A good chunk of my family is still there. A lot has been affected by everything but thankfully there have been no casualties. The house I was born in that I happened to see for the first time last year, is gone. It’s been really bittersweet because at the end of the day, ‘Oh yay you won a tournament,’ but people are dying.
It’s really tough because people are asking me what message I have for the people there and…what can I possibly say to them? Obviously I’m sending so many prayers and my team and I are looking to see how we can donate and help the victims and families over there. At the end of the day all you can do is continue praying and hope everyone is ok.
I understand there are a lot of people who have lost loved ones. It’s been really tough, to be honest. I spoke with a few family members and they can’t stop crying. How am I going to be gloating [about a title] around that?
I won a title but believe it or not I’ve been really low key about it. One of my friends Shelby Rogers asked me how things are going over there. It puts everything in perspective. Oh you won a WTA tournament. Then you talk to someone and they just lost their home where they’ve grown up all their life. It’s just been bittersweet to say the least. There’s been a lot of angst and, to be honest, there’s no right way how to act.
Insider: How did you find out about the earthquake and how hard was it to focus on tennis?
Falconi: I got the news the morning of the semifinal match on Saturday. We have a Whatsapp group with over 100 family members and we started getting a bunch of messages and I didn’t know what to think at first. I was trying to focus on the match. But my mom couldn’t get a hold of my dad. It was really scary. There’s no wi-fi, there’s no light, there’s no water. And it just happened to be my birthplace, my hometown, where I grew up for three years, that was the most affected.
Insider: You said you’re working through some ideas on how to help the victims and survivors in Ecuador. Do you have a sense of what you want to do yet?
Falconi: I’m still working through it with my family and my team. I’d just ask people to keep tabs on me and I’ll announce what I plan to do donation-wise and how people can help.
Follow Irina on Twitter @IrinaFalconi.
Editor’s Note: Falconi has created a donation page to raise money for the Ecuador Earthquake relief effort, and shared the following details on her Twitter account:
Hey guys, as you know I’m raising money to be donated for Ecuador Earthquake relief…
— Irina Falconi (@IrinaFalconi) April 20, 2016
The goal is $5,000 but I'm willing to match the total donation number, up to $5,000!…
— Irina Falconi (@IrinaFalconi) April 20, 2016
Also, the highest single donation will receive the shoes and racquet that I used to win the WTA title in Bogota…
— Irina Falconi (@IrinaFalconi) April 20, 2016
THIS IS THE LINK TO DONATE MONEY FOR ECUADOR EARTHQUAKE RELIEF! https://t.co/aiDFjjOoVP
Please share and know that every bit helps <3— Irina Falconi (@IrinaFalconi) April 20, 2016
– All photos courtesy of Claro Open Colsanitas
Highlights from the first round action at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
ISTANBUL, Turkey – The last first round match of the day ended in an upset as Andreea Mitu sent the No.2 seed Yanina Wickmayer crashing out of the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup, 7-5, 6-4.
Watch live action from Stuttgart & Istanbul this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!
Ranked No.113, Mitu doesn’t often play on the center court, but at the Garanti Koza Arena she didn’t allow the setting to intimidate her.
“It was strange for me to play on such a big court,” the Romanian said. “I am not that used to it so it feels different, but I am confident on clay.”
Mitu and Wickmayer stayed locked into a tense first set despite the No.2 seed bringing up two break points early on. It was Mitu that drew first blood at 6-5 to Wickmayer’s mounting frustration. The Romanian was about to serve for the set when the match was temporarily suspended while the roof closed due to rain. The delay did nothing to improve Wickmayer’s mood, and Mitu quickly took the first set.
Despite finding her composure to start off the second set, Wickmayer was broken twice in the third game and soon found herself facing match points with Mitu serving up 5-3. The Belgian was able to fight them off and stay alive in the match, but the Romanian took the match at her second opportunity to move into the second round.
“It was a good match, even though I never played her before and I struggled at the beginning,” Mitu said after the victory. “My forehand was not working that well, I made a lot of unforced errors so I need to improve that for my next match.”
Mitu moves on to play a familiar opponent: Swiss player Stefanie Voegele, who advanced 6-2, 7-5 over Turkish wildcard Ipek Soylu.
“I know Stefanie pretty well, we practiced together the other day,” Mitu said. “I expect I tough one!”
No.4 seed Kirsten Flipkens overcame a spirited start from Donna Vekic, fighting through exhaustion to make her way into the second round, 7-6(5), 6-4.
“It was a tough one,” Flipkens said afterward. “After Fed Cup it´s very hard because it takes a lot of energy playing for the team. Even though it´s Wednesday I am still pretty tired but I am very happy that I pulled it off.”
Flipkens goes on to play Kateryna Kozlova in the next round. The Ukrainian advanced past Alexandra Dulgheru in a tight three sets, emerging victorious 6-7(6), 7-6(3), 6-1.
Also into the second round are Greek qualifier Maria Sakkari, who backed up her upset of top seed Anna-Karolina Schmiedlova with a win over Hsieh Su-Wei 6-3, 6-4, and No.5 seed Danka Kovinic.
