Hingis & Mirza March Into Final
Fifty-four minutes was all it took for Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza to brush aside Julia Goerges and Karolina Pliskova and take their place in the Australian Open final.
Fifty-four minutes was all it took for Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza to brush aside Julia Goerges and Karolina Pliskova and take their place in the Australian Open final.
Serena Williams will look to maintain her perfect record in Australian Open semifinals, while Angelique Kerber will bid for a long awaited trip to her first major final on Thursday in Melbourne. It’s semifinal day Down Under, and here’s a preview of what’s on tap.
Thursday, Day 11
Semifinals
[1] Serena Williams (USA #1) vs. [4] Agnieszka Radwanska (POL # 4)
Head-to-head: Williams leads, 8-0
Key Stat: Radwanska comes into the semifinals riding a 13-match winning streak.
Agnieszka Radwanska enters Thursday’s semifinal with world No.1 Serena Williams as the WTA’s hottest player. She’s won 13 straight matches dating back to her title run at the WTA Finals last year, and the 26-year-old Pole is the only semifinalist to have already claimed a title this season. Even six-time Australian Open champion Serena Williams has been impressed by Radwanska’s form. “She’s been playing really well towards the end of the year, and already this year she’s been very consistent,” Williams said after reaching the semifinals with a straight-sets victory over Maria Sharapova on Tuesday. “She presents a completely different game, an extremely exciting game. So I think it will be a long match and it will be a good match to see where I am.”
Radwanska may be in scorching form, but nobody in Australian Open history has achieved more success than Williams from the semifinals on. The 21-time major champion has won the title all six times she’s reached the semifinals in Melbourne, and her overall career record in Grand Slam semifinals is an otherworldly 25-4. So what can Radwanska do to give herself a chance to create a stirring upset against arguably the greatest big match player of all time? It’s a question that many elite talents have pondered and failed to adequately answer. The matchup certainly favors Williams, who will look to take advantage of a huge power advantage by attacking the vulnerable second serve of Radwanska. The Pole will have to make first serves, and use her cleverness and variation to keep Williams from getting her rhythm. Any way you slice it it’s a tough ask for Radwanska, but her current form and the fact that she’s faced Williams in big matches before should help her in the tougher moments.
Pick: Williams in two
[7] Angelique Kerber (GER #6) vs. Johanna Konta (GBR #47)
Head-to-head: First meeting
Key Stat: Konta is Great Britain’s first Grand Slam semifinalist since 1983.
Great Britain’s Johanna Konta is celebrating her first appearance in the main draw of the Australian Open in style—with a trip to the semifinals. After taking down China’s Zhang Shuai in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, the Eastbourne resident has now won eight of her last nine Grand Slam matches. That in itself is impressive but when one takes into account the fact that Konta owned a career record of 1-7 in Grand Slam play before the streak started, it becomes evident just how vastly improved Konta has become in such a short time. A poised and cerebral player with weapons on both wings, Konta has risen 100 spots in the rankings since this time last year, thanks to an improved forehand and a newfound faith in her ability to tough out tight matches.
The opposite is true of Konta’s semifinal opponent, Germany’s Angelique Kerber. While Konta has been a rapid riser, Kerber has been a tried-and-true elite force on tour, and one who has been knocking on the door at Grand Slams ever since she had her breakout at the 2011 US Open. Kerber snapped a personal six-match losing streak to Victoria Azarenka on Day 10, playing courageous tennis and wreaking havoc on the speedy Belarusian with her flat, powerful backhand to clinch a spot in the last four at a major for the third time. Konta and Kerber have never met at the tour-level, but Konta has seen her share of the fit and ferocious Kerber and knows of the challenge that awaits. “She’s just an incredibly good player,” Konta said. “She’s an amazing competitor. She’s showed time and time again over the last numerous years. I’m going to go out there really enjoy it and enjoy the battle and hopefully play a good level and give the crowd a good match.”
Pick: Kerber in three
MELBOURNE, Australia – Co-No.1s Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza played their best match of the Australian Open on Wednesday, dropping just one game to No.13 seeds Julia Goerges and Karolina Pliskova to win a 35th straight match, and reach a third straight major final – having already captured titles at Wimbledon and the US Open.
Before they take on Silent Hs Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka for their first Australian Open title as a pair – Hingis’ first in women’s doubles since 2002 and fourth overall – they will find themselves under the rare circumstance of being on opposite sides of the net, as each hope to add a mixed doubles crown to their ever-growing trophy collection.
Top seed with partner Ivan Dodig, Mirza will play Hingis and Leander Paes, who are unseeded but defending champions at the Australian Open, in the quarterfinals of the mixed event. The pair have not played against one another since last year’s Apia International Sydney, when the Indian star partnered Bethanie Mattek-Sands to beat Hingis and former partner Flavia Pennetta en route to the title.
Inseparable since pairing up ahead of the BNP Paribas Open last spring, Santina have played 17 tournaments together, winning 11 times. From their initial three-title breakthrough in Indian Wells, Miami, and Charleston, the two capped their near-perfect season with a win at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, and have picked up where they left off in 2016, winning back-to-back titles in Brisbane and Sydney and losing only one set in Melbourne.
Handicapping their chances in mixed, Hingis has won four major titles to Mirza’s three. The Swiss Miss was a French Open title short of a mixed doubles Grand Slam in 2015, partnering Paes – with whom she plays for the Washington Kastles each summer for Mylan World TeamTennis – to win the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open titles.
Mirza’s most recent mixed doubles victory came in 2014 with Bruno Soares at the US Open, but she is also a former Australian Open mixed champion, pairing Mahesh Bhupati for the title in 2009.
Should Hingis emerge victorious on Thursday afternoon, the 20-time Grand Slam champion would remain in the hunt for non-calendar year Grand Slams in both women’s doubles and mixed, having already earned two legs of the box set at Wimbledon at the US Open.
MELBOURNE, Australia – She originally immigrated to the UK at the age of 14 because of the distance between Australia and her new tennis training base in Europe. But throughout the Australian Open fortnight, that same distance has served well to keep the pressure off of the shoulders of British semifinalist Johanna Konta.
“The UK is a number of thousands of miles away and a completely different time zone, which in this case it might be quite nice,” Konta said, speaking of the growing buzz around her wins Down Under. “I think whatever pressure or whatever buzz there is outside, it only affects me as much as I let it.”
The always-cool Konta might remain unaffected, but there’s good reason for all the buzz.
She was the first British player since Jo Durie in 1984 to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam, and with her win over Zheng Shuai she’s matched another of Durie’s milestones: making a Grand Slam final four, which Durie achieved at the 1983 US Open.
Now, she’s one win away from becoming the first British finalist in a Slam since Virginia Wade won Wimbledon in 1977.
“I don’t know Jo Durie or Sue Barker or any of the others who’ve been this far,” Konta admitted to the press after her win against Zhang. “But I’ll definitely make a concerted effort to find out more about them. It’s on the to-do list to become more informed.”
Konta displayed her potential with her impressive 2015 performance, improving her ranking by 103 spots to end the year at No.47 and produced several upsets along the way, notching wins over Garbiñe Muguruza and Andrea Petkovic at the US Open and over Victoria Azarenka and Simona Halep in Wuhan.
But for Konta, who was nominated for WTA Most Improved Player, the focus isn’t on making history or headlines- just continuing her steady upward climb to the top.
“I’m not really thinking about accumulating ‘wow’ moments, just solid experiences,” Konta said. “I just look at the way I live every single day and the way I want to compete in every single match. It’s about doing my job.”
The last Brit to make the Australian Open semifinals was Sue Barker in 1977, back when the tournament was held in December and the 32-player draw was dominated by Australians.
How does Barker feel about Konta batting away so many long-held records?
“I feel sorry for her having so many records thrown at her and it’s upsetting that it has taken so long to break the ones that were set in my era,” Sue Barker said to The Times. “Most other countries would be upset if they didn’t have a woman in a quarterfinal for a couple of years.”
“There has been a void in British women’s tennis for so long but now Johanna Konta has filled it.”
MELBOURNE, Australia – On Day 9 at the Australian Open, Serena Williams and Agnieszka Radwanska won through to set up a semifinal clash, their first match since 2013.
Serena has her game face on: Make that 18 consecutive wins over Maria Sharapova. Serena continued her solid form through the tournament with a 6-4, 6-1 win over the No.5 seed to advance to the semifinals. The first set remained tight after Serena overcame a slow start – she’s been struggling with food poisoning – and Sharapova lost a game point serving at 4-5 in the first set on a tough-luck netcord. But Sharapova just couldn’t capitalize on her small window of opportunities and Serena ran away with it in the end.
Full match recap here.
Agnieszka Radwanska continues her Slam streak: With a 6-1, 6-3 win over Carla Suárez Navarro, Radwanska advanced to the semifinals or better at a Slam for the fifth consecutive year. Radwanska goes into the semifinal against Serena having lost just one set all season and riding a win-streak of 12 matches, dating back to her run to the title at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
“Well, in hindsight, yes, especially that you playing there only against top players, and that give me always more confidence,” Radwanska said, when asked whether the WTA Finals boosted her confidence.
“But I was saying before, this is new season, new Grand Slam; you’re starting over again. So it’s not like you winning Champs so you have easier draw or easy way to the semis.”
Serena’s perfect record: Serena has made the Australian Open semifinals six previous times. She has gone on to win the title every time. An omen?
Back to the drawing board for Sharapova: Sharapova served a career-high 21 aces in the fourth round against Belinda Bencic but tallied just 3 aces, compounded with 7 double-faults on Tuesday. Without getting any free points on her serve, Sharapova’s margin of error grew smaller. It’s a tough problem to solve.
“I think if you’re serving maybe 180kph against somebody else compared to Serena, that’s an ace. Against Serena, as we all know, the return is one of her great strengths. She’s very explosive. She stays quite close to the baseline. She cuts the ball early. She doesn’t give you many angles. That’s the reason I can’t get so many free points against her.”
“Serena’s on a different level.”: Sharapova: “It’s motivating because she’s at a different level. She makes you go back to the drawing board, not just for me, but for many other players. She makes you work. That’s inspiring.”
Sluggish Suárez Navarro can’t lock in: The Spaniard said she had trouble sleeping the last two nights and the fatigue showed on Tuesday. Her game lacked conviction and she looked a step slow on the court. She did not confirm whether the knee injury she sustained against against Daria Gavrilova had an effect.
“I didn’t rest good,” Suárez Navarro said. “I feel tired. But when you are on court you have to fight, you have to run, you have to be there, and today I don’t have the good feeling to play good tennis, the good mentality to play more aggressive or try to play a little bit better than I play.
“But I have to learn about these situations, this match, this experience. I need to learn.”
Despite the disappointment, this was a good tournament for Suárez Navarro, who lost in the first round of three of the four Slams last year (she made the third round at the French Open).
Doubles semifinals are set: No.1s Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza will play No.13 seed Julia Goerges and Karolina Pliskova, and No.7 seed Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka play No.15 seeds Xu Yi-Fan and Zheng Saisai.
Sharapova plans for a light February: Nothing is set in stone, but Sharapova said she plans on dedicating the month to getting her forearm healthy. She’ll travel to Moscow for Fed Cup but does not intend to play, and then, “I don’t see myself playing anything before Indian Wells.”
No, Serena hasn’t thought about the “R” word: Odd timing to ask the World No.1 this question mid-tournament after she just made the semifinals without losing a set, but Serena handled it well:
Q. Is there a chance we’re seeing you in Australia for the last time?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I don’t think so. Hopefully not. Unless you know something I don’t know.
Q. It’s a big year ahead. You have the Olympics. You’ve won four gold medals, going for your fifth. Has it entered your mind yet?
SERENA WILLIAMS: It’s entered yours, but not mine.
WTA Ranking Watch
By reaching the semifinals, Agnieszka Radwanska will move to No.3 in the rankings and can equal her career-high ranking of No.2 if she defeats Serena Williams and advances to the final in Melbourne. Williams owns an 8-0 advantage in their first eight meetings, dropping only one set.
As a result of Radwanska’s jump, Garbiñe Muguruza will dip to No.4 in the rankings and could fall to No.5 if Angelique Kerber advances to the Australian Open final.
Victoria Azarenka has a chance to return to the Top 10 for the first time since August 2014, but will need to reach the final in order to do so. Azarenka is projected to move to No.14 by reaching the quarterfinals, No.11 with a semifinal finish, No. 6 by reaching the final and can climb as high as No.5 if she wins the title; the last time Azarenka was ranked in the Top 5 was at the 2014 French Open.
By advancing to the quarterfinals, Johanna Konta is projected to jump to a career-high No.32 in the rankings after the Australian Open; her previous high was No.46 (reached October 19, 2015). If she wins her quarterfinal match against Zhang Shuai, Konta will move into the Top 30 (No.28), the first British woman to be ranked in the Top 30 since Laura Robson in July 2013, who climbed to No.27.
As a result of Zhang Shuai’s storybook run to the quarterfinals in Melbourne, she will overtake Zheng Saisai as the new Chinese No.1 on Monday. Zhang is projected to rise to No.64 and could move into the Top 40 should she reach the semifinals.
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.
MELBOURNE, Australia – World No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska booked her spot in the Australian Open semifinals for the second time, winning over Carla Suárez Navarro 6-1, 6-3 in the first match of the day on Rod Laver Arena.
The match was billed as a meeting of two of the more cerebral players on tour – both rely on craftiness and shot variety to win in an era dominated by big hitters. The pair had faced each other before, with Radwanska winning three of the four encounters but Suárez Navarro – who was looking for a spot in her first Grand Slam semifinal – won their most recent match.
“We had really tough matches in the past,” Suárez Navarro stated in the previous round’s post-match press conference. “I know it will be tough for me. I know that because of her style, you have to run a lot, you have to think every point what to do.”
Suárez Navarro and Radwanska had fought through tough and emotional fourth round matches, where both had to come back from a set down to advance. But at the quarterfinal stage, their matchup was much more straight forward.
Radwanska took the lead from the start, breaking Suárez Navarro’s serve in the first game then winning the next five out of six to close out the set, 6-1. The Spaniard gave more of a pushback in the second set; she broke Radwanska’s serve twice and hung tight at 3-3. But from then it was all Radwanska, who won the next three games and the match at 6-3.
Suárez Navarro found herself unable to keep pace with Radwanska’s all court game – she hit 45 unforced errors while Radwanska, who is typically stingy with the errors, hit just 13.
The Polish No.4 seed has now won 22 of her last 23 matches and is through to the semifinals, where she’s set to face the winner of the blockbuster quarterfinal match between Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams. She trails both players in their head-to-head, 0-8 to Williams and 2-13 to Sharapova, so she’s approaching Thursday’s match by not letting the pressure weigh her down.
“Right now I don’t really have anything to lose,” Radwanska told Rennae Stubbs after the match. “It doesn’t matter who I’m going to play against.
“I’m going to have a good rest and hope I can play my best tennis. Otherwise I’m going to be in big trouble.”
WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen | World No.1 Serena Williams maintained her mastery of Maria Sharapova, winning an 18th straight match in Melbourne on Tuesday. Here’s how it happened.
MELBOURNE, Australia – Top seed Serena Williams withstood a tense first set and a late match charge to take out Maria Sharapova, defeating the No.5 seed for an 18th straight time, 6-4, 6-1.
Sharapova came out firing to start, taking an early 2-0 lead on Australia Day, but Williams worked her way into the match in style, saving break points at 4-4 and winning seven games in a row at one stage.
“It was super intense,” the American told Rennae Stubbs during her on-court interview. “She’s an incredibly intense, focused player who was No.1 and won so many Grand Slams for a reason.
“When you’re playing someone who’s so great, you have to come out with a lot of fire and intensity.”
Looking ill at ease with the doctor on court after the first set, Williams was nonetheless ruthless in the second, getting close to a shutout before Sharapova pulled back, even earning two break points for 5-2 as the top seed served for it.
“I’ve been playing this whole week aggressively, but I didn’t start out playing that way today.
“I just knew after the first set that I wanted to start playing the way I have been, that got me to the quarterfinals, so I was just trying to do that.”
Up next for the World No.1 is No.4 seed and BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global champion, Agnieszka Radwanska.
“She’s a great defender and a great girl. I’m going to do my best, and I have nothing to lose,” she said, then addressing the crowd, “Thank you guys for coming out; I hear you all, and it means a lot to me!”
Looking to tie Steffi Graf’s record of 22 Grand Slam titles, Williams is also after a seventh Australian Open title, her first coming back in 2003 to complete her first Serena Slam.
“I’m here all the time; I have so many friends here. This is one of the few stadiums where I feel so welcome.”
Serena on Maria: When I play her, I know automatically I have to step up my game. I think that makes me play better pic.twitter.com/WVYCLVkiNn
— Australian Open (@AustralianOpen) January 26, 2016
MELBOURNE, Australia – Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza were held up for longer than usual en route to the last four of the Australian Open, eventually seeing off the stubborn resistance of Anna-Lena Groenefeld and CoCo Vandeweghe on Tuesday afternoon.
Having romped through their opening three assignments at Melbourne Park, Hingis and Mirza made the perfect start against No.12 seeds Groenefeld and Vandeweghe, pocketing the opening set in a brisk 23 minutes.
Thoughts of another routine victory were soon parked as their opponents capitalized on some uncharacteristically sloppy mistakes to level to contest. There, though, the surprises ended as the top seeds steadied the ship, breaking twice to close out a 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 victory.
The result extends Hingis and Mirza’s remarkable winning streak to 34 matches – a run stretching back to the end of last summer and bringing seven titles.
And their path to number eight was made a little simpler with the exit earlier in the day of No.2 seeds Chan Yung-Jan and Chan Hao-Ching.
The sisters were the last team to get the better of Hingis and Mirza, coming out on top in the Cincinnati semifinals, but their hopes of reaching a maiden major final together were dashed by Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka, 2-6, 7-5, 6-3.
No stranger to the business end of a Grand Slam – they lifted the French and US Open crowns in their first stint together – Hlavackova and Hradecka will now meet Xu Yi-Fan and Zheng Saisai, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 winners over home hopes Anastasia and Arina Rodionova in the evening session.
Victoria Azarenka will look to continue her torrid form down under on Day 10, but she’ll face her toughest test to date. We preview both quarterfinals from the lower half of the draw here.
Wednesday, Day 10
Quarterfinals
[7] Angelique Kerber (GER #6) vs. [14] Victoria Azarenka (BLR # 16)
Head-to-head: Azarenka leads, 6-0
Key Stat: Azarenka has conceded just 11 games in four rounds.
All signs in Melbourne point to Victoria Azarenka’s first trip to a Grand Slam semifinal since the 2013 US Open. One simply can’t deny that the Belarusian, a two-time champion here, has had a stiff wind in her sails since the season began. She’s reeled off her first 18 sets of 2016 and only once dropped more than three games in a set. Azarenka’s scintillating form and burgeoning confidence adds up to a very stiff challenge on Wednesday for No.7-seeded Angelique Kerber. The German will face Azarenka for the seventh time on Wednesday, and she’s hoping to reverse her fortune in what has been a very lopsided head-to-head up until now. But hope springs eternal for Kerber, who is playing with house money after saving a match point in her first-round match against Japan’s Misaki Doi. “I was actually with one leg on the plane back home, but I won the first match with the match point down,” Kerber said on Monday after reaching her first career Australian Open quarterfinal. “So, yeah, and then after I was playing much better. I’m feeling good, and right now I will try to take my next match and play again good tennis.”
It’s been all Azarenka on the scoreboard for these two thus far, but the No.14 seed does not for one second underestimate the danger of facing a perpetually engaged fighter like Kerber. And she surely remembers that Kerber pushed her to the brink in a thrilling three-set encounter at the US Open last September. “It’s exciting,” said Azarenka of the upcoming tussle. “I always look forward to play against her. She gives me always tough matches. I prepare myself for a very tough match because she’s very solid, very consistent, and an amazing fighter. I have to play my best game to beat her, for sure.”
Pick: Azarenka in three
Zhang Shuai (CHN #133) vs. Johanna Konta (GBR # 47)
Head-to-head: Tied, 1-1
Key Stat: Zhang is the first qualifier to reach the quarterfinals at the Australian Open since 1990.
Tear up your predictions, crack open your WTA media guides, and get ready for some crazy emotions, because Day 10’s second quarterfinal features a pair of relatively unknown talents who have already made history in Melbourne. Johanna Konta became Great Britain’s first Grand Slam quarterfinalist in 33 years when she defeated Ekaterina Makarova in the round of 16. Nowhere near the Top 100 at this time last year, Konta has reached the second week of the last two majors and is projected to reach the Top 30 if she reaches the semifinals. But standing in her way will be China’s suddenly surging Zhang Shuai. The 27-year-old was 0-14 at majors prior to qualifying for this year’s Australian Open, but she’s racked up four wins—including a first-round upset of No.2-seeded Simona Halep—to reach the quarterfinals. Can Zhang possibly keep this dream run going? Or is Konta’s ascension set to continue?
Buoyed by her improbable run, Zhang is starting to believe that a deeper run is her destiny. “This time feeling like maybe God will bless me,” an elated Zhang told reporters of her eight-year wait for Grand Slam success. “If I can wait for long time, eight years, I can one time win a lot of matches at a Grand Slam.” Though also thrilled with her recent rise, Konta is less surprised that her time has come. “I’ve always said I do not believe in kind of a light switch moment,” she told reporters. “Everything happens for a reason. My journey has been the way it has been for a reason. That’s to accumulate the experiences that I’ve had. I cannot give you a moment where I said, Oh, yeah, that’s where it started, because it’s been ongoing ever since I started playing.”
Pick: Konta in three