Tennis News

MELBOURNE, Australia – No.4 seed Agnieszka Radwanska applied her clinical game against the Puerto Rican Monica Puig, overpowering her 6-4, 6-0 in the third round of the Australian Open.

Even though this was the first time she’s ever played against Puig, Radwanska knew to be wary of unseeded younger players, especially since they’ve already caused quite a few big upsets during the fortnight.

“As we see now the ranking, it sometimes didn’t really show the game, what the player actually showing,” Radwanska told the press before the match. “You play against the player, not the ranking.

“As we see, those players are beating top players here.”

Both Radwanska and Puig came through some tough second-round matches: Radwanska passed the test of a resurgent Eugenie Bouchard, and Puig fought for over two and a half hours against Kristyna Pliskova, who fired a record-breaking 31 aces.

When they took to the court under the roof at Margaret Court Arena, the two seemed evenly matched. Puig came out of the gates playing aggressively, keeping pace with Radwanska during a close first set until the Puerto Rican got the first break of the match at 3-4. But in the very next game when she had the chance to add to her lead, Puig flubbed an overhead into open court and handed the break right back to Radwanska.

After that, the World No.4 took control of the match and never let go, rattling off nine consecutive games in her trademark decisive fashion. Puig’s errors were her undoing – her flat groundstrokes misfired and coughed up 29 unforced errors compared to Radwanska’s 17.

“She started really well,” Radwanska said after the win. “Everything was just coming so fast and she was playing with an amazing intensity. I was really in big trouble that first set.

“In that second set I think I just find my rhythm, and I was serving much better as well.”

Radwanska is set to play Anna-Lena Friedsam, who overcame a 0-6 deficit to defeat No.13 seed Roberta Vinci 0-6, 6-4, 6-4. Radwanska leads Friedsam 1-0 in their head to head – the Polish player beat her in straight sets on her way to the title in Shenzhen.

MELBOURNE, Australia – Angelique Kerber dodged the upset bug going around the Australian Open, grinding past Alexandra Dulgheru as the second round wrapped up at the Happy Slam Thursday.

The No.7-seeded Kerber had beaten Dulgheru in straight sets in both of their previous meetings and this one went much the same way as she beat the Romanian in an hour and 13 minutes, 6-2, 6-4.

Kerber, who was ranked No.7 in the world when the seeds were made but moved up to No.6 earlier this week, is now just two wins away from completing a Grand Slam quarterfinal set – she’s been to the quarterfinals or better at the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open, but never the Australian Open.

Other high-profile winners included No.3 seed Garbiñe Muguruza, who out-hit Kirsten Flipkens, 6-4, 6-2 (read more here), No.14 seed Victoria Azarenka, who continued her perfect start to the year with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Danka Kovinic (read more here), No.15 seed Madison Keys, who outlasted Yaroslava Shvedova, 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-3, No.20 seed Ana Ivanovic, who beat Latvian qualifier Anastasija Sevastova, 6-3, 6-3 (read more here), and No.21 seed Ekaterina Makarova, who beat Tatjana Maria, 6-4, 6-2.

Azarenka has now lost just 20 games in seven matches this year – an average of one game a set.

“I’m just really trying to stay in the moment,” Azarenka told reporters after the match. “I do want to keep improving from match to match, but from now on it’s only going to get tougher, so I really want to keep that focus and that intensity and that determination. Really that’s what I’m looking for right now, to keep applying the same effort, and paying attention to the details in preparation before the match.”

It wasn’t a perfect day for the seeds by any means, though, with No.11 seed Timea Bacsinszky going down to Annika Beck, 6-2, 6-3, No.18 seed Elina Svitolina falling to Japanese qualifier Naomi Osaka, 6-4, 6-4, No.19 seed Jelena Jankovic losing a heartbreaker to Laura Siegemund, 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4, and No.30 seed Sabine Lisicki succumbing to big-serving Czech upstart Denisa Allertova, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.

Karolina Pliskova, the No.9 seed, downed Julia Goerges in the feature night match, 7-6(5), 6-1.

With 18 seeds out already, the 2016 Australian Open has set the record for most seeds to go out before the third round of a Grand Slam since the majors switched to 32 seeds at 2001 Wimbledon.

The third round will kick off on Friday, with Serena Williams, Agnieszka Radwanska and Maria Sharapova among those in action – check back on wtatennis.com for all the latest from Melbourne!

.@KaPliskova clinches the last spot in @AustralianOpen third round!

Defeats Goerges 7-6(5), 6-1! #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/8uAaAj6ZWZ

— WTA (@WTA) January 21, 2016

MELBOURNE, Australia – Former No.1 Ana Ivanovic had to deal with a half hour break when a spectator took a spill on Rod Laver Arena, but the Serb maintained her focus to close out Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova, 6-3, 6-3.

Sevastova first made waves in 2011 when she reached the round of 16 at the Australian Open, but a brief retirement took her out of the game for nearly two years before she came back last January. Coming through three rounds of main draw qualifying, the 25-year-old played Ivanovic tough over two sets, but was ultimately undone by unforced errors – 27 to Ivanovic’s 17.

Ivanovic, by contrast, played a much cleaner match, breaking serve four times and winning 83% of her first serves.

“I enjoy playing here so much; this is one of my favorite courts in the world,” Ivanovic said during her on-court interview. “It’s always good to be back.”

The No.20 seed has looked solid through her first two matches, a major improvement over her last appearance in Melbourne, when a broken toe hampered her through an opening round loss.

“I tried to work on my fitness during the off-season; that needed improvements after last season. I hired a new fitness coach, so it’s been really great. We did a lot of prevention work for injuries, and fitness and on-court work.

“It’s a work in progress.”

Up next for Ivanovic is the winner of the second round match between No.15 seed Madison Keys and Yaroslava Shvedova, the latter of whom pushed her to three sets at last year’s French Open.

“Every match is tough and we’ve seen that throughout the week. Every opponent is tough and there have been a lot of tricky first round matches.

“But I’m really thrilled be to be through and you guys are amazing, so excited about your tennis, so keep it up!

MELBOURNE, Australia – Playing just her third match of 2016, Garbiñe Muguruza looked in solid form en route to a two-set win over the unseeded Kirsten Flipkens, winning, 6-4, 6-2, on Rod Laver Arena.

The No.3 seed had been forced to retire during her season debut at the Brisbane International, but the Spaniard has shown few signs of stress at the Australian Open, hitting 23 winners past Flipkens, who was only able to hit six over her own against last year’s Wimbledon finalist.

“I’m extremely happy after today,” Muguruza said during her on-court interviw. “Kirsten is a very difficult opponent with a unique game, so I’m very happy to be in the third round.”

On a cool day in Melbourne, Muguruza raced out to a 5-1 lead in the second set. Though Flipkens was able to force her higher-ranked opponent to serve it out, it was smooth sailing at the end of the 78 minute match for the No.3 seed, who promptly held at love to reach the third round Down Under for the second straight year.

“I think the weather is very important for us. I think this temperature is perfect but I also like to play in hot weather, so either way, it’s great!”

Up next for Muguruza is Barbora Strycova, who edged past comeback kid Vania King, 7-6(5), 6-4; the two-time women’s doubles Grand Slam champion had been out for most of last year with a back injury, and though she had her chances, the Czech veteran proved too strong in the end.

Strycova and Muguruza have met twice before, with the Spaniard taking both of their meetings in straight sets, though she was clear in the notion that no one is to be underestimated – especially at this time of year.

“This is a Grand Slam where everyone is extremely fit because we’re coming from the pre-season so every match is very tough.

“I’m just happy to be here, playing great tennis.”

MELBOURNE, Australia – Daria Kasatkina’s 2016 has begun with a bang. The 18-year-old from Moscow opened her season by beating Venus Williams in her first match at the ASB Classic in Auckland, and Friday night she’ll take on World No.1 Serena Williams on the biggest stage of her career on Rod Laver Arena. The shy teenager says it’s a dream come true.

“When I was young, I was just dreaming to play against them, somewhere at the Grand Slams, and now I can do it,” she told reporters after beating fellow teen Ana Konjuh in the second round. “So it’s just great.”

Fans may not be as familiar with Kasatkina, though it’s time to study up. A 2014 junior French Open champion, Kasatkina watched as one of her friends and rivals, Belinda Bencic, left the junior ranks early with great success. While Kasatkina stayed back in 2014, Bencic – three days older than the Russian – made her Grand Slam debut here in Melbourne. By year’s end she was a Grand Slam quarterfinalist at the US Open.

“We played against each other in the juniors and they were real battles,” Kasatkina said of Bencic. “I was a little bit upset because she started to play earlier and she started to beat other players and showing results a little bit earlier than me.

“When she started to play pros, I was still playing juniors, and I was talking to my coaches, saying, ‘I want to play pro, I want to start to play pros! Why am I still in juniors?’ He said, ‘Dasha, be cool.’ I had to get some experience from juniors and that experience was great. A lot of experience and good memories, and I don’t regret it.”

Kasatkina made her major debut at the US Open last year as a lucky loser and proceeded to have a dream run to the third round, where she lost to Kristina Mladenovic. That run seemed to flip a switch within her. She went on to make the semifinals at the Kremlin Cup as a qualifier, losing in a tough three sets to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

“Those two tournaments brought me into the Top 100 and now I’m in main draws almost everywhere,” she said. “It’s a very good opportunity to play better because when you’re a qualifier, you have to play more matches. When you’re in the main draw, you’re more confident.”

Now ranked No.69 and rising, Kasatkina is one of four teenagers into the third round at the Australian Open, joining a group that includes Bencic, Japan’s Naomi Osaka, and her best friend Elizaveta Kulichkova. It’s the first time four teenagers have progressed to the third round at the Australian Open since 2009, when Caroline Wozniacki, Victoria Azarenka, Dominika Cibulkova, Alizé Cornet, and Alisa Kleybanova moved en masse.

Kasatkina’s coach, Vlado Platenik (who has worked with Dominika Cibulkova and former World No.3 Nadia Petrova) has preached patience and tranquility when it comes to her career. The results will come if you put in the work and there is no substitution for experience. “Dasha, be cool,” he reminds her. It’s a difficult lesson to learn.

“For me everything is new and I’m a little bit shy,” she said. “But I’m learning at every tournament and from every match, getting experience, which will help me a lot.”

There’s no experience in tennis like playing Serena Williams on one of the biggest courts in the world. Kasatkina says she has no expectations, but she’ll play the match as if it’s her last.

“It’s luck for me to play against such a great player like Serena, really, because honestly nobody plays forever, so it’s great that I’ve had the opportunity to play against Venus this year and now also Serena,” she told reporters. “I will just enjoy and try to show my best tennis. Nobody is unbeatable, so I will try.”

Catch up with Daria Kasatkina in this exclusive WTA Insider Q&A.

WTA Insider: So what did you do during your off-season?
Kasatkina: Off-season? Hard work! For sure, it was two weeks off – I had fun, rest – and then I go with my fitness coach for 10 days in the mountains, hard work, only fitness. After, I went to Miami for preparation to play tennis. I think it helped. I feel like I’m Duracell!

WTA Insider: It’s been a great week in Melbourne for young Russians. You, Kulichkova, and Margarita Gasparyan are all into the third round. Do you think we’ll see you three at the top of the game in the next five years?
Kasatkina: Nobody plays forever. So we’re the next generation so we have to play better and better. I think soon we will be on top. I have to be confident, otherwise it’s impossible.

WTA Insider: Did you and your coach work on anything specific in the off-season? How are you trying to improve your game?
Kasatkina: You always have to change something; you cannot stay on one level, so for me, I’m trying to play more aggressively and go for volleys. My psychology is to be a little bit more defense, so I’m trying to be more offensive.

WTA Insider: Why do you think you have a more defensive psychology?
Kasatkina: Maybe because I’m not big enough to hit hard, and when I was a kid, I’d play smarter [rather] than just hitting the ball. But now I have to be more aggressive; otherwise, it’s impossible.

True Friendship: Fedfan @LizaKulichkova on teasing BFF/RafaKAD @DKasatkina after the Verdasco/Nadal match. pic.twitter.com/fOsQsDDaqp

— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) January 20, 2016

WTA Insider: What are your goals this year?
Kasatkina: This is my first full year on the WTA so first, I want to adapt, because it’s very difficult. Last year I played a lot of ITF tournaments, and just a few WTAs. I will play WTAs, and will adapt everything and will for sure enjoy my year on tour because, for me, when I was a kid it was my dream to be at the top, so now I’m just enjoying.

WTA Insider: How has the tour been for you so far? Are you finding it fun? Or is it a little bit lonely because you’re fairly new.
Kasatkina: My team is always with me, so they help me a lot. They support me, and tell me what to do when I’m not sure. I’m a little bit shy because everything is new and I don’t know so many of the players, but I think I’m getting better.

WTA Insider: Are you tight with the other young Russian players? Does that help?
Kasatkina: I know all of the Russians and there are a lot of the players older than me, and we know each other from the juniors. But now the new generation is coming and there are a lot of relationships I have.

WTA Insider: Do you help push each other?
Kasatkina: For sure, because even if we are friends we want to be better and better, so it’s like a little competition but it doesn’t show it in the relationship. On the court, we are players, but off we are friends.

Follow Daria on Instagram and Twitter @DKasatkina!

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.

Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova remain on a collision course for a quarterfinal date at this year’s Australian Open. But they’ve still got some work to do before they get there. We preview their Day 5 tilts, as well as some other enticing Friday matchups, here.

Friday, Day 5
Third Round

[1] Serena Williams (USA #1) vs. Daria Kasatkina (RUS # 69)
Head-to-head: First meeting
Key Stat: Kasatkina was just two years old when Serena Williams won her first major.

Russia’s Daria Kasatkina is quickly making a name for herself as a future star on the WTA tour. Just two weeks ago she defeated Venus Williams in Auckland, and the 2014 French Open junior champion has now reached the third round at both Grand Slams she’s played in her career. But on Friday when she faces top-seeded Serena Williams, she’ll encounter the biggest challenge in women’s tennis. Williams, who has erased all doubts about the state of her health by breezing through her first two matches in Melbourne, is hungry to make more Grand Slam magic and very much aware of the potential of Kasatkina. “I don’t think it’s going to be easy,” Williams said of their impending battle. “Any time someone is beating Venus they are more than likely playing really good. So I definitely will be ready for that.”

Pick: Williams in two

[5] Maria Sharapova (RUS #5) vs. Lauren Davis (USA # 103)
Head-to-head: First meeting
Key Stat: Sharapova is going for her 600th career win. 

Like Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova also came to Melbourne with doubts about her health and match fitness swirling. But the five-time major champion has dropped seven games in two matches and looks to be in mid-season form ahead of her third-round showdown with hard-charging American Lauren Davis. Sharapova has never faced the Ohio native before, but at this stage of the tournament the fifth seed is more concerned about dictating with her power strokes than the opponent on the other side of the net. “I don’t think it matters [who I face],” she told reporters after her straight-sets victory over Aliaksandra Sasnovich on Wednesday. “I think my focus has to be on myself and on my game. Just improving and getting better.”

Pick: Sharapova in two

[4] Agnieszka Radwanska (POL #4) vs. Monica Puig (PUR # 52)
Head-to-head: First meeting
Key Stat: Red-hot Radwanska has won 24 of her last 28 matches.

After an impressive takedown of surging Canadian Eugenie Bouchard in the second round things don’t promise to get any easier for No.4-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska. Her next opponent, 22-year-old Puerto Rican Monica Puig, has won 10 of her last 11 matches and is into the third round of a major for the first time since 2013. After surviving a 31-ace onslaught from Kristyna Pliskova in the second round, Puig has stockpiled a pile of the belief that comes with saving five match points and gutting out an improbable win at a major. “I think it’s just about believing that you can come out of a moment like that, that at any moment you can get a second wind and come out of it,” Puig said after her marathon win on Wednesday.

Pick: Radwanska in two

[28] Kristina Mladenovic (FRA # 30) vs. Daria Gavrilova (AUS # 39)
Head-to-head: First meeting
Key Stat: Gavrilova has four Top 10 wins since last March.

They have never met at the tour-level but that does not mean that France’s Kristina Mladenovic and Australia’s Daria Gavrilova don’t have history. They met in the Roland Garros Girls’ Singles final in 2009, and it was Mladenovic who got the win. “We played juniors a lot,” Gavrilova explains. “I actually lost to her at the French Open, I don’t know, ages ago. I was 15. It was in the finals. We have known each other since we were about 12.” Nearly seven years on, both players appear to be on the cusp of big-time stardom. Mladenovic reached her first major quarterfinal at last year’s US Open, while Gavrilova, who exudes fire and infectious enthusiasm for the game, has risen from outside the Top 200 to No.39 in the world in just over a year’s time.

Pick: Gavrilova in three

Around the Grounds: Belinda Bencic will look to advance to the round of 16 in Melbourne for the first time, but she’ll have to get past one of the tournament’s inspirational figures in Kateryna Bondarenko to get there. Bondarenko, who left the tour in 2012 to give birth to a child and didn’t return until 2014, is looking like she never missed a beat… Quietly, No.10-seeded Carla Suárez Navarro is working her way through the draw. The 2009 Australian Open quarterfinalist will face 19-year-old Russian Elizaveta Kulichkova for a spot in the second week… A finalist at last year’s US Open, Italy’s Roberta Vinci is alive and well in Melbourne. She’ll bid to reach the round of 16 in Melbourne for the first time against Anna-Lena Friedsam of Germany.