Indian Wells: Ivanovic Interview
An interview with Ana Ivanovic after her second round win at the BNP Paribas Open.
An interview with Ana Ivanovic after her second round win at the BNP Paribas Open.
INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – Their 41-match winning streak had come to an end at the Qatar Total Open, but Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza’s hopes of claiming a second straight BNP Paribas Open title were halted by an unseeded but dangerous pair in Vania King and Alla Kudryavtseva, 7-6(7), 6-4.
“We had a game plan and I feel like we executed it really well,” King, who won back-to-back Grand Slam titles with Yaroslava Shvedova at the 2010 Wimbledon and US Open, said after the match. “We tried to take control of the points and not let them dictate the match play, and I think we did that really well. That’s why we won.”
King and Kudryavtseva are playing just their second tournament of 2016 – King sat out much of 2015 with a back injury – but already have a Grand Slam quarterfinal under their belt at the Australian Open. After edging past the top seeds in a tense tie-break, the American/Russian duo raced out to a 5-2 lead in the second set – eventually breaking at love to hand Santina their first straight-sets loss since the summer of 2015 (Rogers Cup).
“I’m feeling very glad that I have a partner like Vania; she had a great game plan. We stuck with each other through the goods and the bads, and it pays off for a doubles team to do that,” Kudryavtseva said.
“That’s what I’m useful for; I just have good game plans, and that’s all!” King added with a laugh.
“And she has good energy, and she’s a fantastic, phenomenal tennis player,” Kudryavtseva continued. “She’s really motivated. It’s nice to be around someone who has so much positive energy and love for tennis. I think we’re really enjoying ourselves on the court, good chemistry.
“We obviously complement each other well; Vania moves a lot, and I try to move a lot. We have good returns.
“I feel like as a team, all the pieces kind of fit together, and it’s only our second tournament, and we obviously have a long way to go – hopefully – but we’re playing well and we’re enjoying each other’s company; it’s great.”
Into their second straight quarterfinal, fast-rising duo face a rematch of their Australian Open encounter with Julia Goerges and Karolina Pliskova; the big-hitting pair survived a tough match against Daria Kasatkina and Elena Vesnina – the very team who ended the Santina Streak in Doha – in a match tie-break, 6-1, 6-7(5), 10-4.
Deciding to pair up at the end of last season, Kudryavtseva has told WTA Insider that she and King are looking to make 2016 a season to remember; each have qualified for the WTA Finals before – King in 2010 and 2011, Kudryavtseva in 2014 – but are trying to keep a return to the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global in the back of their minds for the time being.
“I think we have to take it match by match, tournament by tournament,” King said. “Our communication is really good, we get along on and off the court, which is important. We don’t feel any pressure to not say something to one another; we can easily talk to each other about how we feel on or off the court – if we want to work on something, or if one sees something and the other one doesn’t.
“Obviously we hope can get to Singapore. If we take it one match at a time, that’s how we will play our best at the end of the day, enjoying each day on the court, going for our shots and going from there.”
An interview with Eugenie Bouchard after her second round win at the BNP Paribas Open.
The last of the third round encounters take place on Monday; can Belinda Bencic and Eugenie Bouchard continue their solid starts to 2016, or will veteran Roberta Vinci take center stage?
An interview with Belinda Bencic after her second round win at the BNP Paribas Open.
World No.1 Serena Williams overcame a slow start to roar past Yulia Putintseva to reach the fourth round at the BNP Paribas Open.
Agnieszka Radwanska has Friday’s shot of the day at the BNP Paribas Open.
– Zhang Shuai knocks out Caroline Wozniacki in thriller: It took three hours and 24 minutes, but Zhang Shuai pulled off yet another upset in her splendid season, beating Caroline Wozniacki 4-6, 7-6(8), 7-5 to make the third round. Zhang told WTA Insider that she planned her post-Australian Open around the BNP Paribas Open, which she says is her favorite tournament.
“Last year in Tokyo my target was I wanted to come to Indian Wells and Miami because this tournament is my favorite,” Zhang told WTA Insider. “I like to see the mountains, so beautiful. At the courts, and everyone is like family. But the last two years I had really bad luck. I could not come. I had injuries or something.
“So this year I did not go to Dubai, Doha, or Kuala Lumpur or Taiwan because I want to come here. I want to be 100% ready for this tournament. Very happy and thanks to Mr. Raymond Moore for giving me the wildcard. At the Australian Open we contact him. He was very fast to reply the email but we didn’t tell everybody. That’s why we go to [the $50K ITF in] Rancho Santa Fe to prepare for this tournament.
“If I stay in China or if I go to Dubai or Doha I have a long trip and big time change. I need some time to keep relaxed, not always in the tour, to not play too much. I almost [retired], so I want to be happy in the tour, not to play every week. A few years ago, at the big tournaments I was so tired or with injury. Now I want to focus on the big tournaments.”
Zhang says she’ll play the Miami Open and Volvo Cars Open in Charleston before returning to China to rest for the clay season.
“I really like Charleston,” she said. “Nice town, really nice everything. After Charleston I need a rest like after the Australian Open. I’m not young anymore. [I need to] keep healthy. I want high quality every tournament, not many tournaments but low quality, no points. And also I want more time to stay home with family and enjoy the life.”
Talk about enjoying life: Zhang told me she’s been powered by legendary California burger chain In & Out all week. I saw her at a nearby In & Out around midnight after her hard-earned win. Much deserved.
– Christina McHale’s burgeoning confidence: Since the Australian Open, McHale is now 11-3 at all levels after upsetting No.4 Garbiñe Muguruza 7-5, 6-1. It was McHale’s first win over a Top 5 player in four years. Her last win came over Petra Kvitova right here in Indian Wells in 2012.
“I thought I had a really good offseason,” McHale said after being asked about her form in 2016. “I put in a lot of work both in the gym and off the court. Unfortunately in Australia, I had a tough draw there, but I really wanted to get matches. So then I went after the second week and played a [ITF $50K] in Hawaii and got some matches there. That really helped.
“I just have played a bunch the last few weeks. I think that’s given me confidence. Playing matches is what I needed, and being healthy this year. I had a shoulder injury at the start of last year. Just being able to play a lot I think has helped.”
McHale reached a career-high No.24 in 2012 but has been out of the Top 50 for much of the last three years. “I definitely feel like there were a lot of matches where I was really close to maybe having some big wins and they kind of, yeah, just didn’t get that win,” McHale said when asked about her dip in results.
“But I feel like I have been working extremely hard all these years. I think it’s a combination of being healthy and just getting a lot of matches in and kind of getting into a groove.
“It wasn’t like I felt like I was playing poorly these past couple years, though. I think I just had a few tight matches that didn’t go my way that maybe could have changed some things.”
Safety First: Here’s why @ChristinaMcHale plays in long sleeves as much as she can: pic.twitter.com/UN5HSozoUP
— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) March 13, 2016
– Eugenie Bouchard rolls back the clock: The Canadian continued her resurgent form, earning her first Top 25 win since the 2014 Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open by beating No.22 Sloane Stephens 7-5, 7-5. With Wayne Gretzky cheering from her player’s box, Bouchard notched her tour-leading 15th win of the season. She had 12 wins in the entirety of 2015.
“It’s important to me because it’s kind of on my comeback as I have kind of called this year,” Bouchard said. “It gives me confidence looking forward. You know, I don’t want to look back or don’t want to think about 2014 or 2015 really, so this one is important. It’s kind of a step forward, and I just want to keep going.”
– 16 of 32 seeds fall in the second round: The unpredictability continued in Indian Wells after another day of upsets. No.2 Angelique Kerber bowed out to Denisa Allertova, as other notable seeds – Garbiñe Muguruza, Caroline Wozniacki, and Carla Suárez Navarro (withdrew with an ankle injury) suffered an early exit.
– German Exodus: Nine German women were in the draw. They went winless.
– Sloane Stephens rues her missed opportunities: Stephens had multiple chances to close out the second set to force a third against Bouchard, none better than a short forehand at the net that flew wildly long. The tour leader in titles just couldn’t find her best when she needed it.
“There are always things to work on, obviously,” she said. “I played pretty good this year so far. Today was just unfortunate. Like I said, I played to protect. When you get out there you have to play to win. It was unfortunate, but this whole tennis thing it’s definitely a learning process. So I know that I have things to work on, and hopefully going into next week I can get myself together and have a good week next week.”
– Victoria Azarenka hits the tape: Azarenka won her opening match, 6-3, 6-2 over Zarina Diyas. She’s says she’s able to play pain free after withdrawing from Acapulco with a wrist injury.
I asked Azarenka whether she’s been able to put her Australian Open quarterfinal loss behind her. “Yeah, it wasn’t pleasant, that’s for sure,” she said. “I think the most difficult was to rewatch that match.” So what did she see on the rewatch?
“That it was my match to win, and that’s painful to see sometimes.”
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.
An interview with Serena Williams after her win in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open.
INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – Upsets reigned supreme in the top half of the draw on Friday at Indian Wells, with seeds going only 7-9. Will the chaos continue on Sunday? We preview today’s third-round matchups here.
Sunday, Third Round
[1] Serena Williams (USA # 1) vs. Yulia Putintseva (KAZ # 56)
Head-to-head: Williams leads 1-0
Key Stat: Williams will bid for her 20th career win at Indian Wells against just one loss.
After her second-round victory over Laura Siegemund of Germany, Williams admitted that she’s a lot less nervous than she was last year, when she ended her boycott and played in the desert for the first time since 2001. “I was really kind of stressed out last year,” Williams told reporters. “It was a lot of emotions last year. This year it was a lot easier. I mean, obviously there is still something there, but it’s a lot easier to just deal with everything.” A more relaxed Williams could spell big trouble for Yulia Putintseva, but don’t expect the 21-year-old to lay down and play dead. She’s as fiery as they come and she’ll come out ready to take her shots at the World No.1.
Pick: Williams in two
[3] Agnieszka Radwanska (POL #3) vs. [32] Monica Niculescu (ROU # 34)
Head-to-head: Radwanska leads, 2-1
Key Stat: Radwanska has reached the semis in all three events she has played in 2016.
Radwanska saved a match point in making a valiant comeback to dispatch Dominika Cibulkova on Friday. Next up, she’ll face a fellow slice-and-dicer in the quirky Monica Niculescu, who took out Heather Watson to reach the third round at Indian Wells for the first time. Though Radwanska comes in as the heavy favorite, Niculescu comes in with good form, having notched wins over Petra Kvitova, Sabine Lisicki and Jelena Jankovic this season.
Pick: Radwanska in two
[5] Simona Halep (ROU #5) vs. [30] Ekaterina Makarova (RUS # 32)
Head-to-head: Halep leads 2-1
Key Stat: Defending champion Halep was the WTA’s hardcourt match win leader in 2015 (41-11).
Jazzed after an inspiring hitting session with Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf in Las Vegas last week, Simona Halep came out and blitzed Vania King to reach the third round. But the competition stiffens for the Romanian on Sunday as 30th-seeded Ekaterina Makarova steps up. Halep owns the head-to-head edge over the Russian but Makarova won their biggest match to date at the 2015 Australian Open. To be honest, neither player has played anywhere near their potential this year, but a big win on Sunday could do a lot for the confidence of either player.
Pick: Halep in three
[8] Petra Kvitova (CZE # 8) vs. Johanna Larsson (SWE # 66)
Head-to-head: Kvitova leads 2-0 (both meetings Challenger-level)
Key Stat: Kvitova has fallen against players ranked outside the Top 50 at her last two tournaments (Dubai/Brengle, Doha/Ostapenko).
Petra Kvitova narrowly avoided the upset in defeating Montenegro’s Danka Kovinic in a third-set tiebreaker on Friday, and on Sunday she’ll look win back-to-back matches for the first time in 2016. The serve is the glue that generally holds the Kvitova game together, but in her last two matches the Czech has faced 26 break points. That’s too many. Kvitova will have to take command of her service games to go deep into the tournament, but if she can tighten up her game she may be able to ride her favorable draw all the way to the semis or beyond.
Pick: Kvitova in two
[19] Jelena Jankovic (SRB #19) vs. CoCo Vandeweghe (USA # 38)
Head-to-head: Tied, 3-3
Key Stat: 2010 champion Jankovic snapped a three-match losing streak versus Vandeweghe with a straight-sets win in Sydney over the American in January.
CoCo Vandeweghe is a bit of a wild card, and she can be prone to inconsistency. But when the hard-serving 24-year-old is on, she can be a terror to face. On Sunday the American will try to get past last year’s runner-up Jelena Jankovic, but beating the Serb in the desert has always proven to be a difficult task. Jankovic owns 24 career wins here, but she’s struggled to find her form thus far in 2016, going 5-7. Meanwhile, Vandeweghe has won six of eight matches—three of which came against Top 20 opposition—since dropping her first three tilts of the season.
Pick: Vandeweghe in three
-Chris Oddo, wtatennis.com contributor