Tennis News

LUXEMBOURG – Caroline Garcia battled into the second round of the BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open thanks to a 7-6(2), 2-6, 6-4 victory over Anett Kontaveit.

As Dominika Cibulkova, Caroline Wozniacki, and Peng Shuai showed over the weekend, comebacks come in all manner of ways. And to appreciate what each woman did to win the weekend titles, you have to understand what they’ve come back from.

Cibulkova finally earns her spot in Singapore.

For Cibulkova, her run to her third title of the season at the Generali Ladies Linz capped of a resurgent year that saw her return to the Top 10 and qualify for her first BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. After a strong Asian Swing, in which she made the final of the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open, Cibulkova knew she had to win the title in Linz to qualify for Singapore.

This was not the first time the 27-year-old had a chance to earn a berth for the WTA Finals. In 2014, reaching her first Grand Slam final at the Australian Open put her in the RTS mix just as the tour turned to the summer hardcourt season. She went on to win just three regular season matches after Wimbledon. As Cibulkova has said, she wanted to qualify so badly she could not enjoy her tennis or play well.

“In 2014 I was very close, and that’s what made me very intense and want it too much,” Cibulkova told WTA Insider after triumphing at the Aegon International in June. “I was over-motivated and it didn’t happen.” She vowed to learn her lesson after that disappointment, and with a help of a sports psychologist, Cibulkova she had to let go in order to excel.

Then came a heel surgery in the spring of 2015, which sidelined Cibulkova for five months. She went from being a Top 10 player in 2014 to No. 66 at the start of this season. The climb back has been a steady and methodical one, highlighted by three titles and three big finals as well, at the Mutua Madrid Open, Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open, and the Abierto Mexicano Telcel.

And it all came together perfectly in Linz, where she won the title, under pressure, without losing a set.

Wozniacki’s abrupt U-Turn.

Everything you need to know about Wozniacki’s year can be summed up in a single stat. Wozniacki was 13-14 before the US Open this year. Since then? She’s 19-3, with those three losses coming coming to Angelique Kerber and Agnieszka Radwanska.

After making her surprise run to the US Open semifinals – her best result at a major since 2014 – the Dane has won two titles, at the Toray Pan Pacific Open and now the Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open. After a season of fits and starts that saw her struggle to remain healthy and build momentum, Wozniacki is now back in the Top 20 with a solid shot to qualify for the Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai.

In fact, with her entry in this week’s tournament in Luxembourg and as one of the in-form players heading to Zhuhai, Wozniacki should put herself in great position to get back in the Top 10 early next year. That’s an incredible turnaround for a player who was ranked No.74 less than two months ago.

Peng Shuai’s overdue win on home soil.

But the best story of the weekend came at the Tianjin Open, where 30-year-old Peng Shuai, who had been the standard-bearer of Chinese tennis for years along with Li Na, finally won her maiden WTA title. It was just two years ago that the Tianjin native made her Slam breakthrough, advancing to her first major semifinal at the US Open in 2014. That run helped boost her back in the Top 20 – she reached a career-high No.14 in 2011 – but tennis has an uncanny knack for cruelty. In 2015, Peng underwent major back surgery after the French Open last year, a decision to took because she hoped to prolong her career, because despite her legacy as one of the best players China has ever produced, Peng wasn’t done yet.

“The doctors told me I should think twice before taking this operation and surgery,” Peng said. “They said no one can make sure that the operation could be successful, 100%. The doctors performed this operation on me and told me there was a 50% possibility I could come back to the court. Before the surgery, the question was whether I could come back to the court or not. So maybe after this surgery my performance will not be very good. Before and after the surgery, the difference, the gap, was huge.

“After the surgery, I needed to do a lot of training and practicing. Something I could do in the past, maybe I could not do it today after the surgery. I need to take gradual steps to improve myself after the surgery. I think more important for me is to stay healthy and fit, otherwise I cannot continue my professional career.”

Peng’s ranking fell to as low as No.768 this season; the comeback has been slow and painful. During the off-season training block she had to lie in bed for three days after training because of the pain. She rushed her return in order to represent China at the Olympic tennis event in Rio but everything began to come together during the Asian Swing.

She beat Venus Williams at the China Open in front of a raucous home crowd and now, returning to her home in Tianjin, she swept both the singles and doubles title with Christina McHale. The win puts her ranking at No.108, and if she can move up a few more spots before year’s end she could earn direct entry into the main draw at the Australian Open.

“For me, two years ago, I was at a peak level,” Peng said at the China Open. “I could choose whether I would like to play or not. Actually, my friends and family did not agree with my surgery, because it’s too risky. Now I’m near 30 years old. After the surgery, no one could guarantee I could come back to the court. What if I have more injuries if I come back to the court? I’d like to thank them for their support and care. I am a little bit stubborn to have the surgery. My friends and family supported me to undergo this surgery. It was quite a challenge for me.

“Actually, life is full of challenges and uncertainties. This challenge is quite unique for me. I’ve made efforts in the tennis world for more than two decades. I sacrificed a lot of youth, time and energy. I’d like to take time to see if I can go further or not. Of course, if I retire, maybe I will live a normal life like others. I may have a family, babies. It’s another way of life. But I’m still happy that I made that choice.

“In retrospect, everything is on the right way. I don’t know whether I can come back to my past glory or peak. I believe I have so many supporters, and my team. I would like to sacrifice more. My goal is clear: to play more matches, be it singles or doubles. The key is to come back to the court. I feel excited about it. No other thoughts.

“When my ranking was high, I felt huge pressure. I still need to take care of other stuff, although right now I’m at the bottom level, my friends and family are still there to support me. I can look at the results in this cool-headed way.

Peng is one of a significant group of Chinese players who hail from Tianjin. In addition to Peng, China’s current Top 4 all call Tianjin home: Zhang Shuai, Zheng Saisai, Wang Qiang, and Duan Ying-Ying. The player cite Tianjin’s flexible tennis system, which allows players to go at their own pace and ambition, as the reason for their superior recruitment and retention of top talent.

With Peng finally earning the WTA title that long eluded her, the Tianjin Open get the fairytale ending it deserved.

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.

MOSCOW, Russia – No.8 seed Daria Kasatkina gave fans at the Kremlin Cup a lot to cheer about after her straight sets victory over Belinda Bencic.

Watch live action from Moscow this week at WTA Live Powered By TennisTV!

Russian players have always thrived at the year’s last Premier-level event in Moscow, with at least one Russian reaching the semifinals or better at nine of the last 10 editions of the tournament. Kasatkina looked set to add her name to that list as she needed just 61 minutes to dispatch Bencic 6-4, 6-1.

“It was a great win, especially in front of the home fans here,” Kasatkina said after the match. “Belinda is a tough opponent, a former Top 10 player, so it’s nice to get the victory and start the week here in Moscow playing well.

“I just want to keep putting in performances like this and finish the season strongly.”

Bencic got off to a roaring start early in the match, dragging Kasatkina from alley to alley and ripping a 150 kph overhead winner to bring up the first break for a 4-2 lead in the opening set. But Kasatkina clawed her way back as the unforced errors began to fly from Bencic’s raquet, with a wild forehand drifting wide to hand the break back to the Russian and level the match.

Kasatkina reeled off seven straight games to take the opening set and go up a break in the second. A double fault from Bencic – her fifth of the match – gave Kasatkina the final break and the Russian player closed out the match 6-4, 6-1.

No.9 seed Timea Babos will join Kasatkina in the second round after she took out 2014 finalist Irina-Camelia Begu in a two-and-a-half hour battle to advance 6-2, 6-7(2), 7-5.

Also in action today, Kremlin Cup qualifying wrapped up with Lesia Tsurenko, Katerina Siniakova, Anna Blinkova and Nicole Gibbs earning main draw berths.

Moscow, Russia – Elina Svitolina has admitted that she did not believe that her triumph over Serena Williams at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics was possible.

Zuhai, China – The 2016 Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai (WETZ) announced it’s first three qualifiers today — two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, 2015 US Open finalist Roberta Vinci and rising Ukrainian star Elina Svitolina.

SINGAPORE – Angelique Kerber heads into the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global as World No.1 – and she intends to stay that way. It will be her fourth appearance at the tournament, where she will attempt to make it beyond the round robin stage for the first time.

1) Top notch.
Kerber looks set to end the year as the World No.1 – a position she achieved for the first time in September when she won her second Grand Slam, the US Open, and bumped Serena Williams off the top spot. If she does finish as year-end World No.1, she will be the 12th woman to do so since rankings were introduced in 1975.

2) Experience counts.
Kerber is the 22nd woman to achieve the World No.1 ranking – and, at 28 years old, the oldest to debut in that spot.

3) Flying the flag.
She is the first German to make it to World No.1 since Stefanie Graf – one of her idols.

4) First left.
She is also the first left-handed player to hit the heights of World No.1 since Monica Seles – last at the top of the rankings almost 20 years ago.

5) Queen of Consistency.
2016 will be Kerber’s fifth straight year in the Top 10 – but her first in the top five since 2012.

6) Triumphant 2016.
Kerber signalled her intentions when she beat Williams in the Australian Open final back in January – and she followed that up by reaching the Wimbledon final, when she lost narrowly to Williams. Kerber won 19 of 22 matches during the summer swing as she reached the semifinals in Montreal, collected a silver medal at the Olympics and was a finalist at Cincinnati – indeed, she played 11 matches in 14 days throughout that hectic period. It didn’t have too much of a detrimental effect on her, though – she rounded it off with her second Grand Slam title by defeating Karolina Pliskova in the US Open final.

7) 28 years later.
Not to emphasise her age too much, but Kerber is only the second woman to win her first two Grand Slam singles titles after turning 28. Li Na did it first, winning the 2011 French Open at 29 and, three years later, the Australian Open.

8) First loss.
Since reaching No.1, Kerber has lost to Petra Kvitova (Wuhan), Elina Svitolina (Beijing) and Daria Gavrilova (Hong Kong).

9) Final ambition.
Kerber insists the prospect of finishing the year at No.1 is not on her mind – and that her goal is simply to do well in Singapore.

10) Big challenge.
Despite making her debut at the WTA Tour Finals back in 2012, Kerber has yet to qualify out of the round-robin stage – indeed, during her debut she did not win a single match. She has qualified for the Finals in every year since, except for 2014 where she was an unused alternate. And she’ll be confident that she knows how to handle the pressure of the big occasion now – she drastically improved her three-set win percentage by 18.4 per cent (from 15-12 in 2015 to 17-6 in 2016). That includes both her Grand Slam victories, taking the finals in three sets – showing that she can win on the biggest stages of all.

MOSCOW, Russia – Five-time BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global winner Serena Williams was forced to withdraw due to a right shoulder injury; having already qualified for the WTA Finals back in August, the former No.1’s absence means one more woman can join the Elite Eight.

“The race now intensifies this week as players fight for the remaining berth,” says WTA CEO Steve Simon. 

The stage is set for a battle royale at Moscow’s Kremlin Cup, the final Premier-level tournament of the 2016 season. Johanna Konta currently sits at No.9 on the Road to Singapore leaderboard – No.8 without Serena – but should either Carla Suárez Navarro or Svetlana Kuznetsova – who won the title last year – take home the trophy by week’s end, they will leapfrog the Brit and complete the field in Singapore.

All three women have enjoyed solid fall swings, as Konta finished runner-up at the China Open, her best result at a Premier Mandatory tournament in what has already been a breakthrough year for the first British woman to crack the Top 10 since Jo Durie in 1984. Kuznetsova saved a match point to defeat 2015 WTA Finals champion Agnieszka Radwanska en route to the semifinals of the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open, while Suárez Navarro is coming off a semifinal finish at the Generali Ladies Linz.

Kuznetsova is the top seed in Moscow, and begins her title defense against either Alizé Cornet or Shelby Rogers after receiving a first round bye. Suárez Navarro also has a bye into the round of 16, and will begin her tournament as the No.3 seed against either Lucie Safarova or Daria Gavrilova.

“Fans can expect an exciting WTA Finals this year,” continued Simon, “with reigning champion, Agnieszka Radwanska, defending her title and our World No.1 Angelique Kerber, seeking to consolidate her outstanding season with a victory in Singapore.”

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.

Serena Williams has decided to shut down her 2016 season, announcing her withdrawal from the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global due to a shoulder injury. Serena has not played a tour-level match since losing to Karolina Pliskova in the US Open semifinals in September.

Four thoughts on Serena’s withdrawal and what it means for the WTA Finals.

1. Serena relinquishes the year-end No.1 ranking to Angelique Kerber.

Serena’s decision means there will be no battle for the year-end No.1 ranking. No.1 Angelique Kerber snapped Serena’s record-tying 186-week streak at No.1 after winning the US Open, but the German’s sub-par swing through Asia left the door open for Serena to take it back in Singapore.

With Kerber’s loss to Daria Gavrilova in the quarterfinals of the Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open last week, the German has a 950 point lead on Serena in the rankings. Singapore offers 1500 points to the winner. Serena has won the WTA Finals the last four times she’s has played it, including back-to-back-to-back titles from 2012-2014. Kerber, by contrast, has never made it out of the round robin stage. Given their respective histories at the tournament, Singapore offered Serena a chance to finish the season where she started: at No.1.

2. Serena shuts it down early…again.

For the second straight year, Serena has shut down her season after taking a tough loss at the US Open. Given the trend, her announcement shouldn’t be a surprise. Since playing a career-high 82 matches in her astounding 2013 season, posting a 78-4 record and winning 11 titles, Serena has played fewer matches with each passing year:

2013: 82 matches, 78-4 record, won 11 titles.
2014: 60 matches, 52-8 record, won 7 titles.
2015: 56 matches, 53-3 record, won 5 titles.
2016: 36 matches, 30-6 record, win 3 titles.

Serena herself has affirmed her shift in priorities, to focus her energies on the Slams. Her win at Wimbledon this year moved her into a tie with Stefanie Graf for the Open Era record for most major titles. Healthy and rested, she’ll make her charge to break the record in 2017.

3. This decision feels different than last year.

When Serena announced last fall she would not play the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open, China Open, or WTA Finals, the break felt more necessary on an emotional level rather than physical. While she was struggling with elbow and knee injuries, she cited “heartbreak” as a reason too, referring to her loss to Roberta Vinci in New York that ended her historic bid for the calendar Grand Slam.

Not to discount the psychological toll this year took out of Serena as well, wherein she was trying to catch or surpass Stefanie Graf’s records for majors and consecutive weeks at No.1, but 2016 has been a particularly tough year physically. She struggled with noticeable shoulder and knee injuries during the summer hard court season and pulled out of tournaments during the clay season due to the flu.

An extended physical break to get her body teed up for the 2017 season wouldn’t be a bad thing.

4. Singapore breaks open.

Much like in 2015, Serena’s absence from the WTA Finals opens up a significant opportunity for the qualifying Elite Eight. Seven of eight qualifying spots are now confirmed, with Kerber leading the pack along with Simona Halep, defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska, Garbine Muguruza, and first-timers Karolina Pliskova, Madison Keys, and Dominika Cibulkova. The final spot will come down to either Johanna Konta, Carla Suárez Navarro, or Svetlana Kuznetsova.

The eight women represent the full range of WTA tennis, from pure power to rangy athleticism to crafty point construction. That the court at the Singapore Indoor Stadium has played like a slower hard court only neutralizes things even more. It’s no surprise that over the last two editions of the WTA Finals in Singapore, both a power-player and a counter-puncher has been represented in the final. In 2014 it was Serena defeating Halep, while last year it was Radwanska getting the better of Petra Kvitova.

Take a diverse group of the game’s best players and stick them on a neutral surface and you get a tournament that will be anything but predictable on any given day.

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.