Singapore: Makarova/Vesnina Vs Hlavackova/Hradecka
Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina take on Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka in the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina take on Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka in the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
SINGAPORE – Garbiñe Muguruza ended her breakout season with one last win at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, ousting an on-fire Svetlana Kuznetsova and blitzing the Russian in the final two sets of a 3-6, 6-0, 6-1 victory.
Read how the match unfolded in the WTA Insider Live Blog.
– Muguruza wanted this win.
For a player who won their first Grand Slam and ascended to a career-high ranking of No.2 just four months ago, few eyes were on Muguruza heading into Singapore.
“I suffered a lot in the last month,” she said in her post-match press conference. “I was wondering if I’m going to qualify, if I’m not going to qualify. I really wanted to qualify.
“I had the opportunity to go to Linz to play, and then I twisted my ankle and it was drama for me.”
The drama continued at the WTA Finals; down a set to Karolina Pliskova in her first round robin match, the Spaniard roared back and got perilously close to victory, only to lose the last five games.
“It was a very tough tournament. I had a match point in my first match; then the second match [against Agnieszka Radwanska] was tough.”
Mathematically out of contention to advance into the semifinals, there was little more pressure on Muguruza than the amount she put on herself.
“I have to be honest. Going into this match, it was extremely hard for me. Minutes before I was like, ‘This is going to be is difficult one for me.’
“At the end it was about my desire of wanting to be here and competing against the best. It became a challenge for me today, to see how I was going to react.”
Losing a decisive first set to Kuznetsova, who already qualified first in their round robin group, the reigning Roland Garros winner reacted well, dropping just one more game and hitting 31 winners to end her week with a 1-2 record.
“For sure a victory like today’s is going to keep me a little bit happier. I felt I took my opportunities in this one. Well, it was too late, but I still did it!”
A season of ups and downs put extra emphasis on an ostensibly low-stakes match; from her emotional reaction on court and in press, it was clear how much the win meant to her.
A relieved @GarbiMuguruza gets a win at 2016 @WTAFinalsSG. And nice words from @AndrewKrasny. #WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/zJYNXmfJwE
— WTA (@WTA) October 28, 2016
– Fatigue finally caught up with Kuznetsova.
The Russian had already advanced into the semifinals. For the first time in two weeks, she didn’t need to win a match to keep her season alive. Kuznetsova pointed to that inherent lack of intensity as being crucial to the loss on Friday.
“I’ve done the most important job in the past matches,” she said after the match. “You definitely don’t want to lose a match. You try to fight.
“Sometimes the lack of energy just won’t let you do that.”
Still, she noted her superb level of tennis in the first set, and how it only took a few tight games in the second set to turn things towards the Spaniard.
“I want to give credit to Garbine because I think she played way better in the second and third set.
“I don’t feel exhausted like that or something. But of course, to push yourself to the limit, you got to really go hard. I just want to do it tomorrow, try to do my best.”
She’ll have her opportunity tomorrow in the semifinal, where she takes on another surprise semifinalist in Dominika Cibulkova. Trailing 3-5 in their head-to-head, Kuznetsova’s lost her last five matches with the Slovak, including a three-set thriller at the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open.
“I do remember quite a bit of that match. I know I will try to make the changes on what I think didn’t work for me in that match.
“Of course, obviously, I’m not going to tell it now,” she added with a smile.
Garbine on the scene. @GarbiMuguruza takes a near 13 minute game. 2-0 in set 3 #WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/llIXns86bZ
— WTA (@WTA) October 28, 2016
– Muguruza is looking towards 2017.
It may be too soon for any player to sum up their season right after their last match, but Muguruza had a clear picture of what went right and wrong in 2016.
“I started the year thinking, ‘Okay, this is an important year for me. I finished well last year. Let’s try to keep doing well.’
“But the results weren’t there at the beginning, so I was like struggling. I was like, ‘Man, I’m practicing and doing everything and I am not winning matches.’ So it created a lot of frustration.
A top drop shot from @GarbiMuguruza. #WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/nxuEqkuomr
— WTA (@WTA) October 28, 2016
“I calmed down and then finally had the results, but then everything changed. All these responsibilities, all these emotions. It was hard for me to deal with this for the next tournaments. But I wouldn’t change anything, obviously.”
She’ll have to spend the off-season adjusting to what she cannot change, but after a heavily scheduled season, the former World No.2 will be looking to relax over the next few weeks.
“I didn’t really plan things because I didn’t know when I was going to finish here. Right now I’m just going to see how many days I have, see where can I go, who’s available.”
What she hopes will emerge will be the “dangerous opponent” she believes herself to be.
“I don’t really care who’s in front of me. Obviously the situation and the tournament, these can affect me, but I always think I have a chance to win.”
An interview with Garbiñe Muguruza after her round-robin win at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
Garbiñe Muguruza wraps up her round robin play at the WTA Finals with a topsy-turvy three-set win over Svetlana Kuznetsova.
An interview with Agnieszka Radwanska after her round-robin win at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
An interview with Karolina Pliskova after her round-robin defeat at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
Dominika Cibulkova and Angelique Kerber will do battle in the WTA Finals final after overcoming Svetlana Kuznetsova and Agnieszka Radwanska respectively.
SINGAPORE – No.4 seeds Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina withstood a late fightback to defeat Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka and take their place in the semifinals of the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
Watch interviews and highlights from Singapore on the WTA Facebook page!
A break in the penultimate game of the match allowed the Russians to close out a 6-2, 7-5 victory, setting up a showdown with defending champions, Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza.
Makarova and Vesnina have been one of the form teams in the second half of 2016, winning Olympic gold and reaching the US Open semifinals, and their confidence was apparent from the off, threatening an immediate break with some typically forceful net play. In the end, the breakthrough owed more to good fortune, Hlavackova getting her feet in a muddle after Vesnina scraped a return back.
They made the most of this stroke of luck, forging ahead before Makarova closed out the first set with an ace down the middle.
As always in doubles, watch out at the net! #WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/fIbQ6A3T8L
— WTA (@WTA) October 28, 2016
The second set proved o be far more competitive. But just as a tie-break loomed, the gold medalists struck, Makarova swatting the ball away after wrong-footing Hradecka with the initial volley. Serving for the match, Makarova made no mistake, swinging a serve out wide on match point before calmly finding the open court.
“It’s bouncing so low, so we need to stay down and in the second set we had some tough moments,” Makarova said in her on-court interview with Andrew Krasny. “In the end, I said to Lena, ‘Let’s stay as low as we can all the time!'”
Runners-up three years ago, they will next take on the defending champions, Hingis and Mirza. Despite the high stakes, Vesnina is not envisaging a change in approach: “We’re obviously having fun on and off the court. Even if someone has a bad moment, we’re trying to support and it gives us so much help knowing we have this support.”
Dominika Cibulkova takes on Simona Halep in the round-robin stage of the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
SINGAPORE – Agnieszka Radwanska’s strong return of serve was key to her win over Karolina Pliskova 7-5 6-3 in the final round robin match of the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. The victory earned Radwanska a spot in the event’s semifinals.
One of the best returners in the game, Radwanska was facing one of the best servers in the game in Friday’s match.
Through this season, Radwanska is among the Top 3 on the WTA for return points won (49%), return games won (49%) and break points converted (54%).
She was facing an opponent in Pliskova who led the WTA in aces (530) and was second for first serve points won (74%) in 2016.
The SAP Coaches View shows that it was Pliskova’s second serve that was vulnerable to Radwanska’s return, with the Pole winning 61% of those points.
The “Return of Serve” tracking with Coaches View shows that a key to Radwanska’s success was her aggressive approach in taking those Pliskova second serves. Radwanska returned 78% of Pliskova’s second serves from inside the baseline.
During the first two round robin matches of the tournament, Pliskova won 47% of second serve points, compared to 36% against Radwanska. Neither of her first two opponents, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Garbiñe Muguruza, were as aggressive as Radwanska in taking the ball early. Kuznetsova returned 57% of Pliskova’s second serves inside the baseline, while Muguruza did so just 10% of the time.
The SAP Coaches View combines scoring information direct from the chair umpire with tracking data from HawkEye to allow for an in depth look at five different aspects of a match. Each tracking option can be filtered to narrow the focus to specific situations within a match, such as break points.This information is available directly to coaches in real-time during a match on their SAP tablet and also available to them online after matches.
“Return of serve” tracking shows where each service return was struck, differentiating between first and second serves, with an emphasis on how many serves are returned from inside the baseline. This data can be filtered by a particular score.
Radwanska broke Pliskova five times in 10 games during Friday’s match, giving the defending champion a berth in the semifinals as she aims for a second straight WTA Finals title.
