Tennis News

On this episode WTA Insider Senior Writer Courtney Nguyen recaps the action in Week 1, which culminated with Victoria Azarenka, Agnieszka Radwanska, and Sloane Stephens emerging from an otherwise fraught week, as champions. You’ll hear from Brisbane International champions Azarenka and Sania Mirza, both of whom look primed for a momentous season.

Azarenka on maturing and changing her perspective: “I think my ego dropped a lot. I dropped it. I didn’t want to be the type of player that is so full of themselves. I want to be understanding. I want to be available. Because tennis is more than just about results to me. It’s the process.”

Mirza on the prospect of completing the non-Calendar Grand Slam: “Sure, we’re halfway there. But halfway there and halfway to go is a long way off. It’s a Grand Slam for a reason. There’s a reason to win one in your lifetime and we were lucky enough to win two in a row.”

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MELBOURNE, Australia – There were some major moves on the new WTA Rankings this week – Agnieszka Radwanska going from No.5 to No.4, Angelique Kerber from No.10 to No.7, and Victoria Azarenka from No.22 to No.16 after winning her first WTA title since 2013 at the Brisbane International.

With Top 4, Top 8 and Top 16 seeds so critical at majors, those moves couldn’t have come at a better time, as these rankings are the ones the seeds are made from for the first major of the year.

With that, here are the projected seeds for the Australian Open:

(1) Serena Williams (USA #1)
(2) Simona Halep (ROU #2)
(3) Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP #3)
(4) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL #4)
(5) Maria Sharapova (RUS #5)
(6) Petra Kvitova (CZE #6)
(7) Angelique Kerber (GER #7)
(8) Venus Williams (USA #10)
(9) Karolina Pliskova (CZE #11)
(10) Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP #12)
(11) Timea Bacsinszky (SUI #13)
(12) Belinda Bencic (SUI #14)
(13) Roberta Vinci (ITA #15)
(14) Victoria Azarenka (BLR #16)
(15) Madison Keys (USA #17)
(16) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN #18)

(17) Sara Errani (ITA #19)
(18) Elina Svitolina (UKR #20)
(19) Jelena Jankovic (SRB #21)
(20) Ana Ivanovic (SRB #22)
(21) Ekaterina Makarova (RUS #23)
(22) Andrea Petkovic (GER #24)
(23) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS #25)
(24) Sloane Stephens (USA #26)
(25) Samantha Stosur (AUS #27)
(26) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS #28)
(27) Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (SVK #29)
(28) Kristina Mladenovic (FRA #30)
(29) Irina-Camelia Begu (ROU #31)
(30) Sabine Lisicki (GER #32)
(31) Lesia Tsurenko (UKR #33)
(32) Caroline Garcia (FRA #34)

** Flavia Pennetta (ITA #8) and Lucie Safarova (CZE #9) would have been seeded but are not competing at the Australian Open due to retirement (Pennetta) and bacterial infection (Safarova).

SYDNEY, Australia – Samantha Stosur held her nerve in a tense finale to edge out Roberta Vinci and reach the second round of the Apia International Sydney.

Watch highlights, interviews and more video from Sydney right here on wtatennis.com!

Each January, the question on the lips of everyone involved with Australian tennis is: which Stosur will turn up? The confident, baseline-hogging, Grand Slam winning version, or the nervy, error-strewn one struggling underneath the weight of home expectation.

And as Vinci clawed her way back into the third set, a familiar story looked to be unfolding in front of the Ken Rosewall Arena faithful. But having frittered away a 5-2 lead, a relieved Stosur finally dragged herself over the finishing line when the Italian sent a backhand drifting into the tramlines.

In the off-season, Stosur swapped the gym for a more cardiovascular approach, a decision that paid dividends during a 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 victory, which lasted over two and a half hours under the Sydney sun.

“It was a very long match, a very tough match,” Stosur said. “She knows what she’s doing out there, so you’ve got to know how to combat that. I did that at times, not at others, but I’m glad to get through.”

Since reaching the final over a decade ago, Stosur has failed to make it beyond the second round in Sydney. Blocking her path this time is another of the game’s more experienced heads, Daniela Hantuchova.

“If I could get through that and be in the quarters obviously I would be really pleased and really happy, it’s always nice to progress one round further than you’ve been able to for a long time,” Stosur added.

“That would be a really good confidence boost going into the Aussie Open. If I am in the quarters here, then I’ll try to keep going here as long as possible.”

Elsewhere in the bottom half of the draw, there were wins for Belinda Bencic, Ekaterina Makarova and Monica Puig.

Bencic, who made an early exit last week in Brisbane, got her Australian Open preparations back on track with a 7-6(6), 1-6, 6-4 win over Mirjana Lucic-Baroni. Puig was also made to work hard, eventually seeing off Magdalena Rybarikova, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, while Makarova kept her time on court to a minimum, swatting aside Lucie Hradecka, 6-2, 6-1, in under an hour.