Notes & Netcords: April 11, 2016

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

THE WINNERS

Sloane Stephens was a point from a one-set deficit against 2011 Volvo Car Open finalist Elena Vesnina, but the young American turned the tide in emphatic style, capturing her third title of the season, 7-6(4), 6-2.

“I just said to myself, ‘You have to fight for every point and compete.’ She’s a great player, so I knew I had to stay in every point,” Stephens said after the match.

“Obviously coming into here I have a lot of anxiety coming into this tournament because I’ve never done well here. I just thought, you know, I’m just going to go have fun. “I don’t have anything to lose. My life is great. It’s tennis. And this is what I do every week. So I kind of just changed my mindset, and that worked. So I should just do that every week.”

Read the full story and watch highlights here.

Meanwhile, Dominika Cibulkova captured her first WTA final since 2014 at the Katowice Open, taking out three-time finalist Camila Giorgi, 6-4, 6-0. Cibulkova was in her second final of 2016 – having narrowly missed out on the Abierto Mexicano Telcel title to Sloane Stephens.

“You have to go by small steps, and this is just a small step for me to get to where I want to be,” said Cibulkova, who missed much of 2015 recovering from an Achilles injury. “I proved that through the last matches – how I finished them – that I’m a really good player and this is how I want to play.”

Read the full story here.

GAME, SET, MATCH: WTA Insider 

Game: Sloane Stephens’ Premier Milestone.

From being match point down to Daria Kasatkina in the quarterfinals to tournament champion on Sunday, Stephens’ run to her biggest career title at the Volvo Car Open was as much of a rollercoaster as her 2016 season, which has been all about the boom or bust. Stephens has played six tournaments this year. In three she lost in her opening match (Australian Open, Indian Wells, Miami), in the other three she went on to win the title (ASB Classic, Abierto Mexicano TELCEL, and Volvo Car Open). When Sloane Stephens wins, she wins in bunches.

Prior to this year, Stephens carried a dismal 1-5 record in Charleston, a frustrating clip given how much she loved the tournament, the city, and playing on clay. This year, Stephens knocked off three quality Top 40 players in Daria Gavrilova, Daria Kasatkina, and Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber (Kerber retired due to a viral illness) en route to the final, where she was pushed to the limit in the first set before defeating Elena Vesnina 7-6(4), 6-2.

Set: Dominika Cibulkova’s Slow Climb.

Cibulkova has been playing well above her ranking this year. More often than not she’s been the most dangerous unseeded player at the tour’s biggest events so far. Her romp to her first title since 2014 was no big surprise at the Katowice Open. Cibulkova dropped just one set all week and capped off her semifinal and final wins with second set bagels. This was a dominant and deserved week for Cibulkova, who is up to No.38 in the rankings.

Match: Angelique Kerber and Lara Arruabarrena put on a show.

It wasn’t a match many people saw, but Kerber’s 6-2, 5-7, 7-6(3) win over Arruabarrena was some inspired stuff from both women, particularly the Spaniard. Ranked No.80, Arruabarrena looked to be primed for a quick exit after the first set, which was no surprise given her road to Charleston:

Arruabarrena found a way to raise her level and gave Kerber everything she had for the next two hours, as the two slugged it out on a cool night on the green clay. In the end it was Kerber’s resilience and experience that brought her over the finish line, but this was a performance to remember for Arruabarrena. It was one of the best matches of the year.

RANKING MOVERS:
Notable singles ranking movers for the week of April 11, 2016.

Elena Vesnina (RUS), +34 (No.85 to 51): Vesnina’s run to the final of the Volvo Car Open gives her the biggest ranking jump of the week and puts her within reach of the Top 50. Vesnina, a finalist in Charleston in 2011, had to play through qualifying just to reach the main draw.

Dominika Cibulkova (SVK), +15 (No.53 to 38): Cibulkova claimed her first title of the year – and her first since 2014 – at the Katowice Open this week and earned a 15-point ranking jump, putting her back into the Top 40.

Sloane Stephens (USA), +4 (No.25 to 21): Stephens grabbed her third title of the year at the Volvo Car Open and keeps inching higher and higher up the rankings – this week she’s up to No.21.

Daria Kasatkina (RUS), +3 (No.35 to 32): 18-year-old Kasatkina reached her first Premier-level quarterfinal on clay this week in Charleston, sending her up three spots to No.32. Even more significantly, the jump gives her a greater chance of being seeded at the French Open.

Agnieszka Radwanska (POL), +1 (No.3 to 2): Radwanska and Angelique Kerber continue their tug-of-war with the No.2 spot – they’ve traded it off four times in the last four ranking runs.

UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS

Claro Open Colsanitas
Bogotá, Colombia
International | $226,750 | Clay
Monday, April 11 – Sunday, April 17, 2016

Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
Stuttgart, Germany
Premier | $693,900 | Clay, Indoor
Monday, April 18 – Sunday, April 24, 2016

TOP 20 PLAYER SCHEDULES
1. Serena Williams
2. Agnieszka Radwanska – Stuttgart
3. Angelique Kerber – Stuttgart
4. Garbiñe Muguruza – Stuttgart
5. Victoria Azarenka
6. Simona Halep – Stuttgart
7. Petra Kvitova – Stuttgart
8. Roberta Vinci – Stuttgart
9. Maria Sharapova
10. Belinda Bencic – Stuttgart
11. Carla Suárez Navarro – Stuttgart
12. Flavia Pennetta
13. Svetlana Kuznetsova – Stuttgart
14. Venus Williams
15. Lucie Safarova – Stuttgart
16. Elina Svitolina – Bogotá
17. Timea Bacsinszky
18. Karolina Pliskova – Stuttgart
19. Ana Ivanovic – Stuttgart
20. Sara Errani

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
Best wishes to those celebrating birthdays this week:

Elizaveta Kulichkova (RUS) – April 12, 1996
Richel Hogenkamp (NED) – April 16, 1992
Taylor Townsend (USA) – April 16, 1996

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