Tag: Open

BELLIS’ PROFILE SURGES WITH ROGERS CUP VICTORY

American youngster CiCi Bellis has seen her profile steadily surge with her impressive game after game top performance.


The 18-year old defeated German Julia Goerges at the Rogers Cup in Toronto. She is ranked at career high of No. 36 but she has posted 12-4 against players in the top 50. She has won 16 WTA games and continues to shine.

Bellis defeated Goerges 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 and avenges her loss to the competitor at the Mallorca event earlier in the summer. She recently defeated second seeded wildcard Petra Kvitiva at the WTA Stanford tournament, where she reached the last four before exiting. The 5’7’’ star impressed in front of her home fans of Northern Californiawith her aggressive style of play as she knocked out the two-time tennis Wimbledon champ.

While Bellis might need to improve her power hitting, she is a firebrand and fierce fighter with strong focus. Against Goerges, she saved six of nine break points and won most of her first serve points. She is setting her sights higher this time as she defeated her rival in one hour 53 minutes on Tuesday. Continue reading BELLIS’ PROFILE SURGES WITH ROGERS CUP VICTORY

RUSSIANS LEADING THE PACK IN 2017

Right, left, and center, the Russians have gone on, picking up WTA titles since the Australian open.


This is despite the absence of a single Russian ranked inside the Top 8 on the WTA Tour.

However, it remains for the eyes to see that they have been making their mark. One of such Russian is Elena Vesnina who for her first WTA Premier Mandatory Event title,won in Indian Wells. This win in the final was over Svetlana Kuznetsova, a fellow Russian and the current world No. 9. With that,Vesnina went way up to a career-high ranking of No. 13.

Speaking after her victory, she made mention of the quality of the match and how good it was for women’s tennis and sport as a whole;

“I think in Russia they showed the whole match. So I think that’s great for women’s sport, great for women’s tennis. Me and Svetlana, I think we should proud how we actually were fighting and the quality of the tennis was really high.” Continue reading RUSSIANS LEADING THE PACK IN 2017

KUZNETSOVA WANTS DUBAI CHAMPIONSHIPS

Svetlana Kuznetsova is setting her sights on the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships after three final features in 13 years.


The tour veteran seems to be keen on blooming late in her career as she is playing very good tennis. After a strong showing at the Wimbledon last year, she returned to the top ten in the rankings for the first time since 2010.

The 31-year old Russia international has reached the final three times, facing Justine Henin in 2004, then battling Elena Dementieva four years later before meeting Caroline Wozniacki in 2011.

Kuznetsova had a relatively impressive 2016, particularly the second half of the year. She retained her Moscow title then she went on to reach the last four in Wuhan and Tianjin. She reached the quarterfinals in Cincinnati and Montreal and then the last four at the WTA Finals in Singapore.

This year she has started well, reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open – which had a lot of surprises. She has played in Dubai thirteen times, missing just once in 2003. She would be featuring in the tournament as one of the top ten players. Continue reading KUZNETSOVA WANTS DUBAI CHAMPIONSHIPS

Svetlana Kuznetsova trying Hard to come back

Svetlana Kuznetsova has again failed to clear the Round of 8 in Kremlin Cup.

It’s the 5th occasion now when the 29-year old Russian has been knocked out from the quarter final round of this competition.

Kuznetsova was facing Lucie Safarova whom she had already beaten at Roland Garros this season. So, she had a bit of a psychological advantage over the Czech.

But, psychological advantage doesn’t matter that much in sports. What matters is form and quality and Safarova did show that she was in better form than the local girl.

At the start of the game though, Kuznetsova seemed to be in better touch as with a breakthrough in the 2nd game and then, a serve hold thereafter, she took a lead of 3-0 in the opening set.

But, she dropped her serve twice after that and the set went in Safarova’s favour.

In the second set also, Kuznetsova gave the breakthrough to her opponent at a crucial time and that proved the difference.

The first, second and the thirds seeds are already out of the tournament and now, with the departure of Kuznetsova, Safarova has become the favourite to clinch the trophy.

In the Round of 4, Safarova would be battling against Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania who made it to the semis by getting better of Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria.

The other semi final of the tournament will be played between Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia) and Katerina Siniakova (Czech Republic).

Pavlyuchenkova is the 6th seeded player in the tournament. So, her entry in the semis is not surprising, but, Siniakova has surely surprised people with her performances. She is a qualifier; still, she has made it this far which is appreciable. The 18-year old would want to keep going and reach the final as well.