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Post by Admin on Sept 16, 2020 23:35:20 GMT
Top seed Simona Halep and two-time champion Elina Svitolina are in action, while Victoria Azarenka and Venus Williams set up an intriguing rematch at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.
Victoria Azarenka and Venus Williams headline one of the most anticipated first-round clashes at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.
It will be their ninth career clash, and a rematch of last month’s Lexington opener, which saw Venus thrash Azarenka in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2. Venus owns the head-to-head advantage, 6-2, although one of Azarenka’s victories came on clay in Madrid.
Since her match against Venus, Azarenka has gone on to lift the Premier 5 trophy at the Western & Southern Open and reach her first Grand Slam final in seven years at the US Open on Saturday.
In a battle between former World No.1 players and Grand Slam champions, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus outlasted Venus Williams of the United States, 7-6(7), 6-2, to become the final first-round winner of the 2020 Internazionali BNL d'Italia.
World No.14 Azarenka continued her resurgent summer after her tremendous run at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York, where she won the Western & Southern Open and reached the US Open final, with a victory over 1999 Rome champion Williams in just over two hours.
"Different surface was definitely challenging, but I feel like I adapted very well," Azarenka said, in her post-match press conference. "I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, I knew I wasn’t going to play a perfect game today, but it was all about trying to find the right intention of what to do today. I think it worked out okay."
"I felt that this was a great match for me to figure it out, the first match on clay," Azarenka added. "Venus played a really good match, it was good to see her also adapting to clay, changing and trying different shots. So, I’m pretty happy."
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Post by Admin on Sept 17, 2020 20:25:31 GMT
After advancing to the third round of the US Open by eliminating Canadian Leylah Fernandez, Sofia Kenin opened up about how her performance surge in 2020 helped her get recognized in the world of tennis and to not be “overlooked” anymore.
As we all know, 21 years old Kenin won this year’s Australian Open and became the youngest American Grand Slam champ in the WTA circuit since Serena Williams. Moreover, she promises a lot in this US Open edition, after her two straight-set victories.
“Definitely sometimes I did feel I was overlooked, I wasn’t really taken seriously,” Kenin said during her post-match conference on Thursday. “Obviously, winning [the Australian Open] definitely really helped with my confidence and changed my image drastically.
After that, I feel like people know me and respect me. It’s always nice to get back at the people, I guess, who didn’t really believe in you or treat you fair”.
Following her successful first-round against Yanina Wickmayer, Kenin felt her confidence going up and she was overall satisfied with her debut.
“I just felt like I was playing really well. Of course, I think it's a really good win, a good boost for my confidence… I played really well. I focused on the key elements of the game,” said Kenin after her first round at US Open.
Moreover, after Thursday’s second facile victory (6/4, 6/3) against Leylah Fernandez, Kenin is more confident than ever on her game. “I feel like my level is there definitely,” Kenin said. “I feel like I’m feeling the court well, playing my game.
… I feel like I found a groove. … I’m playing some really good tennis”. Now, the young American star will have to face Ons Jabeur, a player who flew past Katarzyna Kawa and Kaia Kanepi in the first two rounds of the Grand Slam.
Fortunately, Kenin has the upper hand on the clash as she leads 3-1 in the head to head matches with the Tunisian player. Moreover, every time the two met on a hard court, Sofia Kenin marched on with straight-set wins.
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Post by Admin on Sept 19, 2020 7:08:54 GMT
Victoria Azarenka has been praised for a moment of pure class in her Italian Open victory over Daria Kasatkina.
The Belarusian's passage to the next round came after a devastating injury to Kasatkina that forced the Russian to retire from the match.
The first set was delicately poised at 6-6 at the time, making Kasatkina's heartbreak that much harder to take.
Kasatkina rolled her right ankle while chasing a ball in the tiebreak, with Azarenka immediately rushing to her side to offer assistance.
The scenes that transpired next left viewers in awe of Azarenka's incredible displays of sportsmanship as she went out of her way to attend to her stricken opponent.
Azarenka, 31, brought her an ice pack and a towel before helping the Russian qualifier, who burst into tears, to her chair where she received treatment.
She later helped her opponent pack her bags, before kneeling down to offer her words of encouragement, followed by a warm embrace
Viewers were genuinely moved by Azarenka’s concern for her fellow competitor.
The Belarusian was showered with praise on social media for her stunning act of sportsmanship.
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Post by Admin on Sept 20, 2020 4:34:01 GMT
A heavyweight clash of former World No.1s in the Internazionali BNL d'Italia quarterfinals saw No.9 seed Garbiñe Muguruza move into the last four at the Foro Italico for the third time with an absorbing 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 defeat of Victoria Azarenka over two hours and 19 minutes.
The result marks Muguruza's belated revenge for the pair's only previous completed match, a superb 7-6(6), 7-6(4) win for Azarenka in the fourth round of Miami 2016.
Each of their meetings since then - both in 2019, one in the third round of this very tournament - had ended in retirement, but the sense of unfulfilled promise around their rivalry was significantly dispelled by the nature of today's contest, noteworthy not only for the quality of the players' ballstriking but for their tactical adjustments throughout.
This was particularly evident in a magnificent final frame, in which Muguruza led 3-1 but had to fight off a point to fall behind 3-5.
"I think it was a tough match. I knew it was going to be a tough match. She's a good player, she's playing good, she's with a lot of confidence," Muguruza assessed.
"I knew it was going to be a tough battle. I was ready for it. I stood behind her and waiting for my opportunities. She was playing great at the beginning. She took the first set. I kept myself together and said, 'Okay, let's start another battle in the second set.'"
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Post by Admin on Sept 21, 2020 1:04:14 GMT
Karolina Pliskova vs. Marketa Vondrousova | 2020 Rome Semifinal | WTA Highlights Karolina Pliskova has progressed into the Italian Open final and will meet Simona Halep, as she bids to retain her title on Monday. Pliskova, the second seed played a focused semi-final and beat Marketa Vondrousova 6-2 6-4, while Halep needed two hours and 14 minutes to prevail over Garbine Muguruza 6-3 4-6 6-4.  The two players know each other well after meeting three times in 2019 and having played each other 11 times in total. Halep leads the head-to-head with seven victories to four and will hope it is third time lucky in the championship match, having lost to Elina Svitolina in both the 2017 and 2018 finals. Karolina Pliskova vs. Elise Mertens | 2020 Rome Quarterfinal | WTA Highlights Pliskova spent 82 minutes on court against Vondrousova and came into the semi-final off the back of a 6-3 3-6 6-0 result against Elise Mertens. The 28-year-old started strongly and quickly found the rhythm that she'd shown against Mertens. A 4-1 lead was just reward for her work and Vondrousova couldn't find a weakness in her opponent's game. |
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