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Post by Admin on Aug 10, 2014 21:56:15 GMT
Agnieszka Radwanska was the best, most consistent player all week, and that’s what made her the women’s Rogers Cup champion. The third-seeded Radwanska, the first Rogers Cup champion from Poland, defeated Venus Williams 6-4, 6-2 to pick up her first tournament win of the year at the $2.44-million hardcourt event and the $441,000 winner’s prize. The 34-year-old Williams earned $220,000. The 25-year-old Radwanska used her relentless baseline game to dominate a tired and impatient Williams on Sunday, who was coming off an emotional, three-set victory over her top-ranked sister Serena Williams in a semifinal on Saturday. “I think I was playing much better every match,” said Radwanska. “I didn’t start that well from my first match, but every match was much better. “That’s why I think I sitting right here now with you (reporters). I was feeling the balls much better.” The Krakow, Poland, native shot off to a 4-1 lead, but Venus Williams answered with a break that had the centre court crowd on its feet as Radwanska hit a drop shot, Williams dropped back, Radwanska hit a lob and Williams got back in time to win the point with a cross-court smash. Radwanska settled back in to finish the set and opened the second with a service break. After Williams broke to tie it at 2-2, she gave the break to Radwanska with a pair of double faults. Radwanska cruised the rest of the way, punctuating her victory with an ace on match point. Radwanska, ranked fifth in the world to Williams’ 26th, posted her first Rogers Cup win after twice reaching the semifinals. It was her first tournament victory since 2013 at Seoul. Williams, a seven-time Grand Slam winner, had an excellent week that will put her back into the world top-20 starting Monday. It included wins over sixth-seeded Angelique Kerber and 14th-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro. She fell short in her bid to become the event’s oldest champion after Martina Navratilova, who won 52 days short of her 33rd birthday in 1989. “It’s been a really long week,” said Williams. “I played like six matches in a row. “Against her, you really have to be patient. Today I just didn’t have everything to be patient and really work the point. I wanted to give more, but I just didn’t have it. It felt great to play so well this week. I really would like to think under circumstances where I could give everything I have, that the results could have been a little different.”
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Post by Admin on Aug 18, 2014 23:26:51 GMT
World number one Serena Williams won her first Cincinnati title with a straight-sets victory over Ana Ivanovic at the Western & Southern Open. The 32-year-old American fell behind early on but recovered to win 6-4 6-1 in 62 minutes. It is her first victory at the event in six attempts since 2006. Williams has now won 62 WTA titles and five in 2014, and she will try for a sixth US Open win when the final Grand Slam of the year begins on 25 August. There will be £2.4m (US$4m) on offer for Williams should she win the title in New York, having already sealed the £600,000 (US$1m) bonus for winning the US Open series as the best player across the US summer hard-court season. "It's just amazing to finally win here," said Williams. "It was such a great week. She was playing so hard, hitting so many winners." She made a slow start to Sunday's final, just as she had 24 hours earlier in the semi-final against Carolina Wozniacki, but again the 17-time Grand Slam champion wrestled control from her opponent. Ivanovic, seeded 12th, started confidently off the back of a landmark win over Maria Sharapova in the semis but she could not convert a point for a double-break at 3-1. Williams slammed the door shut with a big serve and never looked back, taking the set after two consecutive double faults from Ivanovic and rolling through the second set.
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Post by Admin on Aug 20, 2014 21:58:44 GMT
Camila Giorgi ousted four-time New Haven champion and No.4 seed Caroline Wozniacki from the Connecticut Open in second round action on Wednesday. Wozniacki plays better in New Haven than anywhere else, as evidenced by her 24-2 record going into her encounter with Giorgi. And she's been playing well everywhere these days, having gone into this match-up 13-2 since Wimbledon, with her only two losses three-setters against Serena Williams. A third set settled both of their previous clashes, a win for Giorgi at last year's US Open and a win for Wozniacki at Eastbourne this year. A third set would not be necessary this time, though, as Giorgi was in control from the outset. She broke Wozniacki in the first game of the match, and from there it was all holds as the Italian took the first set. Giorgi got her first break of the second set at 1-1 and it was smooth sailing from there as she finished off her 6-4, 6-2 victory. "She hits every ball as hard as she can," Wozniacki said. "She just went for it and the balls were going in. I felt a little tired and didn't move as well as usual. That doesn't help when you play somebody where you really have to be ready from the first point. "I knew I was going to get limited break chances, and when I did get them, I didn't convert. I knew I had to be aggressive out there and try to push her back, but I didn't manage to do that today. She played well, and I didn't. I would have loved to have been here longer, but it wasn't to be this year. Now I just need to take the positives out of it. I get a few extra days to rest up and practice for the US Open."
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Post by Admin on Sept 17, 2014 14:13:34 GMT
Mirjana Lucic-Baroni kept her 2014 revival going on Sunday afternoon, defeating Venus Williams in straight sets to win the Coupe Banque Nationale in Québec City - her first WTA title in 16 years and four months, a record for the biggest gap between winning WTA titles. Coming in off a sensational run to the fourth round of the US Open, which included the best win of her career against the No.2-ranked player in the world, Simona Halep, Lucic-Baroni carried that momentum into Québec City this week, not dropping a set en route to her first WTA semifinal since Wimbledon in 1999, then going one step further by reaching her first WTA final since Bol, Croatia in 1998. "I'm so happy I can't really find the words right now to explain how happy I am," Lucic-Baroni said. "I played such a great match today against one of the best players in the world, such a champion. It's been so long. I'm finally playing the great tennis I always knew I could play, but it had been so long that I kind of lost a little bit of the belief in myself. But now after starting with my new coach Julian Alonso, winning matches and really getting that belief back, I'm just so ready to keep going." The 16-year, four-month gap between Lucic-Baroni's last victory at Bol and this one is the longest gap between titles in WTA history, bettering Kimiko Date-Krumm's previous record of 13 years and one month, which she set between winning WTA titles at San Diego in 1996 and Seoul in 2009. "It's not bad!" Lucic-Baroni said when told about her new record. "It was so long ago, I don't even remember what it's like to hold a trophy in my hands. It's just incredible. I'm still in a little bit of shock because I was so focused today, but oh my goodness, it's just an amazing feeling right now." Mirjana Lucic won her first -- and so far only -- Grand Slam trophy when she partnered with Martina Hingis in 1998 and won the Australian Open doubles title. What's next for Lucic-Baroni? "I'm going to rest," she said. "When I get home we're going to celebrate at my husband's restaurant. And for sure he's going to make some really good for me. "We'll open a good bottle of champagne. I'll find the most expensive one in his restaurant!"
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Post by Admin on Sept 21, 2014 4:10:25 GMT
China's Li Na has announced her retirement from tennis at the age of 32, citing injury problems. Li, who has taken both the French and Australian Open titles, made the widely expected announcement in a statement on social media. After four knee surgeries, "my body is begging me to stop the pounding", the tennis star wrote. The Chinese Tennis Association thanked her for the "shining moments" she had given to the sport. Li is one of China's most high-profile athletes and a national hero. She is well-known for her outspoken independence, her humour and her reluctance to embrace the state-run training system. She won the Australian Open in January to add to her 2011 French Open title, but the world number six has not played since losing in the third round at Wimbledon in June. The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) called Li a "pioneer" in tennis. "Li Na has been a fun, powerful, and wonderful player on the WTA tour and, along with her fans, I am sad to hear that she has retired,'' WTA chief executive Stacey Allaster said in a statement.
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