2013/05/18

Williams Day at the Family Circle Cup

Venus Williams

Venus Williams

(April 5, 2013) CHARLESTON, SC – Ticketholders to Friday’s day session got quite the schedule after rain forced the Family Circle Cup to cancel its Thursday day session due to rain.

Seven singles matches were held on Friday, and rain only slightly held up play between earlier during the first match on Althea Gibson Court.

Billie Jean King Stadium may as well have been renamed Williams stadium for the day as Venus and Serena Williams combined for four straight matches on the main court.

Venus first needed three sets to get past Vavara Lepchenko 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 before Serena took the court against Mallory Burdette. In the pair’s first meeting, Burdette cracked four aces and kept the match competitive throughout but fell 6-4, 6-2 in 77 minutes.

Burdette said she was pleased with how she played against the world #1. “I’m very happy with the way that I played today and how far I’ve come since I turned pro last fall. I love playing against the top players to see how you match up. That was really, really fun, and it’s always a great learning experience.”

Once Serena won, it was Venus’ turn to play again on Billie Jean King stadium. She faced another American in teenager Madison Keys, who had beat Bethanie Mattek-Sands 7-6(4), 6-4 earlier Friday. Keys and Venus have similar games, but Venus’ experience saw her win her second match of the day 6-4, 6-4.

Keys had this to say about Venus following the match: “She’s an amazing returner. Just put a ton of pressure on me on my serve. She can move well and she has a good serve, so it’s hard to get on the offense.”

Venus says she had played more than one match a few times in her career and hoped the crowd enjoyed the Williams show. “I was thinking it’s a quadruple header today,” she said. “Hopefully that was a lot of fun for the fans. I don’t know if that’s ever going to happen again. I hope it doesn’t. But it was a really cool thing for the tournament to do to kind of just reward the crowd for hanging in there through this weather.”

Serena Williams

Serena Williams

The final Williams match of the day was a rematch of the 2012 Family Circle Cup final between Serena and Lucie Safarova. In that match, the Czech managed one game but today’s contest was much tighter as Williams lost her serve twice and had to come back from 2-4 down in the first set. The world #1 said she was motivated by her sister’s victories.

“I figured if she can win two matches, I have no excuse not to win my two matches,” Serena said. “Obviously I play Venus. She’s my toughest opponent I’ve ever played, and I think she’s beaten me the most of any player.”

Serena and Venus have not faced each other since the WTA Championships in Doha in 2009, where they actually played twice, with Serena winning both matches (in round robin and the final). Serena leads their head to head 13-10.

In the bottom half of the draw, Jelena Jankovic won her ninth straight clay match of the season in quickly ousting Genie Bouchard of Canada 6-1, 6-2 for her 500th career victory. She joins both Williams sisters, Tammy Tanasugarn, Nadia Petrova, Francesca Schiavone and Flavia Pennetta as active players who have more than 500 wins.

“It’s a great achievement to get my 500th win on the WTA Tour, and hopefully I can have many more,” Jankovic said. “It’s nice. I don’t know how many players have done that, and in order to have 500 wins, I think you have to have a pretty long career, be pretty consistent.”

Jankovic will play Stefanie Voegele who upset Caroline Wozniacki.

Serena and Venus are scheduled for a 1pm start on Saturday, followed by Jankovic – Voegele.

Stephanie Neppl is in Charleston covering the Family Circle Cup for Tennis Panorama News. She spends all her spare funds traveling to tennis tournaments and has played since her teen years. She has worked as Social Media Manager for Tennis Auckland’s ATP and WTA tournaments. Follow her live updates on Twitter at @TennisNewsTPN. Follow her personal Twitter @stephintheus and her blog  http://ihaveatennisaddiction.blogspot.com.

FAMILY CIRCLE CUP – CHARLESTON, SC, USA

$ 795,707.00
MARCH 30 – APRIL 07, 2013

RESULTS – APRIL 05, 2013
Women’s
Singles – Quarterfinals
[1] S Williams (USA) d [6] L Safarova (CZE) 64 61
S Voegele (SUI) d [2] [WC] C Wozniacki (DEN) 36 64 63
[5] V Williams (USA) d M Keys (USA) 64 64
[9] J Jankovic (SRB) d [Q] E Bouchard (CAN) 62 61
Third Round
[1] S Williams (USA) d [Q] M Burdette (USA) 64 62
[5] V Williams (USA) d [12] V Lepchenko (USA) 62 46 62
[6] L Safarova (CZE) d [11] S Cirstea (ROU) 63 57 61
M Keys (USA) d [WC] B Mattek-Sands (USA) 76(4) 64

Women’s
Doubles – Quarterfinals
A Barty (AUS) / A Rodionova (AUS) d [2] R Kops-Jones (USA) / A Spears (USA) 64 36 10-6
K Mladenovic (FRA) / L Safarova (CZE) d [3] V King (USA) / L Raymond (USA) 76(5) 61
M Moulton-Levy (USA) / S Zhang (CHN) d [4] J Goerges (GER) / Y Shvedova (KAZ) 57 63 10-5

ORDER OF PLAY – SATURDAY, APRIL 06, 2013
BILLIE JEAN KING start 1:00 pm
[1] S Williams (USA) vs [5] V Williams (USA)
[9] J Jankovic (SRB) vs S Voegele (SUI)
[1] A Hlavackova (CZE) / L Huber (USA) vs M Moulton-Levy (USA) / S Zhang (CHN)
K Mladenovic (FRA) / L Safarova (CZE) vs A Barty (AUS) / A Rodionova (AUS)

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BNP Paribas Open Names Wildcards – Includes Nalbandian, Blake and Date-Krumm

(February 27, 2013) INDIAN WELLS, Calif., – Former top-five players David Nalbandian, Tommy Robredo, James Blake and Kimiko Date-Krumm; Americans Tim Smyczek, Steve Johnson, Madison Keys, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Maria Sanchez, Melanie Oudin and Taylor Townsend; and Shahar Peer and Kristina Mladenovic were granted wildcards into the main draws of the BNP Paribas Open, to be held March 4 – 17 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, it was announced today by Steve Simon, tournament director.

David Nalbandian has won 11 ATP World Tour titles since turning professional in 2000 and reached the 2002 Wimbledon finals in his first appearance at the event. The Argentine and former World No. 3 will be making his tenth appearance at the BNP Paribas Open. Last year in Indian Wells, Nalbandian equaled his best result, reaching the quarterfinals for the second time in his career.

Former World No. 5 Tommy Robredo is continuing his comeback to the ATP World Tour after an injury derailed much of his 2012 season. The Spaniard has won 10 career titles and has reached five Grand Slam quarterfinals. American James Blake, former World No. 4, also has 10 career titles and defeated then-World No. 2 Rafael Nadal to reach the 2006 BNP Paribas Open finals. Kimiko Date-Krumm turned pro in 1989 and is currently the oldest player in the top 100 at 43 years old. The former World No. 4 has eight career singles titles and four doubles titles, including one in 2013 at Pattaya City.

In addition to Blake, seven other Americans have been granted wildcards into the main draws including two-time NCAA Champion from USC Steve Johnson, who reached the third round of the 2012 US Open; Milwaukee native Tim Smyczek, who is at a career-high ranking just outside the top 100 and pushed World No. 4 David Ferrer to four sets at the 2013 Australian Open; 19-year-old breakout star Madison Keys, who has already defeated five top-50 players in 2013 and cracked the top 80 earlier this month; WTA veteran Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who won the 2012 Australian Open Mixed Doubles title; another USC standout – Maria Sanchez, who is at a career-high ranking after jumping 560 ranking places in 2012 – more than any other player in the WTA; Georgia native Melanie Oudin captured her first WTA title last year in Birmingham (UK); and 17-year-old Taylor Townsend, who turned professional in 2012 after reaching the top of the junior rankings earlier that year.

Two other international players receiving main draw wildcards are Israeli Shahar Peer, who was a BNP Paribas Open quarterfinalist in 2007 and 2011 and reached a career-high ranking of No. 11 and French teenager Kristina Mladenovic, who is at a career-high ranking after defeating three top-25 players to reach the Paris semifinals earlier this year.

“This year’s main draw wildcards span from seasoned veterans, to rising American and international stars to those returning from injury,” said Simon. “Awarding wildcards to players like David Nalbandian, James Blake, Madison Keys and Taylor Townsend add to the allure of early-round matches for fans and provide the potential for these deserving athletes to break through and make a move up their respective Tour’s rankings.

Qualifying wildcards were given to Americans Christian Harrison, Jack Sock, Rhyne Williams, Dennis Novikov, Grace Min, Jessica Pegula and Irina Falconi, German Andrea Petkovic and Croatian Ajla Tomljanovic.

Harrison, the 18-year-old younger brother of American No. 6 Ryan Harrison, reached the quarterfinals in doubles with his brother at the 2012 US Open and is making his debut to the BNP Paribas Open. Sock is at a career-high ranking after reaching his first ATP World Tour quarterfinal in Memphis earlier this month. Williams, a former University of Tennessee standout, is also at a career-high ranking after capturing the ATP Challenger tour title in Dallas. Novikov, who won the 2012 BNP Paribas Open pre-qualifying tournament, is now a sophomore playing at UCLA and won the 2012 USTA Boys Championships in Kalamazoo. Min won the 2011 US Open Junior Championship and three ITF titles in 2012. Pegula won two matches in the qualifying tournament to reach the 2012 BNP Paribas Open main draw. Falconi cracked the WTA top 100 in 2011 and has won 4 ITF singles titles.

Petkovic is a former World No. 9 and has reached the quarterfinals in every Grand Slam. She is returning to tennis after a series of injuries kept her from competing consistently for more than a year. Tomljanovic has three ITF singles and 3 ITF doubles titles.

In addition to the aforementioned qualifying wildcards, the winners of each pre-qualifying tournament, which takes place February 25 – March 2, will also be granted a berth into the 2013 BNP Paribas Open qualifying draw. Women’s qualifying starts March 4 and men’s qualifying begins March 5 at 10:00am.

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Mattek-Sands, Oudin Among US Open Women’s Wildcards

From the USTA: The USTA announced today the eight women who have been awarded women’s singles main draw wild card entries into the 2012 US Open Tennis Championships: Bethanie Mattek-Sands and 2009 US Open quarterfinalist Melanie Oudin, both members of the U.S. Fed Cup team, 2012 NCAA singles champion Nicole Gibbs, 2012 NCAA singles runner-up Mallory Burdette, USTA Girls’ 18s champion Victoria Duval, and Julia Cohen, along with Australia’s Casey Dellacqua and France’s Kristina Mladenovic.

 

The 2012 US Open will be played August 27 – September 9 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y. Both the men’s and women’s US Open singles champions will earn a record $1.9 million with the ability to earn an additional $1 million in bonus prize money (for a total $2.9 million potential payout) based on their performances in the Emirates Airline US Open Series.  The US Open Women’s Singles Championship is presented by JPMorgan Chase.

 

Burdette, 21, of Jackson, Ga., earned a wild card from USTA Player Development based on her USTA Pro Circuit results this summer. This year, the USTA awarded one US Open women’s singles wild card to the American who earned the most WTA ranking points at two of three USTA Pro Circuit hard-court events. Burdette, a rising senior for Stanford, captured the 2012 NCAA doubles title with Gibbs and the 2011 title with Hilary Barte. Burdette and Gibbs also faced off in the 2012 NCAA singles final. It was the first all-Stanford final since 2001. Last month, Burdette won her first WTA match at the Emirates Airline US Open Series event in Stanford, Calif.

 

Cohen, 23, of Philadelphia, will play in her first-ever US Open main draw after advancing to her first career WTA Tour final in Baku, Azerbaijan, last month. Cohen earned All-America honors as a sophomore at the University of Miami (Fla.) and took home ITA Rookie of the Year honors as a freshman at the University of Florida. She has extensively competed on the USTA Pro Circuit and ITF Circuit over the last three years.

 

Duval, 16, of Bradenton, Fla., earned a US Open wild card by winning the USTA Girls’ 18 National Championships, knocking off five Top 10 seeds. At the 2011 US Open, she defeated the defending champion Daria Gavrilova en route to the girls’ singles quarterfinals. Duval formerly trained at the USTA Certified Regional Training Center in Atlanta, and members of the club helped save her father, a doctor in Port-au-Prince, who was injured in the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. She is currently working with USTA coach Kathy Rinaldi.

 

Gibbs, 19, of Manhattan Beach, Calif., won the 2012 NCAA singles and doubles titles as a sophomore at Stanford, becoming just the third woman in NCAA history to accomplish that feat. On the professional level, Gibbs qualified for and won the $50,000 USTA Pro Circuit event in Denver in her first pro event of the year. She appeared in US Open qualifying in 2010 and 2011, earning wild cards each year as USTA Girls’ 18s runner-up.

 

Mattek-Sands, 27, of Phoenix, Ariz., reached a career-high ranking of No. 30 in 2011, but missed the fall 2011 season with a rotator cuff injury. Mattek-Sands represented the U.S. in Fed Cup from 2009 to 2011 and helped lead the U.S. to the Fed Cup final in 2009 and 2010. She has played in 11 consecutive US Opens dating back to 2001. She has won 10 career WTA doubles titles, and this year she won the 2012 Australian Open mixed doubles title with Romanian Horia Tecau.

 

Oudin, 20, of Marietta, Ga., won her first career WTA title at the Wimbledon tune-up event in Birmingham this year, where she won eight matches as a qualifier. Also, she earned a 2012 USTA French Open wild card based on her results at USTA Pro Circuit events this spring. Oudin has had much success at the Open, advancing to the quarterfinals in 2009 and claiming the mixed doubles title in 2011 with Jack Sock. Oudin has been a consistent force on the U.S. Fed Cup team, playing in seven ties. She trains full-time at the USTA Training Center-East in Flushing, N.Y., at the home of the US Open.

 

Dellacqua, 27, of Perth, Australia, received her wild card through a reciprocal arrangement with Tennis Australia, which grants a women’s singles main draw wild card into the 2013 Australian Open to a player designated by the USTA.  She achieved a career-high ranking of No. 39 in 2008, and reached the fourth round of that year’s Australian Open, her best showing at a Grand Slam event.  Dellacqua won the 2011 French Open mixed doubles title and she also received a 2011 US Open wild card.

 

Mladenovic, 19, of Saint Pol sue Mer, France, received her wild card through a reciprocal arrangement with the French Tennis Federation, which granted a wild card into the 2012 French Open to a player designated by the USTA (Oudin earned the 2012 USTA French Open wild card through the USTA Pro Circuit tournament-based system this year). In 2009, Mladenovic won the French Open girls’ singles title and advanced to both the singles and doubles girls’ finals at Wimbledon. In turn, she became the No. 1-ranked junior in the world. Mladenovic played for France in the 2012 Olympic Games.

 

In addition to the US Open women’s singles main draw wild cards, the USTA also announced eight women who have been awarded wild card entries into the US Open Qualifying Tournament, which will be held August 21-24 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.  One additional US Open qualifying wild card will be awarded to the winner of the 2012 US Open National Playoffs – Women’s Championship, taking place August 17-20 in New Haven, Conn.

‘

Players receiving 2012 US Open qualifying wild cards are: 2012 Easter Bowl singles finalist Brooke Austin (16, Indianapolis), who also represented the U.S. in Junior Fed Cup this year; 2008 Orange Bowl champion Julia Boserup (20, Boca Raton, Fla.); Gail Brodsky (21, Brooklyn, N.Y.), who trains at the USTA Training Center-East at the home of the US Open and won the 2008 USTA Girls’ 18s title; 2012 Easter Bowl and USTA Girls’ 18s doubles champion Samantha Crawford (17, Tamarac, Fla.); 2012 USTA Girls’ 18s singles runner-up and doubles champion Alexandra Kiick (17, Plantation, Fla.), the daughter of former Miami Dolphin Jim Kiick; 2010 USTA Girls’ 18s singles champion Shelby Rogers (19, Charleston, S.C.); world No. 9 junior Chalena Scholl (16, Pompano Beach, Fla.); and Ashley Weinhold (23, Spicewood, Texas), the 2007 USTA Girls’ 18s national champion.

 

The 2012 US Open will be held Monday, August 27, through Sunday, September 9.  Tickets for the 2012 US Open can be purchased four ways: 1) at USOpen.org; 2) by calling Ticketmaster at 1-866-OPEN-TIX; 3) at all Ticketmaster outlets; or 4) at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center box office.  American Express is the Official Card of the US Open.

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US Women go 10 for 10 in First Two Days of French Open

Who says Americans can’t play on clay? In the first two days of the French Open, the ladies from the United States are a perfect 10 for 10 in wins. It’s the first time since 2003 that so many US women have gained a berth in the second round in Paris. In 2003 11 US women made the second round.

The US women can still add to their total in the second round, as two more women Serena Williams and Jamie Hampton take the court on Tuesday for their first round matches.

Monday, May 28th results

Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) d. (12) Sabine Lisicki (GER) 64 63
(Q) Lauren Davis (USA) d. (30) Mona Barthel (GER) 61 61
Christina McHale (USA) d. (Q) Kiki Bertens (NED) 26 64 64
Vania King (USA) d. Galina Voskoboeva (KAZ) 64 62
Varvara Lepchenko (USA) d. Ksenia Pervak (KAZ) 62 67(6) 64
Sloane Stephens (USA) d. Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) 64 76(6)

Sunday, May 27th results

Venus Williams (USA) d Paula Ormaechea (ARG) 46 61 63
Irina Falconi (USA) d Edina Gallovits-Hall (ROU) 36 63 61
(Q) Alexa Glatch (USA) d Anna Tatishvili (GEO) 63 57 64
(WC) Melanie Oudin (USA) d Johanna Larsson (SWE) 63 63

In five of the past seven years, a mere four American ladies made it out of the first round in Paris.

“A couple years ago everyone was asking me the opposite questions on why American tennis was so bad, said Bethanie Mattek-Sands who upset 12th seed Sabine Lisicki on Monday.  “I told them, I think we have some great young players coming up.  It’s just the WTA right now has a lot of depth.

“It really shows that some of the Americans are coming through playing tough, grinding it out here on the clay, and it’s awesome, I think.”

“It’s exciting.” Sloane Stephens said about all of the American women coming through. “I was just talking to Christina (McHale) in the locker room.  I’m like, Who do you play?  She’s like, I play Lauren Davis.  I’m like, Oh, my God.  I play Bethanie.

“So all the Americans are playing Americans, but it’s good that we’ll have people in the third round.  So that’s always nice.”

In terms of American women on clay”I don’t think anything’s changed,” Stephens continued.  “It’s always been the same.  Maybe people got tough draws before.  I don’t know what methods people are using or what’s been different, but we’re winning.”

“Maybe it’s a little bit extra firepower or some extra come ons or some heart.  I’m not sure.

“But to everyone that got a win, that is really exciting, because everyone always says that we’re not good on clay.

“That’ll prove ‘em wrong.”

 

As for the US men, although Andy Roddick and Ryan Harrison crashed out in the first round, John Isner, Jessie Levine, and comeback player Bryan Baker are through to the second round. Sam Querrey, James Blake, Donald Young will face huge challenges to advance to the second round when they play their first round matches on Tuesday.

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Getting to Know Bethanie Mattek-Sands – Part Three

 

MADRID – American player Bethanie Mattek-Sands  spoke to Lucia Hoffman about  talks about 10 and under tennis in the USA in part three of video interview. Hoffman is covering the Madrid Open for Tennis Panorama News.

Getting to Know Bethanie Mattek-Sands – Part One

Getting to Know Bethanie Mattek-Sands – Part Two

Follow Bethanie Mattek-Sands on twitter -https://twitter.com/#!/BMATTEK, Facebook-http://www.facebook.com/BethanieMattekSands and her website -http://www.bmattek.com/home

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Getting to Know Bethanie Mattek-Sands – Part Two

 

MADRID – American player Bethanie Mattek-Sands  spoke to Lucia Hoffman about her expectations for the clay court season in part two of video interview. Hoffman is covering the Madrid Open for Tennis Panorama News.

Getting to Know Bethanie Mattek-Sands – Part One

Follow Bethanie Mattek-Sands on twitter -https://twitter.com/#!/BMATTEK, Facebook-http://www.facebook.com/BethanieMattekSands and her website -http://www.bmattek.com/home

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Getting to Know Bethanie Mattek-Sands – Part One

Bethanie Mattek-Sands photo from bmattek.com

MADRID – While the blue clay courts are the talk of the Madrid Open, American player Bethanie Mattek-Sands is trying to make her way back up the rankings after recovering from a recent injury. She’s currently ranked 148th in the world on the WTA Tour and  lost in the first round of the Madrid Open qualifying singles to Anna Chakvetadze.

She spoke to Lucia Hoffman who is in Madrid covering the Madrid Open for Tennis Panorama News in a series of videos. In part one she talks about “color” in Madrid.

 

Follow Bethanie Mattek-Sands on twitter -https://twitter.com/#!/BMATTEK, Facebook-http://www.facebook.com/BethanieMattekSands and her website -http://www.bmattek.com/home

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Tennis Meets Fashion at WTA’s Pre-Wimbledon Party

Jelena Jankovic, Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams

The WTA and the British Fashion Council partnered to raise awareness between sports and fashion at the pre-Wimbledon party on Thursday night at the Kensington Rooftop Gardens in London.

 

Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Ana Ivanovic and Sania Mirza

The aim of the WTA-British Fashion Council collaboration was to feature British designers, raise the off-court profile of the stars of women’s tennis, and further extend the link between the sport and fashion.

Elena Vesnina, Tsvetana Pironkova and Mirjana Lucic

Designers created dresses for the players including Caroline Wozniacki (Stella McCartney); Serena Williams (Burberry); Maria Sharapova (Alexander McQueen); Li Na (Giles Deacon); Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (David Koma); Ana Ivanovic (Matthew Williamson); Jelena Jankovic (Vivienne Westwood); Andrea Petkovic (Richard Nicoll); Heather Watson (Mulberry); and Laura Robson (Temperley). All of the women wore shoes designed by Nicholas Kirkwood.

Bethanie Mattek-Sands wore the most unique dress of the evening, designed by one of singer Lady Gaga’s designers Alex Noble. The dress featured a neon green corset made from different parts of tennis balls, with matching shoulder pads.

Caroline Wozniacki

 

The dresses will be auctioned off during Wimbledon with the proceeds to be equally split between WTA charities and the British Fashion Council’s Princess of Wales Charitable Trust.

Most photos courtesy of WTATennis.com and Getty Images.

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Madrid: Djokovic Streak at 30, Nadal-Federer Part 24

Novak Djokovic continued one streak and stopped another streak. He extended his win streak  to thirty  on the year and stopped his clay court losing streak to David Ferrer by beating the Spaniard 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

 

Point of the match

“I was aware of the quality of my opponent today and the fact that I never won against him on clay,”

“I needed to be emotionally stable and handle in the best possible way because obviously I had to stay focused and work hard and that crowd was behind him which was expected. I wanted to use the opportunity and that’s what I did.”

Djokovic who will face Thomaz Bellucci in the semifinal is now number two on the Open Era list behind John McEnroe for best start to a season.

rafael_nadal

“I didn’t think I would win like that,” stated Rafael Nadal after destroying Micheal Llodra 6-2, 6-2 in the quarterfinals in Madrid extending his clay court winning streak to 36.. “He’s got a powerful serve and dangerous volley so it’s hard to pass him but in the first set he committed some errors. Winning that first set gave me a lot of confidence.”

Nadal spoke about his play, “today it was quite good, especially here with the altitude it’s a little bit more complicated because it’s more difficult to go over him….it’s a bit more difficult with the serve. I felt quite good on the court, I served well. In the second set there were quite a lot of rallies and not so many in the first and I think I played really well.”

Nadal will face Roger Federer in the semis on Saturday. Federer defeated Robin Soderling 7-6, 6-4. “Conditions were tough today, said Federer. “I didn’t know we could get such wind in a closed stadium. But I thought I played a great match from start to finish.”

Saturday will mark the 24th career meeting between Nadal and Federer. Nadal holding a commanding 15-8 record overall, and 10-2 on clay.

“I’m excited, I’m playing Rafa here in the next round. I’ve beaten him here in the past, but it will obviously depend a lot on the day—but he’s the favorite on the clay,” said Federer.

bellucci1

Thomaz Bellucci

Brasil’s Thomaz Bellucci has consecutive victories over top ten players at the Madrid Open. On Thursday Bellucci thrashed Andy Murray and on Friday he stopped No. 7 Tomas Berdych 7-6(2), 6-3 to reach the semifinals.

It’s all about gaining confidence said Bellucci,”of course, yesterday’s (Thursday’s) match gave me a lot of confidence that I was needing…I was losing some games and wasn’t playing very well, but yesterday I played my best tennis and today I had a lot of confidence on the court and I managed to get a victory. Today I played well and I have got even more confidence for tomorrow’s match.”

“The most important thing is that I continue playing like I have been and with a lot of concentration and I manage to play my best.”

goerges

Julia Goerges

Germany’s Julia Goerges took out Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 6-2 for her 10th consecutive victory gaining a semifinal berth in Madrid. She’ll face Victoria Azarenka a  6-3, 3-6, 6-2 winner over Lucie Safarova. Azarenka on her contest with Safarova: “I managed to step up my level but it was hard to break her because she was serving so well. I kept fighting for every point and got through in the end.”

Bethanie Mattek-Sands’ run in Madrid is over, due to Li Na. The Australian Open finalist stopped Mattek-Sands 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. “Bethanie played amazing today, it was fantastic tennis. I kept looking at my couch thinking, ‘What’s going on here!’” “I’m really happy to win this one. I am happy about winning again and I hope to go even further here.”

Li Na will play Petra Kvitova for a place in the final. The Czech defeated good friend Dominika Cibulkova 3-6, 6-3, 5-7.

Madrid Open Results and Order of Play

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Wozniacki, Stosur and Schiavone Upset in Madrid

Second straight tournament, second straight win for Germany’s Julia Goerges over No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki. This time it was 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 in the third round of the Madrid open on Thursday.

Goerges had to rally from 0-3 down in the first set while in the second set the momentum swung Wozniacki’s way as she broke the her opponent’s serve twice.

Goerges said, “the second set she started to be more aggressive and I started to get tired, so I said to myself keep yourself together for the third set and try to fight for every point.”

What made the difference in this match? Goerges was more aggressive with her shots hitting 36 winners to Wozniacki’s 11.

“I tried to get her (Wozniacki) out of her rhythm and not let her push me and be the first to push her,” she told a news conference. “I like to play high balls to her backhand and if she goes short I have a chance to go for the shots. The second set she started to be more aggressive and I started to get tired, so I said to myself keep yourself together for the third set and try to fight for every point.

 

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova stunned fifth-seeded Samantha Stosur 7-6 (7-4),  6-3

Bethanie Mattek-Sands

 

Another day, another WTA “Hot Shot“ makes good. On Wednesday it was Dominika Cibulkova on Thursday it was Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Mattek-Sands had the win of her career forced out No. 3 seed Francesca Schiavone 7-6(5), 6-3.

Mattek-Sands, “she was serving great today, but my return is one of my best shots and I think there was only one break in the match.” “I’m playing free, is the best way to put it. I’m playing aggressive and confident, even if I miss a couple here and there. I’m going for it and that makes the difference.”

“I’m really happy with my play on clay right now. I feel like a true dirtballer.”

“Francesca is probably one of the best competitors on the tour. We played her in doubles yesterday and she played a great match again. Today, every point from the beginning, it was on. She’s a great champion, obviously won the French Open last year, and this victory gives me a lot of confidence.”

This was only Mattek-Sands’ second career win over a top ten player.

 

Meanwhile, Victoria Azarenka is quietly moving through the draw destroying opponents. On Thursday she ran over Spain’s Arantxa Parra Santonja 6-0, 6-3. “I played a very solid game…..I was dominating the whole match, which gives me a good feeling and a lot of confidence,” said Azarenka.

WTA Results – Thursday, May 5, 2011
Singles – Third Round
Julia Goerges (GER) d. (1) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) 64 16 63
Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) d. (3) Francesca Schiavone (ITA) 76(5) 63
(4) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. (WC) Arantxa Parra Santonja (ESP) 60 63
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) d. (5) Samantha Stosur (AUS) 76(4) 63
(6) Li Na (CHN) d. Roberta Vinci (ITA) 26 62 61
Lucie Safarova (CZE) d. Jarmila Gajdosova (AUS) 63 63

Doubles – Quarterfinals
(2) Peschke/Srebotnik (CZE/SLO) d. Mirza/Vesnina (IND/RUS) 75 75
(3) King/Shvedova (USA/KAZ) d. (6) Mattek-Sands/Shaughnessy (USA/USA) 75 57 108 (Match TB)
Dellacqua/Stubbs (AUS/AUS) d. Hsieh/Yan (TPE/CHN) 46 76(5) 119 (Match TB)

Madrid Open Results and Order of Play

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