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Tag: Anett Kontaveit

  • Kontaveit and Sakkari crash out in Ostrava

    Anett Kontaveit and Maria Sakkari were both knocked out of the Ostrava Open on Thursday as several top seeds tumbled.

    Third seed Kontaveit, who won this competition last year, retired when a set down to Tereza Martincova, while world number seven Maria Sakkari was defeated 5-7 7-5 7-5 by 21-year-old American Alycia Parks in a big upset.

    Parks lost the opener but found two crucial breaks of serve when 6-5 up in both the second and third sets to eliminate the fourth seed.

    The withdrawal of Belinda Bencica – seeded sixth – with a foot injury put Barbora Krejcikova into the quarter-finals, while Ekaterina Alexandrova will also be in the last eight after overcoming fifth seed Daria Kasatkina 6-1 7-6.

    Anett Kontaveit and Maria Sakkari were both knocked out of the Ostrava Open on Thursday as several top seeds tumbled.

    Third seed Kontaveit, who won this competition last year, retired when a set down to Tereza Martincova, while world number seven Maria Sakkari was defeated 5-7 7-5 7-5 by 21-year-old American Alycia Parks in a big upset.

    Parks lost the opener but found two crucial breaks of serve when 6-5 up in both the second and third sets to eliminate the fourth seed.

    The withdrawal of Belinda Bencica – seeded sixth – with a foot injury put Barbora Krejcikova into the quarter-finals, while Ekaterina Alexandrova will also be in the last eight after overcoming fifth seed Daria Kasatkina 6-1 7-6.

    The tournament favourites were in much better form at the Jasmin Open in Tunisia, as the top two seeds sealed their places in the quarter-finals with straight-sets wins.

    Favourite Ons Jabeur cruised to a 6-1 6-3 victory over Evgeniya Rodina, converting four of her seven break points to safely advance to the next round of her home tournament.

    And number two seed Veronika Kudermetova eased past Magdalena Frech 6-3 6-4 to set up a quarter-final meeting with Diane Parry.

    Source: Livescore

     

  • Kontaveit comes through stern Wang test in Tallinn

    Anett Kontaveit fought back to secure her place in the last 16 of the Tallinn Open in her native Estonia against a spirited Xiyu Wang.

    The in-form Wang made life difficult for top seed Kontaveit initially, impressively taking the first set against the world number four.

    Kontaveit then appeared to be cruising to victory when she took the second set 6-2 and found herself 5-1 up in the third, but Wang staged something of a revival.

    Wang won four games on the trot to stun Kontaveit, only for the 21-year-old to lose her nerve as her opponent broke again and then served out the match 3-6 6-2 7-5, taking her through to face Tereza Martincova.

    Beatriz Haddad Maia was also caused problems by a Chinese player, with Xinyu Wang taking the third seed to three sets.

    Haddad Maia took the first set fairly comfortably but was blown away in the second before her composure returned in the decider, winning 6-3 1-6 6-4 to also progress to the last 16.

    The other seed in action on Tuesday was Jil Teichmann, and she had no such issues seeing off Laura Siegemund 6-4 7-6 (9-7), although the day’s most impressive win saw Donna Vekic thrash Maileen Nuudi 6-2 6-0.

    At the Parma Ladies Open, second seed Martina Trevisan was stunned 7-5 6-0 by Sara Sorribes Tormo.

    It was a bad day for seeds throughout the draw in Italy. Anna Bondar (fifth), Nuria Parrizas Diaz (seventh) and Lucia Bronzetti (eighth) all lost in straight sets.

    Third favourite Irina-Camelia Begu did buck that trend, however. She benefited from Viktoriya Tomova retiring, although the Romanian was already a set and 5-1 up.

    Source: Livescore

     

  • Serena Williams advances in the US Open singles competition after defeating world No. 2 Antoinette Kontaveit

    Serena Williams, playing what could be the last US Open of her storied career, won her second-round singles match Wednesday evening, downing world No. 2 Anett Kontaveit 7-6 (4) 2-6 6-2 at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York.

    “After I lost the second set, I thought, ‘Oh, my goodness, I got to give my best effort because this could be it,’” Williams told ESPN in an on-court, post-match interview.
    Williams looked better than in previous matches this year, where she was still trying to shake the rust of a long layoff.
    In Kontaveit, however, Williams faced a much sterner test and was undoubtedly the underdog on paper but certainly not with the full house at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
    A boisterous but behaved crowd cheered her every point.
    She referred to the long layoff in her interview Wednesday but said, “I love a challenge.”
    Williams will next face Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic in the third round. Tomljanovic, who was playing at the same time as Williams on Wednesday, defeated Russian Evgeniya Rodina 1-6, 6-2, 7-5.

    And Williams is not playing just singles; she will open doubles play with her sister Venus Williams on Thursday night.
    “I need more matches,” she told ESPN. “I love rising to the challenge. Yeah, I haven’t played many matches, but I’ve been practicing really well. In my last few matches, it just wasn’t coming together. I’m like, This isn’t me.”
    Things have changed since she started playing at the Open, she said.
    She began singles play Monday with a 6-3 6-3 victory over Danka Kovinić of Montenegro. It was Williams’ third match since announcing in Vogue magazine she will “evolve away from tennis” after the US Open.
    “I have never liked the word retirement. It doesn’t feel like a modern word to me. I’ve been thinking of this as a transition, but I want to be sensitive about how I use that word, which means something very specific and important to a community of people,” Williams said in the Vogue article published earlier this month.
    “Maybe the best word to describe what I’m up to is evolution. I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me,” she said.
    At her post-match news conference Monday, Williams was asked if this is definitely her last tournament.
    “Yeah, I’ve been pretty vague about it, right?” she said with a smile. “I’m going to stay vague because you never know.”
    The opening-round win over Kovinić was the best Williams had looked since making her comeback from injury. She has managed to win just one match since returning to the circuit in June and was unable to get close to the form that helped her win her last grand slam title in 2017.

    But Kontaveit, who had said she was excited to play against Williams, encountered a player who showed no signs of wanting to hasten her retirement.
    “I think she played really well,” said the Estonian during the post-match news conference. “I mean, I thought I didn’t play a bad match at all.”
    After the players split the first two sets, Williams stepped up her play for the decider, Kontaveit said.
    “She really switched it on from there,” she said. “There’s a few points here and there where I feel like I could have done better on my serve maybe. I mean, she was returning better. She was playing the rallies better. I felt like she did everything a little bit better in the third set.”
    The passionate pro-Williams crowd was also a challenge, Kontveit added.
    “I mean, I think they were not rooting like against me. They just wanted Serena to win so bad,” the Estonian said. “So, I mean, I don’t think it’s a personal attack against me or anything. I mean, it’s fair. I mean, she deserves this, yeah.”
    Source: CNNsports

     

  • Serena Williams defeats Danka Kovinic at the US Open to bid New York farewell

    On a fun night in New York full of hope and excitement, Serena Williams extended her US Open farewell with a tough opening victory.

    Williams defeated Danka Kovinic of Montenegro, winning 6-3 6-3. Williams will retire after the competition.

    A fairly full 25,000-person Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd yelled at their hero, who reacted with trademark tenacity.

    Williams, 40, will play Estonian second seed Anett Kontaveit in the second round on Wednesday.

    The 23-time Grand Slam singles champion, who is one short of Australian Margaret Court’s all-time record, is also playing in the doubles alongside older sister Venus, adding another exciting element to what she hopes will be a long goodbye this fortnight.

    Her first assignment was beating Kovinic, ranked 80th in the world, and there was a thunderous noise when she took the first of three match points to ensure her singles career was not over yet.

    Williams jumped on the spot when Kovinic’s backhand return hit the net, then twirled ecstatically in the center of the court before blowing kisses to her adoring fans when she had returned to her seat to soak in the occasion.

    On how occasions like this affect her plans, she said: “It’s extremely difficult still because I absolutely love being out there.

    “The more tournaments I play, I feel like the more I can belong out there. That’s a tough feeling to have, and to leave knowing the more you do it, the more you can shine.

    “But it’s time for me, you know, to evolve to the next thing. I think it’s important because there are so many other things that I want to do.”

    Williams thrills the crowd on a night of celebration

    Serena Williams with fans after her US Open first-round match
    Williams’ announcement about her retirement plans led to a surge in ticket sales and a record 29,402 fans turning up at the opening night session of the tournament

    Williams has long been more than a tennis player and it was a sign of her status – as an American icon and one of the world’s most recognizable sports stars – that she announced her retirement in an essay for glossy fashion magazine Vogue.

    Although the former world number one did not use the word retirement itself, preferring to say she was “evolving away” from the sport, there is no mistaking her intention is to end her glittering career this fortnight at her home major.

    Suitably, for what could have been her final match, it was a night of celebrity and glamour.

    Williams – wearing a glittery, figure skating-inspired dress and diamond-encrusted trainers to add further theatre to the occasion – unsurprisingly arrived on the court to a rapturous reception, moments after the stadium watched a video montage in celebration of what she has achieved as a player and a person.

    “When I walked out, the reception was really overwhelming. It was loud and I could feel it in my chest. It was a really good feeling,” she said.

    “It’s a feeling I’ll never forget. It meant a lot to me.”

    Kovinic had already come out to the court, leaving her with a long – and what must have been nervous – wait next to her chair.

    Film director Spike Lee, who called Williams his “little sister” in a video released earlier on Monday, took part in the coin toss, while Vogue editor Anna Wintour, another close personal friend, was sat in her support box behind the player’s family.

    Other famous faces picked out by the stadium cameras included former US President Bill Clinton, soul singer Gladys Knight, boxer Mike Tyson and model Bella Hadid.