Mondays with Bob Greene
STARS
Kiki Bertens beat Donna Vekic 7-6 (2) 6-4 to win the Saint Petersburg Ladies Trophy in Saint Petersburg, Russia
Dayana Yastremska beat Aja Tomljanovic 6-2 2-6 7-6 (3) to win the Toyota Thailand Open presented by E@ in Hua Hin, Thailand
DAVIS CUP
Qualifiers
(Winners advance to 18-nation final held Nov. 18-24 in Madrid, Spain)
Belgium beat Brazil 3-1 at Uberlândia, Brazil
Germany beat Hungary 5-0 at Frankfurt, Germany
Colombia beat Sweden 4-0 at Bogotá, Colombia
Serbia beat Uzbekistan 3-2 at Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Russia beat Switzerland 3-1 at Biel, Switzerland
Chile beat Austria 3-2 at Salzburg, Austria
Australia beat Bosnia/Herzegovina 4-0 at Adelaide, Australia
Kazakhstan beat Portugal 3-1 at Astana, Kazakhstan
Canada beat Slovakia 3-2 at Bratislava, Slovakia
Italy beat India 3-1 at Kolkata, India
Netherlands beat Czech Republic 3-1 at Ostrava, Czech Republic
Japan beat China 3-2 at Guangzhou, China
SAYINGS
“Right now I’m just enjoying my life and tennis. I’m a really happy person right now.” – Kiki Bertens, who won the Saint Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
“If I play good, if I show a good level, I’ll get the points and I’ll get higher in the ranking. The ranking’s not the priority. But of course, I’m happy to get into Top 40.” – Dayana Yastremska, after winning the Toyota Thailand Open.
“I think with today’s result, the debate as to whether I can play on clay is definitely over.” – Denis Shapovalov, after winning both of his singles matches to lead Canada to a Davis Cup victory over Slovakia.
“Week in, week out on the ATP Tour, you can’t emulate what it’s like to play in the green and gold and play for your country. You’re playing for your bench, you’re playing for your country – we don’t get to do that every week.” – John Millman, after teaming with Alex De Minaur to lead Australia over Bosnia/Herzegovina in Davis Cup play.
“We have given (Bernard Tomic) more than a decade of support. Ultimately, we have to draw a line when the behavior does not warrant the support.” – Craig Tiley, Tennis Australia CEO, backing up captain Lleyton Hewitt’s decision to deny Tomic a spot on Australia’s Davis Cup team.
SAINT PETERSBURG CHAMP
On the verge of dropping the opening set, second-seeded Kiki Bertens rallied to beat Croatia’s Donna Vekic in straight sets and win the Saint Petersburg Ladies Trophy. Bertens, ranked eighth in the world, won 17 of the 18 points to pull even before winning the tiebreak. Vekic wasn’t finished, however, w2inning three straight games in th3e second set before the Dutch champion claimed her eight career WTA singles title. “My coach Raemon Sluiter told me I was playing the right way and just needed to keep going for my shots, which I did,” Bertens said about her coach’s trip to the court mid-match. Bertens served out the title on her fourth championship point when her backhand clipped the net and touched down past the service line. Bertens and Vekic will team up in doubles in Indian Wells, California.
SECOND STRAIGHT
Teenager Dayana Yastremska was one game from defeat when she rallied deficit to beat Ajla Tomljanovic and win the Toyota Thailand Open. It was the 18-year-old’s second career WTA singles title. After losing the first set, Tomljanovic appeared unbeatable, ripping through the second set and taking a 5-2 lead, one game away from the title. That’s when Yastremska regained her game, breaking Tomljanovic twice when the Australian served for the title. She then won the tiebreak 7-3 to close out the two-hour, 22-minute battle. “In the third set, when I was losing 5-2, I remembered one thing … and it really helped me to go through and take extra power and finish with a win,” Yastremska said. She was referring to an accident at the Australian Open when her mother received an eye injury from an exploding champagne bottle. “She did the operation in Australia and she (flew) back to Ukraine, and it was really tough for me to play because I didn’t sleep well for nights, because she had a long operation,” Yastremska said. “But now she’s good, and that extra motivated me to win.” Yastremska made 53 unforced errors, but she had 33 winners. Tomljanovic only had seven winners to go with 32 unforced errors. The victory pushed Yastremska into the Top 40 in the WTA rankings.
SECURED FINALS SPOT
Three former Davis Cup champions – Germany, Australia and Serbia – were among 12 nations that qualified for the revamped Davis Cup finals later this year. The 12 will be joined by last years’ semifinalists – defending champion Croatia, France, Spain and the United States – as well as wildcards Britain and Argentina in the revamped competition. The finals will be held November 18-24 in Madrid, Spain. Other nations that qualified were Belgium, Columbia, Russia, Chile, Kazakhstan, Canada, Italy, Netherlands and Japan. Only one player ranked in the top 10 – third-ranked Alexander Zverev of Germany – competed in the qualifying round. Zverev beat Peter Nagy 6-2 6-2 and Gabor Borsos 6-3 6-4 in Germany’s 5-0 crushing of Hungary.
SHOULDER PROBLEM
Problems with her right shoulder forced Maria Sharapova to withdraw from the Saint Petersburg Ladies Trophy tournament before her second-round match against fellow Russian Daria Kasatkina. “I tried to do everything possible to be able to be ready to compete this week, but my right shoulder continues to be an issue for me,” Sharapova said. “I will meet with my team of doctors over the next few days to evaluate the situation, and I look forward to returning to competition as soon as possible.” The 31-year-old Sharapova beat Daria Gavrilova of Australia 6-0 6-4 in the first round, her first WTA in her native Russian in 13 years. Sharapova has rarely played the Russian tour events during her career, and when she has, she has never gone past the quarterfinals.
SICK CALL
Zhang Shuai retired during her second-round singles match at the Thailand Open, citing dizziness. The fifth-seeded Zhang was trailing 4-1 when she called it quits against Chinese countrywoman Wang Yafan. “I’m not feeling well. I feel so tired since the Australian Open,” said Zhang, who won the women’s doubles at the year’s first Grand Slam tournament. “I still felt OK in the first round (on Tuesday). But on Wednesday my body really felt bad. I’m sorry that I have to retire.”
SARA’S BACK
Having returned from a 10-month doping ban, former French Open finalist Sara Errani has been named to Italy’s Fed Cup team for its World Group II first-round tie against Switzerland. A five-time Grand Slam tournament doubles champion, Errani was suspended for two months by an independent tribunal of the Italian Tennis Federation after she failed an out-of-competition test last February. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) increased the ban to 10 months following appeals by the Italian anti-doping agency, which asked for a longer ban. A French Open finalist in 2012, Errani is currently ranked 113th in the world.
STAYING HOME
Elina Svitolina won’t be joining her Ukrainian Fed Cup team which it plays in Poland this weekend. The Australian Open quarterfinalist says she can’t play because she is injured. The Ukrainian Tennis Federation says she and Dayana Yastremska originally agreed to play but withdrew after their agent made unreasonable financial demands. “Playing matches for your national team should be a matter of patriotism, dedication and respect for the sporting honor of Ukraine,” the federation said in a statement. Svitolina said financial negotiations did take place, but on Facebook said her reason for skipping tie is the neck and shoulder problem which hampered her in her Australian Open quarterfinal loss to eventual winner Naomi Osaka.
SWITCHING SITES
After 21 years in New Haven, Connecticut, USA, a professional tennis tournament is heading to China. “It has been an amazing 21-year run for women’s professional tennis in New Haven, and we are truly grateful to all the fans, volunteers, players, media and sponsors involved,” tournament director Anne Worcester said. The sanction for the WTA event was sold to APG, a sports and entertainment company that will hold a tournament in September in Zhengzhou, China. The New Haven event had traditionally been held in August, the week before the US Open. Despite move, the Connecticut city wants to stage a tournament. “We remain hopeful that professional tennis will return to New Haven in the very near future,” said New Haven Mayor Toni Harp.
The new tournament in Zhengzhou will offer (USD) $1 million prize money this year and (USD) $1.5 million in 2020.
Two other WTA tournaments are being moved. The Ladies Championship Lausanne in Switzerland the week of July 15 will replace Gstaad, Switzerland, while the Baltic Open will be held the following in Jurmala, Latvia, the first WTA event to be held in that country. It replaces the Moscow River Cup.
SHOULDER TENDINITIS
Grigor Dimitrov has withdrawn from the upcoming ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament because of shoulder tendinitis. Last year, the Bulgarian reached the final of the Rotterdam, Netherlands, tournament where he lost to Roger Federer, who also is skipping this year’s event.
STANDS BEHIND HEWITT
Tennis Australia is standing behind captain Lleyton Hewitt’s decision to not consider Bernard Tomic for Australia’s Davis Cup squad. Hewitt, Australia’s last world number one player, said that after he and his family received physical threats, he had banned Tomic from playing Davis Cup. Tomic denied Hewitt’s allegation and called the 37-year-old a liar and accused Hewitt of favoritism in awarding wildcards to the Australian Open. Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley said he was disappointed by Tomic’s disrespect and that his group was withdrawing all their support for the 26-year-old. “Bernard does not meet the standards of behavior and commitment to himself, the team or the sport,” Tiley said. “He is deliberately trying to damage that culture – and not for the first time.”
SET FOR ADELAIDE
Men and women will play in a new tournament next year in Adelaide, Australia. That’s the third stop “Down Under” for the players. Sidney and Brisbane have already been announced as host cities of the new 24-nation ATP World Team Cup, which will be played from January 3 in the lead-up to the Australian Open. A third city, believed to be Perth, is expected to be announced for the event. No dates for the Adelaide tournament were announced, but it is believed it will replace the Sydney International on the schedule.
SPONSOR
The Spanish soccer league is sponsoring the new Davis Cup Finals, which will be held in November in Madrid, Spain. La Liga says it will promote the tennis competition through its international broadcasts in Europe, Asia, Africa, the United States and Latin America. The sponsorship agreement was made between the league, the International Tennis Federation and Kosmos Tennis, a subsidiary of the group behind the competition’s new format.
SHARED PERFORMANCES
Hua Hin: Irina-Camelia Begu and Monica Niculescu beat Anna Blinkova and Wang Yafan 2-6 6-1 12-10 (match tiebreak)
St. Petersburg: Margarita Gasparyan and Ekaterina Makarova beat Anna Kalinskaya and Viktoria Kuzmova 7-5 7-5
SURFING
Cordoba: https://portal.autoentrada.com/
Montpellier: https://www.opensuddefrance.com/fr/home
Sofia: https://www.eventim.bg/bg/bileti/sofia-open-2019-sports-hall-arena-armeec-507868/event.html
Dallas: http://www.tennischampionshipsofdallas.com/
Fed Cup: https://www.fedcup.com/
Doha: http://www.qatartennis.org/tournaments/qatar-total-open-2019/
Rotterdam: https://www.abnamrowtt.nl/en
New York: http://newyorkopen.com/
Buenos Aires: https://argentinaopenatp.com/atp/
TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK
MEN
$589,680 Cordoba Open, Cordoba, Argentina, clay
540,310 Open Sud de France, Montpellier, France, had
540,310 Sofia Open, Sofia, Bulgaria, hard
$135,400 The RBC Tennis Championships of Dallas, Dallas, Texas, USA, hard
FED CUP
First Round
World Group
Czech Republic vs. Romania at Ostrava, Czech Republic, hard
Belgium vs. France at Liège, Belgium, hard
Germany vs. Belarus at Braunschweig, Germany, hard
USA vs. Australia at Asheville, North Carolina, USA, hard
World Group II
Switzerland vs. Italy at Biel, Switzerland, hard
Latvia vs. Slovakia at Riga, Latvia, hard
Japan vs. Spain at Kita-kyushu, Japan, hard
Netherlands vs. Canada at ’s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, clay
Group I
(Round Robin)
Americas Zone at Medellin, Colombia, clay: Group A: Paraguay, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador; Group B: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Puerto Rico, Chile
Asia/Oceania Zone at Astana, Kazakhstan, hard: Group A: Kazakhstan, India, Thailand; Group B: China, South Korea, Indonesia, Pacific Oceania
Europe/Africa Zone at Zielona Góra, Poland, hard: Zone A, Group A: Russia, Poland, Denmark; Group B: Ukraine, Estonia, Bulgaria, Sweden
Europe/Africa Zone at Bath, Great Britain, hard: Zone B, Group A: Great Britain, Hungary, Greece, Slovenia; Group B: Serbia, Croatia, Turkey, Georgia, Croatia, Turkey
TOURNAMENTS NEXT WEEK
MEN
$2,403,910 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, Rotterdam, Netherlands, hard
$777,385 New York Open, New York, New York, USA, hard
$673,135 Argentina Open, Buenos Aires, Argentina, clay
WOMEN
$916,131 Qatar Total Open, Doha, Qatar, hard
