Women's Tennis Blog

After three days of uninterrupted sunshine at the 2015 Brisbane International, the Australian weather showed its rough side on Monday, as severe showers soaked the tournament site all day until the late afternoon.

The Queensland Tennis Centre is well equipped for rainy conditions and besides a completely shielded center court, the two outside show-courts possess a roof as well. In theory, this should allow for play to continue through all conditions, but Monday’s weather proved to be too much too handle for the venue at times.

The torrential showers were so heavy at times that play on the two outside courts needed to stop several times as the court ends kept getting soaked in rain. Even play inside Pat Rafter Arena had to be briefly interrupted, because the wind was carrying the water through the gaps in the roof structure.

One of the matches affected was the first-round clash between Madison Keys & Dominika Cibulkova and the American seemed to handle the slight distraction much better, enjoying a convincing 7-5 6-2 win.

Despite the at times rather uncomfortable conditions, the spectators came in masses and mere rain can’t stop Queenslanders from enjoying their tennis. Even though the tournament is only in its early stages, long queues formed at the outside courts, since the amount of fan interest exceeded the seating capacity at most matches.

The tennis was well worth the wait, as the outside courts were scene of two of the day’s most exciting matches, involving two German players.

The first was Sabine Lisicki — the 2013 Wimbledon finalist fell prey to Khazakstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova. Shvedova, who played her way through the tournament’s qualifying rounds, failed to win a single game in the first set, as Lisicki edged out a 6-0 lead. Shvedova’s luck turned around as the match progressed, she took the following sets 7-5 6-4 and Sabine Lisicki’s boyfriend Oliver Pocher had to witness a less than stellar start into the new season for the German fan favorite.

With two popular German players already eliminated following Petkovic’s loss yesterday, it was once again on Angelique Kerber to deliver results for her country. As usual, Kerber did not disappoint, playing a particulary gutsy match against Caroline Garcia, edging out the French youngster 6-4 6-3.

In the evening, 2014 Brisbane International finalist Victoria Azarenka played the first night session match of the tournament, starting her quest to make up lost ground in the rankings at prime time. Having recently dropped out of the Top 40, Azarenka now faces very capable opponents in early rounds and Monday was no exception wtih Karolina Pliskova waiting for the former world #1. Having enjoyed her breakout year in 2014 by winning two WTA tournaments and reaching three more finals, Pliskova is now 23rd in the rankings.The Czech youngster proved the expected tough opponent and the fans in Brisbane were treated to a thriller of a match. After taking the first set quite comfortably 6-4 , Azarenka failed to close the deal in the second set, failing to capitalize on a match point. The ensuing tiebreak was won by Pliskova, forcing a third set. After 3:17 hours of exciting tennis, Pliskova took the final set 6-4, met by the thunderous cheering from the packed Pat Rafter Arena crowd.

Tuesday at the 2015 Brisbane International will finally see the tournament’s top seed in action. Maria Sharapova will be the main event on center court in the evening, facing Yaroslava Shveoda.

Furthermore, fans will also get to enjoy the battle between two promising youngsters, as Aussie Ajla Tomljanovic will face Elina Svitolina. For all of that and more, make sure to keep checking back to Women’s Tennis Blog all week!

Sunday at the 2015 Brisbane International Tennis provided an exciting mix of off-court fun and on-court surprise as the first WTA Premier tournament of the brand new season kicked into high gear right away.

Before it was time for the all-serious business of main draw tennis, the day started on a light-hearted note with the Suncorp Kids Tennis Spectacular inside Pat Rafter Arena.

The plenty of kids in the audience got to enjoy the presence of comic favorites like Spongebob Squarepants and tennis royalty including Martina Hingis, Bethanie Mattek-Sands & Victoria Azarenka, who participated in a fun-filled three-versus three-match.

The two-time Australian Open champion embraced the occasion as usual, entertaining the kids and sharing plenty of laughs with the fans and the teen icons on court.

While it was all fun and games inside Pat Rafter Arena, the qualifying stage completed on the outside courts as Yaroslava Shvedova & Daria Gavrilova managed to clinch their spots in the Brisbane International Tennis main draw.

Once kids day was over, it was time for serious business inside Pat Rafter Arena and the first main draw match of the year already had plenty of surprise in store as wildcard player Ajla Tomljanovic beat Jelena Jankovic 7-6 6-0 to kick off the 2015 edition of the tournament.

Playing for Australia since this season, Tomljanovic made the most of her newly-found home crowd, playing a gutsy match against the former #1, as Jankovic struggled with the lack of match practice due to her off-season injury.

Afterwards, Jankovic opened up to the press, talking about her back injury that prevented her from doing the most menial tasks such as brushing her teeth or putting on her shoes. “All my muscles disappeared, I looked like jelly!” the Serbian quipped, citing her lack of match play as main reason for today’s loss.

The surprises inside Pat Rafter Arena kept on coming as Andrea Petkovic failed to win her first-round match against Kaia Kanepi by 4-6 7-5 4-6, while Sam Stosur once more failed to make it past round one in an Australian tournament, losing to Varvara Lepchenko 6-4 4-6 5-7.

Sunday also had a very interesting doubles pairing in store, as Ana Ivanovic & Angelique Kerber completed their first doubles match of the season, beating Klaudia Jans-Iganik & Andreja Klepac.

The Serbian-German pairing was not just met by plenty of Australian sun and packed grandstands, Ivanovic’s boyfriend Bastian Schweinsteiger was on hand as well, as the German football superstar cheered on his sweetheart together with Ivanovic’s coaching team.

The action will continue inside Queensland Tennis Centre on Monday, as Victoria Azarenka, Dominika Cibulkova, Angelique Kerber & Sabine Lisicki among others will kick off the quest for their first title in 2015.

The 2015 WTA season is officially underway, as qualifying action at the 2015 Brisbane International Tennis has kicked off.

The Queensland Tennis Centre was buzzing with activity on Friday, as 32 players started their quest to make the tournament’s main draw that will commence on Sunday. The 16 matches provided plenty of action to keep spectators entertained, especially since several local Australian girls were in the spotlight today.

The first Aussie to take the court was Daria Gavrilova, the Russia-born player who has recently won the Australian Open wildcard playoff tournament, earning her a main draw spot in this month’s Grand Slam tournament. Gavrilova’s victorious ways continued on Friday, as the 20-year old beat Danka Kovinic 7-6 6-3, getting her one step closer to the Brisbane Tennis International main draw.

Following Gavrilova was an all-Aussie battle featuring Anastasia Rodionova and Storm Sanders. After losing the first set, the 20-year old Sanders rallied back to force a deciding set against her experienced countrywoman. The third set was a very close affair, as Storm Sanders pushed the 12-years older Rodionova to the brink of defeat before Rodionova’s experience prevailed.

Another Rodionova was in the spotlight later — Alia Rodinova tried to follow her sister into the second round of qualifying. Rodionova’s match against Kimiko Date-Krumm ended in a remarkable fashion, but certainly not the way the Australian fans had hoped for. At first, the match between the Japanese veteran and the local favorite was usual business with Date-Krumm taking the first set 6-3 and working up a comfortable lead in the second set. Date-Krumm failed to close out the match and Rodionova fought hard to stay in the match until a controversial line call at 5-3 in the second set. With no hawkeye available during the qualifying rounds, all arguing was in vain as Date-Krumm sealed the deal with the following match point, sending Rodionova into another fit as she declined to shake the umpires hand after the match.

Other victorious players on Friday included Poland’s Paula Kania, Maryna Zanevska, Virginie Razzano and Leisa Tsurenko. The Ukranian beat Germany’s Tatiana Maria, who’s working her way back up the rankings following her pregnancy time-out early into the 2014 season.

The second round of qualifying will continue tomorrow, as Brisbane gears up for the start of main draw play on Sunday. Keep checking back for all the latest coverage from Down Under!