Welcome to the monthly review of the #WTATour on this blog.
Check out January's edition HERE.
Check out February's edition HERE.
Check out March's edition HERE.
Check out April's edition HERE.
May passed within a flash, and we are already heading towards the end of the eventful clay-court season. This year’s clay-court season witnessed multiple breakthroughs and many fantastic storylines, with Kiki Bertens and Karolina Pliskova lifting the biggest trophies in Madrid and Rome respectively.
Player of the Month: Kiki Bertens
#KikiBertens came into the clay-court season being one of the biggest forces not to be reckoned with. The Dutchwoman is known for her outstanding abilities on the red dirt, especially after her rise to the pinnacle of women’s tennis which saw her qualify for the WTA Finals and reach the top-10.
Bertens was the first woman to lift the title at the Mutua Madrid Open without losing a set; defeating defending champion Petra Kvitova, Sloane Stephens and title favourite Simona Halep in succession. As a result, she rose to a new career-high ranking of four, the highest ranking achieved by any Dutchwoman in history.
She continued to roll at the Internazionali BNL D’Italia, outperforming all her other counterparts as she overcame fatigue to reach the last four, where she was once again the overwhelming favourite to run away with the title. However, this time it just was not meant to be as she fell to the resurgent Johanna Konta.
Nonetheless, it was a pretty amazing month for Bertens who solidified her status as a top player with her strong performances and was definitely the most outstanding player of the month.
Honourable Mention: Karolina Pliskova (Rome champion), Johanna Konta (Rabat, Rome finalist)
Team of the Month: Victoria Azarenka/Ashleigh Barty
#VictoriaAzarenka and #AshleighBarty paired up once again, and this time they managed to lift their first trophy as a team at the Internazionali BNL D’Italia. As an unseeded team, Azarenka and Barty defeated three seeded teams en route to their triumph, which pushed them into the top-eight of the Porsche Race to Shenzhen rankings.
They were incredibly successful as a team previously, reaching the semifinals in Miami albeit suffering an early exit in Madrid earlier on as well. They bounced back in style in Rome — stunning fifth seeds Hsieh Su-wei and Barbora Strycova, who came into the tournament in red-hot form after winning Madrid.
Azarenka and Barty stunned the world number one pairing of Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova, beating them in straight sets before exacting revenge on Anna-Lena Groeneveld and Demi Schuurs for their Madrid defeat to prevail in Rome.
Honourable Mention: Hsieh Su-wei/Barbora Strycova (Madrid champions), Gabriela Dabrowski/Xu Yi-fan (Madrid finalists, Nuremberg champions)
Breakthrough of the Month: Johanna Konta
#JohannaKonta seemed ready for big things when she reached the semifinals of Wimbledon in front of her home crowd and reaching a new career-high ranking of four. However, within just one year, she saw her ranking plummet outside the top-50 with her game being exposed to her opponents.
Clay was her least-preferred surface but the resurgent Brit achieved her best results on this surface in her career this year. Konta reached the final in Rabat despite being down three match points in the opening round and put up a tough fight against eventual finalist Halep in Madrid.
Handed a nightmarish draw in Rome, Konta was brilliant from start to finish. She claimed back-to-back wins over American Grand Slam champions Sloane Stephens and Venus Williams on the same day before stunning the in-form Marketa Vondrousova and Kiki Bertens to reach her biggest final since 2017. Despite falling to Karolina Pliskova in the final, it was a fantastic run from the Brit who surprised herself with the result as well.
It is certainly a breakthrough for Konta, who is now a name to keep a lookout for in Paris as she regained her confidence with her big wins which saw her successfully return into the top-25 after a long absence.
Honourable Mention: Chloe Paquet (French wildcard who reached first WTA semifinal in Strasbourg)
Disappointment of the Month: Elina Svitolina
It would be harsh to say that #ElinaSvitolina had a disappointing month, but the truth is cruel. After months of struggling with a problematic knee, Svitolina returned into action on her favoured surface but it was quite obvious that she has not recovered fully in her first match back. The Ukrainian looked nowhere near her best as her movement was visibly affected.
Wanting to return onto the court as quickly as possible, Svitolina was instead handed a tough first-round exit in Madrid as she was stunned by Pauline Parmentier in straight sets. Being the defending champion in Rome, Svitolina’s luck went from bad to worse as she had to battle former world number one Victoria Azarenka in her first match.
Although she owned a 5-2 lead in the deciding set, Svitolina failed to convert a match point (missed a smash) and lost five consecutive games to the Belarusian, an eventual quarterfinalist, as she crashed out in the opener in her attempt to defend her title for the second time.
Heading into the French Open winless on clay, perhaps it would have been a better option to recuperate at home until she is ready.
Honourable Mention: Simona Halep (went titleless in a stretch she was tipped to dominate)
Best Performance in a Match: Kiki Bertens d. Petra Kvitova (Madrid quarterfinals)
It was simply a masterclass from #KikiBertens in the quarterfinals of the Mutua Madrid Open. In a rematch of the 2018 final, #PetraKvitova came into the encounter as the overwhelming favourite having prevailed in that clash, in addition to their quarterfinal match in Stuttgart weeks earlier.
Bertens dominated this match from the start to finish, being broken just once throughout the one-hour, 19-minute affair while breaking serve on five occasions. Keeping Kvitova’s monstrous forehands at bay, Bertens displayed perfect tactics as she utilized her deep returning position to brutally punish Kvitova’s powerful serves.
Honourable Mention: Petra Kvitova d. Yulia Putintseva (Rome R2)
Best match of the Month: Caroline Garcia vs Dayana Yastremska (Strasbourg)
The Internationaux de Strasbourg always seemed to have provided us with quality finals — with Pavlyuchenkova’s three-hour, 35-minute win over Cibulkova still fondly in our memories. This year, it was #DayanaYastremska who stunned the exuberant home crowd with a terrific 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 win over local favourite and top seed #CarolineGarcia.
Missing out on match points in the second set, Yastremska lost the plot as Garcia battled back with some resilient play to send the match into a decider. Tension intensified with the Ukrainian youngster taking a medical time-out and ultimately it was the seventh seed who saved two match points of her own to prevail in this high-quality battle, heading into the French Open with high confidence.
Honourable Mention: Svetlana Kuznetsova vs Belinda Bencic (Madrid)
Biggest Upset of the Month: Johanna Konta d. Kiki Bertens (Rome)
This was thought to be a one-sided win for #KikiBertens before the match even started. However, #JohannaKonta continued her good run and stunned the title favourite by recovering from a set down to beat the Dutchwoman 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 after two hours and 49-minutes of scintillating tennis.
Bertens prevailed in their last meeting in Indian Wells earlier this year and was expected to stroll through this encounter but Konta had some other ideas as she blasted 39 winners to overpower the fatigued Bertens, who looked nowhere near her best in this affair.
Konta impressively won 65 percent of her second serve return points, brutally punishing Bertens’ vulnerable second deliveries as she broke serve six times, booking her spot in the biggest final of her career.
Defeating Bertens on clay is never an easy feat, and for Konta to complete the achievement, it should be considered one of the biggest upsets in this clay-court season.
Honourable Mention: Kateryna Kozlova d. Karolina Pliskova (Madrid), Kristina Mladenovic d. Ashleigh Barty (Rome)
Best Comeback of the Month: Victoria Azarenka d. Elina Svitolina (Rome)
In a match equipped with multiple rain delays and 17 breaks of serve, #ElinaSvitolina and #VictoriaAzarenka put up a wonderful battle in front of the small crowd who stayed late into the night. Svitolina was the two-time defending champion and had to start her Internazionali BNL D’Italia campaign against former world number one Victoria Azarenka in her first match, which is by no means an easy feat.
Azarenka and Svitolina exchanged the first two sets before the Ukrainian surged out to a commanding double-break lead in the decider, looking poised for the huge victory. However, Azarenka seemed determined to bounce back as Svitolina struggled on her serve, getting broken a total of 10 times throughout the entire match as she saw a 5-2 lead evaporate within a blink of an eye with the Belarusian rattling off five games to seal the win, saving a match point in the process.
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