McIntyre Tennis

Women's Quarterfinals Set in Indian Wells

By Mike  McIntyre

Photos: Jimmie48 Tennis Photography

It's down to the final eight in the desert in Indian Wells on the WTA Tour and the final 16 on the ATP Tour and it wasn't without some surprises that's for sure Tuesday saw some big upsets including the loss of World No. 1 (and pre-tournament favorite) Novak Djokovic which dramatically shifted the tournaments odds among the men. On the women's side, the upsets went even further with the tournament's top two seeds falling out of the draw. Both No. 1 Naomi Osaka and No. 2 Simona Halep were defeated but neither should come as a total shock given the deep level of talent that permeates the women's game right now. Osaka was brought down by a resurgent and now healthy Belinda Bencic while Halep was taken out by rising 19 year old Czech star Marketa Vondrousova. Let's take a look at the remaining eight women as we approach the end of the so-called 5th Grand Slam.

Belinda Bencic vs Karolina Pliskova (5)

Switzerland's Belinda Bencic had without a doubt the biggest upset of the day and she did it with commanding authority over World No. 1 Naomi Osaka by a score of 6-3, 6-1. Bencic burst onto the tennis scene in 2015 when she won the Rogers Cup in Toronto defeating six players along the way who had previously made it to a Grand Slam final at some point in their careers. Injuries prevented her from continuing her upward trajectory but at only 22 years old, she still has the bulk of her career ahead of her.

Former No. 1 Karolina Pliskova is always in the mix of names of contenders and already has won a WTA title earlier in 2019 in Brisbane. The "Ace Queen" has been serving bombs all week with 13 of them in her round of sixteen victory over Anett Kontaveit whom she defeated  7-6(0), 4-6, 6-2. Pliskova has never faced Bencic in a WTA match so there's no history to draw upon here. Pliskova made the quarterfinals a year ago and has twice before made the semis. As for Bencic, this her best ever result in Indian Wells which previously had been the final sixteen back in 2015.

Venus Williams vs Angie Kerber

You wouldn't know that Venus Williams is 38 years old from the way she has been playing over the past week. The 7-time Grand Slam champion has looked sharp and advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Mona Barthel. This is the fourth consecutive time that Venus has played in Indian Wells after a fifteen year hiatus due to treatment she and her sister Serena received from disappointed fans. The sisters received a harsh reaction from fans who were upset that the older Williams pulled-out of a semifinal match against her sister just minutes before it was scheduled to begin. With that incident long behind her now, Venus has played well in the desert and just last year made the semifinals. Should she win against Kerber it will be the fourth semifinal of her career in Indian Wells.

Kerber has a 5-3 lead in her head-to-head against Venus with their last match taking place in 2018 in Sydney with the German prevailing in three sets. It's the American however who leads their hard court encounters by a 3-2 margin. Kerber came through an odd match Tuesday night against Aryna Sabalanka. After storming through the opening set 6-1 and taking a 2-0 lead in the second, suddenly Sabalenka began to find her game while Kerber struggled to maintain her consistency. Sabalenka would take the second set 6-4 to even the match and then the Belarussian in fact led 4-1 in the final set before Kerber snapped-out of her funk and won the final five consecutive games to take the bizzare match.

Garbine Muguruza (20) vs Bianca Andreescu

If this match had been taking place prior to the 2019 season most people outside of Canada would have asked who exactly is Bianca Andreescu? With a 25-3 record to start 2019 the talented 18 year old is no longer a secret kept north of the border and many would call this match an almost even split. Andreescu has made the first WTA final of her young career in Auckland falling to Julia Goerges in three sets. She qualified and then won her first ever Grand Slam match in Melbourne and then won the tournament in Newport Beach, California for the biggest title of her career thus far. Andreescu has wins this year over big-time players like Caroline Wozniacki and Venus Williams, so the intimidation factor likely won't be present as she prepares to face two-time Slam champ Muguruza.

Muguruza has shown some good tennis as well this week yet she has been lying-low since making the semi-finals last year at Roland Garros and has slipped to 20th in the WTA rankings. Muguruza's last title was in April of last year against a weaker field in Monterrey, Mexico. Here in Indian Wells she beat Lauren Davis in her first match, got past Serena Williams 6-3, 3-0 before the American retired with a viral illness and then most recently defeated Kiki Bertens 5-7, 6-1, 6-4. This will be her first career meeting against Andreescu and hopefully the Spaniard has done her homework or she very well may find herself as Andreescu's 26th victim of the season.

Elina Svitolina (6) vs Marketa Vondrousova

For 6th seeded Elina Svitolina, her solid tennis this week on court has been overshadowed in some ways by her GEMS Life posts on social media that chronicle the adventures between her and companion and ATP pro Gael Monfils. The acronym stands for Gael Elina Monfils Svitolina for those who aren't aware and the duo are certainly both enjoying plenty of success on their respective tour's so far this year. Svitolina had a tough battle with Ash Barty on Tuesday to reach the quarters, but prevailed 7-6(8), 5-7, 6-4. This marks Svitolina's deepest run in Indian Wells though she will of course be hoping to extend that even further as she takes-on 19 year old Marketa Vondrousova.

Vondrousova is not an unknown quantity in the same sense as fellow teenager Bianca Andreescu. It was in 2018 that the Czech talent served notice of her capabilities when she made the round of sixteen at this very event. There she defeated Jo Konta and Aryna Sabalenka to raise some eyebrows with her strong play. Despite losing both previous career meetings against Svitolina (both in 2018), Vondrousova is still maturing as a professional tennis player. She has already accumulated a 149-33 record on the WTA Tour coming into this event and is going to be a presence for years to come. The lefty is currently ranked 61st in the world and is coming off a finalist appearance in Bucharest. Regardless of the result against Svitolina, Vondrousova is making strides and proving her result from a year ago here were no fluke.

Serena Williams Beats Victoria Azarenka in Fitting International Women's Day Match

By Mike McIntyre

Photos: Jimmie48 Tennis Photography

The WTA Tour couldn't have asked for two greater representatives of female strength to face one another on International Women's Day than Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka. What they've endured since becoming mothers on its own would qualify them as the two premiere examples of perseverance for continuing to play tennis at such a high level. Both are seeking their first post-maternity leave Grand Slam titles but in neither case would it be shocking if that ended up happening at some point down the road. But there's more to their story than simply their impressive return to the game after becoming parents. Serena and Vika (they both are recognizable with merely a first name mention) have pushed through so much adversity in order to return to playing highly competitive tennis and that to me is why they are the ultimate faces on the WTA Tour of female empowerment. Simply put, for young girls looking for role models in professional sport - or life in general - you don't need to look any further than the two competitors in Friday night's second round match-up in Indian Wells.

While their Grand Slam haul's differ greatly - Vika with two and Serena with an incomprehensible 23 - the two are both considered among the toughest competitors and champions on the WTA of this generation. With Serena, there is nobody from this generation of female tennis players that comes even close to touching what she has accomplished (not to mention how her triumphs outshine even the closest of male counterparts) and she towers above any current players. Only her sister Venus, among active players, is even remotely close to double digit Slams with seven to her name. Serena stands a mere one Grand Slam triumph away from tying Margaret Court for the all-time record, though she has clearly played in the more challenging of Era's.

For her part, Vika's accomplishments are not to be glossed-over. In addition to her two Australian Open titles she can also take pride in the eighteen other tournament victories earned as well as the fact she was World No. 1 back in 2012 and enjoyed 51 weeks in the role. Twice she made the finals of the US Open, and has also shown her multi surface capabilities with a semifinal showing once at Roland Garros and twice at Wimbledon as well. If Serena can still be top ten material at age 37, then Vika at 29 clearly has many solid years also left to add to her career accomplishments.

The pair met for the 22nd time Friday night in what could be seen as an unlikely Indian Wells encounter last night given all the two have been through. It would have been understandable if both had chosen to retire from the sport rather than fight so hard to return. While Serena won Friday's match 7-5, 6-4 it was clear as the two embraced at the net afterwards that it was a win for both of them on many levels. There are numerous reasons why their shared presence on a tennis court in 2019 is such an improbable occurrence when you think about it. Serena and Vika are warriors more so for that they have endured and conquered off the tennis court than on it.

Becoming a parent is a daunting task for anyone - female or male. Many Dad's (myself included) do our everything we possibly can to raise our children in the best possible manner and yet none of us can claim to have gone through the same or even similar circumstances to what the mothers of our kids have to do. The physical changes and hardships that women go through for 9 months and then the recovery they require after child birth is without a doubt one of the most incredible challenges in life that I can think of. I watched my wife carry three of our kids - twins the second time around in fact - and will forever be in awe of the way she got through it. Even under ideal conditions and with healthy babies, the entire process is a grueling one. For Serena and Vika, becoming mothers brought extra challenges that neither likely ever anticipated.

On September 1, 2017 (less than eight months after wining the Australian Open while pregnant) Serena Wiliams gave birth to her first child. Serena's post-delivery challenges are well documented. She literally faced a life and death scenario as she was forced to deal with a pulmonary embolism that left her with breathing complications that required immediate and emergency intervention. As if that wasn't enough, she also had to deal with a large hematoma that doctors found in her abdomen and would be forced to spend six weeks bedridden after giving birth. 

Remarkably less than three months later Serena was back on a tennis court playing an exhibition match in Abu Dhabi against Jelena Ostapenko. While her early return would tell the American legend that her body needed more time before returning to regular competition, it wasn't long before she was back contending for Major titles. While in many professions women are able to count on their job status being protected while on maternity leave, the WTA Tour offers no such guarantee. While Serena could expect a protected ranking that would allow her entry to the tournaments she wanted to play, her seeding in those events was another story. Serena - and any returning mother for that matter - would be unseeded and at the mercy of the draw. Despite having to deal with this new reality in her first few events back, Serena quickly found herself once again competing for the biggest titles in tennis. The flexibility afforded at Wimbledon found her seeded 25th - which truthfully seems somewhat insulting to a 7 time champion - and she worked her way into the finals where she eventually fell to Angelique Kerber. In September, Serena made it back-to-back Slam finals with a run to the title match in New York at the US Open against Naomi Osaka. Despite the way that match transpired, it was obvious how much it meant to Serena to be back competing at the highest level less than a year after her tumultuous childbirth experience.

Victoria Azarenka's post child delivery challenges differ from Serena Williams' but they also affected her ability to return to the WTA Tour in a very trying manner. Vika gave birth at the end of 2016 but would see her planned return to the WTA hampered due to child custody issues with the father of her child who she had an estranged relationship from. Though she was ready to return to her tennis career, neither parent was allowed to travel outside of the state of California until a solution had been reached. Unwilling to be apart from her infant son, Vika put her career on hold until something could be worked out. She only played two events in 2017 and then played Indian Wells and Miami back-to-back in 2018 (and remarkably made the semis in Miami) before being finally able to travel abroad to Madrid in the Spring of that year. Prioritizing her son's needs and her desire to be with him over her own understandable personal ambition to return to work while still in the prime of her career was as noble as they come and while the comeback has not been as immediately successful as Serena's, it is great to have Vika back in the mix and back into the top 50 on the WTA Tour.

The significance of the match against Serena was not lost on Vika who said the following about her opponent and friend the day before the match, "She is one of the reasons why I still play. She inspires me. Gonna be a special match because it's the first since we both became moms."

Serena also acknowledged their common bond after the victory saying, "She's a very good friend. I would say we're pretty close. We're both moms, and we know how hard it is and how hard it's been for us to come back, you know, and starting literally from scratch and fighting our way back. It's been an arduous road, and I think we both really appreciate both of our efforts to do the best that we can do."

Their efforts are most certainly appreciated and deserving of our recognition. Both Serena and Vika are exceptional tennis players, women and mothers. The Tour is stronger for having them back on the court and young women starting out their professional careers will be able to draw much inspiration and knowledge learning from their example. You couldn't have scripted a better duo to play one another on International Women's Day and  - as has been the case at so many moments during their careers - they didn't disappoint.

Genie Bouchard Out In Singles and Doubles in Indian Wells

By Mike McIntyre

Photos: Jimmie48 Tennis Photography

Genie Bouchard's experience in Indian Wells did not last very long as the No. 2 ranked Canadian was eliminated in the opening round of both singles and doubles competition.

Wednesday she teamed up with her occasional doubles partner Sloane Stephens and the pair was defeated by Kirsten Flipkens and Johanna Larrson 6-1, 6-2. While Bouchard does not usually concentrate on her doubles game, she did win the first such title of her career earlier this season in Auckland. She and Stephens also teamed-up last year in Indian Wells losing in the opening round and they played at the Rogers Cup in Bouchard's home town of Montreal where they made the quarterfinals. Despite their lack of on-court success this week, the two certainly appear to enjoy each other's company as can be seen below.

In singles, Bouchard found herself once again on the losing side against Flipkens, as the Belgian beat her in a three set battle 7-5, 3-6, 7-5. It brings Bouchard's record in 2019 to 6-6 with her best result being the quarterfinals in Auckland and in Newport Beach where she lost to fellow Canadian Bianca Andreescu.

Andreescu has now firmly established herself as one to watch on the WTA Tour with her strong play to start the season. The 18 year old has a 23-3 record and has been the far more consistent player, overtaking Bouchard for the top ranking spot in Canada.

Bouchard has taken her game up a level since mid-2018 but is still having difficulty getting deep into events on an even semi-regular basis. With the clay court season approaching and not playing to Bouchard's strengths, it won't get any easier for her as the WTA Tour season carries on.