Defending Champion Iga Swiatek withdraws from Bejing

World No.1 and defending champion Iga Swiatek has withdrawn from the upcoming China Open in Beijing, citing personal reasons, she and the tournament announced on Friday.

"Due to personal matters, I’m forced to withdraw from the China Open in Beijing. I’m very sorry as I had an amazing time playing and winning this tournament last year and was really looking forward to being back there.

"I know that the fans will experience great tennis there and I’m sorry I won’t be a part of it this time."

The China Open begins on Sept. 25. Last year, Swiatek lost just one set in Beijing en route to winning her sixth career WTA 1000 title in her tournament debut. After ending 2023 US Open champion Coco Gauff's 16-match winning streak in the semifinals, Swiatek defeated Liudmila Samsonova in the final.

This year, Swiatek has won four of the previous eight WTA 1000 events played but last competed in New York. She also withdrew from this week's Hana Bank Korea Open in Seoul citing fatigue.

While Swiatek, World No.9 Maria Sakkari (continuing shoulder injury) and World No.10 Danielle Collins (illness) have withdrawn from the main-draw field, the rest of the Top 10 in the PIF WTA Rankings are all expected to compete. In addition, 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu has withdrawn from qualifying with a knee injury.

Reigning Australian Open and US Open champion Aryna Sabalenka will be the top seed in Beijing, a tournament at which she has reached the quarterfinals twice in three career appearances, and US Open runner-up Jessica Pegula is expected to be seeded No.2.

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I hope everything is ok whatever the reason, hope Iga takes all the time she needs. Though for me the tournament won't be the same without her. 

Why Iga Swiatek's Beijing win was an important moment of self-discovery

BEIJING -- Iga Swiatek once said that it's not a week if she's not crying. Sure enough, when Liudmila Samsonova's final errant shot landed at the China Open on Sunday, Swiatek's tears started to flow. Thankfully for Swiatek, they were happy, cathartic moments of elation.

They revealed just how much she doubted herself at the start of the week. Losing the No.1 ranking with her Round of 16 exit to Jelena Ostapenko at the US Open had weighed more heavily on Swiatek than she had led on.

"I would say the overall state that I kind of had for a couple of weeks," Swiatek said. "I feel like this tournament will give me confidence for the rest of my career that there's always a chance to overcome and work on what you do or what you feel. You can always get better. Sometimes it's pretty easy, but we tend to make it more complicated in our heads.

"I'm really happy that I just focused on hard work. It paid off -- maybe not instantly -- but I'm happy that after US Open I just got back to basics and just worked really hard tennis-wise. I'll just continue to do that."

Throughout the week in Beijing, Swiatek spoke about needing some time to regroup. She had, after all, been unexpectedly thrust into the World No.1 after Ashleigh Barty's sudden retirement last April. Given her 75-week reign of domination at the top of the game -- the third-longest debut streak at No.1 in WTA history -- it's easy to dismiss the degree of difficulty of what she ultimately accomplished.

During her reign, she picked up three Grand Slam titles, engineered a historic 37-match win streak, and single-handedly forced the rest of the tour to hit the practice courts. Collectively, they have elevated the modern game.

"It was just kind of hard for me to not think about all this stuff that sometimes is messing with my head a little bit," Swiatek said. "But it really clicked here in Beijing.

"It wasn't easy before the first match. I felt really anxious. I felt like usually, after feeling down, I tend to bounce back. This was something that I was kind of expecting to do. It put even a little bit more pressure on myself."

Swiatek made it look easy in Beijing. To capture her 16th career title and tour-leading fifth of the year, Swiatek lost just one set. In the semifinals, she ended US Open champion Coco Gauff's 16-match win streak, avenging a tough loss from Cincinnati. Her serve was a revelation. She did not face a break point in the last five sets she played in Beijing.

In the final, she hit zero unforced errors. The win was her 63rd of the season, the most on tour.

"For sure, here in Beijing it just worked," Swiatek said. "Every day I was able to keep this attitude. I think I really just enjoyed playing here on this surface and on these stadiums. Everything kind of worked.

"Sometimes I feel like that at Roland Garros, that I really know this place, that everything is really nice and comfortable. Here I'm for the first time, but I also felt that. I just enjoyed my team here in Beijing, and that also had some influence."

Swiatek will have little time to celebrate her win. Her coach, Tomasz Witkorwksi will have her back on the practice court to ready for her final tournament of the season at the WTA Finals in Cancun, Mexico, where she will have the opportunity to retake the No.1 ranking.

"Today is about a celebration," Swiatek said. "But he told me when I'm going to be back at work. Yeah, it's not a long time for me to have rest at this point 'cause, for sure, Cancun is really important tournament. I want to get ready and also kind of continue the work I've been doing after US Open in terms of technique and what I want to improve on court."

"I would say if I would become World No. 1 again, for sure I think I would be kind of more prepared for everything. It's not like I would change some things exactly, but I would know how to deal with them at this point.

"I think if I learn and take lessons from it, it's going to be easier. But for sure the first thing is getting there. I'll just try to do that. For now, step by step. I'll just celebrate this trophy."

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Iga Swiatek wins her 6th WTA 1000 title, first in Beijing

 

BEIJING -- World No.2 Iga Swiatek capped off a perfect tournament debut at the China Open after defeating No.22 Liudmila Samsonova 6-2, 6-2 in Sunday's final to win her tour-leading fifth title of the season.

With the win, Swiatek becomes the first player since Serena Williams to win five or more titles in back-to-back seasons, with the American doing so in 2014 and 2015.

"I'm happy that I won because, for sure, this is really big for me," Swiatek said. "Winning this title is something that I never would have thought at the beginning of the tournament about. I'm pretty proud of myself."

Beijing is Swiatek's 16th career title, joining her 2023 title hauls at Roland Garros, Doha, Stuttgart and Warsaw. She lost just one set in the tournament. It is also her sixth WTA 1000 title, making her the only player to win six or more WTA 1000 titles before the age of 23, eclipsing Caroline Wozniacki’s five.

Playing in her seventh final of the season on Sunday, Swiatek moved her head-to-head record to 3-0 over Samsonova. Earlier this season, Swiatek dropped just one game to Samsonova on the hard courts of Dubai.

Samsonova booked a spot in her second WTA 1000 final of the season by notching her third Top 10 win of the year over No.5 Elena Rybakina in the semifinals. Her Beijing run will ensure a return to the Top 20 on Monday. But her efforts throughout the week, including wins over Jelena Ostapenko, Petra Kvitova and Marta Kostyuk, had left the 24-year-old short on energy.

How the match was won: On a cool night in Beijing, Swiatek took advantage of the slower conditions to neutralize Samsonova's power. After an exchange of five holds to open the match, Samsonova double-faulted on her first break point of the match to give Swiatek the lead. Swiatek responded by continuing to shrink the court on Samsonova, hitting zero unforced errors in the opening set and breaking again to seal the lead.

Coming off a near-perfect semifinal performance against US Open champion Coco Gauff, where Swiatek did not face a single break point, her serve again proved dominant. She did not face a break point against Samsonova and locked down her game from the baseline by playing measured, aggressive tennis. After breaking Samsonova for a 3-1 lead in the second set, Swiatek earned a key hold in a 30-all game to extend her lead to 4-1.

Swiatek closed out the win from there, earning her first match point with a perfect forehand passing shot and sealing the 69-minute win after Samsonova put a drop shot into the net.

"Well, for sure you could feel that we are playing a final because it was a little bit tense, I would say," Swiatek said. "But I'm happy that I kind of adjusted to what Liudmila was playing. I wanted to really be consistent with what I wanted to do no matter how she's doing."

Stat of the match: Swiatek finished the match without tallying a single unforced error.

"I think this is what she's doing the best because this is the stress that she made to other players, that she doesn't make unforced errors," Samsonova said. "Every time you need to do something more. It's not real what you feel, but she makes you feel like this. This is what I learned today."

Swiatek tightens the Race for year-end No.1: The year-end No.1 will be decided at the WTA Finals in Cancun. Swiatek came into the tournament trailing No.1 Aryna Sabalenka by 1,305 points on the Race to the WTA Finals leaderboard. With the win on Sunday, Swiatek cut Sabalenka's lead down to 630 points, with 1,500 points up for grabs in Cancun.

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Many people myself included said losing the #1 ranking might be the best thing to happen to her in terms of helping her relax and play more freely. This tournament is the consummate proof of that. Iga herself has pretty much admitted it in interviews. 

As exciting as it would be if Iga were to manage to end the year as World #1 again, a part of me just wants her to stay #2 a bit more. Just to see what other freedom and motivation it'd give her for the season to come.

Also really hope this win quiets a lot of the pundits and doubters who were writing Iga off due to her Japan Open loss and general performance since U.S. Open. 

Literally discounting all her previous achievements and the fact that she's only 22 with now 16 titles and counting.

To all those people I have bad news, Iga Swiatek is here to stay. 

Pretty much for years to come, and not all those  years will be like 2022 but her consistency is definitely something that'll remain a constant whether she wins titles or not. 

So you'll all just have to live with it.

Get some well deserved rest Iga, see you in Cancun. 

Jazda!

Iga Swiatek ends Gauff win streak to reach 7th final of the season in Beijing

BEIJING -- No.2 Iga Swiatek snapped US Open champion Coco Gauff's 16-match win streak after defeating the World No.3 6-2, 6-3 in the semifinals of the China Open. The win boosted Swiatek into her third WTA 1000 final of the season and seventh final of the year.

Gauff had not lost a match since her title run in Cincinnati in August. Her 16-match win streak was the longest win streak of her career and the longest by an American teenager since Serena Williams also won 16 matches in 1999.

"I'm really happy with my performance," Swiatek said on court. "It feels like I can play freely again, so I'm really happy. It's been a while since I felt that way. So I'll remember for the rest of my career that even though tougher times may come, in your mind, you can always overcome that. And with hard work, you can achieve it.

"I'm happy that I switched my attitude after US Open, and hopefully I'll be able to keep it for as long as possible."

As she bids to capture her first WTA 1000 title of the season and a tour-leading fifth title of the year, Swiatek will face No.22 Liudmila Samsonova in Sunday's final. Samsonova advanced to her second WTA 1000 final of the season after defeating No.5 Elena Rybakina 7-6(7), 6-3 in the second semifinal.

Saturday's semifinal was the ninth career meeting between Swiatek and Gauff, the most meetings for either player against any opponent. Gauff notched her first win in eight meetings over Swiatek during her win streak. That victory came in the Cincinnati semifinals over the summer. Before that loss, Swiatek had won the first 14 sets they played.

How the match was won: Coming off a resilient three-set victory over Caroline Garcia in the quarterfinals, Swiatek picked up where she left off. She did not face a break point in the opening set, dominating Gauff from the service line and the baseline. After firing a return winner to earn the first break of the match at 3-1, Swiatek eased through the set to take it after 40 minutes.

Swiatek hit just four unforced errors in the first set, keeping consistent pressure on Gauff's service games. The American won just 27 percent of her second serve points. In contrast, Swiatek lost just four points in her own service games.

Swiatek did not relinquish her momentum in the second set. She broke immediately and consolidated her lead to 2-0. After holding serve to close the game to 2-1, Gauff called a medical timeout to have her right shoulder assessed. Swiatek held at love when play resumed, extending her lead to 3-1. She landed 95 percent of her first serves in the second set and methodically closed out the match.

Final stats: Swiatek finished the match with 17 winners to 6 unforced errors. Serving at 75 percent for the match, she did not face a single break point. In fact, Swiatek lost a total of just eight points on her serve in the match.

Gauff finished the match with 12 winners to 15 unforced errors.

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Iga Swiatek plays her best match of the season to reach semis in Beijing

BEIJING -- No.2 Iga Swiatek advanced to the semifinals of the China Open after defeating No.10 Caroline Garcia 6-7(8), 7-6(5), 6-1 in the quarterfinals on Friday.

Making her tournament debut in Beijing, Swiatek advanced to her 11th semifinal of the season and 11th WTA 1000 semifinal of her career. Beijing is her fifth hard-court WTA-1000 semifinal of 2023, equaling Serena Williams (2013) and Simona Halep (2015) for the most hard-court WTA-1000 semifinals in a single season. Swiatek also made the semifinals or better in Dubai, Indian Wells, Montreal, and Cincinnati.

In her career, Swiatek is now 7-0 in WTA-1000 hard-court quarterfinals. She is the second player since the format was introduced in 2009 to win her first seven WTA-1000 quarterfinals on this surface after Ashleigh Barty.

Facing off for the first time since the WTA Finals last fall, Swiatek entered Friday's duel with 2-1 advantage in the head-to-head. Last year, the two split their two meetings, with Garcia winning on clay in Warsaw and Swiatek handing the Frenchwoman her only loss in Fort Worth last fall.

How the match was won: Neither player gave an inch in the first set. Garcia converted 71 percent of her first serves, won 80 percent of her first-serve points and 75 percent of her second-serve points. Swiatek kept pace, serving at 80 percent and winning 89 percent of her first-serve points and 86 percent of her second-serve points.

With no break points through the first 12 games, Garcia and Swiatek headed to a tiebreak. Garcia rode her strong serving day through the tiebreak to lead 5-2, before two key passing shots from Swiatek leveled the score to 6-6.

Swiatek took the lead by besting Garcia in a baseline rally for 7-6. After opening up space for a forehand winner down the line, the former No.1 put her forehand long to keep Garcia in the set.

After connecting on a deep return to earn a fourth set point, Garcia closed out the 53-minute opening set with a curling second serve that earned a short reply that she put away into the open court.

Swiatek struck back early in the second set, generating the first break point of the match and breaking for a 2-1 lead. She extended that lead to 4-1 before Garcia stormed back. With Swiatek serving for the set at 5-4, Garcia broke at 15-40 with a perfect backhand return down the line.

Turning point: With Swiatek serving to stay in the match, Garcia came within two points of closing out a straight-sets win. But two clutch points from Swiatek put the match into a second tiebreak.

Swiatek took an early 4-0 lead but, as was the case in the set, the Pole could not hold off Garcia. After closing the gap to 5-4, Garcia struck a lightning-quick forehand return to level to 5-5.

But with Swiatek reeling, Garcia could not land the final blow. She put an aggressive forehand return just wide to give Swiatek her first set point and she converted by winning a backhand rally to take the match into its third hour.

"For sure it was really intense," Swiatek said. "We played really fast. There was no time sometimes to think or analyze. I'm happy I used my intuition a lot.

"For sure a lot of tight moments. In both of these first sets, every ball counted. I'm happy that in the third I could just go for it."

Having leveled the match, Swiatek powered through the final set. After breaking Garcia to build a 3-0 lead, Swiatek earned a final insurance break at 5-1 and closed out the 2-hour and 35-minute win.


Final stats: On a remarkable serving day from both players, Swiatek withstood 16 aces from Garcia and kept the Frenchwoman at bay on return. Garcia generated just two break points for the match, converting both, while Swiatek generated six and converted on four.

Swiatek finished with 30 winners to just 15 unforced errors in the match. Garcia struck 46 winners to 26 unforced errors.

Up next: As she bids to capture her first WTA 1000 title of the season, Swiatek will face US Open champion Coco Gauff on Saturday in a rematch of the Cincinnati semifinal. There, Gauff earned her first win in eight matches over Swiatek, winning 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-4.

The American comes into the match riding the longest win streak of the 2023 season after notching her 16th straight win in the quarterfinals.

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This was the kind of match every tennis fan lives for, fantastic serving, great rallies and shot making. An all around high quality match from both (worth staying up until 3am for).  

This was by far Iga's best match of the 2nd half of the season as well as the season overall. 

It was especially impressive serving-wise and handling pressure points. It was a real pleasure to witness. 

If Iga is able to bring at least half of what she showed last night Gauff will have her hands full and it will make for another fantastic meeting. 

I like Gauff but I would absolutely love for Iga to get some revenge for the U.S. Open loss. Just to show that despite all of Gauff's improvements Iga can still adjust and beat the best.

Also talk about a confidence booster right before the WTA Finals at the end of the month. 

Plus who doesn't love breaking someone's win streak?.

I'm expecting it to be very close. If it's anything like her match with Garcia it'll be a hell of a battle.

Jazda!.

 

Iga Swiatek wins the battle of the Poles to reach the quarters in Beijing

Iga Swiatek has experienced many varied situations on the Hologic WTA Tour, but on Wednesday she faced a relatively new dynamic. The No.2 seed had little trouble with it, racing through her second tour-level match against a compatriot 6-1, 6-1 over Magda Linette to reach the the China Open quarterfinals.

The former World No.1, who is making her debut in Beijing, will next face either No.9 seed Caroline Garcia or Anhelina Kalinina, who play their third-round match on Thursday.

Here are the key numbers from Swiatek's straight-sets win:

4: Number of times Swiatek has faced a fellow Pole across all professional levels. Her only previous tour-level meeting with a countrywoman was in the first round of Warsaw 2022, when she defeated Magdalena Frech 6-1, 6-2. She improved to 3-1 overall against her compatriots, with the only loss coming via retirement against Joanna Zawadzka in the first round of the 2018 Warsaw ITF W25 event.

2: This was just the second all-Polish matchup at WTA 1000 level since the format was introduced in 2009, following Urszula Radwanska's 6-4, 6-3 defeat of sister Agnieszka Radwanska in the first round of Dubai 2009.

14: The result puts Swiatek into her 14th quarterfinal of 2023, and ninth at WTA 1000 level or above. She has reached at least the last eight of all seven WTA 1000 tournaments she has contested (having not played in Miami or Guadalajara).

4: Swiatek becomes the fourth player since 2009 to reach seven or more WTA 1000 quarterfinals in a single season, following Agnieszka Radwanska (eight in 2012 and seven in 2014), Li Na (seven in 2012) and Serena Williams (seven in 2013).


60: The result was Swiatek's 60th win of 2023. Her overall record this season is 60-11 so far. In 2022, she finished with a 67-9 record.

18: This was the 18th match Swiatek has won this year for the loss of two or fewer games.

65: Minutes required by Swiatek to triumph in her first meeting with Linette. She tallied 16 winners to Linette's three, and kept her unforced error count to 11 compared to Linette's 13.

0: Break points faced by Swiatek. She dropped just eight points behind her serve in total -- three behind her first and five behind her second.

33: Linette was unable to take advantage of a below-par 33% first-serve percentage by Swiatek in the first set. In the second, the World No.2 improved substantially to land 80% of her first deliveries.

51: Swiatek won almost double the number of points in the match than Linette, who totalled 26.

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Iga Swiatek continues winning on China Open debut

The top two seeds at the China Open both overcame tough opposition to book their places in the third round. No.1 Aryna Sabalenka had to erase deficits in both sets to edge qualifier Katie Boulter 7-5, 7-6(2), while No.2 Iga Swiatek pulled away from Varvara Gracheva 6-4, 6-1 after a close opener.

Swiatek had not faced Gracheva since their junior days, a 6-3, 6-2 win on the clay of Milan in 2017, but the No.47-ranked Frenchwoman has posted her best career results this year. Though her form has tailed off following the Austin final and back-to-back fourth-round runs at Indian Wells and Miami, Gracheva was able to test Swiatek in the first set before the Polish player rolled in the second.

How Swiatek defeated Gracheva: Two superb winners in the first three points from Gracheva were a statement of her aggressive intent. But while the 23-year-old delivered her share of highlights, four-time major champion Swiatek was able to sustain her top level throughout the whole match.

Gracheva's best passage of play came in the first set, when she cut Swiatek's 4-1 double-break lead to 4-3. However, Swiatek steadied herself with some superb forehands to preserve her insurance break and close out the set.

The former World No.1 battled through a five-deuce game at the start of the second set to break ahead of a 90-minute rain delay. On resumption, Gracheva's form of the first set had disappeared. Her unforced error tally mounted to 24, while Swiatek repeatedly teed off on returns to race towards the finishing line.

What's next for Swiatek: A rare meeting against a Polish compatriot as she takes on Australian Open semifinalist Magda Linette. Swiatek has not faced Linette before. She has played a fellow Pole only three times at any pro level before. Her only tour-level meeting with a countrywoman was in the first round of Warsaw 2022, when she defeated Magdalena Frech 6-1, 6-2.

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Iga Swiatek makes a winning tournament debut in Beijing China

BEIJING -- World No.2 Iga Swiatek advanced to the second round of the China Open after defeating No.55 Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-4, 6-3 on Monday. Making her tournament debut at the WTA 1000 event in Beijing, Swiatek will face France's Varvara Gracheva next.

Swiatek fired 17 winners in the 50-minute opening set to hold off the Spaniard. After an early exchange of breaks, Swiatek broke open the match by breaking Sorribes Tormo for a 4-3 lead. Along with her reliable baseline game, Swiatek made frequent forays into the net to successfully blunt Sorribes Tormo's desire to extend rallies, winning 15 of 17 net points in the opening set.

"For sure, today I felt really confident and comfortable because I've been practicing that a lot," Swiatek said. "I'm pretty proud of my performance at the net because, technically, I feel like my volley has changed. I'm really happy with that.

"I think against some players it's kind of necessary to go to the net, and today that was that kind of a match."

After taking the lead for good, Swiatek dialed up her aggressive play. She won 12 of the first 14 points of the second set to build a double-break lead at 3-0. Though Sorribes successfully broke Swiatek three times down the stretch, the Pole refused to let Sorribes hold serve once, breaking in all five of her service games.

"You have to be patient with her because she's running for every ball," Swiatek said. "I kind of wanted to just be solid and be intensive but not make too many mistakes with risking."

Swiatek finished with 27 winners to 25 unforced errors, breaking serve a total of seven times. Sorribes Tormo hit six winners to 16 unforced errors.

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Iga Swiatek in no rush to reclaim world number 1 ranking, focus on future development

BEIJING -- Iga Swiatek is embracing her return to the role of being a part of the chasing pack on the Hologic WTA Tour. But the World No.2 says she's in no rush to reclaim the World No.1 ranking.

Coming off a quarterfinal appearance in Tokyo last week, Swiatek is set to make her tournament debut at the China Open. Seeded No.2, she will open her campaign against Spain's Sara Sorribes Tormo.

Having ceded the No.1 ranking to Aryna Sabalenka at the US Open last month, the 22-year-old says she's acclimated quickly to her new role as the hunter.

"I think it's a little bit easier to come back to the mindset of chasing somebody because that's what we've been doing our whole lives," Swiatek told reporters in Beijing. "There's only one person who's at No.1. I think this was harder to get used to last season.

"But honestly, it doesn't really matter for me because after US Open, I knew I'm going to drop to second position. I stopped thinking about rankings at all because I felt like there's some baggage off my shoulders. I could focus more on just working and kind of getting back to the more peaceful and normal rhythm of practicing."

Swiatek enters Beijing still leading the Hologic WTA Tour in match wins with a 57-11 record this season. She is the co-leader in titles alongside US Open champion Coco Gauff, tallying four on the year. She has already qualified for her third consecutive WTA Finals.

Now that her 75-week reign at the top is over, Swiatek can fully embrace the concept of just playing with an eye toward long-term improvement.

"It's different because you're just focusing on the future, not on defending something," Swiatek said. "I'm kind of using that.

"But overall I'm also worried that it's the last tournaments of the season, so I'm not going to be 100 percent fresh. My main goal is to do some stuff differently on court in terms of the technique and tactics, to develop as a player, not really chase points or rankings."

As promised after her fourth-round loss to Jelena Ostapenko at the US Open, Swiatek got a two-week training block with her team before the Asian Swing. Given her busy playing schedule this year and a pair of injuries derailing her training program, practice blocks have been rare for the Pole.

"I realized how much work I have to do in pre-season because there are a lot of things I want to improve," Swiatek said. "My coach also has a good plan. Sometimes it's not possible to do all of that in two weeks. But we kind of started doing it.

"I don't know how it's going to look on matches obviously, because it's totally different story," Swiatek said. "I was feeling a little bit rusty in Tokyo because after that reset, after three weeks without playing tournaments, you can feel like that a little bit.

"But, yeah, it doesn't really matter for me. I'll just do my best no matter what."

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Martina Hingis & Chan Yung Jan China Open Champions!

China Open Twitter

BEIJING, China -- The exceptional play of Chan Yung-Jan and Martina Hingis continues in 2017, as the No.1 seeds eased to the China Open title on Sunday, dispatching No.4 seeds Timea Babos and Andrea Hlavackova, 6-1, 6-4.

"I've had success at China Open in the past," said Hingis, after the match, "so it's always nice to come back and relive the past memories, and create new ones by winning the trophy once again. We had some great fan support during the whole week and are very pleased with our performance today."

"It's always nice to be back in Beijing," Chan told the press after the final. "Definitely the tournament to look forward at the end of the season -- glad we've made it solid and strong again."

Chan and Hingis have now won nine titles this year, including their first Grand Slam title together at the US Open. They are currently in the midst of a staggering 18-match winning streak, and will go into the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global as one of the favorites.

"I think we were really aggressive from the beginning," Chan explained. "That's why we had quite a quick first set. We are both very happy with our performance."

Hingis agreed, saying "it was a great tournament for Latisha and I, and we are very happy we were able to show some good tennis out there."

Babos and Hlavackova could not clinch their fourth championship of the year, but still had a terrific week, during which they ousted No.2 seeds and Wimbledon champions Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina, and became the fifth team to qualify for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals in Singapore.

Hingis and Chan, the No.1 and No.2-ranked doubles players in the world, got off to a flyer of a start, winning the first three games of the match courtesy of excellent volleys by the Swiss veteran and strong groundstrokes from the Taiwanese star.

Good serving by Hlavackova, bolstered by some powerful Babos volleys, helped the Czech/Hungarian tandem get on the board for 3-1. But that would be the extent of their success during the first set.

Babos’s serve was broken for the second time in the set after a stunning service return by Chan on break point forced an error from the fourth-seeded team. With a 5-1 lead, Hingis stepped up to serve out the set, and came back from 0-30 in the game to hold when a service return went long.

The aggressive game of Babos and Hlavackova started to pay dividends in the competitive second set. Strong serving and volleying in the first game helped them fend off two break points and hold for 1-0, and the tilt was more evenly matched from that point forward.

Nevertheless, it was Chan and Hingis who claimed the only break of the second set at 3-3. With Hlavackova serving, the game went to a deciding point, and a fiery Chan forehand was too much to handle, giving the top seeds the crucial one-break lead.

With Hingis clicking on her commanding backhand, and Chan finding her rhythm in the forecourt, the single break was all they needed to sweep to victory. Hlavackova saved a match point at 5-3 with a brave overhead, but Chan served out the match at 5-4 when the Czech hit a return into the net on the third championship point.

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2 years ago at this time Martina won the title with Sania Mirza, facing off with Chan Yung Jan and her sister in final.  

Now she's won it with her by her side.  They really are unstoppable at the moment.  They continue like this next year, and they might just beat the 15 titles Martina got with Mirza in 2015.

Martina Hingis & Chan Yung Jan to play Mirza/Peng in semis again this time in Beijing

BEIJING, China - No.3 seeds Peng Shuai and Sania Mirza rallied from a set down to complete the semifinal lineup at the China Open on Friday, seeing off No.5 seeds Barbora Strycova and Katerina Siniakova in a match tiebreak, 4-6, 6-2, 10-7.

"Today was a really good win for Sania and me. It's the first time we played them, and they didn't play together before, but they're really strong as a team," Peng said of the Czech duo.

"We were down in the first set, and then the second set, we weren't really into it, but I think the turning point was in the fifth game. We were down, and we came back to hold, and then won four games in a row.

"In the tiebreak, we just tried to fight, and are happy to be in the semifinals."

The top four seeds will contest the semifinals at the WTA Premier Mandatory event, after three of the duos advanced courtesy of a match tiebreak in quarterfinal action.

The win for the No.3 seeds sets up a semifinal clash against top seeds and US Open champions Chan Yung-Jan and Martina Hingis, who defeated Gabriela Dabrowski and Xu Yi-Fan in the other quarterfinal, 6-3, 6-2.

The result of the match has implications in the Porsche Race to Singapore, as if Mirza and Peng lose the match, then Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Kveta Peschke, as well as Dabrowski and Xu will qualify for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.

wtatennis.com

Martina Hingis & Chan Yung Jan into the quarters of China Open in Bejing

Chan Yung-jan yesterday knocked out fellow Taiwanese Hsieh Su-wei in the second round of the doubles at the China Open, while younger sister Chan Hao-ching was also ousted in Beijing.

Top seeds Chan Yung-jan and Martina Hingis, bidding to claim their ninth title of the season, had to rally from a set down before defeating Hsieh and Monica Niculescu of Romania 3-6, 6-4, 12-10 in 1 hour, 25 minutes on Moon Court at the National Tennis Center in the Chinese capital.

The Taiwanese-Swiss duo, ranked the No. 2 and No. 1 doubles players in the world by the WTA, saved two of six break points and converted all three they created to advance to a quarter-final against Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Xu Yifan of China, who defeated Lyudmyla Kichenok of Ukraine and Raluca Olaru of Romania 7-5, 7-5.

The top seeds are bidding for their second straight doubles title in China after winning the Wuhan Open on Saturday.

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Hall of Fame Ambassador Martina Hingis Leads China Open Junior Clinic

BEIJING, China - 2015 China Open doubles champion and Global Ambassador for the International Tennis Hall of Fame Martina Hingis headlined a youth clinic featuring the nation's top junior prospects.

"Tennis has definitely come to China," the Swiss Miss remarked in a press conference. "I played in Guangzhou, I played in Wuhan last week, now Beijing, then Tianjin.

"You can see the improvement over the past 10, 15 years, many more academies, and more top players. How many more will come out of this country? The kids today, you see how much better they are. The infrastructure of the country, there are so many opportunities and possibilities."

The junior clinic was a collaborative effort of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, the China Open, the Chinese Tennis Association, and Hingis herself. The young players in the clinic were gathered by the coaches at Star River Professional Tennis Club, which is the first professional tennis club in mainland China.

"I always say, I wish we had one of these stadiums in Switzerland," Hingis continued, referencing the National Tennis Stadium housing the China Open. "But here they're like mushrooms popping up everywhere. Hopefully this will help, having the right infrastructure, the coaches, the possibilities will happen to have many more like Li Na and Shuai Peng, many more players like that in the future."

Offering technical advice, the 2013 International Hall of Fame Inductee also gave a historical perspective to the clinic, aiming to impart a love of tennis history in the hopes that the youth in attendance might look back on how far the game has come.

"Tennis history, it's always been very important to me. My mom always encouraged me to learn about Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Billie Jean King, who invented the WTA Tour, she started the tour, all of that history," said Hingis. "You have to go and check out the Hall of Fame. Definitely if you're in America, it's a beautiful place to visit and a great place to learn about our tennis history."

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Martina Hingis & Sania Mirza win title #8 in Bejing!

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BEIJING, China - Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza continued their incredible winning streak at the China Open on Saturday, winning their fourth WTA doubles title in a row - and eighth of the year - with a nail-biting win over the Chan sisters in the final of the Premier Mandatory-level tournament.

The No.6-seeded Chan sisters, Hao-Ching and Yung-Jan, were actually the last team to beat Hingis and Mirza, in the semifinals of Cincinnati right before the US Open, and for the first hour of the match it looked like they might be on to something again, as they rallied from 5-2 down in a tie-break - and fought off two set points, first at 6-5 then again at 8-7 - to squeak out the 67-minute first set.

But the No.1-seeded Hingis and Mirza went right to work from there, winning 14 points in a row to take the second set in just 25 minutes and clinching victory after a match tie-break, 6-7(9), 6-1, 10-8.

"I think the first set, we were probably a bit unlucky not to win," Mirza said after the match. "We got a pretty terrible call at that break point to go up 3-2, then after that we probably should have won that tie-break because we were up the whole time. All credit to them, though, they came up and made us hit one extra ball. They probably played us the best out of the last five or six times we've played them.

"It was a tough tie-break to lose. We could have easily mentally lost it. But we just tried to get ourselves together again. We wanted to keep it together, and really use our experience to get it back."

"We stayed aggressive and tried to keep pushing and creating more opportunities, and all of a sudden things started happening," Hingis said. "It took so much energy to be down all the time and have to come back, because we had so many break chances, chances to win the set, but we just tried to keep our level and stay on top of them. Once we were in the super tie-break, we were always winning."

And so, they now have eight WTA doubles titles on the year at Indian Wells, Miami, Charleston,Wimbledon, the US Open, Guangzhou, Wuhan and Beijing. The last four - the US Open, Guangzhou, Wuhan and Beijing - have come in what is now a four-tournament, 18-match winning streak.

They're the first team to win eight WTA doubles titles together in a year since Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci won eight in 2012. The last team to win more was Cara Black and Liezel Huber's 10 in 2008.

The Swiss-Indian duo's next tournament together will be the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, but one of them - the Swiss - is playing one more tournament in Tianjin.

"Sania is going home," Hingis said.

"I have stuff at home to do. She's actually playing with a Chinese next week," Mirza said.

"I'm looking forward to Tianjin," Hingis, who played with Flavia Pennetta at the International-level event last year, added. "I was there last year, and it's a great tournament, and a beautiful stadium."

wtatennis.com

Martina Hingis & Sania Mirza reach China Open finals in Bejing

BEIJING, China - Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza continued their remarkable end of season run with a quick-fire semifinal win over wildcards Liang Chen and Wang Yafan at the China Open on Friday.

Watch highlights, interviews and more video from Beijing right here on wtatennis.com!

In the previous two rounds, Liang and Wang had accounted for seeds Caroline Garcia and Katarina Srebotnik and Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic, but were no match for the WTA's preeminent pairing, lasting just 66 minutes.

The top seeds made a flying start, Mirza swatting away a volley to break in the second game.

This set the tone for the rest of the contest as Hingis and Mirza romped towards their ninth final of the season.

The 6-2, 6-3 success extends their unbeaten streak to 16 matches, a sequence stretching back to the Cincinnati semifinals.

And meeting them in the final will be their conquerors on that August day, Chan Hao-Ching and Chan Yung-Jan, after they won an altogether more dramatic encounter against Casey Dellacqua and Yaroslava Shvedova.

During a tense finale the siblings held their nerve to triumph, 6-3, 6-7(7), 12-10, and in the process become the seventh team to book their spot at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.

wtatennis.com

Martina Hingis & Sania Mirza continue their winning streak reach semis in Bejing

BEIJING, China - Martna Hingis and Sania Mirza continue their domination of the second half of the season, dispatching the newly formed pair of Julia Goerges and WTA Rising Star Karolina Pliskova, 7-6(5), 6-4, to reach the semifinals of the China Open.

The first doubles team to qualify for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, Hingis and Mirza have reached eight straight semifinals dating back to the Aegon International Eastbourne and are currently riding a 15-match winning streak - one that includes title runs at the US Open, the Guangzhou International Women's Open, and the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open.

Looking to stop the "Santina" train are the hometown favorites and Chinese wildcards, Liang Chen and Wang Yafan, who edged No.4 seeds Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic, 7-6(6), 7-5. With just four points separating the combatants over two sets, Liang and Wang broke serve one last time to put themselves in the semifinals over their higher-ranked opposition, who qualified for Singapore earlier this week.

On the other half of the draw, No.6 seeds and sister act Chan Yung-Jan and Chan Hao-Ching follow up their impressive summer surge with a big win over No.2 seeds Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Elena Vesnina, 4-6, 7-5, 10-7. Both Mattek-Sands and Vesnina have already qualified for Singapore with Lucie Safarova and Ekaterina Makarova, respectively, but the Chans - also known as Latisha and Angel - could also make their WTA Finals debut should they win the China Open this week.

Standing in their way is another Singapore team in No.3 seeds Casey Dellacqua and Yaroslava Shvedova. The third team to qualify, Dellacqua and the recently married Shvedova edged past another pair of Singapore hopefuls and No.8 seeds, Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka, 6-4, 6-4.

wtatennis.com

Martina Hingis & Sania Mirza fight hard to reach quarters in Bejing

BEIJING, China - Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza haven't lost a match since the Western & Southern Open, and despite a brief hiccup, the winningest team of 2015 showed few signs of stopping at the China Open; the reigning Wimbledon and US Open champions recovered from a set down to move past Sara Errani and Flavia Pennetta, 1-6, 6-4, 10-6.

Hingis and Mirza last played the Italians in Flushing en route to their second major title of the season, but Errani and Pennetta were on fire to start, breaking serve three times and dropping just 10 points in the opening set.

The top seeds, who had lost their first set since Cincinnati, won a hotly contested second to level the contest, winning just one more point than their experienced opposition to force a match tie-break. With much of the sudden death going with return, Hingis and Mirza proved far more clutch on the key points, earning a 14th straight victory to reach the quarterfinals in Beijing.

Julia Goerges and Karolina Pliskova loom next; the big-hitting pair first teamed up at the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open and reached the quarterfinals, falling to to the Chan sisters Yung-Jan and Hao-Ching in straight sets.

Meanwhile, No.5 seeds Katarina Srebotnik and WTA Rising Star Caroline Garcia were hoping to clinch their place at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global with a run to the semifinals, but the team will have to wait a little while longer as they found themselves ousted by Chinese wildcards Liang Chen and Wang Yafan, 7-6(3), 6-3. The hometown favorites earned a spot on the National Tennis Stadium on Thursday night when they take on No.4 seeds Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic, who qualified for Singapore earlier this week.

A third team through to the quarterfinals was the No.3 seeded team of Casey Dellacqua and Yaroslava Shvedova; the two raced past WTA Rising Star Lara Arruabarrena and Andreja Klepac, 6-1, 6-2. Also already qualified for Singapore, Dellacqua and Shvedova will try to end the hopes of No.8 seeds Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka; the two-time major champions need a big result to launch into the Top 8 of the Road To Singapore standings.

wtatennis.com