QATAR TOTAL OPEN FEBRUARY 11 – 16,...

QATAR TOTAL OPENFEBRUARY 11 – 16, 2019

WOMEN’S TENNIS ASSOCIATIONMATCH NOTES

DOHA, QATAR | FEBRUARY 11 - 16, 2019 | USD $916,131 WTA PREMIER EVENT

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QATAR TOTAL OPEN - FINAL MATCH-UP

[1] SIMONA HALEP (ROU #3) vs. ELISE MERTENS (BEL #21)Halep leads 2-0

Halep dropped only three games in each of her previous meetings with Mertens... Mertens has claimed two Top-10 wins already this week... Halep appearing in first final since last summer... Henin, the 2007 champion, is the only Belgian other than Mertens to reach the final here... Halep trailed 4-1 in the final set against Svitolina in SF

PLAYER DOHA W/L YTD W/L CAREER W/L YTD PRIZE $ CAREER PRIZE $ YTD TITLES CAREER TITLES

[1] Simona Halep 14-3 8-2 458-199 205,063 28,350,642 0 18

Elise Mertens 4-1 8-5 263-137 166,333 3,326,579 0 4

THE FINALISTS

HALEP MERTENSWin/Loss: 199 - 97

Winning Percentage: .672Final Record: 10 - 7

Win/Loss: 52 - 32Winning Percentage: .619

Final Record: 2 - 0

HARDCOURT BREAKDOWN

PLAYER 2019 BEST RESULT BEST DOHA RESULT LAST FINAL REACHED CAREER FINAL W/L

[1] Simona Halep FINAL (1): Doha WON (1): 2014 2018 Cincinnati (R-UP) 18-15

Elise Mertens FINAL (1): Doha FINAL (1): 2019 2018 Rabat (WON) 4-1

FINAL RECORDS


RANKING WATCHSimona Halep’s progress this week guarantees she will move to No.2 in next week's rankings. Since June 12, 2017, Halep has been ranked either No.1 or No.2 for all bar the past three weeks.

Elise Mertens will rise from No.21 to No.18 by reach-ing the final and is projected to go to No.16 with a title run. Her career-high ranking is No.12 (first achieved on November 26, 2018). And if the Belgian is looking for good omens the rankings provide one: Petra Kvitova, last year's champion, also entered the tournament at No.21.

DOUBLES UPDATE No.4 seeds Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Demi Schuurs ended the run of alternate pairing Ons Jabeur and Alison Riske on Friday, triumphing 6-2 7-5 to reach the final in their first tournament as a team.

On the other side of the draw 2016 champions Chan Hao-Ching and Latisha Chan reached their second final here with a 6-4 7-6(2) victory over Veronika Kudermetova and Jelena Ostapenko.

Simona Halep has won multiple titles at four tour stop-offs during her career: Bucharest (2014 and 2016), Madrid (2016 and 2017), Shenzhen (2015 and 2018) and Mon-tréal (2016 and 2018).

Today she attempts to add a fifth city to this list and in doing so become only the fourth player to be crowned a two-time champion in Doha.

DOUBLING DOWN

MAKING THE STEP UP

5Elise Mertens’ five previous

WTA finals have been at International-level tourna-

ments at Hobart (twice), Lugano, Istanbul and

Rabat.

Five years ago, victory for a 22-year-old Simona Halep in the final of the Qatar Total Open proved to be a harbinger of future glories.

Elise Mertens, 23, will attempt to follow in her footsteps on Saturday and win the biggest trophy of her career at the same venue. A serial winner at the WTA's Internation-al-level tournaments, Mertens's deepest runs at the rungs above have been semifinal showings at New Haven in 2017 and the Australian Open and San Jose in 2018. 3

Since Doha was introduced to the tour in 2001 only three players

have been crowned multiple champions here: Anastasia Myskina (2003-04), Maria

Sharapova (2005 and 2008) and Victoria Azarenka

(2012-13).

ONE WEEK ON What a difference a week makes in tennis. Last week-end, Elise Mertens failed to win a set in singles rubbers against Alize Cornet and then Caroline Garcia as Belgium slumped to a 3-1 Fed Cup defeat to France on home soil in Liège.

Fast-forward seven days and she has doubled her win tally for the season and is on the cusp of her biggest title.

ON THIS DAY On February 16, 1926, Suzanne Lenglen and Helen Wills met in a celebrated encounter billed as the match of the century, in Cannes, France. It would be the only time the two legends faced off in their storied careers, with Lenglen running out a 6-3 8-6 winner.

VSSIMONAHALEP

ELISEMERTENS

DOHA• Former champion Halep is playing Qatar Total Open

for the sixth time. Reached the SF here last year before granting Muguruza a walkover due to a foot injury

• Defeated three Top 10 players to win the title here in 2014 (d. No.7 Errani in QF, No.4 A.Radwanska in SF and No.9 Kerber in F). One of two former champions to begin the draw along with Suarez Navarro (2016)

• Bidding to become the fourth two-time champion in Doha following Myskina (2003-04), Sharapova (2005, 2008) and Azarenka (2012-13)

• Following 1r bye, defeated Tsurenko in 2r on Wednesday to reach first QF of the season

• Won 63% of her return games against Tsurenko. The Romanian owns a 143-1 record when winning 60% of her return games in a match (lone loss to Suarez Navarro at 2015 Rome SF)

• Defeated No.16 Goerges in the QF on Thursday to score her second Top 20 win of the season (also No.5 Ka.Pliskova in last weekend’s Fed Cup World Group tie)

• Recovered from 4-1 down in final set to beat No.7 Svitolina in SF

• This was her 14th victory in Doha, moving her into joint-fourth place (level with Azarenka) on the list for most match wins here after Wozniacki (19 wins), A.Radwanska (17), Kuznetsova (16)

• Faces Mertens today in 34th career final. Twice beat the Belgian comfortably during last year's clay court season, including en route to Roland Garros title

• Appearing in first final since R-Up finish at 2018 Cin-cinnati (l. Bertens in F) and aiming for first title since the week before at Montreal (d. Stephens in F)

• Would secure her 200th career main draw win by lifting the title this week

• Making second appearance at Qatar Total Open, having reached 2r on debut in 2018 (l. Cirstea)

• Broke serve four times to defeat Siniakova in 1r• In 2r, defeated lucky loser Kr.Pliskova (replaced sis-

ter Ka.Pliskova who withdrew w/viral illness)• Broke serve four times to beat No.8 Bertens in QF • Followed this with another upset in SF, this time over

No.6 Kerber; now owns five Top 10 wins, having previously defeated No.10 Cibulkova at 2017 Beijing, No.4 Svitolina at 2018 Australian Open and No.3 Stephens at 2018 Cincinnati

• Run this week has doubled her match wins for the season to eight. By contrast, in 2018 reached this total during Australian Open

• Through to first final since Rabat last May (d. Toml-janovic in F). Owns 4-1 record in finals, winning three in 2018 (Hobart, Lugano and Rabat)

• Six finals in Doha's history have gone to three sets, including two of the past three

• Currently ranked No.21. Last year's champion Kvito-va was also ranked No.21 heading into the tourna-ment

• Will rise to No.18 as runner-up and No.16 with title• Has won 78.6% of her service games across her four

matches (season average 69.6%). Only Goerges (82.9%) has won a higher percentage, while Halep's percentage is 74.3% (season average 76%)

• Sole Belgian represented in Doha this week (main draw, qualifying and doubles)

DOHA

SEASON• Defeated Siniakova and Ka.Pliskova to help Roma-

nia to a 3-2 victory over Czech Republic in the Fed Cup first round at the weekend and reach the SF for the first time. Was the first time Czech Republic had been defeated at home in 10 years

• Lost to S.Williams in R16 at Australian Open• Fell to Barty in 2r at Sydney (after 1r bye)

CAREER MILESTONES

• Ended 2018 season as World No.1 for the second time in her career, with season highlighted by maiden Grand Slam title at Roland Garros (d. Stephens in F)

SEASON• Lost both singles rubbers during Belgium’s 3-1 home

defeat to France in Liege (l. Cornet and Garcia)• Made 3r at Australian Open (l. Keys)• Began season by falling 1r at Brisbane (l. Bertens)

and reaching QF at Sydney (l. Barty)

CAREER MILESTONES• Won three titles in 2018 (Hobart, Rabat and Lugano),

one of six players on tour with three or more titles to their name - also Kvitova (5), Svitolina (4), Bertens (3), Halep (3) and Wozniacki (3)

• Posted 46 main draw match wins in 2018 – only Ka.Pliskova (49) and Kvitova (47), registered more. By contrast, prior to last season owned only 36 wins at this level across entire career

• In doubles in 2018, won four titles and reached QF at WTA Finals (w/Schuurs)

• Finished 2017 season at No.35, up from No.120 in 2016 – first Top 50 and Top 100 year-end finish

VS

PERSONAL• Tennis idols are Justine Henin and Roger Federer • Started working with David Goffin’s former coach

Thierry Van Cleemput this week. During off-season long-time coach Darren Cahill announced he was talking a 12-month break from tennis

• Formerly coached by Wim Fissette and Victor Ionita

SIMONAHALEP

ELISEMERTENS

CAREER CONT.

• Won first Grand Slam title at 2018 Roland Garros (d. Stephens in F) after three runner-up finishes, at Roland Garros in 2014 (l. Sharapova in 3s), 2017 (l. Ostapenko in 3s) and at Australian Open in 2018 (l. Wozniacki in 3s)

• Became 49th different woman to win a Slam title in the Open Era, and the second Romanian woman to win a Slam after Ruzici at 1978 Roland Garros

• Was the first Romanian woman to advance to final at 2018 Australian Open (l. Wozniacki)

• Made SF at Wimbledon in 2014 (l. Bouchard) and US Open in 2015 (l. eventual champion Pennetta)

• Won Roland Garros girls’ singles title in 2008 – sixth woman to go on to win the women’s singles title

• Also won titles last year at Shenzhen (d. Siniakova in F) and Montréal (d. Stephens in F) and was R-Up at Australian Open (l. Wozniacki), Rome (l. Svitolina) and Cincinnati (l. Bertens). Is 18-15 in career finals

• Won first career WTA doubles title at 2018 Shenzhen (w/Begu).ow 1-1 in career doubles finals

• Finished 2017 as the year-end World No.1, having ascended to the No.1 spot for first time in career on October 9, 2017 – became the 25th woman to reach the top spot, and the 13th to hold year-end No.1

• Defended Madrid title in 2017 (d. Mladenovic in F); reached a further four finals in 2017: Rome, Ro-land Garros, Cincinnati and Beijing. 2016 season highlighted by three titles, at Madrid, Bucharest and Montréal

• Between May 2013 and August 2014, improved rank-ing from No.64 to No.2, winning seven titles

• Has qualified five times for WTA Finals in Singapore (2014-18), reaching final in 2014 (l. S.Williams, hav-ing defeated the World No.1 in the round robin stage)

• Named 2013 WTA Most Improved Player after winning her first six WTA titles and rising to year-end No.11 (dipped as low was No.64 in May)

• Made WTA main draw debut at 2010 Marbella as a qualifier, reaching quarterfinals

• Member of Romanian Fed Cup Team, 2010, 2012, 2014-19

GRAND SLAM HISTORY

GRAND SLAM HISTORY• Advanced to first Grand Slam SF of career at 2018

Australian Open (l. eventual champion Wozniacki)• Became first Belgian to reach a Grand Slam SF

since Flipkens at 2013 Wimbledon; also the first Belgian to reach QF at Australian Open since 2012 (Kim Clijsters, SF)

• In 2018, also achieved best result at Roland Garros, with run to R16 (l eventual champion Halep), Wim-bledon, where she reached 3r (l. Cibulkova), and US Open where she also reached R16 (l. Stephens)

• Prior to making Grand Slam main draw debut at 2016 US Open, fell in qualifying at five majors: 2015 Wimbledon, 2015 US Open, 2016 Australian Open, 2016 Roland Garros and 2016 Wimbledon

PERSONAL• After successful trial towards the end of 2018,

brought David Taylor on as full-time coach during off season

• Earlier coaching history includes Belgian federation until early teens, as well as a year at the Mourato-glou Academy

• Mother Liliane, teaches languages and history and father, Guido, makes furniture for churches. Was introduced to tennis by her sister Lauren, who is six years older (now airline pilot with KLM)

• Speaks Dutch/Flemish, French and English • Was home schooled

• 2017 season highlighted by first career singles title at Hobart (as a qualifier, d. Niculescu in F)

• Also in 2017, advanced to final at Istanbul (l. Svitoli-na) and made SF runs at Bastad (l. Wozniacki), New Haven (l. Cibulkova) and Luxembourg (l. Puig)

• Registered first Top 10 win of career over No.10 Cibulkova in 1r at 2017 Beijing

• Made WTA singles main draw debut at 2016 ‘s-Her-togenbosch – made QF (as qualifier, l. Mladenovic)

• Won first WTA title of any kind in doubles at 2016 Auckland (w/Mestach). Now has six doubles titles – also 2017 Guangzhou (w/Schuurs), 2018 Hobart (w/Schuurs), 2018 Lugano (w/Flipkens), 2018 ‘s-Herto-genbosch (w/Schuurs) and 2018 Wuhan (w/Schuurs)

• Played first tour-level event of career at 2015 Ant-werp (fell in qualifying)

• Winner of 11 singles titles and 14 doubles titles on ITF Circuit

• Played first events of career on ITF Circuit in Belgium in 2010

CAREER CONT.



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WTA Communications: Xu Yanyan ([email protected]), Ellie Emerson ([email protected])

QATAR TOTAL OPEN - SEMIFINAL MATCH-UPS

[1] SIMONA HALEP (ROU #3) vs. [4] ELINA SVITOLINA (UKR #7)Svitolina leads 4-2

Halep is aiming for her first finals appearance since runner-up finish at 2018 Cincinnati..Svitolina has won seven of the last nine sets against the Romanian

[3] ANGELIQUE KERBER (GER #6) vs. ELISE MERTENS (BEL #21)First meeting

Kerber is through to her first semifinal since title run at 2018 Wimbledon...Mertens is aiming to reach her first final since title run at 2018 Rabat in April


[1] Simona Halep 13-3 7-2 457-199 205,063 28,350,642 0 18

[3] Angelique Kerber 9-8 6-2 601-313 215,103 27,371,944 0 12

[4] Elina Svitolina 4-4 6-2 335-171 $356,901 $13,465,526 0 13

Elise Mertens 4-1 7-5 262-137 166,333 3,326,579 0 4

THE FINAL FOUR

KERBERHALEP SVITOLINA MERTENSWin/Loss: 198 - 97

Winning Percentage: .671Semifinal Record: 16 - 8

Finals: 17Titles: 10

Win/Loss: 266 - 147Winning Percentage: .645Semifinal Record: 19 - 19

Finals: 19Titles: 7

Win/Loss: 169 - 85Winning Percentage: .661Semifinal Record: 11 - 12

Finals: 11Titles: 9

Win/Loss: 51 - 32Winning Percentage: .614

Semifinal Record: 2 - 4Finals: 2Titles: 2

HARDCOURT BREAKDOWN


RANKING WATCHSimona Halep’s win over Lesia Tsurenko on Wednesday means that she will rise to No.2 in the new rankings.

Elina Svitolina can return to the Top 5 by reaching the final this week. She will move to No.6 or No.7 as a semifinalist and can climb as high as No.4 with the title this week.

Angelique Kerber will drop to No.7 as a semifinalist, but can move to No.5 or No.6 as runner-up and No.4 with the title.

Elise Mertens will rise to No.20 by reaching the semifinal stage, No.18 as runner-up, or No.16 with the title.

ON THIS DAY IN TENNIS On February 15, 1981 - A battle of different generations, fifteen-year-old Andrea Jaeger beats Virginia Wade, who at 35 years old is old enough to be Jaeger’s mother, by a 6-3, 6-1 margin to win the WTA Tour event in Oakland, California.

On February 15, 1987 - Zina Garrison defeats Sylvia Hanika of West Germany, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 to win the Virginia Slims of San Francisco.

DOUBLES UPDATE Entering the semifinal round, the lone seeds remaining are [4] Anna-Lena Groenfeld / Demi Schuurs who take on the late entry alternate duo of Ons Jabeur / Alison Riske who upended the No.1 seeds Nicole Melichar / Kveta Peschke in the first round.

The bottom half semifinal will pit the Chan sisters (Hao-Ching and Latisha) against Veronika Kudermetova / Jelena Ostapenko.

Ostapenko is defending doubles champion from last year, after hoisting the trophy with then-doubles partner Gabriela Dabrowski.

Serena Williams first debuted in the WTA Top 10 in April of 1999 - rising from No.11 to No.9 following the Miami Open

On Monday, February 18th, 2019 - nearly 20 years after making her debut in the elite bracket, Williams will return to the Top 10 at No.10.

This will mark her first time back in this top group since the week of July 3, 2017.

Over the course of her 23 years on tour, 15 of those seasons have culminated in a year-end Top 10 finish, including five occasions ending the year as the World No.1

Here’s a blast-from-the-past look at the WTA Top 10 on April 4, 1999 when Serena made her debut:

NEW YEAR, SAME YOU

WTA TOP 10 - Serena’s Debut

1. Martina Hingis

2. Lindsay Davenport

3. Jana Novotna

4. Monica Seles

5. Steffi Graf

6. Venus Williams

7. Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario

8. Mary Pierce

9. Serena Williams

10. Patty Schnyder

HALEP SVITOLINA

KERBER Halep leads 6-4 Svitolina leads 8-5

MERTENS Halep leads 2-0 Svitolina leads 2-1

POTENTIAL H2HS

DOHA - QATAR | Feb 11 - Feb 16, 2019 | $916,131 | PREMIER

MATCH NOTES

[1] SIMONA HALEP (ROU #3) vs. [4] ELINA SVITOLINA (UKR #7)

Head to Head: ELINA SVITOLINA leads 4-2

2018 CLAY O F ELINA SVITOLINA 68 mins 6-0 6-4 ROME 2017 HARD I R1 ELINA SVITOLINA 71 mins 6-3 6-4 WTA FINALS 2017 HARD O SF ELINA SVITOLINA 57 mins 6-1 6-1 TORONTO 2017 CLAY O QF SIMONA HALEP 126 mins 3-6 7-6(6) 6-0 ROLAND GARROS 2017 CLAY O F ELINA SVITOLINA 128 mins 4-6 7-5 6-1 ROME 2013 HARD I R1 SIMONA HALEP 48 mins 6-1 6-1 SOFIA

SIMONA HALEP 3 35

27-09-1991 (27) $205,063

$28,350,642

0 / 18 0 / 1

7-2 / 334-153 3-1 / 98-50 2-2 / 41-52

ELINA SVITOLINA 7 13

12-09-1994 (24) $356,901

$13,465,526

0 / 13 0 / 2 4-4

6-2 / 232-126 2-1 / 72-42 0-0 / 44-34

13-3

6-2 / 169-85 7-2 / 198-97 0-0 / 33-11 0-0 / 20-21

WTA RANKING PORSCHE RACE TO SHENZHEN LEADERBOARD

DATE OF BIRTH (AGE) YTD PRIZE MONEY

CAREER PRIZE MONEY SINGLES TITLES (YTD / CAREER) DOUBLES TITLES (YTD / CAREER)

DOHA W-L (MD) * YTD / CAREER W-L (MD) *

YTD / CAREER 3-SET W-L (MD) * YTD / CAREER TIE-BREAK W-L (MD) *

YTD / CAREER HARD W-L (MD) * YTD / CAREER Left Hander W-L (MD) *

1-0 / 34-44 0-1 / 29-33 2-2 / 92-69 1-1 / 48-62

YTD / CAREER TOP 10 W-L (MD & Q) * YTD / CAREER TOP 20 W-L (MD & Q) *

YTD / CAREER TOP 5 W-L (MD & Q) * 1-0 / 11-27 0-1 / 17-16

* Updated entering 2019 Doha Semifinals

[1] SIMONA HALEP (ROU #3)

QF: d. [9] JULIA GOERGES (GER #16) 7-6(1),7-6(6) (2h01)

R16: d. LESIA TSURENKO (UKR #24) 6-2,6-3 (1h19)

R32: BYE

ROAD TO THE FINAL

[4] ELINA SVITOLINA (UKR #7)

QF: d. KAROLINA MUCHOVA (CZE #132) 6-4,6-2 (1h22)

R16: d. JELENA OSTAPENKO (LAT #22) 6-4,6-4 (1h20)

R32: BYE

Total games: 43 Won/lost: 26-17 Sets won/lost: 4-0 Total time on court: 3h20 Average time on court: 1h40 Average rank of opponent: 20


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from


MATCH NOTES

DOHA Tournament History "-Q" Qualifying match

SIMONA HALEP 2018

L - GARBIÑE MUGURUZA (ESP #4) SF W/O

2016 L - ELENA VESNINA (RUS #118) R2 6-7(1) 6-4 6-1

2014 W - ANGELIQUE KERBER (GER #9) F 6-2 6-3

2013 L - ANA IVANOVIC (SRB #13) R2 6-3

2012 L - VICTORIA AZARENKA (BLR #1) R16 6-3 6-1

ELINA SVITOLINA 2018

R16 L - PETRA KVITOVA (CZE #21) 6-4 7-5

2016 R1 L - DENISA ALLERTOVA (CZE #62) 7-5 6-4

2015 R16 L - VICTORIA AZARENKA (BLR #48) 6-3 6-7(4) 6-1

2014 R1 L - KLARA KOUKALOVA (CZE #34) 6-2 6-4


from

VSSIMONAHALEP

ELINASVITOLINA


for the sixth time. Reached the SF here last year where she gave Muguruza a walkover to the final due to a foot injury

• Defeated three Top 10 players to win the title here in 2014 (d. No.7 Errani in QF, No.4 A.Radwanska in SF and No.9 Kerber in F). One of two former champions to begin the draw along with Suarez Navarro (2016)

• Bidding to become the fourth two-time champion in Doha following Myskina (2003-04), Sharapova (2005, 2008) and Azarenka (2012-13)

• Following 1r bye, defeated Tsurenko in 2r on Wednesday to reach first QF of the season

• Won 63% of her return games against Tsurenko. The Romanian owns a staggering 143-1 record when winning 60% of her return games (lone loss to Suarez Navarro at 2015 Rome SF)

• Defeated No.16 Goerges in the QF on Thursday to improve record vs. Top 20 players this season to 2-2, most recently over No.5 Ka.Pliskova in last weekend’s Fed Cup World Group tie. Losses came against No.15 Barty (Sydney) and No.26 S.Williams (Australian Open)

• Win over Goerges marked her 13th in Doha, moving her into fifth place on the list for most match wins here after Wozniacki (19 wins), A.Radwanska (17), Kuznetsova (16) and Azarenka (14)

• Faces No.7 Svitolina today in their seventh career meeting. Trails 2-4 in their career head-to-head and 1-2 on hard courts

• Aiming for first final since R-Up finish at 2018 Cin-cinnati (l. Bertens in F) and first title since the week before at Montreal (d. Stephens in F)

• Would secure her 200th career main draw win by lifting the title this week

• Making fifth main draw appearance at Doha, where she is through to SF for first time

• Made R16 in 2015 (l. Azarenka) and 2018 (l. eventu-al champion Kvitova)

• Enters 2019 Doha as a wildcard. Best result by a wildcard in Doha was a R-Up finish by Azarenka in 2015 (l. Safarova in F)

• Following 1r bye, defeated No.22 Ostapenko for the first time in 2r to improve her record vs. Top 30 in 2019 to 2-2. Also defeated No.17 Keys (Australian Open), losses came against No.30 Sasnovich (Bris-bane) and No.4 Osaka (Australian Open)

• In QF, scored ninth consecutive win over a qualifi-er against Muchova. Last loss to a qualifier came against Giorgi at 2017 Birmingham

• Faces No.3 Halep today. Has won seven of the last nine sets against the Romanian, including three con-secutive straight set wins before a 3s loss at 2017 Roland Garros

• A win today would mark her 30th career victory over a Top 10 player (29-33 record)

• Owns 17-16 career record against Top 5 players. In 2017, held the best winning percentage against Top 5 players (8-1)

• Holds 15-14 career record in SF. Bidding for first title of the season, having won four in 2018 and a tour-leading five in 2017 (owns 13-2 record in finals)

• One of two Ukrainians to begin the main draw this week (also Tsurenko)

DOHA




CAREER MILESTONES• Ended 2018 season as World No.1 for the second

time in her career, with season highlighted by maiden Grand Slam title at Roland Garros (d. Stephens in F)

SEASON• Advanced to QF at Australian Open for second year

in a row (l. eventual champion Osaka)• Opened 2019 season at Brisbane and suffered 2r

exit as defending champion (after 1r bye, l. Sas-novich). Also fell 1r in doubles w/Sevastova (l. Hozu-mi/Rosolska)

CAREER MILESTONES• Won 13th – and most prestigious – career title at

2018 WTA Finals (d. Stephens in F), after going 3-0 during round robin stage. Ended year ranked No.4

• Last year, also won titles at Rome (as defending champion, d. No.1 Halep in F), Dubai (as defend-ing champion, d. Kasatkina in F) and Brisbane (d. Sasnovich in F); career record in finals now stands at 13-2, including a current nine match win streak

• Enjoyed stand-out 2017, finishing year at No.6, winning a tour-leading five titles and posting sec-ond-most wins (53, behind Wozniacki with 60)

VS




SIMONAHALEP

ELINASVITOLINA

CAREER CONT.









• Defended Madrid title in 2017 (d. Mladenovic in F); reached a further four finals in 2017: Rome, Ro-land Garros, Cincinnati and Beijing. 2016 season highlighted by three titles, at Madrid, Bucharest and Montréal






GRAND SLAM HISTORY

CAREER CONT.• Season culminated by qualifying for WTA Finals in

Singapore, becoming first Ukrainian woman to quali-fy for the season-ending tournament in singles (fell at round robin stage with 1-2 record)

• Her five titles in 2017 were Taipei City (d. Peng in F), Dubai (d. Wozniacki in F), Istanbul (d. Mertens in F), Rome (d. Halep in F) and Toronto (d. Wozniacki in F)

• Became first player to win three Premier 5 titles in a single season (Dubai, Rome, Toronto), since such tournaments were introduced in 2009

• Owned longest unbeaten streak in 2017, at 15 matches. Won Taipei City (five wins), went 2-0 for Ukraine in Fed Cup action against Australia, trium-phant in Dubai, won one match at Kuala Lumpur be-fore withdrawing, then reached R16 at Indian Wells falling to Muguruza in three sets

• Strong finish to 2016 season also saw her reach first SF at Premier Mandatory level at Beijing (l. A.Rad-wanska); in addition, post-US Open reached SF at Tokyo [PPO] (l. Osaka) and Moscow (l. Kuznetsova)

• Reached three finals in 2016, at Kuala Lumpur (d. Bouchard in F) and advancing to finals at New Haven (l. A.Radwanska) and Zhuhai (l. Kvitova)

• Made WTA main draw debut at 2012 Baku (lost in 1r but won title the next two years)

GRAND SLAM HISTORY• 2019 Australian Open marked 26th Grand Slam main

draw appearance • Best results to date have been QF showings at 2015

Roland Garros (l. Ivanovic), 2017 Roland Garros (l. eventual R-Up Halep), 2018 Australian Open (l. Mertens) and 2019 Australian Open (l. eventual champion Osaka)

• Reached R16 at Wimbledon in 2017 (l. Ostapenko) and US Open in 2017 (l. eventual R-Up Keys) and 2018 (l. Sevastova)

• Joint-highest seeding at a Slam is No.4 (2017 Wim-bledon and US Open, 2018 Australian Open and Roland Garros)

PERSONAL• Parents are Mykhaylo and Olena; brother is Yulian• Introduced to tennis at age 5 by family• Coach is Andrew Bettles. Has previously worked with

Iain Hughes and Thierry Ascione• Won the Jerry Diamond ACES Award in the 2018

WTA Awards, in recognition of her promotion of wom-en’s tennis to fans, media, and local communities by performing off-court promotional and charitable activities


MATCH NOTES

[3] ANGELIQUE KERBER (GER #6) vs. ELISE MERTENS (BEL #21)

Head to Head: 0-0

ANGELIQUE KERBER 6 25

18-01-1988 (31) $215,103

$27,371,944

0 / 12 0 / 0

6-2 / 405-227 1-0 / 113-88 3-0 / 81-53

ELISE MERTENS 21 38

17-11-1995 (23) $166,333

$3,326,579

0 / 4 0 / 6 4-1

7-5 / 88-50 1-1 / 27-15 3-1 / 20-19

9-8

7-5 / 51-32 6-2 / 266-147 1-1 / 33-20 1-0 / 8-2

WTA RANKING PORSCHE RACE TO SHENZHEN LEADERBOARD

DATE OF BIRTH (AGE) YTD PRIZE MONEY

CAREER PRIZE MONEY SINGLES TITLES (YTD / CAREER) DOUBLES TITLES (YTD / CAREER)

DOHA W-L (MD) * YTD / CAREER W-L (MD) *

YTD / CAREER 3-SET W-L (MD) * YTD / CAREER TIE-BREAK W-L (MD) *

YTD / CAREER HARD W-L (MD) * YTD / CAREER Left Hander W-L (MD) *

0-1 / 37-60 1-1 / 4-10 1-1 / 87-112 2-4 / 8-24

YTD / CAREER TOP 10 W-L (MD & Q) * YTD / CAREER TOP 20 W-L (MD & Q) *


* Updated entering 2019 Doha Semifinals

[3] ANGELIQUE KERBER (GER #6)

QF: d. BARBORA STRYCOVA (CZE #49) 1-6,6-2,7-6(4) (2h07)

R16: d. ANETT KONTAVEIT (EST #20) 6-1,7-6(3) (1h21)

R32: BYE

ROAD TO THE FINAL

ELISE MERTENS (BEL #21)

QF: d. [5] KIKI BERTENS (NED #8) 6-4,6-3 (1h30)

R16: d. KRISTYNA PLISKOVA (CZE #90) 6-2,7-6(3) (1h47)

R32: d. KATERINA SINIAKOVA (CZE #44) 6-4,6-2 (1h20)




ANGELIQUE KERBER 2018

L - CAROLINE WOZNIACKI (DEN #1) QF 7-6(4) 1-6 6-3

ELISE MERTENS 2018

R2 L - SORANA CIRSTEA (ROU #38) 7-5 6-4


from


MATCH NOTES

2017 L - DARIA KASATKINA (RUS #32) R16 6-4 0-6 6-4

2016 L - SAISAI ZHENG (CHN #73) R2 7-5 6-1


2014 L - SIMONA HALEP (ROU #10) F 6-2 6-3

2013 L - MONA BARTHEL (GER #32) R2 6-1 6-2

2012 L - TSVETANA PIRONKOVA (BUL #46) R2 6-4 6-1

2008 L - TAMARINE TANASUGARN (THA #101) R1 7-6(3) 6-4

2007 L - TATIANA PEREBIYNIS (UKR #183) R1-Q 6-4 6-3


from

VSANGELIQUE KERBER

ELISEMERTENS

• Making ninth main draw appearance at Doha (10th overall). Former finalist in 2014 (l. Halep in F)

• Last year here lost to then-World No.1 Wozniacki in three sets in QF stage

• Following 1r bye, defeated No.20 Kontaveit on Tues-day for first Top 20 win since defeating No.4 Osaka at 2018 WTA Finals (87-112 career record against Top 20 players)

• Win over Kontaveit marked 600th career win across all levels (600-313 record)

• Completed comeback win over No.49 Strycova in QF, improving to 8-1 record against the Czech

• Match against Strycova marked her first three set match of 2019. In 2018, went 12-9 in such matches

• Through to first SF since title run at 2018 Wimbledon (d. S.Williams in F). Owns 28-24 career record in SF

• Faces No.21 Mertens today in their first tour-level meeting. Defeated the Belgian at the Hopman Cup in 2018, needing two tiebreaks to secure the victory

• Has fallen to a player ranked outside the Top 20 once in 2019 (l. No.35 Collins at Australian Open). In 2018, fell to players outside the Top 20 on five occasions

• Has not faced a Belgian player since 2017 Wimble-don (d. Flipkens in 2r)

• A win today would mark her 10th at Doha (9-8 record)

• One of two Germans to contest this week’s draw along with Goerges

• Won three consecutive tour-level matches for the first time since 2018 Wimbledon title run when reaching R16 at Australian Open (l. Collins). Defeated Haddad Maia in 2r for 100th Grand Slam match-win (one of eight active players to achieve the feat)

• Posted QF run in Sydney (as defending champion, l. eventual champion Kvitova) – first QF since Wimble-don title run last July

• Started off Australian swing by helping Germany fin-ish R-Up to Switzerland at Hopman Cup (posted 4-0 singles record – d. Barty, Bencic, Cornet, Muguruza)

DOHA

SEASON

CAREER MILESTONES• Won two titles in 2018, at Sydney (d. Barty in F) and

third Grand Slam crown of career at Wimbledon (d. S.Williams in F), finishing the season ranked No.2

• Record in tour-level finals stands at 12-16 – her 28 final appearances is the joint-10th-most among active players


• Broke serve four times to defeat Siniakova in 1r• In 2r, defeated lucky loser Kr.Pliskova (replaced sis-

ter Ka.Pliskova who withdrew w/viral illness)• Upset No.8 Bertens in QF to score fourth career Top

10 win (4-10 record), having previously defeated No.10 Cibulkova at 2017 Beijing, No.4 Svitolina at 2018 Australian Open and No.3 Stephens at 2018 Cincinnati

• Through to first SF since San Jose last August (l. eventual champion Buzarnescu in SF)

• Faces No.6 Kerber today. Holds 1-0 record vs. left handed players this season (8-2 career record), hav-ing defeated Kr.Pliskova in 2r this week

• Aiming to reach first final since title run at 2018 Rabat in April (d. Tomljanovic in F). Owns 4-1 record in finals, winning three in 2018 (Hobart, Lugano and Rabat)

• Among the semifinalists this week, holds the best service game winning percentage at 80% ahead of Svitolina (78.9%), Halep (73.9%) and Kerber (70.8%)

• Sole Belgian represented in Doha this week (main draw, qualifying and doubles)

• Fell in 2r at the Australian Open (d. Burel, l. Yas-tremska)

• Opened 2019 season with straight set 1r exits in Brisbane (l. Kontaveit) and Sydney (l. Muguruza)

DOHA

SEASON









VS

CAREER CONT.• Also in 2018, posted SF runs at Australian Open (l.

Halep in 3s, having held two match points), Dubai (l. eventual champion Svitolina) and Eastbourne (l. eventual champion Wozniacki having held match point)

• Ended 2017 on a ranking of No.21. Best results of season were R-Up finish at Monterrey and SFs at Tokyo [PPO] and Dubai

• Enjoyed an outstanding 2016 season, winning first Grand Slam titles of career at Australian Open and US Open and rising to World No.1 in the WTA rank-ings. At 28, became oldest player to make her debut at World No.1, a record previously held by Jennifer Capriati

• Finished 2016 year-end World No.1 ranking –be-came 12th WTA player to achieve the feat and sec-ond German woman to do so after Graf (eight times)

• Was voted WTA Player of the Year in 2016 by inter-national media and fans; also, ITF World Champion

• 2016 marked fifth successive Top 10 season finish. Was the WTA match win leader in 2016, going 63-18

• Made fourth appearance at WTA Finals in 2016, pro-gressing past round-robin for first time (l. Cibulkova in F); first German to reach final at the season-end-ing championships since Graf won title in 1996

• Currently working with former Australian Open finalist Rainer Schüttler, having ended partnership with Wim Fissette at the end of 2018. Previously worked with Torben Beltz

• In January 2017 was named in Forbes 30 Under 30 in Europe (in the entertainment category), alongside the likes of Gareth Bale and Luis Suárez

PERSONAL

ANGELIQUE KERBER

ELISEMERTENS

GRAND SLAM HISTORY• Is a three-time Grand Slam champion, winning 2016

Australian Open (d. S.Williams in F), 2016 US Open (d. Ka.Pliskova in F) and 2018 Wimbledon (d. S.Wil-liams in F)

• At 2016 Australian Open, became first Grand Slam champion to save match point en route to the title since Li at 2014 Australian Open (Kerber saved a match point in 1r win over Doi

• Won second Grand Slam singles title at US Open (d. Ka.Pliskova in F) and rose to World No.1

• Kerber hit only five unforced errors to beat S.Williams and lift third major at 2018 Wimbledon

• In 2016, finished R-Up at Wimbledon (l. S.Williams)• Best result at Roland Garros are QF runs in 2012 (l.

eventual R-Up Errani) and 2018 (l. eventual champi-on Halep)

• After successful trial towards the end of 2018, brought David Taylor on as full-time coach during off season




PERSONAL






CAREER CONT.• Made WTA singles main draw debut at 2016 ‘s-Her-

togenbosch – made QF (as qualifier, l. Mladenovic) • Won first WTA title of any kind in doubles at 2016

Auckland (w/Mestach). Now has six doubles titles – also 2017 Guangzhou (w/Schuurs), 2018 Hobart (w/Schuurs), 2018 Lugano (w/Flipkens), 2018 ‘s-Herto-genbosch (w/Schuurs) and 2018 Wuhan (w/Schuurs)








QATAR TOTAL OPEN - QUARTERFINAL MATCH-UPS

[4] ELINA SVITOLINA (UKR #7) vs. [Q] KAROLINA MUCHOVA (CZE #132)First meeting

Muchova facing Top-10 opposition for the second time in her career... Svitolina through to QF in Doha for the first time... Muchova will guarantee Top 100 debut with victory today

BARBORA STRYCOVA (CZE #49) vs. [3] ANGELIQUE KERBER (GER #6)Kerber leads 7-1

All seven of Kerber’s previous wins over Strycova have been in straight sets... Entering Doha, Strycova had only one win to her name this season... Kerber bidding to reach first SF since winning Wimbledon

[1] SIMONA HALEP (ROU #3) vs. [9] JULIA GOERGES (GER #16)Halep leads 2-0

Halep has dropped only seven games across previous two meetings... Goerges missed five match points in second set before eventually beating Riske in second-round... Halep champion here in 2014

[5] KIKI BERTENS (NED #8) vs. ELISE MERTENS (BEL #21)Mertens leads 2-1

Bertens won in three sets when the two met last month in Brisbane... Mertens bidding to reach first SF on tour since last summer... Bertens has come from a set down to win both matches this week


[1] Simona Halep 12-3 6-2 456-199 205,063 28,350,642 0 18

[3] Angelique Kerber 8-8 5-2 600-313 215,103 27,371,944 0 12

[4] Elina Svitolina 3-4 5-2 334-171 $356,901 $13,465,526 0 13

[5] Kiki Bertens 2-1 10-3 381-228 274,598 6,796,722 1 8

[9] Julia Goerges 7-5 8-2 453-312 111,351 8,739,847 1 7

Elise Mertens 3-1 6-5 261-137 166,333 3,326,579 0 4

Barbora Strycova 6-5 6-2 542-382 134,903 9,206,957 0 2

[Q] Karolina Muchova 2-0 10-2 176-83 59,426 319,293 0 0

A LOOK AT THE QUARTERFINALISTS


By beating Hsieh Su-Wei on Wednesday, Karolina Muchova became the 10th qualifier to reach the quarterfi-nals of the Qatar Total Open.

However, all nine of her predecessors have fallen at this hurdle. Can Muchova buck the trend?

QUALIFIED SUCCESSRANKING WATCHSimona Halep’s win over Lesia Tsurenko on Wednesday means that she will rise to No.2 in the new rankings.

Meanwhile, Kiki Bertens progress this week also keeps alive her chances of making a Top 5 debut this week. De-pending on other results, the Dutchwoman can achieve the feat by reaching the final. Betty Stove is the only Dutchwoman to reach the WTA Top 5 (debuted July 3, 1977 at a career-best No.5).

Two other players in with a shout of a Top 5 spot on Mon-day are Angelique Kerber and Elina Svitolina, although to do so both would need to at least reach the final. Further down the WTA pecking order, qualifier Karolina Muchova’s performances have guaranteed her a new career-high ranking. Should the young Czech reach the semifinals, she will break into the Top 100.

SERVING NOTICE Last year, Julia Goerges was anointed the WTA’s new Ace Queen after firing down 474 of them across the season, nearly 100 more than her nearest challenger Karolina Pliskova (393).

The German has been on top serving form in Doha so far, hitting a tournament-leading 18 aces across her two matches and winning 21 of 23 service games (91.3%).

These performances have also seen her close in on early pacesetter Kiki Bertens on 2019’s aces leaderboard. Bertens, who has passed the 100-ace mark this week, has shown a marked improvement in her service potency this campaign, averaging 7.92 aces per match - +3.21 compared to last season’s average (4.71).

PLAYER NUMBER OF ACES MATCHES PLAYED

Kiki Bertens 103 13

Naomi Osaka 87 10

Petra Kvitova 79 16

Viktoria Kuzmova 71 8

Karolina Pliskova 69 11

Julia Goerges 68 10

ON THIS DAY On February 14, 2008, Monica Seles’s love affair with the WTA came to end as she officially announced her re-tirement after a career that brought her nine major titles.

PLAYER YEAR QUARTERFINAL CONQUEROR

CiCi Bellis 2018 Simona Halep

Lauren Davis 2017 Carolina Wozniacki

Elena Vesnina 2016 Carla Suárez Navarro

Petra Cetkovska 2014 Angelique Kerber

Peng Shuai 2011 Marion Bartoli

Kateryna Bondarenko 2007 Jelena Jankovic

Maria Kirilenko 2005 Amelie Mauresmo

Henrieta Nagyova 2001 Sandrine Testud

Lina Krasnoroutskaya 2001 Barbara Schett

DOUBLES UPDATE There were upsets galore in the opening round of the doubles at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex, with the top three seeds all falling by the way-side.

No.1 seeds Nicole Melichar and Kveta Peschke failed to make the most of a bright start as they were upended by late alternates Ons Jabeur and Alison Riske, 2-6 6-3 11-9.

Hsieh Su-Wei and Barbora Strycova, the No.2 seeds, lost to Veronika Kudermetova and Jelena Ostapenko, while No.3 seeds Gabriela Dabrowski and Xu Yifan fell to Lara Arruabarrena and Kaitlyn Christian.


MATCH NOTES

[4] ELINA SVITOLINA (UKR #7) vs. [Q] KAROLINA MUCHOVA (CZE #132)

Head to Head: First meeting


12-09-1994 (24) $356,901

$13,465,526

0 / 13 0 / 2

5-2 / 231-126 2-1 / 72-42 0-0 / 44-34

KAROLINA MUCHOVA 132 148

21-08-1996 (22) $59,426

$319,293

0 / 0 0 / 0

2-0 2-1 / 4-3 0-0 / 1-1 0-0 / 0-0

3-4

2-1 / 4-3 5-2 / 168-85 0-0 / 20-21 0-0 / 0-0

WTA RANKING

PORSCHE RACE TO SHENZHEN LEADERBOARD

DATE OF BIRTH (AGE)

YTD PRIZE MONEY

CAREER PRIZE MONEY

SINGLES TITLES (YTD / CAREER)

DOUBLES TITLES (YTD / CAREER)

DOHA W-L (MD) *

YTD / CAREER W-L (MD) *

YTD / CAREER 3-SET W-L (MD) *

YTD / CAREER TIE-BREAK W-L (MD) *

YTD / CAREER HARD W-L (MD) *

YTD / CAREER Left Hander W-L (MD) *

0-1 / 29-33 0-1 / 0-1 1-1 / 48-62 0-1 / 1-2

YTD / CAREER TOP 10 W-L (MD & Q) *



* Updated entering 2019 Doha QF

Rnd Result Duration

R16 E. SVITOLINA d. J. OSTAPENKO 6-4,6-4 80 mins

R1 BYE -

Duration

69 mins

81 mins

106 mins

120 mins

Rnd Result

R16 K. MUCHOVA d. S. HSIEH 6-2,6-4

R1 K. MUCHOVA d. S. STOSUR 6-4,6-2

R3-Q K. MUCHOVA d. L. SAMSONOVA 6-1,3-6,6-1

R2-Q K. MUCHOVA d. K. PLISKOVA 6-3,4-6,6-4

R1-Q K. MUCHOVA d. A. NAIMI 6-0,6-0 47 mins

DOHA Tournament Performance - 2019 "-Q" Qualifying match

DOHA Tournament History

ELINA SVITOLINA

2018

L - PETRA KVITOVA (CZE #21) R16 6-4 7-5

2016

L - DENISA ALLERTOVA (CZE #62) R1 7-5 6-4

2015

L - VICTORIA AZARENKA (BLR #48) R16 6-3 6-7(4) 6-1


from

2014

R1 L - KLARA KOUKALOVA (CZE #34) 6-2 6-4

VSELINASVITOLINA

KAROLINAMUCHOVA

DOHA• Making fifth main draw appearance at Doha, where

she is through to QF for first time• Made R16 in 2015 (l. Azarenka) and 2018 (l. eventu-

al champion Kvitova)• Enters 2019 Doha as a wildcard. Best result by a

wildcard in Doha was a R-Up finish by Azarenka in 2015 (l. Safarova in F)

• Defeated No.22 Ostapenko for the first time in 2r to improve her record v Top 30 in 2019 to 2-2. Also defeated No.17 Keys (Australian Open), losses came against No.30 Sasnovich (Brisbane) and No.4 Osaka (Australian Open)

• Faces qualifier Muchova for the first time today. Is on an eight match-winning streak against qualifiers. Last loss to a qualifier came against Giorgi at 2017 Birmingham

• One of two Ukrainians to begin the main draw (also Tsurenko)

• Making debut appearance at Doha after coming three rounds of qualifying

• 2019 Doha marks her first main draw appearance at a WTA Premier-level event

• Competing this week ranked No.132 – two spots shy from her career high of No.130 (achieved on January 28, 2019). By reaching QF will move inside Top 110

• By defeating Stosur and Hsieh in the first two rounds has reached her maiden WTA QF. First time has recorded back-to-back main draw victories since a 3r showing at 2018 US Open (l. Barty)

• Faces No.7 Svitolina today in her second career meeting against a Top 10 ranked opponent, having fallen to No.8 Ka.Pliskova earlier this season at the Australian Open.

• Upset No.31 Hsieh in straight sets in the 2r for her second career victory over a Top 50 opponent. Also defeated No.12 Muguruza at 2018 US Open

• Bidding to become first qualifier to make SF here. Last qualifier to reach Doha QF was Bellis in 2018

• One of four Czech players competing in singles here in Doha – also Kr.Pliskova, Siniakova and Strycova. A Czech player has lifted the Doha title in three of the last four years, including Safarova (2015), Ka.Plisko-va (2017) and Kvitova (2018)

• Qualified at the Australian Open, falling to Ka.Plisko-va in 1r

• 2019 Australian Open marked her second main draw appearance at the majors (following 2018 US Open)

• Opened 2019 season at Brisbane, making qualifying exit (l. Potapova after holding 2MP)

DOHA




CAREER MILESTONES• Won 13th – and most prestigious – career title at

2018 WTA Finals (d. Stephens in F), after going 3-0 during round robin stage. Ended year ranked No.4


• At the Slams in 2018, reached QF at Australian Open (l. Mertens), R16 at US Open (l. Sevastova), 3r appearance at Roland Garros (l. Buzarnescu) and suffered 1r upset at Wimbledon (l. Maria)

• Posted SF run at Montréal (as defending champion, l. Stephens) and made five further QFs

• Enjoyed stand-out 2017, finishing year at No.6, winning a tour-leading five titles and posting sec-ond-most wins (53, behind Wozniacki with 60)

• Season culminated by qualifying for WTA Finals in Singapore, becoming first Ukrainian woman to quali-fy for the season-ending tournament in singles (fell at round robin stage with 1-2 record)

• Her five titles in 2017 were Taipei City (d. Peng in F), Dubai (d. Wozniacki in F), Istanbul (d. Mertens in F), Rome (d. Halep in F) and Toronto (d. Wozniacki in F)

SEASON

CAREER MILESTONES• Ended 2018 ranked No.145, her first Top 200 season

(up from her previous best of No.208 in 2016)• 2018 season highlight was making Grand Slam main

draw debut at US Open (as qualifier, l. Barty in 3r)• Also contested WTA qualifying in 2018 at Stuttgart,

Roland Garros, Wimbledon and Luxembourg• Reached three ITF Circuit finals in 2018, including

back-to-back finals at $25k ITF/Altenkirchen-GER (l. Dart) and $60k ITF/Croissy-Beauborg-FRA (l. Blinko-va). Also reached the final at $80k ITF/Olomouc-CZE (l. Ferro)

• Made WTA main draw debut at 2017 Seoul (as quali-fier, l. Hon). Also contested qualifying at ‘s-Hertogen-bosch and Tokyo [Japan Open] and finished R-Up at one ITF Circuit event

VS

CAREER CONT.• Won second career ITF Circuit title in 2016 and post-

ed 39-18 win-loss record; at tour-level fell in qualify-ing at US Open

• On ITF Circuit has won two titles in singles and one in doubles

• Played first events of career on ITF Circuit in Croatia in 2013

ELINASVITOLINA

KAROLINAMUCHOVA

CAREER CONT.

GRAND SLAM HISTORY• 2019 Australian Open marked second Grand Slam

main draw of her career (as qualifier, l. Ka.Pliskova in 1r)

• Reached 3r at 2018 US Open in her main draw debut at the majors (as qualifier, l. Barty in 3r)

• Earned USD$156,000 in prize money during last year’s Flushing Meadows run, more than doubling her career total

• Previously fell in qualifying at US Open in 2016, and Roland Garros and Wimbledon in 2018


• Owned longest unbeaten streak in 2017, at 15 matches. Won Taipei City (five wins), went 2-0 for Ukraine in Fed Cup action against Australia, trium-phant in Dubai (after 1r bye, five wins), won one match at Kuala Lumpur before withdrawing prior to her 2r match, then reached R16 at Indian Wells (after 1r bye, two wins) falling to Muguruza in three sets

• One of five players to make Top 10 debut in 2017, after winning Dubai in February (also Ostapenko, Garcia, Mladenovic and Vandeweghe). Peaked in rankings at No.3 on September 11, 2017

• On four occasions could have reached World No.1 spot – at 2017 US Open, then needed to win 2017 Beijing (fell in QF), then needed to triumph at 2017 WTA Finals (failed to progress from group stage), or reach final at 2018 Australian Open (fell in QF)


• Qualified for 2016 WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai for the second time (l. Kvitova in F)


• Other 2016 season highlights included SF at Dubai (l. Errani) and QF at Rio Olympics (l. Kvitova)

• Owns two career doubles titles: 2014 Istanbul (w/Doi) and 2015 Istanbul (w/Gavrilova)


• Played first ITF Circuit events of career in 2008. Winner of seven singles and two doubles titles on ITF Circuit

• Ukrainian Fed Cup Team, 2012-2017. Ukrainian Olympic Team, 2016


draw appearance • Best results to date have been QF showings at 2015

Roland Garros (l. Ivanovic), 2017 Roland Garros (l. eventual R-Up Halep), 2018 Australian Open (l. Mertens) and 2019 Australian Open (l. eventual champion Osaka)



PERSONAL• Born in city of Olomouc in eastern Czech Republic,

but moved to train in Prague this year• Started playing tennis at aged seven with dad, a

former professional footballer in Czech Republic• Roger Federer was tennis idol growing up• Coached by Emil Miske

VSELINASVITOLINA

KAROLINAMUCHOVA





MATCH NOTES

BARBORA STRYCOVA (CZE #49) vs. [3] ANGELIQUE KERBER (GER #6)

Head to Head: ANGELIQUE KERBER leads 7-1

2018 HARD O R1 ANGELIQUE KERBER 59 mins6-2 6-1 DUBAI 2016 HARD O R2 ANGELIQUE KERBER 95 mins6-3 7-6(4) BEIJING 2016 HARD O R16 ANGELIQUE KERBER 120 mins7-6(5) 6-4 CINCINNATI 2016 CLAY O R1 BARBORA STRYCOVA 69 mins6-4 6-2 MADRID 2016 HARD O R2 ANGELIQUE KERBER 64 mins6-1 6-1 MIAMI 2014 HARD O R16 ANGELIQUE KERBER 64 mins6-1 6-1 WUHAN 2009 CLAY O R1 ANGELIQUE KERBER 101 mins7-5 6-4 BASTAD 2008 HARD I QF ANGELIQUE KERBER N/A6-0 6-1 ITF/KRAKOW

BARBORA STRYCOVA 49 188

28-03-1986 (32) $134,903

$9,206,957

0 / 2 0 / 23

3-2 / 273-269 2-0 / 90-71 0-2 / 60-67


18-01-1988 (31) $215,103

$27,371,944

0 / 12 0 / 0 8-8

5-2 / 404-227 0-0 / 112-88 2-0 / 80-53

6-5

5-2 / 265-147 3-2 / 158-157 1-0 / 25-27 1-1 / 33-20

WTA RANKING


DATE OF BIRTH (AGE)

YTD PRIZE MONEY

CAREER PRIZE MONEY



DOHA W-L (MD) *






0-0 / 9-53 0-1 / 37-60 0-0 / 27-87 1-1 / 87-112





Rnd Result Duration

R16 B. STRYCOVA d. A. BLINKOVA 6-0,3-6,6-0 114 mins

R1 B. STRYCOVA d. F. AL NABHANI 6-1,6-1 64 mins

Rnd Result Duration

R16 A. KERBER d. A. KONTAVEIT 6-1,7-6(3) 81 mins

R1 BYE -

DOHA Tournament Performance - 2019


from


MATCH NOTES


BARBORA STRYCOVA

2018

L - JULIA GOERGES (GER #10) R2 6-2 3-6 6-1

2017

L - SAMANTHA STOSUR (AUS #21) R16 6-3 3-6 6-4

2016

L - PETRA KVITOVA (CZE #8) R2 7-6(2) 6-4

2015

L - VENUS WILLIAMS (USA #17) R16 7-5 3-6 7-6(5)

2012

L - IVETA MELZER (CZE #48) R1 4-6 6-3 6-1

ANGELIQUE KERBER

2018

QF L - CAROLINE WOZNIACKI (DEN #1) 7-6(4) 1-6 6-3

2017

R16 L - DARIA KASATKINA (RUS #32) 6-4 0-6 6-4

2016

R2 L - SAISAI ZHENG (CHN #73) 7-5 6-1

2015

R1 L - VICTORIA AZARENKA (BLR #48) 6-0 6-3

2014

F L - SIMONA HALEP (ROU #10) 6-2 6-3

2013

R2 L - MONA BARTHEL (GER #32) 6-1 6-2

2012

R2 L - TSVETANA PIRONKOVA (BUL #46) 6-4 6-1

2008

R1 L - TAMARINE TANASUGARN (THA #101) 7-6(3) 6-4

2007

R1-Q L - TATIANA PEREBIYNIS (UKR #183) 6-4 6-3


from

VSBARBORASTRYCOVA

ANGELIQUE KERBER

DOHA• Making sixth appearance at Doha, where she is

through to QF for the first time• In 1r defeated Al Nabhani in the sole main draw

match played on Monday. Also defeated Al Nabhani in 1r two years ago, winning 12 of the last 13 games

• Prevailed in see-saw 2r encounter with Blinkova to register back-to-back wins for the first time since Linz in October 2018

• Faces No.6 Kerber today in their ninth career meet-ing. A win today would mark her 10th career victory over a Top 10 player (9-53 career record), and first since defeating No.3 Muguruza at 2018 Birmingham

• Owns 1-0 record vs. left-handed opponents in 2019 (25-27 career record), having defeated Townsend at Auckland in her first match of the season

• One of four Czechs in main draw (also Siniakova, qualifier Muchova and lucky loser Kr.Pliskova). A Czech has won the title here in three of the past four years: Safarova (2015), Ka.Pliskova (2017) and Kvitova (2018)

• At 32, is the oldest player left in the draw• Was seeded No.2 in the doubles draw w/Hsieh (l.

Kudermetova/Ostapenko in 1r)

• Making ninth main draw appearance at Doha (10th overall). Former finalist in 2014 (l. Halep in F)

• Last year here lost to then-World No.1 Wozniacki in three sets in QF stage

• Following 1r bye, defeated No.20 Kontaveit on Tues-day for first Top 20 win since defeating No.4 Osaka at 2018 WTA Finals

• Win over Kontaveit marked 600th career win across all levels (600-313 record)

• Faces No.49 Strycova today. Has not fallen to a play-er ranked outside the Top 40 in 2019, and did so just twice in 2018 - l. No.61 Riske (Mallorca) and No.45 Zhang (Beijing)

• Owns 5-6 record in QF matches since start of 2018• One of two Germans in the draw this week along

with Goerges (also through to QF)




DOHA

SEASON• Began season by reaching 2r at Auckland (l. Anisi-

mova)• Followed this with 1r exits at Sydney (l. Diyas) and

Australian Open (l. Putintseva)• At Australian Open, also made fifth career major

doubles SF (w/Vondrousova, l. eventual champions Stosur/Zhang)

• Was not in Fed Cup action last week, having retired from the competition after helping the Czechs reclaim their title at the end of 2018

SEASON

CAREER MILESTONES• Ended 2018 at No.33 - her fifth consecutive Top 50

finish - after posting 26-23 record • 2018 season highlights include making QF at Auck-

land (l. Hsieh) and Sydney (l. Barty) as well as a SF run at Birmingham (l. eventual R-Up Rybarikova)

• Made R16 at 2018 Australian Open (l. Ka.Pliskova) for third consecutive year and R16 at Roland Garros – her best result in Paris to date (l. Putintseva)

• Beat No.3 Muguruza in R16 at 2018 Birmingham to register sixth Top 5 win of career – previous wins came against No.2 Li (2014 Wimbledon), No.3 Sharapova (2015 Wuhan), No.3 Muguruza (2016 Australian Open), No.3 Kerber (2016 Madrid) and No.1 Muguruza (2017 Beijing)



• Record in tour-level finals stands at 12-16 – her 28 final appearances is the joint-10th-most among active players

• Also in 2018, posted SF runs at Australian Open (l. Halep in 3s, having held two match points), Dubai (l. eventual champion Svitolina) and Eastbourne (l. eventual champion Wozniacki having held match point)

• Ended 2017 on a ranking of No.21. Best results of season were R-Up finish at Monterrey and SFs at Tokyo [PPO] and Dubai

• Enjoyed an outstanding 2016 season, winning first Grand Slam titles of career at Australian Open (d. S.Williams in F) and US Open (d. Ka.Pliskova in F), finishing R-Up at Wimbledon (l. S.Williams in F) and rising to World No.1 in the WTA rankings. At 28, be-came oldest player to make her debut at World No.1, a record previously held by Jennifer Capriati

VS

CAREER CONT.• Enjoyed successful 2018 season in doubles, winning

titles at Indian Wells (w/Hsieh, d. Makarova/Vesnina), Rome (l. Barty/Schurs, New Haven (d. Hsieh/Siege-mund), Tokyo (l.Kato/Ninomiya) Wuhan (d.Mertens/Schuurs) and Beijing (d. Dabrowski/Xu)

• Also part of Czech Republic team that beat USA 3-0 in Fed Cup World Group final (d. Kenin in day 1 singles rubber)

• Clinched second tour-level singles title at 2017 Linz (d. No.1 seed Rybarikova in F). Holds a 2-6 record in singles finals, with other title coming at 2011 Québec City (d. Erakovic in F)

• Posted career-high singles ranking of No.16 on January 16, 2017

• Owner of 23 career doubles titles. Reached best doubles ranking (No.5) on October 29, 2018

• Won doubles bronze medal at 2016 Rio Olympics (w/Safarova)

• Played first events of career on ITF Circuit in Czech Republic in 2000. Won nine singles and 10 doubles titles on ITF Circuit

• ITF Junior World Champion in 2002

PERSONAL• Coached by David Kotyza and also works with Lukas

Dlouhy • Parents are Jindrich and Ilona; sister, Ivona, studied

law and lives in US• Started playing tennis at age 5

CAREER CONT.• Courtesy of her results in 2016, doubled her career

prize money during season, passing $19 million mark; passed $20 million at 2017 Roland Garros, becoming 15th player to do so





• Other runner-up finishes in 2016 came at Brisbane (l. Azarenka in F), Wimbledon (l. S.Williams in F), Rio Olympics (l. Puig, won silver medal)

• Reached first WTA final of career at 2010 Bogotá and won first title at 2012 Paris [Indoors]. Has won titles on all surfaces: hardcourt, grass and clay (red and green). Career record in tour-level finals is 12 -16

• Made WTA debut in qualifying at 2003 Berlin



• Speaks three languages: German, Polish, and English

PERSONAL

BARBORASTRYCOVA

ANGELIQUE KERBER

GRAND SLAM HISTORY• Best result at a Grand Slam came with QF run at

2014 Wimbledon (d. Li – in the last match of the Chinese star’s career – and Wozniacki en route, l. eventual champion Kvitova). Occasion marked first time in Open Era that three Czech women advanced to QF at a Slam (also Safarova, Kvitova)

• Also made R16 at Australian Open in 2016 (l. Aza-renka), 2017 (l. S.Williams) and 2018 (l. Ka.Pliskova) and Roland Garros in 2018 (l. Putintseva)

• Reached 3r at US Open in 2014 (l. Bouchard), 2015 (l. Lisicki) and 2018 (l. Mertens)

• At 2010 Australian Open played what was then the longest Grand Slam match (d. Kulikova in four hours and 19 minutes – since surpassed by Kuznetso-va-Schiavone at 2011 Australian Open)

• In doubles is a five-time semifinalist, at 2014 US Open (w/Date), 2015 Australian Open (w/Krajicek), 2017 US Open (w/Safarova), 2018 Roland Garros (w/Sestini Hlavackova) and 2019 Australian Open (w/Vondrousova)









MATCH NOTES

[1] SIMONA HALEP (ROU #3) vs. [9] JULIA GOERGES (GER #16)

Head to Head: SIMONA HALEP leads 2-0

2016 HARD O R3 SIMONA HALEP 94 mins6-4 6-1 MIAMI 2014 CLAY O R1 SIMONA HALEP 63 mins6-2 6-0 MADRID

SIMONA HALEP 3 35

27-09-1991 (27) $205,063

$28,350,642

0 / 18 0 / 1

6-2 / 333-153 3-1 / 98-50 0-2 / 39-52

JULIA GOERGES 16 23

02-11-1988 (30) $111,351

$8,739,847

1 / 7 0 / 5 7-5

8-2 / 291-234 3-2 / 89-85 2-2 / 65-74

12-3

8-2 / 175-143 6-2 / 197-97 0-0 / 33-11 0-0 / 16-27

WTA RANKING


DATE OF BIRTH (AGE)

YTD PRIZE MONEY

CAREER PRIZE MONEY



DOHA W-L (MD) *






1-0 / 34-44 0-0 / 16-36 1-2 / 91-69 0-0 / 34-75





Rnd Result Duration

R16 S. HALEP d. L. TSURENKO 6-2,6-3 79 mins

R1 BYE -

Rnd Result Duration

R16 J. GOERGES d. A. RISKE 6-1,6-7(5),6-4 152 mins

R1 J. GOERGES d. A. TOMLJANOVIC 6-2,6-2 77 mins



from


MATCH NOTES


SIMONA HALEP

2018


2016

L - ELENA VESNINA (RUS #118) R2 6-7(1) 6-4 6-1

2014

W - ANGELIQUE KERBER (GER #9) F 6-2 6-3

2013

L - ANA IVANOVIC (SRB #13) R2 6-3

2012

L - VICTORIA AZARENKA (BLR #1) R16 6-3 6-1

JULIA GOERGES

2018

QF L - PETRA KVITOVA (CZE #21) 6-4 2-1

2016

R1 L - SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA (RUS #21) 6-3 6-3

2012

R2 L - VARVARA LEPCHENKO (USA #114) 7-6(4) 7-6(5)

2008

R1 L - KARIN KNAPP (ITA #36) 6-1 6-4

2007



from

VSSIMONAHALEP

JULIA GOERGES


for the sixth time. Reached the SF here last year where she gave a walkover to Muguruza due to a foot injury

• Defeated three Top 10 players to win the title here in 2016 (d. Kerber in F). One of two former champions to begin the draw along with Suarez Navarro (2016)

• Playing as top seed for the first time in Doha this week

• Victory over Tsurenko in 2r marked her 12th in Doha, moving her into joint-fifth place on the list for most match wins here after Wozniacki (19 wins), A.Rad-wanska (17), Kuznetsova (16), Azarenka (14)

• Led the tour in return games won (48.5%) in 2018 – has dropped off to 31.3% so far this season. In 2r win over Tsurenko, broke five out of eight times (62.5%). The Romanian owns a staggering 143-1 record when winning 60% of her return games (lone loss to Suarez Navarro at 2015 Rome SF)

• Faces off against No.16 Goerges in today’s QF. Owns a 91-69 career record vs. Top 20 opponents, most recently over No.5 Ka.Pliskova in last week-end’s Fed Cup World Group tie

• Making sixth main draw appearance in Doha this week, where she is through to QF for a second time

• Also made QF in 2018 (l. eventual champion Kvitova)• Inherited Barty’s seeded berth after the Australian’s

withdrawal after the draw had been made (hip injury), • Hit 18 aces to defeat Tomljanovic and then Riske in

opening two matches. Spurned five match points in second set before beating Riske in decider

• Takes on No.3 Halep in today’s quarterfinal. Holds an 8-17 record vs. Top 5 opponents with last victory coming over a year ago against No.3 Wozniacki in Auckland final

• Momentum plays a big part in the German’s game – dating back to the start of 2018, when winning at least two matches at a tournament, she has made the SF or better on six occasions: 2018 Auckland (WON), 2018 St. Petersburg (SF), 2018 Charleston (R-Up), 2018 Wimbledon (SF), 2018 New Haven (SF) and 2019 Auckland (WON)

• Reached R16 at St. Petersburg (l. Zvonareva)• As No.14 seed, suffered 1r upset at Australian Open

(l. Collins in 3s) • Opened 2019 season by defending her title at Auck-

land (d. Andreescu in F). Following Auckland run, career record in WTA singles finals now stands at 7-8

DOHA







• Qualified for the 2018 BNP Paribas WTA Finals Sin-gapore after reaching the F in Montréal but forced to withdraw from season-ending finale w/back injury



• Defended Madrid title in 2017 (d. Mladenovic in F); reached a further four finals in 2017: Rome, Roland Garros, Cincinnati and Beijing

SEASON

CAREER MILESTONES• Registered third year-end Top 20 finish in 2018,

at No.14 (also No.14 in 2017 and No.18 in 2012). Reached career-high No.9 on August 20, 2018

• 2018 highlights were titles at Auckland (d. Wozniacki in F) – extended title streak to three, having previous-ly won Moscow and Zhuhai to close out 2017 season – and Luxembourg (d. Bencic in F). Also finished R-Up at Charleston (l. Bertens) and enjoyed SF runs at New Haven (l. eventual champion Sabalenka) and Zhuhai (l. Barty)

• Struck 492 aces in 2018. Also hit 412 aces in 2017 season – only two other players have reached the 400-ace mark in a season: S.Williams (2012-15) and Ka.Pliskova (2014-17)

• Posted 46 main draw wins in 2018 – only Ka.Plisko-va (49) and Kvitova (47) had more to their names

• Reached a career-high five finals in 2017 season, winning Moscow (d. Kasatkina in F) and biggest title of career at WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai (d. Vandewe-ghe in F). Finished R-Up at Mallorca, Bucharest and Washington, DC

VS

• Born in Bad Oldesloe. Father is Klaus, mother is Inge; older sister is Maike

• Began playing tennis aged 6. Tennis idol growing up was Martina Hingis

• Fan of winter sports, especially biathlon (cross coun-try skiing combined with shooting)

• Coached by Michael Geserer and Matthias Mischka. Physio and fitness coach is Florian Zitzelsberger




CAREER CONT.• Moscow title was first since 2011 Stuttgart, having

also won 2010 Bad Gastein • By winning 2017 Moscow, overtook Kerber to be-

come German No.1 and also returned to Top 20 for first time since February 2013

• Owns a 7-8 record in WTA singles finals; is 5-11 in WTA doubles finals, most recently winning at 2015 New Haven (w/Hradecka)

• Opened 2016 by reaching first WTA singles final in nearly four years, finishing runner-up at Auckland (l. Stephens). Was first final since 2012 Dubai

• Enjoyed best doubles season to date in 2016, reaching final at Indian Wells (w/Ka.Pliskova) and qualifying for the WTA Finals for the first time. Set ca-reer-high doubles rank of No.12 on August 22, 2016

• In 2011, posted wins over World No.1 Wozniacki in consecutive weeks (Stuttgart final and Madrid)

• Made WTA main draw debut at 2007 Doha • Played first events of career on ITF Circuit in Germa-

ny in 2005 • Member of German Fed Cup team 2008, 2010-18

PERSONAL

SIMONAHALEP

JULIA GOERGES

CAREER CONT.






GRAND SLAM HISTORY• 2019 Australian Open marked 44th main draw ap-

pearance at a Grand Slam • Posted best Grand Slam result at 2018 Wimbledon,

where she reached SF (l. S.Williams). With Kerber winning title at All England Club in 2018, it marked the first time that two Germans reached the last four at the same Slam since 1993 Roland Garros – Huber (SF) and Graf (Champion)

• Previously had reached R16 – but never further – on five occasions, at Australian Open (2012-13 and 2015), Roland Garros (2015) and US Open (2017)

• Made main draw debut at 2007 US Open, negoti-ating qualifying before losing to eventual champion Henin in 1r

• In doubles, is a three-time semifinalist, at Australian Open (2015 w/Groenefeld and 2016 w/Ka.Pliskova) and Wimbledon (2016 w/Ka.Pliskova)

• Reached first Grand Slam final of any kind at 2014 Roland Garros, finishing runner-up in mixed doubles (w/Zimonjic; l. Groenefeld/Rojer)

• 2016 season highlighted by three titles, at Madrid, Bucharest and Montréal

• Owns a 2-13 record vs. Top 2 opponents, wins coming against No.1 S.Williams (2014 WTA Finals) and No.2 Kerber (2016 Montreal). Losses vs. No.1 Azarenka (2012 Doha, 2012 Linz), No.2 Sharapova (2012 Indian Wells, 2012 Beijing), No.1 S.Williams (2013 Rome, 2013 Cincinnati, 2014 WTA Finals, 2015 Miami, 2016 Indian Wells, 2016 US Open), No.2 Kerber (2016 Cincinnati), No.1 Kerber (2016 WTA Finals), No.2 Wozniacki (2018 Australian Open)


• Made Top 100 debut on July 12, 2010 and became third Romanian to break into the WTA Top 10 (after Ruzici, Spirlea) on January 27, 2014



• Reached first career final at 2010 Fès in just her third main draw appearance



GRAND SLAM HISTORY


MATCH NOTES

[5] KIKI BERTENS (NED #8) vs. ELISE MERTENS (BEL #21)

Head to Head: ELISE MERTENS leads 2-1

2019 HARD O R1 KIKI BERTENS 149 mins6-2 6-7(6) 6-4 BRISBANE 2017 HARD O R1 ELISE MERTENS 117 mins4-6 6-4 6-2 NEW HAVEN 2017 HARD O QF ELISE MERTENS 79 mins6-2 7-5 HOBART

KIKI BERTENS 8 5

10-12-1991 (27) $274,598

$6,796,722

1 / 8 0 / 10

10-3 / 164-136 4-3 / 46-50 4-2 / 37-40

ELISE MERTENS 21 38

17-11-1995 (23) $166,333

$3,326,579

0 / 4 0 / 6 3-1

6-5 / 87-50 1-1 / 27-15 3-1 / 20-19

2-1

6-5 / 50-32 10-3 / 74-87 2-0 / 18-9 1-0 / 8-2

WTA RANKING


DATE OF BIRTH (AGE)

YTD PRIZE MONEY

CAREER PRIZE MONEY



DOHA W-L (MD) *






1-0 / 16-20 0-1 / 3-10 2-1 / 25-37 1-4 / 7-24





Rnd Result Duration

R16 K. BERTENS d. C. SUÁREZ NAVARRO 2-6,6-1,6-1 84 mins

R1 K. BERTENS d. C. GIORGI 0-6,7-6(7),6-4 118 mins

Rnd Result Duration

R16 E. MERTENS d. K. PLISKOVA 6-2,7-6(3) 107 mins

R1 E. MERTENS d. K. SINIAKOVA 6-4,6-2 80 mins



KIKI BERTENS

2017

L - CAROLINE WOZNIACKI (DEN #18) R1 6-2 6-3

ELISE MERTENS

2018

R2 L - SORANA CIRSTEA (ROU #38) 7-5 6-4


from

VSKIKIBERTENS

ELISEMERTENS

DOHA• Making second main draw appearance at Doha. Lost

to eventual runner-up Wozniacki in 1r in only previ-ous appearance here in 2017

• Came within two points of defeat during 1r win over Giorgi on Tuesday

• Beat Suarez Navarro in 2r to register sixth consecu-tive victory on tour (won title at last tournament in St. Petersburg)

• Faces Mertens in QF. Won final three games of match to edge out the Belgian at Brisbane in January

• Contesting the week of Doha at a career-high rank-ing of No.8 (first achieved January 28, 2019). By contrast, was ranked No.28 this time last year

• Is the highest-ranked Dutch woman since Stove in 1977, who reached No.5 in the world. Only Dutch-woman in the draw this week. Could make Top 5 debut by reaching final this week in Doha

• Has struck a WTA-leading 103 aces in 13 matches this season (including results this week); struck 325 during entire 2018 season (third-most on tour)


• Broke serve four times to defeat Siniakova in 1r• In 2r, beat lucky loser Kr.Pliskova (replaced sister

Ka.Pliskova who withdrew w/viral illness)• Faces No.8 Bertens in QF, bidding to reach first SF

since Sana Jose last August• Owns three Top 10 wins in career, over No.10

Cibulkova at 2017 Beijing, No.4 Svitolina at 2018 Australian Open and No.3 Stephens at 2018 Cincin-nati

• Only Belgian competing in Doha this week (main draw, qualifying and doubles)


• Opened 2019 season with straight set 1r exits in Brisbane (l. Kontaveit) and Sydney (l. Muguruza)

DOHA

SEASON• Won eighth career title - and third at Premier level -

earlier this month at St. Petersburg (d. Vekic in F)• Made 2r exit at Australian Open (l. Pavlyuchenkova) • Enjoyed SF finish in Sydney (l. eventual R-Up Barty).

Marked first SF on Australian soil; best previous results were QF runs at 2016-17 Hobart

• Fell in the 2r of Brisbane to start the year (l. Vekic, having held 2mp at 5-4 in final set)

SEASON

CAREER MILESTONES• Enjoyed a break-out year in 2018, reaching a ca-

reer-best four singles finals across the season and breaking into the Top 10 (October 8, 2018) – first Dutch woman to be ranked in the Top 10 since Bren-da Schultz-McCarthy in 1996

• Won the WTA’s Most Improved Player Award in 2018 • Won three titles in 2018, at Charleston (d. Goerges

in F), Cincinnati (d. World No.1 Halep in F) and Seoul (d. Tomljanovic in F). Reached one further final, at Premier Mandatory Madrid (l. Kvitova in F)

• Scored WTA-leading 12 Top 10 wins last season. Pri-or to 2018, only had three Top 10 wins in her career

• Also reached SF on WTA Finals debut (l. Svitolina)• Season highlights in 2017 were winning titles at

Nürnberg and Gstaad. Also posted strong SF run at 2017 Rome (l. eventual R-Up Halep) and reached QF at Madrid (l. Sevastova), which marked first QF at Premier Mandatory level

• Career-high doubles ranking is No.16 (first reached on April 16, 2018)









• Made WTA singles main draw debut at 2016 ‘s-Her-togenbosch – made QF (as qualifier, l. Mladenovic)





VS

CAREER CONT.

• Finished 2016 ranked No.22 in singles – big jump in the rankings from her season-ending ranking of No.101 in 2015

• Played on Netherlands Olympic team at 2016 Rio Olympics – fell in 1r (l. Errani)

• Made a clean sweep of titles at 2016 Nürnberg, claiming the singles and doubles

• Won maiden career singles title at 2012 Fès as a qualifier in just her second main draw appearance

• Owner of 10 WTA doubles titles, most recently at 2018 Brisbane (w/Schuurs)

• Made WTA main draw debut as a wildcard at 2011 ‘s-Hertogenbosch (l. 1r)

• Played first event of career on ITF Circuit in the Neth-erlands in 2006; has won seven singles titles and 11 doubles titles at this level

• Netherlands Fed Cup Team, 2011-2012, 2014-2017

PERSONAL• Coached by former ATP player Raemon Sluiter;

brought former WTA player Elise Tamaela into coach-ing team during off-season

• In November 2018, announced engagement to boyfriend Remko de Rijke, who has been involved as part of her team as a physiotherapist, fitness coach and hitting partner

• Parents are Rob and Doré; sisters are Joyce and Daisy

• Started playing at age 6. Tennis idol growing up was Kim Clijsters

• After successful trial towards the end of 2018, brought David Taylor on as full-time coach during off season




PERSONAL

KIKIBERTENS

ELISE MERTENS

GRAND SLAM HISTORY• 2019 Australian marked 27th main draw Grand Slam

appearance• Best result across the Slams came with SF run at

2016 Roland Garros (l. eventual R-Up S.Williams) • With that result in Paris, became the first Dutch

woman to reach SF at Roland Garros since Marijke Schaar in 1971 (l. SF), and at any Slam since Betty Stove at 1977 US Open (l. SF)

• Enjoyed her best result at Wimbledon in 2018 by reaching her second career Grand Slam QF (l. Goerges). Became first Dutch woman to reach QF at Wimbledon since Krajicek in 2007

• In 2018 reached 3r for first time at both Australian Open (l. eventual champion Wozniacki) and US Open (l. Vondrousova)

• Is a two-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist in doubles, at 2015 Australian Open (w/Larsson, l. Goerges/Groenefeld) and 2016 Roland Garros (w/Larsson, l. eventual champions Garcia/Mladenovic)










QATAR TOTAL OPEN - DAY 3 MATCH-UPS

[1] SIMONA HALEP (ROU #3) vs. LESIA TSURENKO (UKR #24)Halep leads 5-0

A victory today for Halep would move her into joint-fifth place on the list for most match wins here...Tsurenko is bidding for her third career victory over a Top 5 player

ELISE MERTENS (BEL #21) vs. [2] KAROLINA PLISKOVA (CZE #5)First meeting

Mertens is seeking her third career Top 5 win today...Pliskova is one of a tournament-leading four Czechs in the draw...A Czech has won the title here in three of the past four years

ANETT KONTAVEIT (EST #20) vs. [3] ANGELIQUE KERBER (GER #6)Kontaveit leads 2-0

Kontaveit is bidding for her second victory of the year over a Top 10 player...Whereas Kerber has lost her opening round match here on five previous occasions, most recently 2017 (l. Kasatkina)

[4] ELINA SVITOLINA (UKR #7) vs. JELENA OSTAPENKO (LAT #22)Ostapenko leads 2-0

A win today for Svitolina would mark her fifth of the season; by contrast, held nine wins entering 2018 Doha...Ostapenko is aiming to win back-to-back matches for the first time since 2018 US Open


Serena Williams first debuted in the WTA Top 10 in April of 1999 - rising from No.11 to No.9 following the Miami Open

On Monday, February 18th, 2019 - nearly 20 years after making her debut in the elite bracket, Williams will return to the Top 10 at No.10.

This will mark her first time back in this top group since the week of July 3, 2017.

Over the course of her 23 years on tour, 15 of those sea-sons have culminated in a year-end Top 10 finish, includ-ing five occasions ending the year as the World No.1

Here’s a blast-from-the-past look at the WTA Top 10 on April 4, 1999 when Serena made her debut:

NEW YEAR, SAME YOUTOP 10 WATCHThere will be a new WTA World No.2 on Monday, February 18th.

Simona Halep and Karolina Pliskova have a chance to climb to No.2 this week in Doha:

• Halep, by winning her opening match in Doha, can move to No.2, unless Pliskova wins the title

• Pliskova needs to win the title, coupled with Halep not advancing to the final, to move to No.2

• If Halep does not reach QFs and Pliskova does not win the Doha title, then Sloane Stephens will move to a new career-high ranking of No.2

Kiki Bertens has a chance to make her Top 5 debut this week in Doha if she reaches the final (depending on other results). Betty Stove is the only Dutchwoman to reach the WTA Top 5 (debuted July 3, 1977 at a career-best No.5). Bertens can move as high as No.3 this week (if Halep does not win a match).

With Caroline Wozniacki (withdrawal) and Anastasija Sevastova (lost 1r) out of the tournament, this means Serena Williams will return to the WTA Top 10.

WTA TOP 10 - Serena’s Debut

1. Martina Hingis

2. Lindsay Davenport

3. Jana Novotna

4. Monica Seles

5. Steffi Graf

6. Venus Williams

7. Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario

8. Mary Pierce

9. Serena Williams

10. Patty SchnyderNEW ACE QUEEN? The 2019 season may still be in its relative infancy, but Kiki Bertens is already closing in on the 100-ace mark.

Last year, only Julia Goerges (474) and Karolina Pliskova (393) struck more aces than the Dutchwoman (325), who will be looking to add to her tally against Carla Suarez Navarro.


Kiki Bertens 98 12

Naomi Osaka 87 10

Petra Kvitova 79 16



ON THIS DAY IN TENNIS On February 13, 2005 18-year-old Sania Mirza of India defeats Alyona Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 to win the Hyderbad Open in Hyderbad, India and become the first woman from India to win a title on the WTA Tour.


COACHES CORNERAt the end of the 2018 season, Simona Halep and Darren Cahill mutually parted ways with the Aussie citing to spend more time at home with his family this season.

Halep began her 2019 campaign without a confirmed head coach, however, she found the next man for the job at the Australian Open: Thierry Van Cleemput.

The 50-year-old Belgian had been spotted near the Halep player box during her fourth-round loss to Serena Williams at the Australian Open – and had also been seen in her training sessions that week.

It wasn’t too long after that Halep confirmed him to be her next head coach.

Van Cleemput had worked with his countryman David Goffin for the past five years, during which Goffin had reached a career high of World No.7, winning four tour-naments, reaching the quarterfinals at Roland Garros in 2016 and the Australian Open in 2017.

Van Cleemput’s previous coaching engagements include working with two other fellow Belgians – Steve Darcis (2011-2012) and Olivier Rochus (1993-1997, 2011-2012) – and serving as the nation’s assistant Davis Cup captain between 2002 and 2005.

WINNING & TWINNINGKarolina Pliskova and Kristyna Pliskova are contesting this week’s doubles draw in Doha.

This is their first event playing doubles together in 2019. Their lone appearance at Doha came back in 2014 when they fell at the R16 stage to Black/Mirza.

The twins have won three doubles titles together over their career: 2014 Hong Kong, 2014 Bad Gastein and 2013 Linz. They were also runners-up at 2013 Palermo.

They’ve faced off in singles on seven occasions with Karolina holding the 4-3 edge.


MATCH NOTES

[1] SIMONA HALEP (ROU #3) vs. LESIA TSURENKO (UKR #24)

Head to Head: SIMONA HALEP leads 5-0

2018 HARD O QF SIMONA HALEP 76 mins6-4 6-1 CINCINNATI 2014 GRASS O R2 SIMONA HALEP 109 mins6-3 4-6 6-4 WIMBLEDON 2013 GRASS O QF SIMONA HALEP 69 mins6-3 6-1 'S-HERTOGENBOSCH 2012 HARD I R1 SIMONA HALEP 19 mins3-0 LINZ 2009 CARPET I R16 SIMONA HALEP N/A6-4 7-5 OPOLE

SIMONA HALEP 3 35

27-09-1991 (27) $205,063

$28,350,642

0 / 18 0 / 1

5-2 / 332-153 3-1 / 98-50 0-2 / 39-52

LESIA TSURENKO 24 17

30-05-1989 (29) $178,701

$4,021,702

0 / 4 0 / 0 1-2

6-3 / 123-136 0-1 / 37-36 1-0 / 30-30

11-3

6-3 / 88-83 5-2 / 196-97 0-0 / 33-11 1-0 / 9-19

WTA RANKING


DATE OF BIRTH (AGE)

YTD PRIZE MONEY

CAREER PRIZE MONEY



DOHA W-L (MD) *






1-0 / 34-44 1-1 / 8-21 1-2 / 91-69 2-1 / 20-34




* Updated entering 2019 Doha 2r

Rnd Result Duration

R1 BYE -

Rnd Result Duration

R1 L. TSURENKO d. L. ARRUABARRENA 6-3,6-0 67 mins



SIMONA HALEP

2018


2016

L - ELENA VESNINA (RUS #118) R2 6-7(1) 6-4 6-1

2014

W - ANGELIQUE KERBER (GER #9) F 6-2 6-3

2013

L - ANA IVANOVIC (SRB #13) R2 6-3

LESIA TSURENKO

2018

R1 L - MIHAELA BUZARNESCU (ROU #43) 7-5 6-4

2016

R1 L - ROBERTA VINCI (ITA #10) 6-2 6-1

2012

R1-Q L - URSZULA RADWANSKA (POL #84) 6-2 1-0


from


VSSIMONAHALEP

LESIA TSURENKO


for the sixth time. Reached the SF here last year where she gave a walkover to Muguruza due to a foot injury

• Defeated three Top 10 players to win the title here in 2016 (d. Kerber in F). One of three former cham-pions in the draw along with Suarez Navarro (2016) and Ka.Pliskova (2017)

• Playing as top seed for the first time in Doha this week

• Looking for her 12th victory in Doha when takes on Tsurenko in 2r today. Victory would move her into joint-fifth place on the list for most match wins here after Wozniacki (19 wins), A.Radwanska (17), Kuznetsova (16), Azarenka (14)

• Has a 5-0 record against Tsurenko. Only time she has dropped a set to the Ukrainian was in the 2r at 2014 Wimbledon

• Making third main draw appearance at Doha (fourth overall)

• Dropped just three games in 1r defeat of lucky loser Lara Arruabarrena. Was her first match win here having fallen in 1r in 2016 (l. Vinci) and 2018 (l. Buzarnescu)

• Bidding for third career victory over a Top 5 player against No.3 Halep today. Previously defeated No.2 Wozniacki on her way to QF at 2018 US Open and No.5 Osaka en route to 2019 Brisbane final

• Currently ranked at a career-high No.24 (first achieved January 7, 2019). This time last year, was ranked No.40

• Last week was part of Ukrainian team that failed to gain promotion from Fed Cup Europe/Africa Zone Group I (lost only singles rubber contested against Peterson 6-0 6-2 during 2-1 loss to Sweden)

• Fell 2r at Australian Open (l. Anisimova)• Began the season with R-Up finish at Brisbane (l.

Ka.Pliskova). Now owns 4-1 career record in singles finals

• Brisbane was first final at a Premier-level tourna-ment; previous best showings at Premier events were SF runs at 2013 Brisbane, 2015 New Haven and 2015 Moscow

• Rose to career-high No.24 in the rankings after Brisbane run

DOHA


nia to a 3-2 victory over Czech Republic in the Fed Cup first round and reach the SF for the first time. Was the first time Czech Republic had been defeated at home in 10 years

• Lost to S.Williams in three sets in R16 at Australian Open

• Fell to Barty in straight sets in 2r at Sydney (after 1r bye)




• Qualified for the 2018 BNP Paribas WTA Finals Sin-gapore after reaching the F in Montréal but forced to withdraw from season-ending finale w/back injury



• Defended Madrid title in 2017 (d. Mladenovic in F); reached a further four finals in 2017: Rome, Roland Garros, Cincinnati and Beijing

• 2016 season highlighted by three titles, at Madrid, Bucharest and Montréal

SEASON

CAREER MILESTONES• Posted first Top 30 season in 2018, at No.26; also

sixth straight Top 100 year-end finish. Rose to ca-reer-high ranking of No.26 on September 10, 2018

• Successfully defended her title at Acapulco in 2018 (d. Voegele in F). Has won titles in four consecutive seasons after 2015 Istanbul (d. U.Radwanska in F), 2016 Guangzhou (d. Jankovic in F) and Acapulco in 2017 (d. Mladenovic in F) and 2018

• Other highlights of 2018 season came at the majors, where she reached QF at US Open (l. eventual champion Osaka) and R16 at Roland Garros (ret. vs. Muguruza w/leg injury). Also made SF at Hobart and reached QF stage at Birmingham and Cincinnati

• 2017 season highlighted by third career singles title at Acapulco (d. Mladenovic in F). Also reached SF at Hobart and ‘s-Hertogenbosch and QF at Stanford and Moscow

• In 2016, won second WTA singles title at Guangzhou (d. Jankovic in F); also suffered 11 1r losses in 2016, including at three of the majors – Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon

VS

• Coached by Adriano Albanesi• Only played tennis occasionally and for fun between

ages 14-17; moved to Kiev at 17 to play more seri-ously

• Studied at Physical Education & Sports Institute for one and a half years (no longer studying; hopes to return one day)




CAREER CONT.• During the summer of 2016, a left thigh injury forced

her withdrawal from Stanford, Montréal, Florianopolis and Rio Olympics SF

• Enjoyed breakthrough season in 2015, finishing year at a career-high ranking of No.33, having started at No.88. Won title at Istanbul (d. U.Radwanska in F) and finished season with SF run at Moscow (l. eventual champion Kuznetsova); marked third Premier-level SF appearance of career (after 2013 Brisbane and 2015 New Haven)

• Member of Ukrainian Fed Cup Team, 2011-13 and 2015-19

• Winner of six singles and eight doubles titles on ITF Circuit

• Played first events of career on ITF Circuit in 2007; made WTA main draw debut at 2009 Tashkent

PERSONAL

SIMONAHALEP

LESIA TSURENKO

CAREER CONT.


• Became 49th different woman to win a Grand Slam title in the Open Era, and the second Romanian woman to win a Slam after Ruzici at 1978 Roland Garros





draw appearance• Best result is QF run at 2018 US Open (l. eventual

champion Osaka)• Has also made R16 showings at 2018 Roland Garros

(ret. vs Muguruza w/leg injury) and 2016 US Open (l. Vinci)

• During 2016 Flushing Meadows run, was joined in 3r by compatriots Svitolina and K.Bondarenko – first time three Ukrainians made 3r at the same Grand Slam – however she was the only one to advance to R16

• Has been to 3r – but no further – at Australian Open (2013) and Wimbledon (2017)

• Owns a 2-13 record vs. Top 2 opponents, wins coming against No.1 S.Williams (2014 WTA Finals) and No.2 Kerber (2016 Montreal). Losses vs. No.1 Azarenka (2012 Doha, 2012 Linz), No.2 Sharapova (2012 Indian Wells, 2012 Beijing), No.1 S.Williams (2013 Rome, 2013 Cincinnati, 2014 WTA Finals, 2015 Miami, 2016 Indian Wells, 2016 US Open), No.2 Kerber (2016 Cincinnati), No.1 Kerber (2016 WTA Finals), No.2 Wozniacki (2018 Australian Open)


• Made Top 100 debut on July 12, 2010 and became third Romanian to break into the WTA Top 10 (after Ruzici, Spirlea) making debut there in week of Janu-ary 27, 2014



• Reached first career final at 2010 Fès in just her third main draw appearance



GRAND SLAM HISTORY


MATCH NOTES

ELISE MERTENS (BEL #21) vs. [2] KAROLINA PLISKOVA (CZE #5)


ELISE MERTENS 21 38

17-11-1995 (23) $166,333

$3,326,579

0 / 4 0 / 6

5-5 / 86-50 1-1 / 27-15 2-1 / 19-19

KAROLINA PLISKOVA 5 3

21-03-1992 (26) $873,311

$15,247,752

1 / 12 0 / 5

7-4 11-2 / 268-144

6-2 / 87-47 0-0 / 54-56

2-1

11-2 / 195-96 5-5 / 49-32 0-0 / 7-2 1-0 / 24-19

WTA RANKING


DATE OF BIRTH (AGE)

YTD PRIZE MONEY

CAREER PRIZE MONEY



DOHA W-L (MD) *






0-1 / 3-10 0-2 / 26-37 1-4 / 7-24 2-2 / 52-67





Rnd Result Duration

R1 E. MERTENS d. K. SINIAKOVA 6-4,6-2 80 mins

Rnd Result Duration

R1 BYE -



ELISE MERTENS

2018

L - SORANA CIRSTEA (ROU #38) R2 7-5 6-4

KAROLINA PLISKOVA

2018

R16 L - CATHERINE BELLIS (USA #48) 7-6(4) 6-3

2017

F W - CAROLINE WOZNIACKI (DEN #18) 6-3 6-4

2016

R1 L - MARGARITA GASPARYAN (RUS #41) 6-1 6-1

2015

R16 L - CARLA SUÁREZ NAVARRO (ESP #14) 7-6(2) 6-4

2014

R2 L - ANGELIQUE KERBER (GER #9) 7-6(2) 6-4


from

VSELISEMERTENS

KAROLINA PLISKOVA

DOHA• Making second appearance at Qatar Total Open,

having reached 2r on debut in 2018 (l. Cirstea)• Broke serve four times to beat Siniakova in 1r on

Tuesday• Faces No.5 Ka.Pliskova in 2r today; owns two Top 5

wins in career, over No.4 Svitolina at 2018 Australian Open and No.3 Stephens at 2018 Cincinnati

• Only Belgian competing in Doha this week (main draw, qualifying and doubles)

• Making sixth consecutive appearance at Doha, where she was champion in 2017 (one of three for-mer champions in this year’s draw, along with Halep and Suárez Navarro)

• After 1r bye, faces Belgian No.1 Mertens today in 2r; has won past six matches against Belgian oppo-sition, with last defeat coming against Flipkens at Dubai in 2014

• Last season, suffered defeat three times in matches immediately following 1r byes, at Rome (l. Sakkari),Wuhan (l. Q.Wang) and Moscow (l. Zvonareva)

• One of a tournament-leading four Czechs in Dohan main draw (also Muchova, Siniakova and Strycova). A Czech has won the title here in three of the past four years (also Safarova in 2015 and Kvitova in 2018)

• Has played eight three-set matches this season (6-2 record), more than any other player on tour

• Received doubles WC with sister Kristyna this week (face top seeds Melichar/Peschke in 1r later today); first tournament together since 2018 New Haven

• Over the weekend was unable to prevent defend-ing champions Czech Republic from slipping to 3-2 defeat at the hands of Romania in Ostrava (d. Buzarnescu, l. Halep)

• Produced best Australian Open performance of career, reaching SF (l. eventual champion Osaka in 3s); saved 4MP to defeat S.Williams in QF

• Began season by winning 12th career title at Bris-bane International (d. Tsurenko in F) – has now won at least one WTA title for seven consecutive seasons

DOHA

SEASON• Lost both singles rubbers during Belgium’s 3-1 home

defeat to France in Liege (l. Cornet and Garcia)• Made 3r at Australian Open (l. Keys)• Began season by falling 1r at Brisbane (l. Bertens)

and reaching QF at Sydney (l. Barty)









• Made WTA singles main draw debut at 2016 ‘s-Her-togenbosch – as qualifier, advanced to QF (l. Mlad-enovic)





SEASON

CAREER MILESTONES• Won two titles in 2018 from three finals contested,

triumphing at Stuttgart (d. Vandeweghe in F) and Tokyo [PPO] (d. Osaka in F). Posted R-Up finish in Tianjin (l. Garcia in F)

• At Grand Slam level last season, made QF run at Australian Open (l. eventual R-Up Halep), reached 3r at Roland Garros (l. Sharapova), made R16 for first time at Wimbledon (l. Bertens) and had QF showing at US Open (d. No.17 Barty in R16, l. S.Williams)

• Made the SF stage at Brisbane (as defending cham-pion, l. eventual champion Svitolina), Madrid (l. even-tual champion Kvitova) and WTA Finals (l. Stephens). Enjoyed QF runs at four other tournaments

• Part of Czech Republic squad which won a sixth Fed Cup in past eight years in 2018 (played SF tie vs. Germany)

VS

• Born in Louny, north of Prague, but now trains at Sparta Praha tennis club

• Currently coached by Rennae Stubbs; worked with former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martínez at US Open, and previously coached by Tomas Krupa and David Kotyza

• Married Michal Hrdlicka after 2018 Wimbledon

PERSONAL• After successful trial towards the end of 2018,

brought David Taylor on as full-time coach during off season




CAREER CONT.• Enjoyed another stellar campaign in 2017, posting

career-best year-end finish at No.4 for second Top 10 finish

• Claimed No.1 ranking on July 17, 2017 despite mak-ing 2r exit at Wimbledon (l. Rybarikova). Was the first Czech woman to achieve the No.1 ranking since the computer rankings were introduced in 1975 (Martina Navratilova became No.1 on July 10, 1978 while representing USA)

• Won three titles in 2017, at Brisbane (d. Cornet in F), Doha (d. Wozniacki in F) and Eastbourne (d. Wozniacki in F)

• In Grand Slam play, reached SF at Roland Garros (l. eventual R-Up Halep), QF at both Australian Open (l. Lucic Baroni) and US Open (l. Vandeweghe), and posted 2r result at Wimbledon (l. Rybarikova)

• Holds a 12-11 record in singles finals, having won having titles on clay (2015 Prague, 2018 Stuttgart), grass (2016 Nottingham, 2017 Eastbourne) and hard (2013 Kuala Lumpur, 2014 Linz, 2014 Seoul, 2016 Cincinnati, 2017 Brisbane, 2017 Doha, 2018 Tokyo, 2019 Brisbane)

• Captured fifth WTA doubles title of career at 2016 Birmingham (w/Strycova). Is now 5-2 in doubles finals. At 2013 Linz, with sister Kristyna, became first set of twins to ever win a tour-level doubles title

• Made Top 10 debut after 2015 Stanford R-Up finish, meaning that for the first time in WTA history, three Czech women ranked inside Top 10 at the same time (along with Kvitova and Safarova

PERSONAL

ELISEMERTENS

KAROLINAPLISKOVA

• Advanced to first Grand Slam SF of career at 2018 Australian Open (l. eventual champion Wozniacki)

• Became first Belgian to reach a Grand Slam SF since Flipkens at 2013 Wimbledon; also the first Belgian to reach QF at Australian Open since 2012 (Kim Clijsters, SF)



GRAND SLAM HISTORY• Advanced to career first Grand Slam final at 2016

US Open (l. Kerber), simultaneously making debut in R16, QF, SF and title match at the majors. Became first Czech to reach US Open final since Helena Sukova in 1993 (l. Graf in F)

• At Australian Open, best result was SF run in 2019 (l. Osaka), while she posted deepest run at 2018 Roland Garros, advancing to SF (l. Halep)

• Reached R16 at Wimbledon in 2018 (l. Bertens)• Made Grand Slam main draw debut at 2012 Roland

Garros (l. Bartoli in 1r)

GRAND SLAM HISTORY


MATCH NOTES

ANETT KONTAVEIT (EST #20) vs. [3] ANGELIQUE KERBER (GER #6)

Head to Head: ANETT KONTAVEIT leads 2-0

2018 CLAY I R16 ANETT KONTAVEIT 39 mins6-0 2-0 STUTTGART 2017 CLAY O R2 ANETT KONTAVEIT 56 mins6-4 6-0 ROME

ANETT KONTAVEIT 20 39

24-12-1995 (23) $127,466

$2,905,755

0 / 1 0 / 0

8-3 / 86-75 2-0 / 29-25 2-1 / 23-24


18-01-1988 (31) $215,103

$27,371,944

0 / 12 0 / 0 7-8

4-2 / 403-227 0-0 / 112-88 1-0 / 79-53

1-1

4-2 / 264-147 8-3 / 51-50 1-0 / 9-8 1-1 / 33-20

WTA RANKING


DATE OF BIRTH (AGE)

YTD PRIZE MONEY

CAREER PRIZE MONEY



DOHA W-L (MD) *






1-0 / 9-11 0-1 / 37-60 1-1 / 14-20 0-1 / 86-112





Rnd Result Duration

R1 A. KONTAVEIT d. L. ZHU 7-6(3),6-3 103 mins

Rnd Result Duration

R1 BYE -



from


MATCH NOTES


ANETT KONTAVEIT

2018

L - ALIZÉ CORNET (FRA #39) R1 6-2 6-1

ANGELIQUE KERBER

2018

QF L - CAROLINE WOZNIACKI (DEN #1) 7-6(4) 1-6 6-3

2017

R16 L - DARIA KASATKINA (RUS #32) 6-4 0-6 6-4

2016

R2 L - SAISAI ZHENG (CHN #73) 7-5 6-1

2015

R1 L - VICTORIA AZARENKA (BLR #48) 6-0 6-3

2014

F L - SIMONA HALEP (ROU #10) 6-2 6-3

2013

R2 L - MONA BARTHEL (GER #32) 6-1 6-2

2012

R2 L - TSVETANA PIRONKOVA (BUL #46) 6-4 6-1

2008

R1 L - TAMARINE TANASUGARN (THA #101) 7-6(3) 6-4

2007

R1-Q L - TATIANA PEREBIYNIS (UKR #183) 6-4 6-3


from

VSANETTKONTAVEIT

ANGELIQUE KERBER

DOHA• Playing at the Qatar Total Open for the second time • Recovered from 5-2 down in the opening set to beat

qualifier Zhu Lin in straight sets in 1r on Tuesday. • Takes on No.6 Kerber today, bidding for her second

victory of the year over a Top 10 player (also No.7 Kvitova at Brisbane)

• Holds a 2-0 record against Kerber, with both those victories coming on clay at 2017 Rome and through retirement at 2018 Stuttgart (thigh injury)

• Former finalist, making ninth main draw appearance at Qatar Total Open

• Has lost her opening round match here on five previ-ous occasions, most recently in 2017 (l. Kasatkina)

• Last year here lost to World No.1 Wozniacki in three sets in QF

• Best result came in 2014 when finished runner-up to Halep

• Faces No.20 Kontaveit today; most recent Top 20 win came over No.4 Osaka at 2018 WTA Finals

• One of two Germans in the draw this week along with Goerges




DOHA

SEASON• Won all three of the singles matches she played

at the Fed Cup Europe/Africa Zone Group I event, including defeating Barritza to help Estonia to a 2-0 victory in their relegation play-off tie against Denmark

• Lost to Sasnovich in straight sets in 2r at Australian Open

• Reached 2r in Sydney (l. Mertens)• Upset No.7 Kvitova in 2r at Brisbane before falling to

Tsurenko in QF

SEASON

CAREER MILESTONES• In 2018, season highlighted by fourth WTA singles

final at Wuhan (l. Sabalenka); posted 33 main draw wins – the first time she had registered 30 or more wins in a single season – and finished at No.21 in the rankings

• Enjoyed fruitful clay swing in 2018, including a R16 run at Roland Garros (l. eventual R-Up Stephens) and SF showings at Rome (l. eventual champion Svitolina) and Stuttgart (l. eventual champion Ka.Plis-kova)

• Breakthrough season came in 2017, finishing on a ranking of No.34, up from No.110 in 2016 – first year-end finish inside Top 50 and second non-consecutive year in Top 100

• Won first career singles title at 2017 ‘s-Hertogen-bosch (d. Vikhlyantseva in F). Also reached finals at Biel/Benne (l. Vondrousova) and Gstaad (l. Bertens)

• Broke into Top 30 for first time at No.27 following run at Gstaad (July 24, 2017)

• Also advanced to quarterfinals at Premier-level tour-naments at Stuttgart, where she beat No.6 Muguru-za en route, and Rome, where she posted her first career win over a reigning No.1 with defeat of Kerber in 2r

• In 2016, played main draw at all four Grand Slams for first time, but dropped out of Top 100

• One of five teenagers in 2015 year-end Top 100 • Made Top 100 debut on September 14, 2015 at

No.96, up from No.152



• Record in tour-level finals stands at 12-16 – her 28 final appearances is the joint tenth-most among active players

• Also in 2018, posted SF runs at Australian Open (l. Halep in 3s, having held two match points), Dubai (l. eventual champion Svitolina) and Eastbourne (l. eventual champion Wozniacki having held match point). Returned to Top 10 following Eastbourne result – at No.10

• Ended 2017 on a ranking of No.21 – sixth consec-utive Top 25 season. Best results of season were R-Up finish at Monterrey and SFs at Tokyo [PPO] (l. Pavlyuchenkova) and Dubai (l. Svitolina)

• Enjoyed an outstanding 2016 season, winning first Grand Slam titles of career at Australian Open (d. S.Williams in F) and US Open (d. Ka.Pliskova in F), finishing R-Up at Wimbledon (l. S.Williams in F) and rising to World No.1 in the WTA rankings

• Courtesy of her results in 2016, doubled her career prize money during season, passing $19 million mark; passed $20 million at 2017 Roland Garros, becoming 15th player to do so

VS

CAREER CONT.• Scored first Top 20 win of career over No.17 Errani at

2016 Monterrey (2r) • Has won 11 singles titles and five doubles titles on

ITF Circuit • Made WTA main draw debut at 2013 Miami as WC (l.

McHale, 1r) • Played first events of career on ITF Circuit in 2010 • Junior highlights included winning 2011 Orange

Bowl, defeating Bouchard and Putintseva along the way

PERSONAL• Coached by Nigel Sears• Grew up in Tallinn, Estonia• Mother, Ulle, is a tennis coach and started her in

tennis (was her coach until the age of 11, then began working other Estonian coaches). Father, Andrus, is a manager at the Port of Tallinn

CAREER CONT.• After 2016 US Open, aged 28, became oldest player

to make her debut at World No.1, a record previously held by Jennifer Capriati, who was 25 years, 200 days when she reached No.1 in October 2001





• Other runner-up finishes in 2016 came at Brisbane (l. Azarenka in F), Wimbledon (l. S.Williams in F), Rio Olympics (l. Puig, won silver medal)

• Reached first WTA final of career at 2010 Bogotá and won first title at 2012 Paris [Indoors]. Has won titles on all surfaces: hardcourt, grass and clay (red and green). Career record in tour-level finals is 12 -16

• Made WTA debut in qualifying at 2003 Berlin



• Speaks three languages: German, Polish, and English

PERSONAL

ANETTKONTAVEIT

ANGELIQUE KERBER


draw appearance • Earned her first Grand Slam victories at 2015 US

Open where she reached R16 (as qualifier, l. V.Wil-liams) – only seventh qualifier in Open Era to reach US Open R16

• Also made R16 at 2018 Australian Open (l. Suárez Navarro) and 2018 Roland Garros (l. Stephens)

• Best showings at Wimbledon are 3r runs in 2017 (l. Wozniacki) and 2018 (l. Van Uytvanck)

• Runner-up in 2012 US Open girls’ singles (l. Craw-ford)









MATCH NOTES

[4] ELINA SVITOLINA (UKR #7) vs. JELENA OSTAPENKO (LAT #22)

Head to Head: JELENA OSTAPENKO leads 2-0

2018 HARD O QF JELENA OSTAPENKO 108 mins7-6(3) 7-6(5) MIAMI 2017 GRASS O R16 JELENA OSTAPENKO 104 mins6-3 7-6(6) WIMBLEDON


12-09-1994 (24) $356,901

$13,465,526

0 / 13 0 / 2

4-2 / 230-126 2-1 / 72-42 0-0 / 44-34

JELENA OSTAPENKO 22 137

08-06-1997 (21) $95,160

$7,629,644

0 / 2 0 / 3 6-2

3-4 / 95-75 3-1 / 35-26 0-1 / 27-14

2-4

3-4 / 53-53 4-2 / 167-85 0-0 / 20-21 1-0 / 9-10

WTA RANKING


DATE OF BIRTH (AGE)

YTD PRIZE MONEY

CAREER PRIZE MONEY



DOHA W-L (MD) *






0-1 / 29-33 0-0 / 8-11 1-1 / 48-62 0-1 / 12-21





Rnd Result Duration

R1 BYE -

Rnd Result Duration

R1 J. OSTAPENKO d. M. BUZARNESCU 6-1,4-6,6-2 105 mins



ELINA SVITOLINA

2018

L - PETRA KVITOVA (CZE #21) R16 6-4 7-5

2016

L - DENISA ALLERTOVA (CZE #62) R1 7-5 6-4

2015

L - VICTORIA AZARENKA (BLR #48) R16 6-3 6-7(4) 6-1

2014

L - KLARA KOUKALOVA (CZE #34) R1 6-2 6-4

JELENA OSTAPENKO

2018


2016

F L - CARLA SUÁREZ NAVARRO (ESP #11) 1-6 6-4 6-4


from

VSELINASVITOLINA

JELENAOSTAPENKO

DOHA• Making fifth main draw appearance at Doha. Holds a

2-4 record here, reaching the R16 in 2015 (l. Azaren-ka) and 2018 (l. eventual champion Kvitova)

• Enters 2019 Doha as a wildcard. Best result by a wildcard in Doha was a R-Up finish by Azarenka in 2015 (l. Safarova in F)

• Faces No.22 Ostapenko today in their third career meeting. Has not dropped a set in their previous meetings however, three of the four sets were settled in tiebreaks

• Holds a 1-2 record vs. Top 30 players this season, having defeated No.17 Keys (Australian Open) and losses coming against No.30 Sasnovich (Brisbane) and No.4 Osaka (Australian Open)

• Bidding for fifth win of the season. By contrast, held nine wins entering 2018 Doha following Brisbane title and QF run at Australian Open

• One of two Ukrainians to begin the main draw (also Tsurenko, who is already through to 2r)

• Making third main draw appearance at Doha• Made breakthrough here three years ago when she

advanced to final in 2016 on a ranking of No.88 (l. Suarez Navarro), defeating among others Kuznetso-va and Kvitova en route

• One of six former finalists entered this week in Doha – also Ka.Pliskova (2017 champion), Suarez Navarro (2016 champion), Halep (2014 champion), Kerber (2014 R-Up) and Stosur (2012 R-Up)

• Defeated No.29 Buzarnescu in 1r on Tuesday – her first win over a Top 30 player since then-No.28 Bu-zarnescu at 2018 Eastbourne

• Faces No.7 Svitolina today. Owns 8-11 career record vs. Top 10 opponents, with most recent win coming over then-No.4 Svitolina at 2018 Miami QF (also d. No.9 Kvitova in R16 at Miami en route to final, l. Stephens in F)

• Aiming to win back-to-back matches for the first time since 3r run at 2018 US Open (d. Petkovic, Townsend before falling to Sharapova)

• Currently ranked No.22 entering Doha, as opposed to No.6 this time last year

• Won both rubbers during Latvia’s 4-0 Fed Cup World Group II win over Slovakia last weekend

• Posted first win of season during 2r showing at St. Petersburg (d. Mladenovic, l. Pavlyuchenkova)

• Made 1r exits at first three tournaments of the sea-son Shenzhen (l. Niculescu), Sydney (l. Barty) and Australian Open (l. Sakkari)

DOHA




CAREER MILESTONES• Won 13th – and most prestigious – career WTA

singles title at 2018 WTA Finals (d. Stephens in F), after going 3-0 during round robin stage. Ended year ranked No.4


• At the Slams in 2018, reached QF at Australian Open (l. Mertens), R16 at US Open (l. Sevastova), 3r appearance at Roland Garros (l. Buzarnescu) and suffered 1r upset at Wimbledon (l. Maria)

• Posted SF run at Montréal (as defending champion, l. Stephens) and made five further QFs

• Enjoyed stand-out 2017, finishing the year at No.6, winning a tour-leading five titles and posting sec-ond-most wins of season (53, behind Wozniacki with 60)

• Season culminated by qualifying for WTA Finals in Singapore, becoming first Ukrainian woman to quali-fy for the season-ending tournament in singles (fell at round robin stage with 1-2 record)

SEASON

CAREER MILESTONES• Ended 2018 season at No.22, with season highlight-

ed by R-Up finish at Miami (l. Stephens). Record in singles finals now stands at 2-4

• Saw off No.9 Kvitova and No.4 Svitolina during Mi-ami run to register multiple Top 10 wins in the same tournament for the first time in her career

• Elsewhere in 2018, made SF at Wimbledon (l. Ker-ber) and reached four further QFs

• Won both singles rubbers (d. Makarova and Pavly-uchenkova in straight sets) to help Latvia beat Rus-sia 3-2. Latvia will play in 2019 Fed Cup World Group II for the first time

• Enjoyed career-best season in 2017, finishing the year in the Top 10 for the first time in her career (at No.7); was No.44 at end of 2016 (first Top 50 finish) and No.79 at end of 2015 (first Top 100 finish)

VS

CAREER CONT.• Won first tour-level title and maiden Grand Slam

trophy at 2017 Roland Garros (d. Halep in F), where she became the lowest-ranked (No.47), and first unseeded, player to lift the trophy in the Open Era

• Clinched second tour-level title at Seoul in Septem-ber (d. Haddad Maia in F) as top seed

• Seoul title, and subsequent SF runs at Wuhan and Beijing, helped earn her first-ever qualification at WTA Finals, where she went 1-2 in the group stage – d. Ka.Pliskova; l. V.Williams and Muguruza

• Advanced to third career singles final at 2017 Charleston in April, falling to then fellow 19-year-old Kasatkina; was the first all-teenage final on tour since 2009 Linz (Wickmayer d. Kvitova)

• Upset Muguruza in QF at 2017 Beijing to register first win over a reigning World No.1

• Following run to 3r at 2017 US Open (l. Kasatkina), made her Top 10 debut at No.10 on September 11, 2017

• In doubles, won first and second career titles in 2017, at St. Petersburg (w/Rosolska) and Stuttgart (w/Atawo)

• 2016 season highlight and breakthrough result was reaching final at Premier 5 Doha (l. Suárez Navarro)

• Reached first WTA final of career at 2015 Québec City (l. Beck)

• Ended 2015 at No.79 for first Top 100 finish (up from No.308 in 2014). Having leapt 229 spots, was sec-ond-highest year-end rankings jump, after Kasatkina who went from No.370 to No.72 (298 spots)

• Began playing ITF Circuit events in 2012

ELINASVITOLINA

JELENAOSTAPENKO

CAREER CONT.

GRAND SLAM HISTORY• Champion at 2017 Roland Garros (d. Halep in F), be-

coming first woman to win her first tour-level title at a Grand Slam since Barbara Jordan at 1979 Australian Open (d. Walsh in F)

• Is one of seven players born in the 1990s to win a Grand Slam title (also Kvitova at 2011 and 2014 Wimbledon, Muguruza at 2016 Roland Garros and 2017 Wimbledon, Stephens at 2017 US Open, Wozniacki at 2018 Australian Open, Halep at 2018 Roland Garros and Osaka at 2018 US Open and 2019 Australian Open)

• Improved upon her 2017 result by reaching the SF of Wimbledon in 2018 (l. eventual champion Kerber) becoming the first woman representing Latvia to reach SF at Wimbledon

• Best result to date at Australian Open and US Open is reaching 3r in 2017 and 2018

• Fell in 1r at all four majors in 2016, however, reached mixed doubles SF at 2016 Wimbledon (w/Marach, l. eventual champions Kontinen/Watson

• Her five titles in 2017 included Taipei City (d. Peng in F), Dubai (d. Wozniacki in F), Istanbul (d. Mertens in F), Rome (d. Halep in F) and Toronto (d. Wozniacki in F)


• Owned longest unbeaten streak in 2017, at 15 matches. Won Taipei City (five wins), went 2-0 for Ukraine in Fed Cup action against Australia, trium-phant in Dubai (after 1r bye, five wins), won one match at Kuala Lumpur before withdrawing prior to her 2r match, then reached R16 at Indian Wells (after 1r bye, two wins) falling to Muguruza in three sets

• One of five players to make Top 10 debut in 2017, after winning Dubai in February (also Ostapenko, Garcia, Mladenovic and Vandeweghe). Peaked in rankings at No.3 on September 11, 2017

• On four occasions could have reached World No.1 spot – at 2017 US Open, then needed to win 2017 Beijing (fell in QF), then needed to triumph at 2017 WTA Finals (failed to progress from group stage), or reach final at 2018 Australian Open (fell in QF)


• Qualified for 2016 WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai for the second time (l. Kvitova in F)


• Other 2016 season highlights included SF at Dubai (l. Errani) and QF at Rio Olympics (l. Kvitova)

• Owns two career doubles titles: 2014 Istanbul (w/Doi) and 2015 Istanbul (w/Gavrilova)


• Played first ITF Circuit events of career in 2008. Winner of seven singles and two doubles titles on ITF Circuit

• Ukrainian Fed Cup Team, 2012-2017. Ukrainian Olympic Team, 2016

VSELINASVITOLINA

JELENAOSTAPENKO




• 2019 Australian Open marked 26th Grand Slam main draw appearance

• Best results to date have been QF showings at 2015 Roland Garros (l. Ivanovic), 2017 Roland Garros (l. eventual R-Up Halep), 2018 Australian Open (l. Mertens) and 2019 Australian Open (l. eventual champion Osaka)



GRAND SLAM HISTORY• Works with Glen Schaap (as of June 2018) and her

mother, Jelena Jakovleva• Father is Jevgenijs, half-brother is Maksim Ostapen-

ko (graduated from art academy in Los Angeles and lives there)

• Previously worked with David Taylor from December 2017 until 2018 Roland Garros

• Tennis idols are Serena Williams and Ernests Gulbis – watched Gulbis’ QF match at Roland Garros from his box in 2014

• Took ballroom dancing classes for seven years

PERSONAL


DOHA, QAT | FEBRUARY 11 - 17, 2019 | USD $916,131 WTA PREMIER EVENT



QATAR TOTAL OPEN - DAY 2 MATCH-UPS

[WC] ONS JABEUR (TUN #56) vs. CARLA SUÁREZ NAVARRO (ESP #26)First meeting

Jabeur seeking her first win in Doha on her fifth main draw appearance... Suárez Navarro won her biggest career title here three years ago... This time last year, Jabeur was ranked outside Top 100

CAROLINE GARCIA (FRA #19) vs. LESIA TSURENKO (UKR #24)Garcia leads 1-0

Garcia won pair’s only previous meeting at 2016 Roland Garros... Tsurenko is yet to win a set in Doha from previous two main draw outings... Winner faces top seed Halep in second round

[Q] KAROLINA MUCHOVA (CZE #132) vs. [6/WC] CAROLINE WOZNIACKI (DEN #10)First meeting

Wozniacki making 10th appearance at the tournament, the most of any player in the draw... Muchova facing Top-10 opposition for just the second time... Wozniacki must reach final to remain in Top 10

[5] KIKI BERTENS (NED #8) vs. CAMILA GIORGI (ITA #28)Series tied 1-1

Players meeting for first time in nearly three years... Bertens contesting Doha ranked a career-high No.8... Giorgi bidding for 10th career Top 10 win and first since September 2018

CARO’S MILESTONE NEW ACE QUEEN?The 2019 season may still be in its relative infancy, but Kiki Bertens is already closing in on the 100-ace mark.

Last year, only Julia Goerges (474) and Karolina Pliskova (393) struck more aces than the Dutchwoman (325), who will be looking to add to her tally against Camila Giorgi.


Kiki Bertens 96 11

Naomi Osaka 87 10

Petra Kvitova 79 16



Two-time inalist Caroline Wozniacki will be bidding for a landmark 20th victory at the Qatar Total Open when she steps on court this afternoon.

An ever-present at the tournament since 2011, the Dane has already scored more wins than any other player in the tournament’s history:

PLAYER WINS LOSSES BEST RESULT

Caroline Wozniacki 19 9 R-UP (2011, 2017)

Agnieszka Radwanska 17 9 SF (2008, 2012-14, 2016)

Svetlana Kuznetsova 16 10 R-UP (2004, 2007)

Victoria Azarenka 14 2 WON (2012-13)

[Q] AJLA TOMLJANOVIC (CRO #41) vs. [9] JULIA GOERGES (GER #16)Goerges leads 2-1

Goerges won in straight sets when the two last met at Indian Wells in 2017... Tomljanovic currently at career-high No.41 in the rankings... Goerges was a quarterfinalist here in 2018


MATCH NOTES

ONS JABEUR (TUN #56) vs. CARLA SUÁREZ NAVARRO (ESP #26)


ONS JABEUR 56 131

28-08-1994 (24) $66,439

$1,127,779

0 / 0 0 / 0

2-3 / 26-46 0-1 / 5-20 1-3 / 4-17

CARLA SUÁREZ NAVARRO 26 124

03-09-1988 (30) $91,406

$10,855,329

0 / 2 0 / 3

9-4 1-3 / 334-237 0-1 / 105-71 0-0 / 61-46

0-4

1-3 / 179-148 2-3 / 18-34 0-0 / 3-0 0-0 / 31-20

WTA RANKING


DATE OF BIRTH (AGE)

YTD PRIZE MONEY

CAREER PRIZE MONEY



DOHA W-L (MD) *






0-0 / 3-2 0-0 / 28-61 0-0 / 4-8 0-2 / 47-100





Rnd Result Duration Rnd Result Duration

"-Q" Qualifying match


ONS JABEUR

2018

L - YINGYING DUAN (CHN #105) R1 6-2 6-3

2017

L - CHRISTINA MCHALE (USA #43) R1-Q 6-4 7-6(3)

2016

L - ELENA VESNINA (RUS #118) R1-Q 6-4 6-1

2015

L - ZARINA DIYAS (KAZ #31) R1 6-3 6-2

2013

L - SORANA CIRSTEA (ROU #31) R1 2-6 6-3 6-0

CARLA SUÁREZ NAVARRO

2018

R2 L - JOHANNA KONTA (GBR #11) 6-2 6-2

2016

F W - JELENA OSTAPENKO (LAT #88) 1-6 6-4 6-4

2015

SF L - LUCIE SAFAROVA (CZE #15) 6-3 6-2

2013

R1 L - EKATERINA MAKAROVA (RUS #20) 6-1 6-2

2012

R1 L - ANA IVANOVIC (SRB #19) 6-1 4-1


from

2012

R1 L - VIRGINIE RAZZANO (FRA #103) 6-3 2-6 6-3

VSONSJABEUR


DOHA• As a wildcard, seeking her first victory at Doha in her

seventh appearance (including qualifying) here• Fell in the 1r here as a wildcard in 2012 (l. Razzano),

2013 (l. Cirstea), 2015 (l. Diyas) and 2018 (l. Duan)and in the 1r of qualifying in 2016 (l. Vesnina) and2017 (l. McHale)

• Faces Suarez Navarro for the first time in 1r today• One of four wildcards in the singles draw along with

Svitolina, Wozniacki and Al Nabhani. Best result by awildcard here was Azarenka’s R-Up finish in 2015

• Playing here on a career-high ranking at No.56,achieved on 28 January. This time last year wasranked No.112

• The 2016 champion is making sixth main draw ap-pearance at Doha

• Reached a career-high ranking of No.6 after winningthe title here in 2016 (d. Ostapenko in F)

• One of three former champions in the draw alongwith Halep and Ka.Pliskova

• Also reached SF here in 2015 (l. Safarova)• Last year at Doha lost in 2r to No.10 seed

Konta in straight sets• Faces wildcard Jabeur for the first time in 1r today;

last year owned 2-2 record against wildcards• Only Spaniard in the singles draw this week


• Opened 2019 season with straight set 1r exits inBrisbane (l. Kontaveit) and Sydney (l. Muguruza)

DOHA

SEASON• Last week was part of Tunisia Fed Cup team which

failed to progress from Europe/Africa Group II (post-ed 2-1 record in singles and 0-2 in doubles)

• Fell in 1r at the Australian Open to Babos in straightsets

• Opened season with 2r showings at Shenzhen (l.Y.Wang) and Hobart (l.Kenin)

CAREER MILESTONES• Defeated No.3 seed Stephens, No.8 seed Kontaveit

and No.5 seed Sevastova en route to her first WTAfinal at 2018 Moscow, where she fell in three sets toNo.6 seed Kasatkina. Was first Tunisian woman toadvance beyond QF at a WTA tournament (Sfar wasthe only other Tunisian to reach a QF at this level)

• Prior to reaching Moscow final, best previous resultswere QF at 2013 Baku, 2017 Taipei City and 2018Bucharest

• Owns three Top 10 victories, over No.1 Halep at2018 Beijing (via ret.), No.8 Stephens at 2018 Mos-cow and No.7 Cibulkova at 2017 Roland Garros

• Member of Tunisian Olympic Team in 2012 and 2016• Contested first two WTA main draws in 2012, at

Doha (as WC) and Olympics• Became first North African woman to win a junior

Grand Slam at 2011 Roland Garros (d. Puig in F),having also reached the final in 2010 (l. Svitolina inF)

• On ITF Circuit, has won 11 singles titles and onedoubles title

• Played first event of career at 2008 ITF/El Men-zah-TUN

SEASON

CAREER MILESTONES• Highlight of 2018 campaign was R-Up finish at New

Haven (l. Sabalenka in F) – her first final since Feb-ruary 2016 (Doha). Career record in singles finalsnow stands at 2-9

• Last year, also posted QF runs at Australian Open(l. eventual champion Wozniacki) and US Open (l.Keys) – still waiting for first Grand Slam SF

• Claimed three Top 5 wins in 2018, over No.4 Svito-lina in Indian Wells and Madrid and No.5 Kvitova atNew Haven

• Finished 2017 ranked at No.40, down from No.12 in2016 – best season finished of career to date

• Reached R16 at both US Open (l. V. Williams) andRoland Garros in 2017 (l. R-Up Halep). Also in 2017,reached SF at Monterrey (l. then No.1 Kerber) andBucharest (l. eventual champion Begu)

• 2016 season highlight was winning biggest title of ca-reer at Premier 5 Doha (d. Ostapenko in F). Triumphwas second WTA singles title, after winning first at2014 Oeiras (d. Kuznetsova in F)

• Returned to Top 10 after 2016 Doha title at No.6, anew career-high singles ranking

• Represented Spain at the 2016 Rio Olympics.Reached 3r in singles (l. Keys), QF in doubles (w/Muguruza, l. eventual gold medalists Makarova/Vesnina), and fell 1r in mixed doubles (w/Ferrer, l.Watson/A.Murray)

• Ended 2015 season third on list for Top 5 wins (4-6record), defeating No.3 Kvitova (3r Dubai), No.3 Kvi-tova (QF Doha), No.4 Kvitova (QF Rome) and No.2Halep (SF Rome)

VS

• Coached by Marc Casabó and Óscar Serrano• Split with longtime coach Xavier Budo in July of

2017, having spent 10 years together• Father is José Luís (plays handball) and mother is

Lali (was gymnast, now teacher)• Moved from Canary Islands to Barcelona in 2007 to

train at Pro-Ab Team Tennis Academy

PERSONAL• Started playing tennis at age 3• Husband Karim Kamoun is half-Russian• Away from court enjoys playing and watching football

GRAND SLAM HISTORY CAREER CONT.• One of six players to make Top 10 rankings debut

in 2015 (April 6, 2015 at No.10), rising as high asNo.8 during the season. Third Spanish women toachieve a Top 10 ranking, after Sánchez-Vicario andMartínez; Muguruza has since become the fourth

• 2015 singles highlights included finishing runner-upin three singles finals. Reached title match at Ant-werp in February 2015, but was forced to withdrawvs. Petkovic w/neck injury; a month later, reachedbiggest final of career at Miami (l. S.Williams).Capped off strong first half of season with run to finalin Rome (l. Sharapova in 3s)

• In doubles, qualified for 2015 WTA Finals (w/Mugu-ruza) after winning titles at Birmingham and Tokyo[PPO], and posting R-Up finishes at Dubai andMadrid. Pair advanced to final in Singapore, falling totop seeds Hingis/Mirza

• Won first WTA doubles title in 2014, at Stanford (w/Muguruza); team qualified for 2014 WTA Finals (l.QF)

• Currently the highest ranked woman with a single-handed backhand

PERSONAL

ONSJABEUR


• Contested ninth Grand Slam main draw at 2019Australian Open

• Best Grand Slam showing was 3r run at 2017 RolandGarros; in Paris became first Arab woman to reach 3rof a Grand Slam and first lucky loser to contest 3r ofa Slam since Kasatkina at 2015 US Open, and firstat Roland Garros since Pizzichini in 1996. Gaidano,at 1993 US Open, was the most recent lucky loser toreach R16 at a major

• Is second Tunisian woman to win a Grand Slam maindraw match after Selima Sfar reached 2r at 2001 Ro-land Garros, Wimbledon and US Open; 2002 Wim-bledon; 2005 Wimbledon; and 2008 Roland Garros

• Has also made 2r at 2017 US Open (l. Vandeweghe)and 2018 Wimbledon (l. Siniakova)

• Has lost in 1r at Australian Open on three occasions,in 2015 (as qualifier, l. Zvonareva), 2018 (l. Vesnina)and 2019 (l. Babos)

• In girls’ singles at Roland Garros was champion in2011 (d. Puig) and R-Up in 2010 (l. Svitolina)

GRAND SLAM HISTORY• Best Grand Slam results have been reaching the QF

stage at three of the four majors – at Roland Garrosin 2008 (as qualifier, l. Jankovic) and 2014 (l. Bouch-ard), at Australian Open in 2009 (l. Dementieva),2016 (l. A.Radwanska) and 2018 (l. Wozniacki), and2013 US Open (l. S.Williams) and in 2018 (l. Keys)

• By virtue of 2018 Wimbledon results, passed $10million in career prize money

• QF run at 2008 Roland Garros made her the firstqualifier to reach Roland Garros last eight since2001; and ranked No.132, became joint-lowest-ranked quarterfinalist at Roland Garros (also Pierce)

• Best result at Wimbledon is reaching R16 in 2013and 2016

• 2016 saw her reach R16 or better at each of the fourGrand Slams – one of just four players to do so (alsoKeys, A.Radwanska and S.Williams)


MATCH NOTES

CAROLINE GARCIA (FRA #19) vs. LESIA TSURENKO (UKR #24)

Head to Head: CAROLINE GARCIA leads 1-0

2016 CLAY O R1 CAROLINE GARCIA 91 mins6-3 7-5 ROLAND GARROS

CAROLINE GARCIA 19 68

16-10-1993 (25) $124,220

$9,545,265

0 / 6 0 / 6

4-4 / 191-147 1-0 / 62-53 1-1 / 51-47

LESIA TSURENKO 24 17

30-05-1989 (29) $178,701

$4,021,702

0 / 4 0 / 0

0-2 5-3 / 122-136

0-1 / 37-36 1-0 / 30-30

4-6

5-3 / 87-83 4-4 / 121-97 0-0 / 17-13 1-0 / 9-19

WTA RANKING


DATE OF BIRTH (AGE)

YTD PRIZE MONEY

CAREER PRIZE MONEY



DOHA W-L (MD) *






0-0 / 16-34 1-1 / 8-21 0-0 / 31-60 2-1 / 20-34





Rnd Result Dura



CAROLINE GARCIA

2018

L - GARBIÑE MUGURUZA (ESP #4) QF 3-6 6-1 6-4

2017

L - KAROLINA PLISKOVA (CZE #3) R16 7-5 6-4

2016

L - ELENA VESNINA (RUS #118) R1 6-3 7-5

2014

L - KARIN KNAPP (ITA #40) R1 6-4 6-1

2013

L - MARIA SHARAPOVA (RUS #3) R2 6-3 6-2

LESIA TSURENKO

2018


2016

R1 L - ROBERTA VINCI (ITA #10) 6-2 6-1

2012

R1-Q L - URSZULA RADWANSKA (POL #84) 6-2 1-0


from

2012

L - MONA BARTHEL (GER #39) R1 7-6(6) 7-6(4)

VSCAROLINEGARCIA

LESIA TSURENKO

DOHA• Making seventh appearance at Qatar Total Open,

with best result last year’s QF run• Ranked and seeded No.7 at last year’s tournament -

only occasion seeded here• Faces No.24 Tsurenko in 1r today; only loss to a

player ranked lower than herself in Doha came athands of No.118 Vesnina in 2016 1r

• Only Frenchwoman in the draw (main or qualifying).Best result by a Frenchwoman here were R-Up fin-ishes by Testud in 2001 and Mauresmo in 2006

• Making third main draw appearance at Doha (fourthoverall)

• Yet to win a set here, having fallen in 1r in 2016 (l.Vinci) and 2018 (l. Buzarnescu)

• Bidding to break this sequence against No.19 Gar-cia today. Owns two Top 20 wins already in 2019,against No.20 Kontaveit and No.5 Osaka en route toBrisbane final

• Winner faces top seed Halep in second round• Currently ranked at a career-high No.24 (first

achieved January 7, 2019). This time last year, wasranked No.40

• Last week was part of Ukraine team that failed togain promotion from Fed Cup Europe/Africa ZoneGroup I (lost only singles rubber contested againstPeterson 6-0 6-2 during 2-1 loss Sweden)

• Fell 2r at Australian Open (l. Anisimova)• Began the season with R-Up finish at Brisbane (l.

Ka.Pliskova). Now owns 4-1 career record in singlesfinals

• Brisbane was first final at a Premier-level tourna-ment; previous best showings at Premier eventswere SF runs at 2013 Brisbane, 2015 New Havenand 2015 Moscow

• Rose to career-high No.24 in the rankings afterBrisbane run

DOHA

SEASON• Began season with 1r exits at Shenzhen (l. Jorovic)

and Hobart (l. eventual champion Kenin)• Scored her first wins of the season over qualifier

Ponchet and wildcard Hives en rout to AustralianOpen 3r (l. Collins)

• Has now reached 3r or better on eight of her pastnine major appearances (exception was 1r exit toBencic at 2018 Wimbledon)

• As No.2 seed made 1r exit at Hua Hin (l. Brady)• Over the weekend, inspired France to 3-1 World

Group I win over Belgium in Liège (d. Van Uytvanckand Mertens)

CAREER MILESTONES• In 2018, won sixth career title at Tianjin; also made

semifinals at Stuttgart and Madrid• Broke into the Top 5 on August 13, 2018 and reached

a career-high of No.4 on September 10, 2018• Became first player to win Wuhan and Beijing back-

to-back in 2017. As a result, qualified for WTA Finals.Was ranked No.30 on the Race to Singapore Leader-board in May 2017

• Best win of her career came over No.2 Halep in 2017Beijing final

• 2017 Wuhan marked first Premier-5 level title and2017 Beijing marked first Premier-Mandatory crown;subsequently made Top 10 debut

• Won a career-best 48 main draw matches in 2017(48-22 record, 2 titles)

• Qualifying for WTA Finals in 2017, became the firstFrenchwoman to compete at WTA Finals in singlessince Mauresmo in 2006 (l. Henin in F)

• Played 2015 WTA Finals Rising Stars Invitational inSingapore (l. Osaka in F)

• Represented France at 2016 Rio Olympics in singles(2r) and doubles (1r, w/Mladenovic)

• Member of French Fed Cup team that advanced to2016 competition final vs. Czech Republic

• Made pro bow at 13 on ITF Circuit in France in 2007

SEASON

CAREER MILESTONES• Posted first Top 30 season in 2018, at No.26; also

sixth straight Top 100 year-end finish. Rose to ca-reer-high ranking of No.26 on September 10, 2018

• Successfully defended her title at Acapulco in 2018(d. Voegele in F). Has won titles in four consecutiveseasons after 2015 Istanbul (d. U.Radwanska in F),2016 Guangzhou (d. Jankovic in F) and Acapulco in2017 (d. Mladenovic in F) and 2018

• Other highlights of 2018 season came at the majors,where she reached QF at US Open (l. eventualchampion Osaka) and R16 at Roland Garros (ret. vs.Muguruza w/leg injury). Also made SF at Hobart andreached QF stage at Birmingham and Cincinnati

• 2017 season highlighted by third career singles titleat Acapulco (d. Mladenovic in F). Also reached SFat Hobart and ‘s-Hertogenbosch and QF at Stanfordand Moscow

• In 2016, won second WTA singles title at Guangzhou(d. Jankovic in F); also suffered 11 1r losses in 2016,including at three of the majors – Australian Open,Roland Garros and Wimbledon

VS

• Coached by Adriano Albanesi• Only played tennis occasionally and for fun between

ages 14-17; moved to Kiev at 17 to play more seri-ously

• Studied at Physical Education & Sports Institute forone and a half years (no longer studying; hopes toreturn one day)

PERSONAL• Coached by father, Louis Paul Garcia• Played many sports when she was younger and

chose tennis because it was the one she enjoyed themost

• Enjoys reading and spending time with family• Endorsement portfolio includes Rolex, Nike, Yonex

and Sothys beauty products

CAREER CONT.• During the summer of 2016, a left thigh injury forced

her withdrawal from Stanford, Montréal, Florianopolisand Rio Olympics SF

• Enjoyed breakthrough season in 2015, finishing yearat a career-high ranking of No.33, having startedat No.88. Won title at Istanbul (d. U.Radwanskain F) and finished season with SF run at Moscow(l. eventual champion Kuznetsova); marked thirdPremier-level SF appearance of career (after 2013Brisbane and 2015 New Haven)

• Member of Ukrainian Fed Cup Team, 2011-13 and2015-19

• Winner of six singles and eight doubles titles on ITFCircuit

• Played first events of career on ITF Circuit in 2007;made WTA main draw debut at 2009 Tashkent

PERSONAL

CAROLINEGARCIA

LESIA TSURENKO


draw appearance• Advanced to QF at 2017 Roland Garros (l. Ka.Plisko-

va) for best Grand Slam singles result to date• Has also reached R16 at 2017 Wimbledon (l. Konta),

2018 Australian Open (l. Keys) and 2018 RolandGarros (l. Kerber)

• Made US Open 3r in 2016 (l. A.Radwanska), 2017 (l.Kvitova) and 2018 (l. Suárez Navarro)

• In juniors, singles runner-up at 2011 US Open (l. Min)and was a semifinalist at the other three Grand Slamevents

• In 2016 was doubles champion at Roland Garrosand R-Up at US Open (both w/Mladenovic)


draw appearance• Best result is QF run at 2018 US Open (l. eventual

champion Osaka)• Has also made R16 showings at 2018 Roland Garros

(ret. vs Muguruza w/leg injury) and 2016 US Open (l.Vinci)

• During 2016 Flushing Meadows run, was joined in3r by compatriots Svitolina and K.Bondarenko – firsttime three Ukrainians made 3r at the same GrandSlam – however she was the only one to advance toR16

• Has been to 3r – but no further – at Australian Open(2013) and Wimbledon (2017)


MATCH NOTES

KAROLINA MUCHOVA (CZE #132) vs. CAROLINE WOZNIACKI (DEN #10)


KAROLINA MUCHOVA 132 148

21-08-1996 (22) $59,426

$319,293

0 / 0 0 / 0

0-1 / 2-3 0-0 / 1-1 0-0 / 0-0

CAROLINE WOZNIACKI 10 55

11-07-1990 (28) $118,632

$33,611,045

0 / 30 0 / 2

19-9 3-2 / 576-241 0-1 / 148-80 0-0 / 89-79

0-0

3-2 / 415-164 0-1 / 2-3 0-0 / 0-0 0-0 / 58-28

WTA RANKING


DATE OF BIRTH (AGE)

YTD PRIZE MONEY

CAREER PRIZE MONEY



DOHA W-L (MD) *






0-1 / 0-1 0-0 / 61-67 0-1 / 1-2 0-0 / 132-106





Rnd Result Duration

R3-Q K. MUCHOVA d. L. SAMSONOVA 6-1,3-6,6-1 106 mins

R2-Q K. MUCHOVA d. K. PLISKOVA 6-3,4-6,6-4 120 mins

R1-Q K. MUCHOVA d. . 6-0,6-0 47 mins

Rnd Result Duration



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MATCH NOTES


CAROLINE WOZNIACKI

2018

SF L - PETRA KVITOVA (CZE #21) 3-6 7-6(3) 7-5

2017

F L - KAROLINA PLISKOVA (CZE #3) 6-3 6-4

2016

R16 L - ELENA VESNINA (RUS #118) 7-5 5-7 6-3

2015

QF L - VICTORIA AZARENKA (BLR #48) 6-3 6-1

2014

R2 L - YANINA WICKMAYER (BEL #72) 6-4 7-5

2013

QF L - AGNIESZKA RADWANSKA (POL #4) 6-2 7-5

2012

R2 L - LUCIE SAFAROVA (CZE #28) 4-6 6-4 7-6(3)

2011

F L - VERA ZVONAREVA (RUS #3) 6-4 6-4

2008

QF L - MARIA SHARAPOVA (RUS #5) 6-0 6-1


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VSKAROLINAMUCHOVA

CAROLINE WOZNIACKI

DOHA• Making debut appearance at Doha after three rounds

of qualifying• 2019 Doha marks her first main draw appearance at

a WTA Premier-level event• Competing this week ranked No.132 – two spots shy

from her career high of No.130 (achieved on January28, 2019)

• Faces No.10 Wozniacki today in her second careermeeting against a Top 10 ranked opponent, havingfallen to No.8 Ka.Pliskova earlier this season at theAustralian Open

• Scored maiden Top 50 win over No.12 Muguruza at2018 US Open

• Aiming for first tour-level main draw win since reach-ing 3r at 2018 US Open (l. Barty)

• One of four Czech players competing in singles herein Doha – also Ka.Pliskova, Siniakova and Strycova.A Czech player has lifted the Doha title in three of thelast four years, including Safarova (2015), Ka.Plisko-va (2017) and Kvitova (2018)

• Making 10th main draw appearance at Doha. Two-time finalist in 2011 (l. Zvonareva in F) and 2017 (l.Ka.Pliskova in F)

• Reached SF stage here last year (l. eventual cham-pion Kvitova), and made QF runs on debut in 2008(l. Sharapova), 2013 (l. A.Radwanska) and 2015 (l.Azarenka)

• Faces No.132 Muchova today in their career firstmeeting. Fell to a player ranked outside the Top 100earlier this season against No.152 Andreescu atAuckland

• Entering 2019 Doha has won 80.8% of her servicegames – the sixth-best on tour

• Will need to reach the final this week to have achance at staying inside the Top 10

• As the defending champion, reached 3r at AustralianOpen (l. Sharapova)

• Opened 2019 season by reaching 2r at Auckland (l.eventual R-Up Andreescu

DOHA

SEASON• Qualified at the Australian Open, falling to Ka.Plisko-

va in 1r• 2019 Australian Open marked her second main draw

appearance at the majors (following 2018 US Open)• Opened 2019 season at Brisbane, making qualifying

exit (l. Potapova after holding 2MP)

CAREER MILESTONES• Ended 2018 ranked No.145, her first Top 200 season

(up from her previous best of No.208 in 2016)• 2018 season highlight was making Grand Slam main

draw debut at US Open (as qualifier, l. Barty in 3r)• Also contested WTA qualifying in 2018 at Stuttgart,

Roland Garros, Wimbledon and Luxembourg• Reached three ITF Circuit finals in 2018, including

back-to-back finals at $25k ITF/Altenkirchen-GER (l.Dart) and $60k ITF/Croissy-Beauborg-FRA (l. Blinko-va). Also reached the final at $80k ITF/Olomouc-CZE(l. Ferro)

• Made WTA main draw debut at 2017 Seoul (as quali-fier, l. Hon). Also contested qualifying at ‘s-Hertogen-bosch and Tokyo [Japan Open] and finished R-Up atone ITF Circuit event

• Won second career ITF Circuit title in 2016 and post-ed 39-18 win-loss record; at tour-level fell in qualify-ing at US Open

• On ITF Circuit has won two titles in singles and onein doubles

• Played first events of career on ITF Circuit in Croatiain 2013

SEASON

CAREER MILESTONES• Posted a 41-17 record across 2018, finishing at No.3

for 11th consecutive Top 20 season and eighth Top10 finish of career, including six in a row (2009-14)and back-to-back year-end No.1 finishes in 2010-11

• Won three titles last season from four finals, winningthe debut Slam at the Australian Open, Eastbourneand Beijing. Finished R-Up at Auckland

• Owns 30 tour-level singles titles (30-24 record infinals) - currently sits fourth among active players,trailing S.Williams (72), V.Williams (49) and Sharapo-va (36)

• Won biggest title of career to that point at 2017 WTAFinals Singapore, passing $25 million in career prizemoney

• Lifetime record stands at 4-6 vs. World No.1 players• Has won at least one title in 11 straight seasons

(since 2008), including career-best six titles in 2010and 2011

• Won first WTA title at 2008 Stockholm, the first evertitle won by a Danish woman

• Denmark’s flag bearer at 2016 Rio Olympics• Broke into Top 100 on July 9, 2007 and entered Top

50 on January 28, 2008. Debuted in Top 10 on May18, 2009

• Rose to No.1 on October 11, 2010 and held No.1ranking for total of 67 weeks; returned to No.1 onJanuary 29, 2018 after Australian Open title for afurther four weeks, taking career to 71 weeks

VS

• Ran 2014 New York City Marathon with charity Team for Kids, funds going to New York Road Run-ners youth programs

• Announced engagement to former NBA play-er David Lee in November 2017, the ex-New York Knicks forward proposing on holiday in Bora Bora

• Coached by father, Piotr Wozniacki

PERSONAL• Born in city of Olomouc in eastern Czech Republic,

but moved to train in Prague this year• Started playing tennis at aged seven with dad, a

former professional footballer in Czech Republic• Roger Federer was tennis idol growing up• Coached by Emil Miske

CAREER CONT.• Qualified for WTA Finals six times (2009-11, 2014,

2017, 2018)• Made professional debut aged 15 as a wildcard at

2005 Cincinnati

PERSONAL

KAROLINAMUCHOVA

CAROLINE WOZNIACKI

GRAND SLAM HISTORY• 2019 Australian Open marked second Grand Slam

main draw of her career (as qualifier, l. Ka.Pliskovain 1r)

• Reached 3r at 2018 US Open in her main draw debutat the majors (as qualifier, l. Barty in 3r)

• Earned USD$156,000 in prize money during lastyear’s Flushing Meadows run, more than doublingher career total

• Previously fell in qualifying at US Open in 2016, andRoland Garros and Wimbledon in 2018

GRAND SLAM HISTORY• Captured her first Grand Slam title at 2018 Australian

Open (d. Halep in three sets)• Also a two-time Grand Slam runner-up, at the US

Open in 2009 (l. Clijsters) and 2014 (l. S.Williams).Became first Danish player to reach a Grand Slamfinal since Kurt Nielsen at 1955 Wimbledon

• Made major debut at 2007 Roland Garros (l. Dechyin 1r). Would go on to play 36 consecutive majorsuntil streak was snapped by withdrawal from 2016Roland Garros (w/right ankle injury)

• At Roland Garros she is a two-time quarterfinalist,in 2010 (l. eventual champion Schiavone) and 2017(l. eventual champion Ostapenko) and has reachedR16 at Wimbledon on six occasions, most recentlyin 2017

• In juniors, won girls’ singles title at 2006 Wimbledonand was a finalist at 2006 Australian Open


MATCH NOTES

KIKI BERTENS (NED #8) vs. CAMILA GIORGI (ITA #28)

Head to Head: Series tied 1-1

2016 CLAY O R2 KIKI BERTENS 68 mins6-4 6-1 ROLAND GARROS 2015 GRASS O SF CAMILA GIORGI 77 mins6-2 6-4 'S-HERTOGENBOSCH

KIKI BERTENS 8 5

10-12-1991 (27) $274,598

$6,796,722

1 / 8 0 / 10

8-3 / 162-136 2-3 / 44-50 3-2 / 36-40

CAMILA GIORGI 28 49

30-12-1991 (27) $126,942

$3,474,617

0 / 2 0 / 0 0-0

3-4 / 131-118 0-2 / 43-40 0-1 / 32-28

0-1

3-4 / 78-73 8-3 / 72-87 2-0 / 18-9 0-1 / 9-9

WTA RANKING


DATE OF BIRTH (AGE)

YTD PRIZE MONEY

CAREER PRIZE MONEY



DOHA W-L (MD) *






1-0 / 16-20 0-2 / 9-17 2-1 / 25-37 0-2 / 25-42





Rnd Result Duration Rnd Result Duration



KIKI BERTENS

2017

L - CAROLINE WOZNIACKI (DEN #18) R1 6-2 6-3

CAMILA GIORGI

2017

QF-Q L - LAUREN DAVIS (USA #55) 5-7 5-2


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VSKIKIBERTENS

CAMILA GIORGI

DOHA• Making second main draw appearance at Doha. Lost

to eventual runner-up Wozniacki in 1r in only otherprevious appearance here in 2017

• Faces Giorgi in 1r today. Has a 1-1 record againstthe Italian but this is their first meeting on hard court

• Bidding for fifth straight match-win when plays Giorgi,having won title at last tournament in St. Petersburg

• Bertens is contesting the week of Doha at a ca-reer-high ranking of No.8 (achieved January 28,2019). By contrast, was ranked No.28 this time lastyear

• Bertens is the highest-ranked Dutch woman sinceStove in 1977, who reached No.5 in the world. OnlyDutchwoman in the draw this week

• Has struck a WTA-leading 96 aces in 11 matches thisseason; struck 325 during entire 2018 season (third-most on tour)

• Playing main draw at Doha for the first time• Failed to qualify here in 2017 when she was forced

to retire in the second set of her final round qualifyingmatch vs. Davis (w/back injury)

• Bidding for 10th Top 10 victory of her career whenfaces off against No.8 Bertens in 1r today. Most re-cent victory over a Top 10 player came against No.2Wozniacki at 2018 Tokyo

• Only Italian player in the draw this week (next Italianin WTA rankings is No.123 Errani)

• Ranked No.28 this week; by contrast, this time lastyear was No.61

• Lost both her matches (l. Golubic, Bencic) as Italy fellto a 3-1 defeat to Switzerland in last week’s Fed CupWorld Group II encounter. Her previous appearancein the team competition came in 2016

• Matched her best Australian Open result by reaching3r (l. Ka.Pliskova) - was seeded No.27 in Melbourne,only her second time among the elite 32 at a major

• Withdrew from Brisbane International w/right footinjury in opening week of season, before making 2rat Sydney (l. Kerber)

DOHA

SEASON• Won eighth career title - and third at Premier level -

earlier this month at St. Petersburg (d. Vekic in F)• Made 2r exit at Australian Open (l. Pavlyuchenkova)• Enjoyed SF finish in Sydney (l. eventual R-Up Barty).

Marked first SF on Australian soil; best previousresults were QF runs at 2016-17 Hobart

• Fell in the 2r of Brisbane to start the year (l. Vekic,having held 2mp at 5-4 in final set)

SEASON

CAREER MILESTONES• Enjoyed a break-out year in 2018, reaching a ca-

reer-best four singles finals across the season andbreaking into the Top 10 (October 8, 2018) – firstDutch woman to be ranked in the Top 10 since Bren-da Schultz-McCarthy in 1996

• Won the WTA’s Most Improved Player Award in 2018• Won three titles in 2018, at Charleston (d. Goerges

in F), Cincinnati (d. World No.1 Halep in F) and Seoul(d. Tomljanovic in F). Reached one further final, atPremier Mandatory Madrid (l. Kvitova in F)

• Scored WTA-leading 12 Top 10 wins last season. Pri-or to 2018, only had three Top 10 wins in her career

• Also reached SF on WTA Finals debut (l. Svitolina)• Season highlights in 2017 were winning titles at

Nürnberg and Gstaad. Also posted strong SF run at2017 Rome (l. eventual R-Up Halep) and reachedQF at Madrid (l. Sevastova), which marked first QFat Premier Mandatory level

• Career-high doubles ranking is No.16 (first reachedon April 16, 2018)

CAREER MILESTONES• Ended 2018 season perched at a career-best

ranking of No.26, winning second career title in finalevent at Linz (d. Alexandrova in F). Won 29 tour-levelmatches in 2018 – the most wins she had previouslyposted in a single season was 28, in 2014

• Advanced to first Grand Slam QF at 2018 Wimbledon(l. eventual R-Up S.Williams) on her 26th appear-ance at this level; became the first Italian woman toreach the QF of Wimbledon since 2009 (Schiavone,l. Dementieva)

• Other highlights last season included SF runs atSydney (l. eventual champion Kerber), Prague (l.Buzarnescu after serving for match in third set) andTokyo (l. Osaka)

• Posted sixth consecutive Top 100 season, finishing2017 ranked No.79 (up from No.83 in 2017)

• Made SF at Shenzhen (l. Riske) and QF at Biel (l.Sasnovich), Prague (l. Barthel) and Birmingham (l.Barty)

• In 2016 reached final at Katowice for the third yearin a row (l. Cibulkova). Appeared in four additionalquarterfinals in 2016, at Hobart (l. Bouchard), Prague(l. Ka.Pliskova), Washington, DC (l. Davis) and Seoul(l. Zhang)

VS

CAREER CONT.• Finished 2016 ranked No.22 in singles – big jump

in the rankings from her season-ending ranking ofNo.101 in 2015

• Played on Netherlands Olympic team at 2016 RioOlympics – fell in 1r (l. Errani)

• Made a clean sweep of titles at 2016 Nürnberg,claiming the singles and doubles

• Won maiden career singles title at 2012 Fès as aqualifier in just her second main draw appearance

• Owner of 10 WTA doubles titles, most recently at2018 Brisbane (w/Schuurs)

• Made WTA main draw debut as a wildcard at 2011‘s-Hertogenbosch (l. 1r)

• Played first event of career on ITF Circuit in the Neth-erlands in 2006; has won seven singles titles and 11doubles titles at this level

• Netherlands Fed Cup Team, 2011-2012, 2014-2017

PERSONAL• Coached by former ATP player Raemon Sluiter;

brought former WTA player Elise Tamaela into coach-ing team during off-season

• In November 2018, announced engagement toboyfriend Remko de Rijke, who has been involved aspart of her team as a physiotherapist, fitness coachand hitting partner

• Parents are Rob and Doré; sisters are Joyce andDaisy

• Started playing at age 6. Tennis idol growing up wasKim Clijsters

CAREER CONT.• Won first career title at 2015 ‘s-Hertogenbosch (d.

Bencic in F). Has 2-4 record in finals, having alsowon 2018 Linz (d. Alexandrova in F) and been R-Upat 2014 Linz (l. Ka.Pliskova – held match points) andKatowice in 2014 (l. Cornet – held match points),2015 (l. Schmiedlova) and 2016

• Finished 2015 season with then best year-endranking (No.34), up one place from No.35 in 2014.Season highlighted by winning her first WTA singlestitle at ‘s-Hertogenbosch (d. Bencic in F)

• Had never reached WTA QF prior to 2014; reachedQF or better at seven events during that season

• Made Top 100 debut on July 9, 2012 and broke intoTop 50 on May 26, 2014

• Tour-level main draw debut came as a qualifier at2011 Wimbledon

• On ITF Circuit, winner of five singles titles• Played first career professional tournament at 2006

ITF/Baku-AZE• Member of Italian Fed Cup Team, 2014-16, 2019

• Coached by father, Sergio Giorgi• Favorite book is The Diary of Anne Frank• Mother Claudia is a fashion designer

PERSONAL

KIKIBERTENS

CAMILA GIORGI

GRAND SLAM HISTORY• 2019 Australian marked 27th main draw Grand Slam

appearance• Best result across the Slams came with SF run at

2016 Roland Garros (l. eventual R-Up S.Williams)• With that result in Paris, became the first Dutch

woman to reach SF at Roland Garros since MarijkeSchaar in 1971 (l. SF), and at any Slam since BettyStove at 1977 US Open (l. SF)

• Enjoyed her best result at Wimbledon in 2018 byreaching her second career Grand Slam QF (l.Goerges). Became first Dutch woman to reach QF atWimbledon since Krajicek in 2007

• In 2018 reached 3r for first time at both AustralianOpen (l. eventual champion Wozniacki) and USOpen (l. Vondrousova)

• Is a two-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist in doubles,at 2015 Australian Open (w/Larsson, l. Goerges/Groenefeld) and 2016 Roland Garros (w/Larsson, l.eventual champions Garcia/Mladenovic)

GRAND SLAM HISTORY• 2019 Australian Open marked 27th career Grand

Slam main draw• Best result across the majors was reaching QF at

2018 Wimbledon (l. S.Williams)• Also reached R16 at 2012 Wimbledon (as qualifier, l.

eventual R-Up A.Radwanska) and at 2013 US Open(l. Vinci)

• Made 3r at Wimbledon in 2013 (l. eventual championBartoli) and 2015 (l. Wozniacki), Australian Open in2015 (l. V.Williams) and 2019 (l. Ka.Pliskova), and2018 Roland Garros (l. eventual R-Up Stephens)

• Made tour-level debut at Wimbledon in 2011 (asqualifier, l. Pironkova in 1r)


MATCH NOTES

AJLA TOMLJANOVIC (AUS #41) vs. JULIA GOERGES (GER #16)

Head to Head: Series tied 1-1 (at main draw level)

2017 HARD O R128 JULIA GOERGES 93 mins7-5 6-2 INDIAN WELLS 2013 HARD O R2 AJLA TOMLJANOVIC 112 mins7-6(4) 6-2 MIAMI

AJLA TOMLJANOVIC 41 31

07-05-1993 (25) $117,308

$2,234,303

0 / 0 0 / 0

6-4 / 77-92 1-3 / 34-37 3-3 / 30-25

JULIA GOERGES 16 23

02-11-1988 (30) $111,351

$8,739,847

1 / 7 0 / 5 5-5

6-2 / 289-234 2-2 / 88-85 2-1 / 65-73

0-0

6-2 / 173-143 6-4 / 51-57 0-0 / 4-9 0-0 / 16-27

WTA RANKING


DATE OF BIRTH (AGE)

YTD PRIZE MONEY

CAREER PRIZE MONEY



DOHA W-L (MD) *






0-1 / 1-6 0-0 / 16-36 0-1 / 4-25 0-0 / 34-75





Rnd Result Duration

R3-Q A. TOMLJANOVIC d. P. HERCOG 6-3,6-4 106 mins

R2-Q A. TOMLJANOVIC d. S. AOYAMA 7-5,6-7(6),6-4 162 mins

Rnd Result Duration



from


MATCH NOTES


JULIA GOERGES

2018

QF L - PETRA KVITOVA (CZE #21) 6-4 2-1

2016


2012

R2 L - VARVARA LEPCHENKO (USA #114) 7-6(4) 7-6(5)

2008

R1 L - KARIN KNAPP (ITA #36) 6-1 6-4

2007



from

VSAJLATOMLJANOVIC

JULIA GOERGES

DOHA• Making main draw debut this week in Doha after

battling through two rounds of qualifying (d. Hercog,Aoyama)

• Enters Doha riding a career-high singles ranking ofNo.41

• Faces off against No.16 Goerges in today’s openinground. Owns a 4-25 record vs. Top 20 opponents,in her only such chance this season, lost to No.8Ka.Pliskova at Brisbane

• Lone representative from Australia contesting thisweek’s draw following Barty’s withdrawal (w/hipinjury)

• Making sixth main draw appearance in Doha thisweek

• Best result came last year with a QF appearance (ret.against eventual champion Kvitova w/left hip injury). Previous best showing was visit to R16 on debut appearance in 2007 (l. Kuznetsova)

• Due to Ashleigh Barty’s withdrawal (hip injury), Go-erges took her spot in the draw as she was the nextplayer to be seeded

• Takes on No.41 Tomljanovic in today’s 1r. Owns a111-145 lifetime mark vs. Top 50 opposition, includ-ing 2-1 in 2019 – d. No.50 Kuzmova (Auckland) andNo.37 Sakkari (St. Petersburg)

• One of two Germans contesting this year’s event(also Kerber)

• Reached 2r at St. Petersburg (l. Zvonareva)• As No.14 seed, suffered 1r upset at Australian Open

(l. Collins in 3s)• Opened 2019 season by defending her title at Auck-

land (d. Andreescu in F). Following Auckland run,career record in WTA singles finals now stands at 7-8

DOHA

SEASON• Coming off reaching the fourth WTA final of her

career at Hua Hin (l. Yastremska in F)• Fell in 1r of Australian Open (l. Konta)• Opened 2019 season at Brisbane, reaching QF (l.

eventual R-Up Ka.Pliskova, then fell 1r the followingweek at Sydney (l. Giorgi)

CAREER MILESTONES• Return to form and fitness in 2018 was marked by

first career Top 50 finish, at No.46, and second andthird WTA singles finals at Rabat (l. Mertens) andSeoul (l. Bertens)

• Elsewhere in 2018, at Monterrey, made first WTA QFappearance since 2015 (Tokyo [Japan Open]) beforefalling to the eventual champion, Muguruza. Reachedthree other QFs last season, at Mallorca, San Joseand Hiroshima

• Opened 2016 season at Brisbane and AustralianOpen, but thereafter underwent shoulder surgery andwas off tour until 2017 Acapulco (early March)

• Finished 2016 season at No.930• Advanced to 2r at comeback event at 2017 Acapul-

co, defeating Bouchard in 1r – her first main drawwin since September 2015 at Tokyo [Japan Open] –before retiring vs. Flipkens in 2r (w/shoulder injury

• Improved ranking back to No.151 by end of 2017season, helped by 3r run at Miami (l. Safarova) and2r efforts at US Open (l. Krunic) and Linz (l. Bu-zarnescu)

• On ITF Circuit, finished R-Up in final tournament of2017 at $100k ITF/Dubai-UAE (l. Bencic) in Decem-ber and also reached finals at $60k ITF/Sacramento(l. Anisimova), CA-USA and $80k Waco, TX-USA (l.Townsend)

• Made first WTA final of career in 2015, finishing R-Upat Pattaya City (l. Hantuchova in 3s) – previously,had never been past the QF at any WTA event

SEASON

CAREER MILESTONES• Registered third year-end Top 20 finish in 2018,

at No.14 (also No.14 in 2017 and No.18 in 2012).Reached career-high No.9 on August 20, 2018

• 2018 highlights were titles at Auckland (d. Wozniackiin F) – extended title streak to three, having previous-ly won Moscow and Zhuhai to close out 2017 season– and Luxembourg (d. Bencic in F). Also finishedR-Up at Charleston (l. Bertens) and enjoyed SF runsat New Haven (l. eventual champion Sabalenka) andZhuhai (l. Barty)

• Struck 492 aces in 2018 season, the most of anyplayer and 99 more than second placed Ka.Pliskovawho hit 393. Also hit 412 aces in 2017 season – onlytwo other players have reached the 400-ace markin a season: S.Williams (2012-15) and Ka.Pliskova(2014-17)

• Posted 46 main draw wins in 2018 – only Ka.Plisko-va (49) and Kvitova (47) had more to their names

• Reached a career-high five finals in 2017 season,winning Moscow (d. Kasatkina in F) and biggest titleof career at WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai (d. Vandewe-ghe in F). Finished R-Up at Mallorca (l. Sevastova),Bucharest (l. Begu) and Washington, DC (l. Makaro-va)

• Moscow title was first since 2011 Stuttgart, havingalso won 2010 Bad Gastein

VS

• Born in Bad Oldesloe. Father is Klaus, mother isInge; older sister is Maike

• Began playing tennis aged 6. Tennis idol growing upwas Martina Hingis

• Fan of winter sports, especially biathlon (cross coun-try skiing combined with shooting)

• Coached by Michael Geserer and Matthias Mischka.Physio and fitness coach is Florian Zitzelsberger

PERSONAL• Coach and fitness trainer is father Ratko Tomljanovic• Started playing tennis at age 7 (introduced by sister)• Announced in 2014 she would switch nationalities

and start representing Australia (first did so at 2014US Open)

• Moved to Brisbane in November 2014 with Australianresidency; parted ways with coach David Taylor inJune 2015

CAREER CONT.• By winning 2017 Moscow, overtook Kerber to be-

come German No.1 and also returned to Top 20 forfirst time since February 2013

• Owns a 7-8 record in WTA singles finals; is 5-11 inWTA doubles finals, most recently winning at 2015New Haven (w/Hradecka)

• Opened 2016 by reaching first WTA singles final innearly four years, finishing runner-up at Auckland (l.Stephens). Was first final since 2012 Dubai

• Enjoyed best doubles season to date in 2016,reaching final at Indian Wells (w/Ka.Pliskova) andqualifying for the WTA Finals for the first time. Set ca-reer-high doubles rank of No.12 on August 22, 2016

• In 2011, posted wins over World No.1 Wozniacki inconsecutive weeks (Stuttgart final and Madrid)

• Made WTA main draw debut as a qualifier at 2007Doha

• Played first events of career on ITF Circuit in Germa-ny in 2005

• Member of German Fed Cup team 2008, 2010-18

PERSONAL

AJLATOMLJANOVIC

JULIA GOERGES


draw appearance. Made debut at 2013 Wimbledon(as qualifier, l. Bojanovski)

• Best Grand Slam result to date was R16 run at 2014Roland Garros (d. No.32 seed Vesnina in 2r andNo.3 seed A.Radwanska in 3r, l. Suárez Navarro)

• Has also reached 2r at Australian Open twice, in2014 (l. Stephens) and 2015 (l. Lepchenko), at Wim-bledon in 2015 (l. A.Radwanska) and at US Openin 2013 (as qualifier, l. Cornet), 2017 (l. Krunic) and2018 (l. Siniakova)

GRAND SLAM HISTORY• 2019 Australian Open marked 44th main draw ap-

pearance at a Grand Slam• Posted best Grand Slam result at 2018 Wimbledon,

where she reached SF (l. S.Williams). With Kerberwinning title at All England Club in 2018, it markedthe first time that two Germans reached the last fourat the same Slam since 1993 Roland Garros – Huber(SF) and Graf (Champion)

• Previously had reached R16 – but never further – onfive occasions, at Australian Open (2012-13 and2015), Roland Garros (2015) and US Open (2017)

• Made main draw debut at 2007 US Open, negoti-ating qualifying before losing to eventual championHenin in 1r

• In doubles, is a three-time semifinalist, at AustralianOpen (2015 w/Groenefeld and 2016 w/Ka.Pliskova)and Wimbledon (2016 w/Ka.Pliskova)

• Reached first Grand Slam final of any kind at 2014Roland Garros, finishing runner-up in mixed doubles(w/Zimonjic; l. Groenefeld/Rojer)

CAREER CONT.• Reached first Premier-level QF of career in 2015, at

Stanford (l. No.11 Ka.Pliskova). Other notable resultsin 2015 were SF run at Tokyo [Japan Open] (l. even-tual champion Wickmayer) and QF at Strasbourg (l.eventual champion Stosur)

• Improved ranking from No.453 to No.78 in 2013 sea-son – biggest jump of any player in Top 100

• Made pro debut on ITF Circuit in Croatia in 2007.WTA main draw debut came at 2009 Indian Wells (asWC, l. 1r)

• Owns four wins over Top 20 opponents: No.13 Vesni-na (2017 Miami), No.18 Keys (2015 Stanford), No.16Jankovic (2015 Brisbane) and No.3 A.Radwanska(2014 Roland Garros)

• As a junior, achieved career-high ranking of No.4 insingles and No.4 in doubles. Member of Croatia’svictorious junior Fed Cup team in 2009

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