WASHINGTON, August 27, 2021 (by Michael Dickens)
Things are looking up for Poland’s Magda Linette, both on and off the court. She’s found reason to celebrate her wins on the WTA Tour and in her personal life.
First, on the court, the 51st-ranked Linette, seeded No. 6 at this week’s WTA 250 Tennis in the Land outdoor hard court tournament in Cleveland, Ohio, upset No. 1 seed Daria Kasatkina of Russia, 6-1, 6-2, in 63 minutes to advance to Friday’s semifinal round. It’s the second time this season that Linette has reached the last four of a WTA 250 event after reaching the semifinals on clay at Strasbourg in May.
“I promised myself yesterday that I would just decide to be positive today no matter what happened,” Linette, the Polish No. 2, said during an on-court interview after her win, which leveled her 2021 win-loss record at 13-13. “I stuck with my main goal. … I was ready and patient. I’m glad I was able to step back and take my time.”
The top seed falls!
🇵🇱 @MagdaLinette is into the Cleveland semifinals with a comprehensive win over Kasatkina.#TennisInTheLand pic.twitter.com/fVUcIIoIm7
— wta (@WTA) August 26, 2021
The 29-year-old native of Poznan hit 30 winners to just 12 unforced errors and outpointed the No. 27 Kasatkina 57-32 during their Thursday tussle. Next, she will face unseeded, 74th-ranked Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania, who defeated No. 99 Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus, 6-2, 6-4. After her win against Kasatkina, Linette learned she was drawn to face World No. 23 American teenager Coco Gauff, who is seeded 21st, in the first round of next week’s US Open.
“It gives me a lot of confidence [going into the US Open],” Linette said of her win against Kasatkina in Cleveland. Earlier this week, she beat qualifier Elina Bektas of the United States and lucky loser Linda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic. Each of her victories have been in straight sets. “I’m really happy I have played some good matches this week,” she said.
More like Magda SPINette 😵💫@MagdaLinette | #TennisInTheLand pic.twitter.com/eOJ6dsHJ21
— wta (@WTA) August 26, 2021
Meanwhile, Linette has been a winner off the court, too. Last week, during the Western & Southern Open in Mason, Ohio, she received her college diploma from Indiana University East’s School of Business and Economics. Over the past five years, Linette has completed her Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration while competing on tour.
“I honestly cannot believe that I managed to get my degree while competing on tour,” Linettte wrote on her Instagram. She’s one of 14 players who have received diplomas from the WTA’s educational partner. “Thank you to the faculty for being helpful and everybody in my team that helped me during that journey.”
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A day of quarterfinal upsets in Winston-Salem
Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland and Ilya Ivashka of Belarus will square off in Friday’s semifinal round of the Winston-Salem Open, an ATP 250 outdoor hard court event at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex in Winston-Salem, N.C., with a first ATP Tour hard-court final on the line to the winner.
On Thursday, the No. 76 Ruusuvuori beat former World No. 7 Richard Gasquet of France, now ranked 82nd, 7-6 (5), 6-1, to reach his third tour-level semifinal. Earlier, Ivashka eliminated top seed and 2016 Winston-Salem champion Pablo Carreño Busta of Spain, 7-6 (2), 6-3. The 12th-ranked Carreño Busta was the third straight seed Ivaskha has beaten during this US Open tune-up event. He previously took out No. 6 seed Marin Cilic of Croatia and No. 9 seed Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany.
Next up in the winners circle for the semifinals:
🇫🇮 Emil Ruusuvuori
He knocks out 🇫🇷 Richard Gasquet 7-6, 6-1. #wsopen | @EmilRuusuvuori pic.twitter.com/CJOK0dt3ll
— Winston-Salem Open (@WSOpen) August 26, 2021
“I thought that first set was a very high level,” the 22-year-old Ruusuvuori said, quoted by the ATP Tour website. “He’s a great player. He’s been playing on tour almost more years than I have in my life. The break back [in the first set] was key. Obviously, we saw that everything wasn’t quite there physically with him so that’s a pity.”
Later, No. 90 Mikael Ymer of Sweden, upset No. 13 seed Frances Tiafoe of the United States, 6-7 (2), 6-2, 6-3, to reach his first tour-level semifinal. He will face No. 15 seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, who defeated No. 65 Marcos Giron of the United States 7-6(2), 6-2.
Big Win. Bigger Result 💪@MikaelYmer defeats Tiafoe 6-7 6-2 6-3 to reach his first-ever semifinal on the ATP tour!#WSOpen pic.twitter.com/oMmxRqX7b7
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) August 27, 2021
WTA adds three new indoor hard court tournaments
On Thursday, the WTA Tour announced three new indoor hard court tournaments have been added to its 2021 calendar. Each will take place in the fall:
• Kazakhstan will host the Astana Open, a WTA 250, in the nation’s capital city Nur-Sultan the week of September 27.
• The Transylvania Open, a WTA 250, in Clu-Napoca, Romania, the week of October 25.
• A new WTA 125 event in Columbus, Ohio, the week of September 20.
The WTA also announced that the Hana Bank Korea Open in Seoul will not take place in its scheduled week of September 20 and hopes to operate later in the year.
Also, the WTA Finals is currently still under review with “an announcement surrounding the ate and location forthcoming in the new few weeks,” according to the WTA website.
Final round of US Open qualifying Friday
The final round of #USOpen qualifying is just around the corner
🇪🇬 Sherif vs. Raducanu 🇬🇧
🇩🇪 Moraing vs. Rune 🇩🇰
🇸🇰 Schmiedlova vs. Brantmeier 🇺🇸
🇺🇸 Eubanks vs. Baez 🇦🇷Full Schedule for Friday 08/27 👇
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 26, 2021
Thinking outside the box in Cleveland
Ever wonder about what goes into the design behind chair umpires chairs? Check out this video from Tennis In The Land, the WTA 250 event taking place along the Flats in Cleveland, Ohio, that’s garnering as much attention for it art, architecture and design as it is for the results.
So cool! If you were wondering how our unique umpire chairs came about, here’s the whole story. @cwru @CWRUthinkbox #TennisInTheLand pic.twitter.com/mracJbAwuu
— Tennis in the Land (@TennisInTheLand) August 25, 2021
USTA honors Women’s Equality Day
In honor of #WomensEqualityDay we applaud @BillieJeanKing and the original 9️⃣ who helped make the sport of tennis equal for women 👏🏻👏🏻
— USTA (@usta) August 26, 2021
NikeCourt 2021 US Open Collection reveal
One thing about watching the US Open qualifying draw tournament on TV this week has been getting a hint of what to expect next week from Nike, which typically unleashes a new collection of tennis fashion each year at the US Open.
One thing’s certain: This year Nike Court is drawing plenty of inspiration from American and French color-block designs and patterns: binary blue, dark grey heather, university red, gorge green and gold medalist.
NikeCourt 2021 US Open Collection. #NikeCourt https://t.co/QI81DVafTs
— Tennis Connected (@TennisConnected) August 23, 2021
Nadal promoting his brand even if he can’t play
Proud and happy to extend my Pure Aero Rafa collection with @babolat ! More racquets weights and bags sizes available 😊
Check it out at https://t.co/tiIxxYPCB0 ! #PureAeroRafa #BabolatFamily #AddSomeVamos” pic.twitter.com/Hgtycznw2n— Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal) August 26, 2021
Longtime Cal coach Peter Wright retires
Thank you, Peter, for all you’ve done for the Golden Bears! https://t.co/8K27BcgDBq pic.twitter.com/Zgrz3LVCTA
— Cal Men’s Tennis (@CalMensTennis) August 25, 2021
Uniqlo Ambassadors: When Roger met Shingo and Gordon
“You have to have an open mind”@RogerFederer shares his secrets to prolonging his career with #WheelchairTennis stars @GordonReid91 and @ShingoKunieda
Watch their @UQAmbassadors chat in full 👇
— ITF (@ITFTennis) August 26, 2021
What they’re writing
Matthew Futterman of the New York Times on “Serena and Her Fellow Tennis Greats Are Limping Toward the Exits.”
Great tennis careers usually end with a whimper, a fate that seems increasingly likely for Serena Williams, Roger Federer, and maybe even Rafael Nadal. https://t.co/VYoESuq6AJ by @mattfutterman
— NYT Sports (@NYTSports) August 26, 2021
“Quotable …”
“It was a good match for me from the beginning. I was very focused, trying to make Kristina work. I think the first two games were very high level, then I broke her at 2-1 and everything was pretty much easier for me. I was playing much better, more relaxed. I’m very happy with my performance.”
– World No. 6 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, top seed at the WTA 250 Chicago Women’s Open on her 55-minute 6-1, 6-0 quarterfinal victory over No. 57 Kristina Mladenovic of France.
A COMPLETE performance from @ElinaSvitolina 😳
The top seed knocks off the last 11 games in a row to reach the semifinals in Chicago!#ChiTennisFestival pic.twitter.com/BJ4VBVgdpR
— wta (@WTA) August 26, 2021
What they’re sharing on social media
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova / Happy ending for Pavs
Miracle happened, I got my visa 🇺🇸 Thanks for all supportive messages, it was a very stressful time and it’s a shame athletes still have to deal with this nonsense. Anyway, this off-court battle is over and I’m finally on my way to New York ✈️#USOpen@jaybee10s thank you 🙏
— Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (@NastiaPav) August 26, 2021
Hubert Hurkacz / Can’t complain about my ride to the US Open
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