The 2017 Generali Linz Open rounds out the WTA season for players, enabling them to reshape the rankings one more time. Players who couldn’t do much in the weeks after the U.S. Open or who didn’t want to make the trip to China for tour events (or who lost very early in China) play in Austria to continue their season. A deep run can matter in terms of end-of-the-year standings.
The competition in the 28-player main draw begins on Monday, October 9.
Event Details
Event: Generali Linz Open
Category: WTA International tier
Date: October 9 – 15, 2017
Location: TipsArena – Linz, Austria
The 2017 Generali Linz Open will mark the 31st year of the tournament.
With a prize money allotment of $226,750, the financial carrot at this tournament is not considerable. This is a chance to simply play tennis – there aren’t many more chances before the WTA Finals. These players won’t be in the hunt, since the top players on tour spent the past week playing in Beijing and handling the Asian swing.
Points
Champion – 280
Runner-up – 180
Semifinal – 110
Quarterfinal – 60
Round of 16 – 30
Former Champions and Results (5 Years)
Year Champion Runner-up Score
2016 – Dominika Cibulkova def. Viktorija Golubic – 6-3, 7-5
2015 – Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. Anna Lena Friedsam – 6-4, 6-3
2014 – Karolina Pliskova def. Camila Giorgi – 6-7, 6-3, 7-6
2013 – Angelique Kerber def. Ana Ivanovic – 6-4, 7-6
2012 – Victoria Azarenka def. Julia Goerges – 6-3, 6-4
Player Info:
Jelena Ostapenko has rebounded in the fall with a Seoul title and a run into the quarterfinals of Beijing. The French Open champion struggled in August but has managed to find her game again, attacking with great clarity and hitting the ball toward the lines and corners. This is a field she should be able to do a lot of damage against, but the rigors of travel, going from Asia back to Europe, could create fatigue in her game as she approaches the end of an unforgettable 2017 season. On the year, she is now 42-18. Clay is her strong suit as she was 16-3 on clay this year. She was also 5-2 on grass. She’s done relatively well on the hard courts, going 21-11.
Dominika Cibulkova won the WTA Finals last year in Singapore. This year, she won’t compete in the tournament. She has had a quiet year and hasn’t been able to make many runs through bigger tournaments. Linz might be the right spot for her to pick off a late-season tour title, enabling her to regroup and feel better about her game heading into 2018. She hasn’t had a particularly strong season by the numbers. She is just 26-22 on the year, which is very average. The good news is that while she had losing records both on clay and grass, she does have a winning record on the hard courts (20-14).
Magdalena Rybarikova has been one of the runaway success stories of the WTA in 2017. She was ranked outside the top 450 early in the year and is now in the top 30. She is a top-four seed in Linz. Rybarikova has spent the season collecting a large number of wins on grass to catapult herself to the Wimbledon semifinals, which boosted her ranking into the top 100. Some solid hardcourt results have cemented her rise in the rankings. She is known for keeping opponents off balance with a variety of spins and speeds.
Sorana Cirstea defeated Karolina Pliskova at the Premier Manadatory event in Beijing, grabbing a very rare top-10 win and showing that she is capable of playing great tennis. She will try to sustain momentum in Linz and use this tournament as a springboard toward what she hopes will be an even better 2018 season. Cirstea has had an OK season as she has a winning record on all three surfaces. However, she hasn’t really excelled. She is 13-9 on the hard courts, 9-5 on clay and 3-2 on grass. She is 25-19 on the year and if she keeps it up, it will be her first time in three years that she finishes the main tour draw with a winning record.
TipsArena Linz
The TipsArena Linza has been around since 1974. The stadium court features 6,000 for tennis and provides an intimate indoor setting which enables this tournament to proceed smoothly. It’s a mainstay on the tour and in the sporting culture of Austria.
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