The 2017 Luxembourg Open is one of the more off-the-radar events on the WTA Tour. The hourglass of the tennis season is running out of sand. Time is winding down on the 2017 tennis calendar. This tournament is noteworthy simply as a chance for players to leave one more mark upon the year.
The competition in the 28-player main draw begins on Monday, October 16.
Event Details
Event: Luxembourg Open
Category: WTA International tier
Date: October 16 – 21, 2017
Location: Kocklelscheuer Sport Centre – Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
The 2017 Luxembourg Open is the 27th edition of the tournament.
With a prize money allotment of just over $226,000, the checkbook component of this tournament is not as considerable as what it is elsewhere on tour. The value of this tournament lies in its simple existence as a chance to continue to play main tennis on the regular tour. These chances are running out.
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 – Monica Niculescu def. Petra Kvitova – 6-4, 6-0
2015 – Misaki Doi def. Mona Barthel – 6-4, 6-7(7), 6-0
2014 – Annika Beck def. Barbora Strycova – 6-2, 6-1
2013 – Caroline Wozniacki def. Annika Beck – 6-2, 6-2
2012 – Venus Williams def. Monica Niculescu – 6-2, 6-3
Player Info:
Angelique Kerber is the top seed for this event. She is winding down a miserable 2017 season in which she will not be part of the WTA Finals in Singapore after making the final of that event a year ago. Kerber has had some bouts with injuries, but for the most part her tennis just hasn’t clicked. Her shots don’t pop off the racquet (which could partially be related to injuries), she gets overpowered by big hitters more than she did in 2016, and she hasn’t been able to wiggle out of tight spots in a lot more matches. She was able to win a lot of close ones last year. Winning this tournament wouldn’t necessarily make her season or enable it to be seen as a success, but it would definitely represent a satisfying consolation prize and, more importantly, give her confidence heading into 2018 – that is what she would want the most. Taking a look at her numbers on the year, she is just 28-20, which is hard to believe. She was an impressive 60-17 last season, including 40-10 on the hard courts. This year, she’s 21-14 on hard courts, 5-2 on grass and 2-3 on clay.
Kiki Bertens plays well on clay but then fails to replicate her success on hardcourts. She has a comfort zone in a few select events each year, such as Nuremberg, Germany, but she can’t progress as a player in other environments on other surfaces. This is yet another chance for her to develop more of an all-surface game which can work against other players on tour. On the season, she is 27-24, which is sub par. She has a very impressive record on clay at 22-5 but is 0-3 on grass and 5-13 on the hard courts.
Sorana Cirstea, in Beijing, scored a top-five win over Karolina Pliskova. She is playing some of her better tennis of the season and will try to keep momentum going. Cirstea scrambles well on defense and forces her opponents to hit a lot of shots to win points. Being more consistent on offense will give Cirstea a better chance of becoming a threatening, dangerous player on tour, the kind of player no one wants to face.
Andrea Petkovic received a wild card into this tournament. Remember that she is a former Roland Garros semifinalist from 2014. Dogged by injuries, Petkovic has had a stop-and-start quality to her career. She hopes she can win her first match and then see if she can get into a needed rhythm. She’s been pretty bad this season in terms of her record. She has a losing record on all three surfaces, going 1-2 on grass, 1-7 on clay and 8-10 on the hard courts. If she actually made run at this event, it would be a pretty big surprise but the field is set up in such a way that it’s possible.
Kocklelscheuer Sport Centre
The building was erected in 1990, especially for this very tournament, just before it began. The stadium court holds 2,500 people in an intimate setting.
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