The new tennis season began with the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, one of two weeks of warm-up play for the 2016 Australian Open. The WTA women got together in New Zealand in a hard-court surface event that allowed them to prepare for the first Grand Slam of the year. There were some important takeaways from the ASB Classic, so here’s our recap of the event.
Tournament Recap
The Sloane Stephens 7-5, 6-2 win over Julia Goerges to lift a trophy in Auckland, New Zealand. The title is the second of Stephens’ career, and it immediately raises expectations for the whole of her 2016 season, not to mention the upcoming Australian Open. Stephens is a player who has been dogged by a specific problem: She gets up for the Grand Slams, but she doesn’t focus on every match or tournament with equal passion and motivation. This kind of steady performance can really change the way she approaches professional tennis. She has burned through multiple coaches, including Roger Federer’s former coach, Paul Annacone. She now has new guidance, and that might be working wonders for her. She certainly has reason to think that she’s found something new. Beating Goerges was the championship capper to the tournament, but beating Caroline Wozniacki in the semifinals was her most impressive performance of the whole event during the week. This could be the start of something very promising in her career.
Many people have been waiting for Stephens to breakout and this win was a sign of her ascension. Her last – and only – other win came back in the Citi Open in August 2015. That’s important because that was a win on her home soil where the crowd was clearly backing her. In this spot, she was in foreign territory and earned his first non-United States victory. She has now won both of her events on the hard surface, which seems to play to her strengths. Not many people are expecting much of her at Wimbledon on the lawn or at Roland Garros on the clay surface, but there will be plenty of attention on her – and expectations from Americans – as she enters both the Australian Open later this month and the U.S. Open in the late summer of 2016.
Biggest Surprise: Tamira Paszek
Stephens is a surprise in and of herself. Goerges is a surprise for making the final as a notoriously inconsistent player. She has really battled confidence. She gets down on herself very easily and shrinks in the face of a challenge or when things go badly for her on the court. Being able to win four main-draw tournament matches in a week should give her wings heading into the Australian Open.
Tamira Paszek also has to be considered a very pleasant surprise, getting to the semifinals. Paszek won a scant number of main-draw tour-level matches last year, and she’s already done better in 2016 with this single performance and her three wins in Auckland. One thing to note about Paszek is that many of her best results in the past were at Wimbledon or on other grass surfaces. Being able to win some matches on hardcourts should give her the feeling that she can hang with the WTA’s best in a lot of different circumstances and conditions.
Biggest Disappointment: Venus Williams
The reality of seeing a seven-time major champion bow out in the first round of a lower-tier tournament is bad for tournament organizers who are trying to sell tickets. It’s also frustrating for the player herself, who has achieved so much in women’s tennis and played Serena Williams in the quarterfinals of last year’s U.S. Open in front of a lot more paying spectators and a much bigger global television spotlight. Venus Williams lost in the first round to Daria Kasatkina, this after winning a first-set tiebreaker. The 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-3 loss was a stunner. Williams can console herself by saying that she will be rested for the Australian Open, but after the long offseason, she was certainly hoping for more match-play experience and a chance to play her way into form.
