Kvitova and Halep to Headline Connecticut Open

July 15, 2015 | By New York Tennis Magazine Staff
Kvitova_Crop_02
Photo credit: Adam Wolfthal

World number three and 2013 Champion Simona Halep and defending champion and world number five Petra Kvitova headline the field for the 2015 Connecticut Open, presented by United Technologies. The WTA event, which is part of the Emirates Airline U.S. Open Series, will be held Aug. 21-29, 2015 at the Connecticut Tennis Center at Yale.

Halep has won three titles this season, hoisting trophies at Indian Wells, Dubai and Shenzhen. The Romanian also boasts semifinal efforts at Miami, Rome and Stuttgart and quarterfinal appearances at the Australian Open and Birmingham. Her rise to the top of the game began in 2013, when she won six titles that year, including at New Haven, where she dropped only one set en route to the title. In 2014 she continued to climb, winning two more titles, reaching the final of the French Open and WTA Finals, and semifinals at Wimbledon. She returns to Connecticut for the third consecutive year.

Kvitova marched through the field without dropping a set at the 2014 Connecticut Open, capturing her second title in the last three years at New Haven after winning in 2012. The world number five and two-time Wimbledon Champion has enjoyed another solid campaign in 2015, defeating Serena Williams in the semifinals on her way to the title at the Madrid Open, capturing the crown in Sydney to start the year, and making a semifinal run in Shenzhen this spring. She will be making her fifth trip to Connecticut.

An American trio–Madison Keys, Sloane Stephens and CoCo Vandeweghe–is also a big part of the field. Madison, coached by 2005 Connecticut Open Champion Lindsay Davenport, produced a quarterfinal appearance at Wimbledon and a semifinal run at the Australian Open earlier this year propelling her to number 18 in the world, Sloane reached the semifinals in Eastbourne and Strasbourg this year, and CoCo reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon just this past week.

Aside from Kvitova, Halep and Keys, five other players in this year’s Connecticut Open field are ranked in the WTA top 20. Number 11 Ekaterina Makarova, who reached the semifinals of last year’s U.S. Open and this year’s Australian Open, and advanced to the quarterfinals at New Haven in 2013; number 12 Karolina Pliskova, who captured a title in Prague and produced runner-up finishes at Dubai, Sydney and Birmingham; number 14 Timea Bacsinszky, who reached the semifinals at the French Open, quarterfinals at Wimbledon, and won two titles at Monterrey and Acapulco; number 17 Elina Svitolina, who triumphed at Makkakech and scored a quarterfinal berth at the French Open; and Sara Errani, a 2012 French Open finalist and 2015 Roland Garros quarterfinalist will compete for the title.

Joining the top 20 stars in this year’s field are Belinda Bencic, who won her first WTA career-title last month at Eastbourne; Canadian Genie Bouchard, who advanced to the finals at Wimbledon and semifinals at the Australian and French Opens in 2014; Flavia Pennetta, a 2015 quarterfinalist at Indian Wells and Dubai; Alize Cornet, who advanced to the Round of 16 at the French Open this season; Irina-Camelia Begu, a quarterfinalist at Charleston and Madrid; Camila Giorgi, a 2014 Connecticut Open semifinalist who won her first career WTA Title this year at ‘s-Hertogenbosch; and Dominika Cibulkova, a 2014 Australian Open finalist and former Top 10 ranked player, who is on the comeback trail following surgery earlier this year.

Rounding out the field are Zarina Diyas, who produced a Round of 16 showing at Wimbledon; Kristina Mladenovic, finalist at Strasbourg and semifinalist at Birmingham; and Caroline Garcia, finalist at Acapulco and Monterrey.

“The 2015 Connecticut Open presented by United Technologies player field features a tantalizing mix of WTA veterans and exciting up-and-comers, from two-time Wimbledon Champion Petra Kvitova to Grand Slam singles finalists Simona Halep, Genie Bouchard, Sara Errani, and Dominika Cibulkova and a trio of Americans in Madison Keys, Sloane Stephens and Coco Vandeweghe,” said Tournament Director Anne Worcester. “Two of the top five players in the world, eight of the top 20, and a host of other talented stars once again give us a very solid field. Add in the second annual Men’s Legends event, off-court entertainment, and this tournament is a quintessential way for fans to close out their summer.”


New York Tennis Magazine Staff
Centercourt
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