500 Charleston Open

Starodubtseva pauses after Charleston breakthrough and eyes Madrid return

Starodubtseva will take a short break after Charleston, add a traveling physio and eye Madrid soon..

Published

2 months ago

April 5, 2026

Yuliia Starodubtseva closed a breakthrough week at the Credit One Charleston Open as the tournament finalist, falling 6-2, 6-2 to defending champ Jesica Pegula. The Old Dominion University alum leaves Charleston with confidence and a revised short-term plan as she prepares for the European clay swing.

“I was going to play a tournament next week in Madrid; there’s a 125k,” Starodubtseva recalled after a 6-2, 6-2 defeat to defending champ Jesica Pegula. “I was meant to play a 125 in Portugal the following week, and after that I had Madrid 1000.

“I feel like I deserve a little break. You want to take some breaks, and like the more you obviously lose, the more weeks you need to play. So, I find it like a reward in a way that I can take some weeks for myself. I’m also moving places. I have a lot to do, and going to take some days off tennis as well.”

The week included a dominant semifinal victory over 2025 Australian Open champion Madison Keys, and the pressure of competing on a bigger stage was a new experience.

“I call it stimulation,” she said in her post-match press conference. “Like, because you go find a tournament and you play somebody great — like I played Madison Keys in the semis. I couldn’t sleep the night before or fall asleep because all I think about is the match next day. And it is overwhelming, but when you can’t fall asleep and you just keep thinking about like what’s going to happen tomorrow, how are you going to play, what are you going to do, I haven’t found a solution yet how to fix this.

“But I feel like the more I put myself on further stages in the tournaments, I feel like I’ll learn how to cope with it as well.”

Starodubtseva plans to invest part of her Charleston prize money in a traveling physio and believes the week reaffirmed the style she wants to play.

“I feel like I changed up a bit my play style and kind of like realized what type of player I actually am, and I think I’ll try and build from there on,” she said. “I definitely played more aggressive tennis last two weeks, and I think it’s in my nature, and maybe I haven’t been letting myself do it in previous weeks, maybe tried to do more other stuff rather than just keeping it simple and be aggressive in certain moments. And I think this was like the biggest lesson in the last two weeks that I had.”

She is tentatively planning a return to the Mutua Madrid Open, where she reached the fourth round as a qualifier just over a year ago. “I feel like maybe my favorite surface is becoming like fast clay, and Madrid is that,” she told me. “Roland-Garros is that. I did good there as well.

“Here is like the clay is a bit faster. I feel like I did good here as well. So, I’m kind of excited for that tournament, and I know I have to maybe defend a lot of points there, but I feel like I have no pressure here. Just going to try and do my best there.”

“I think [clay] really suits her game,” agreed Pegula. “She’s really tricky. I think maybe she wasn’t playing her best. I think I was playing at a really high level. But then you could see at the end there that, like, she didn’t miss a ball for like two games, and I was like, ‘Oh, she’s going after it right now.’ And I think that’s probably what caused everyone a lot of issues earlier in the week in her earlier rounds here.”

500 Internationaux de Strasbourg

Emma Navarro reclaims form with Strasbourg WTA 500 title

Emma Navarro ended a 15-month title drought in Strasbourg, beating Victoria Mboko in three sets. now

Published

15 hours ago

May 24, 2026

IN Tennis Times

Emma Navarro ended a 15-month title drought with a determined performance to win the WTA 500 clay event in Strasbourg on Saturday. She defeated Victoria Mboko in three sets, 6-0, 5-7, 6-2, securing her first victory over a Top 10 opponent this season and the equal-biggest title of her career.

Navarro entered the week having slipped to No. 39, her lowest ranking since 2023, after falling out of the Top 20 in March and missing Miami, Charleston and Madrid because of health struggles. The Strasbourg crown lifts her from No. 39 to No. 25, returning her to the Top 30 and providing a timely confidence boost ahead of Roland Garros.

“I want to congratulate Victoria on a great week,” she said. “You made it really tough on me today, and you would’ve beaten me 0 and 0 when I was your age, so you’re doing a lot of good stuff.

“Keep doing it.”

Navarro’s path to the title included wins over Top 20 player Iva Jovic in the second round and a hard-fought quarterfinal against Zhang Shuai. She had never beaten Zhang in three previous meetings before prevailing 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2. Zhang not only won the first set but served for it twice in the second set, at 5-4 and 6-5, and was two points away in the tie-break.

This triumph is Navarro’s first title since last March, when she won another WTA 500 event on hard courts in Merida, Mexico. After the final she thanked her support group for staying the course through a difficult stretch.

“They’ve been with me through thick and thin. It’s been a little bit of a rocky year and a half or so, but I think we’ve put in a lot of really good work, and thank you guys for sticking by me and being incredibly dedicated. You make it fun and worth it. Every day’s a journey and we’re always getting a little bit better.”

The Strasbourg victory restores momentum for the former world No. 8 and gives her clear momentum as the clay season continues.

500 Internationaux de Strasbourg

Victoria Mboko and Wim Fissette Begin Trial Partnership, Practice Footage Surfaces

Victoria Mboko training with Wim Fissette on a trial basis was confirmed by practice footage. online

Published

6 days ago

May 19, 2026

IN Tennis Times

Ben Rothenberg of Bounces reported the news earlier this week, which was confirmed by the eye test in Strasbourg.

Videos circulated of Victoria Mboko practising under Wim Fissette’s supervision at the Internationaux de Strasbourg, signalling a new working arrangement between the rising Canadian and one of the sport’s most experienced coaches. The collaboration is described as a trial, with Fissette himself confirming the start of work with Mboko.

The timing follows an uneven clay-court campaign for Mboko. After back-to-back quarterfinal appearances in Indian Wells and Miami, she withdrew from Canada’s Billie Jean King Cup tie in mid-April due to getting her wisdom teeth removed. She then lost her opening match at the Mutua Madrid Open to Caty McNally and withdrew from the Internazionali BNL d’Italia with gastrointestinal illness. Prior to Roland Garros, Mboko played only one match across Madrid and Rome before accepting a late wild card into the WTA 500 event in Strasbourg.

For Fissette, the trial with Mboko arrives after the end of his two-year partnership with Iga Swiatek following the Sunshine Double. He has been a coach to many leading WTA players over the last 15 years and his résumé includes Grand Slam champions and other high-profile charges.

“Wim Fissette, coach of many of the best WTA players of the last 15 years, confirmed to me that he’s begun working with rising Canadian Victoria Mboko on a trial basis.”

The arrangement is modest in its initial form: training sessions and practice-court work observed by onlookers and captured on video. Whether the trial develops into a longer-term partnership will depend on results and mutual fit in the weeks ahead during the clay-court swing and at Roland Garros.

1000 500 Grand Slam

Zeynep Sonmez rises to No.59 to set new Turkish WTA ranking record

Zeynep Sonmez climbs to No.59, the highest WTA ranking in Turkish history, after Rome second round..

Published

7 days ago

May 18, 2026

IN Tennis Times

Zeynep Sonmez has moved to a new career-high and become the highest-ranked Turkish player in WTA history after a rise to No. 59 this week. The 24-year-old climbed from No. 65 following a second-round showing at the WTA 1000 event in Rome, eclipsing Cagla Buyukakcay’s previous national high of No. 60 from 2016.

Buyukakcay and Sonmez remain the only two Turkish players to crack the Top 100 in WTA rankings. They are also the only two Turkish players to have won WTA titles: Buyukakcay captured the clay-court trophy in Istanbul in 2016, and Sonmez won the hard-court event in Merida, Mexico in 2024.

Sonmez has a direct personal link to that earlier milestone. She was a ballgirl during Buyukakcay’s run to the Istanbul title a decade ago, and told the WTA it was an inspiration. “It was very emotional for me,” she said. “Everyone in Turkish tennis was there. Of course, it was a good inspiration for me and for all Turkish players.”

Her rise to No. 59 follows a breakthrough season on the biggest stages. Last summer at Wimbledon she became the first Turkish player in the Open Era, woman or man, to reach the third round of a Grand Slam. She repeated that third-round appearance at the Australian Open this year.

Sonmez has also established consistent form on tour, advancing at least one round in her last six events, all at WTA 500 level or higher. Highlights of that run include a WTA 500 quarterfinal in Merida and a third-round showing at the WTA 1000 in Madrid. She also recorded the first Top 10 victory of her career against Jasmine Paolini in Stuttgart.