French Open Monday: Round One Redux
A rainy sunday washed out most of the first round matches in Roland Garros; World No.2 takes center stage on Monday while 2008 champion Ana Ivanovic also makes her debut.
A rainy sunday washed out most of the first round matches in Roland Garros; World No.2 takes center stage on Monday while 2008 champion Ana Ivanovic also makes her debut.
PARIS, France – Former finalist Simona Halep made a confident start to her 2016 French Open challenge, swatting aside Nao Hibino in 45 minutes.
Three of Halep’s last four Grand Slam appearances have ended with defeat to players ranked outside the Top 50, however there was never any danger of World No.70 Hibino extending this sequence.
Halep started confidently, breaking to love in the third game thanks to a smart backhand winner. The set was soon in the bag and when she fired away a forehand to break at the start of the second, the writing appeared on the wall.
It was not long before she arrived at match point, completing a 6-2, 6-0 victory to set up a second-round meeting against Zarina Diyas.
Two years ago, on the back of a terrific clay court season Halep made it all the way to the final at Roland Garros. Despite a recent triumph in Madrid, this time around she arrived in the French capital with less fanfare, yet a favorable draw has opened up the possibility of another deep run.
“I feel more confident now playing on clay court. I had good matches in Madrid. The title is really important for me – it means a lot,” Halep said. “You know, now I feel more confident, like everyone can see that that I play aggressive, I play my game.
“Always when I go on court I feel that I can win the match. So this makes myself a little bit more positive, a little bit more stronger on court, and I just want to go to play. I’m already in the second round. I feel good, and I feel that I have the game to win matches here.”
After starting off on an informal basis last year, since January Halep has been working full-time with celebrated coach Darren Cahill. While the union did not bring overnight success, Halep appreciates the adjustments her new mentor has brought about.
“I think the most important thing that he brought to me is mental, because he tells me how to manage all the situations,” Halep said when quizzed on their relationship. “Also tactically, he tells me how to play, always when he came on court, when I called him on-court coaching, I did what he said and I won all the matches!
“So he teaches me many things about tennis and also attitude, because sometimes I have bad attitude. But, you know, it’s normal, and when the pressure is on, you cannot control everything. But I’m better. I’m stronger now. And I keep working to get better.”
18-year-old Naomi Osaka backed up her impressive run at the Australian Open by reaching the third round of the French Open in her debut, where she’ll meet World No.6 Simona Halep.
PARIS, France – Timea Bacsinszky produced a stunning turnaround to defeat Eugenie Bouchard, 6-4, 6-4, and book her place in the third round of the French Open.
Trailing Bouchard 4-1 in the opening set, an upset looked on the cards. However, a run of 10 straight games from the No.8 seed turned the match on its head, before a late wobble gave the scoreline a more respectable sheen.
The only other time Bacsinszky faced Bouchard came earlier this year in Indian Wells, where she was taken to three sets. And on Philippe Chatrier, Bouchard provided a reminder of the talent that saw her ranked No.5 not so long ago, barely making a mistake in the opening five games.
It was a standard that proved difficult to maintain, and when her level dropped Bacsinszky was there to pounce. At 4-4, the Swiss finally hit the front, finishing a well-worked point with an angled backhand winner.
In the next game, she showcased her creative side, a delicate drop shot helping her to set point, before a shellshocked Bouchard netted a backhand to complete the comeback.
Brimming with confidence, Bacsinszky raced through the opening five games of the second set, conjuring up winners from all over the court. To her credit, 2014 semifinalist Bouchard battled away to the bitter end, a relieved Bacsinszky eventually making her way across the line and into a third-round meeting against either Pauline Parmentier or Irina Falconi.
For Bouchard, the disappointment of an early exit was tempered by her performance against one of the WTA’s form players. “I felt like I put myself in a good position in preparation and everything,” she said. “I’ve done everything that I possibly could to be ready. I started out strong. The game plan was working and things like that.
“I think that my focus a little bit was the part that let me down, the mental part. Something I’ve been working on. I had been getting better, so it’s not always going to be good.”
In today’s SAP Stat Of The Day, Karolina Pliskova becomes the first person to reach a very important number in 2017.
Agnieszka Radwanska takes on Caroline Garcia in the second round of Roland Garros.
An interview with Karolina Pliskova before her opening round match at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza moved one step closer to holding all four majors with a quick-fire second-round win over Nao Hibino and Eri Hozumi.
DUBAI, UAE – No.38-ranked American Alison Riske took out her compatriot and No.11 seed CoCo Vandeweghe in straight sets to move into the second round at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, 6-4, 6-4.
Playing in their first match since teaming up for Fed Cup, the pair squared off for the eighth time (across all levels) with Riske leading 1-0 in their WTA head-to-head record.
“It can be difficult [to play a friend], especially we just had the best week together at Fed Cup. So it was unfortunate that we played each other first round,” Riske told press after the match.
“But at the end of the day you have to focus on you, and there are so many Americans now in the top. We are all friends, or at least I feel like we are.
“We’re going to beat each other week in and week out, and it’s something that we’ve got to get used to.”
First set ? @Riske4rewards!
Leads Vandeweghe 6-4! #DDFTennis pic.twitter.com/mPvseYCyFJ
— WTA (@WTA) February 20, 2017
Riske kept the Australian Open semifinalist out of her comfort zone throughout the match, taking the pace off the ball and absorbing Vandeweghe’s powerful shots, redirecting it all back at the No.21-ranked American.
Vandeweghe gave up the first break of the match with a double fault – one of the 11 she’d hit during the match – to give Riske a 4-3 lead. Riske weathered back to back breaks of serve as the pair wrestled for momentum towards the end, before taking the opening set on her serve.
The frustration continued to mount for Vandeweghe, who dropped her serve to start the second set and give Riske another early lead. The No.38-ranked American kept her nose in front after a flurry of four straight breaks, comfortably serving out the match to love – aided by a pair of Vandeweghe’s 58 unforced errors.
.@Riske4rewards shocks Vandeweghe 6-4, 6-4 in @DDFTennis First round! pic.twitter.com/p69r3mRHJl
— WTA (@WTA) February 20, 2017
“I think she was having a little difficulty with her first serves,” Riske assessed. “But she was starting to get back in rhythm in the second set there. I feel if I had let up just a little bit, things could have changed.
“I was definitely proud of myself for staying in there and still dictating as best I could and not giving her an inch to come back.”
Awaiting Riske in the second round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships will be Anastasija Sevastova, who cruised past Irina-Camelia Begu in straight sets.
Dominika Cibulkova has long played David to a tour of Goliaths. The Slovakian dynamo found fertile soil early in her career and promptly began planting seeds; her garden is a veritable who’s who of the game’s biggest and brightest.
She rode that role right into a Singapore debut, where she broke new ground by winning the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, stunning then-No.1 Angelique Kerber in the championship match.
Starting 2017 in full bloom therefore marks a colossal shift for Cibulkova, who is suddenly tasked with preventing the very chaos she once strived to create.
“I felt good in Australia but this is a new position for me, being World No.5,” she said during All-Access Hour at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. “I really have to work on myself every day, especially mentally.
“There are some players who come onto the court a bit differently against you. They have nothing to lose and want to beat you. This is something I’m really trying to adjust to, that and the expectations – not just my own, but also those of the people around me.”
Expectation undoubtedly bogged her down in Brisbane and Sydney, but it was after a run to the semifinals of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy that the wilting Slovak decided to reassess, stepping down from her perennial spot on the Fed Cup team.
“I got really negative on the court in St. Petersburg,” she said of her loss to Yulia Putintseva, “and that was my biggest disappointment from that match; maybe the expectation got too big for me.
“It’s good that I didn’t play Fed Cup so I could really have time to prepare for Doha. It helped me a lot and that’s why I played so well there. I’d always feel tired after a tie, but that’s something you have to accept if you decide to play Fed Cup. You have to know you won’t be completely ready for the next tournament.”
Cibulkova has been an absolute stalwart in national competition – playing a whopping 21 ties in 12 years – and admitted the annual decision to compete often adversely affected her schedule.
“It would be easier if the event could all take place at a reasonable date, but, for example, last week Slovakia played Italy on clay. That wouldn’t make sense for my schedule at all.
“Now that I’m older and more mature, I see that my career isn’t going to last forever. Right now, I feel like I can get my best ranking and reach my best results. I have to selfish.”
That desire for further introspection led her to step up her work with sports psychologist Radko Sevcík, who joined her team about two years ago and has been crucial to improving her big match mindset.
“I had my mental coach with me in Doha and we talked a lot about different things, how I should approach practices and matches, and how to be more positive on the court.”
The positivity paid off; Cibulkova reached the final four at the Qatar Total Open – the first of her career – and earned her 400th career match win in impressive style over an old nemesis.
“I felt good on the court. I beat Samantha Stosur, whom I’d never beaten before in my career. That gave me much more confidence, and even though I lost to Karolina Pliskova, it was a great match and I was really close to winning.
“After Doha, I feel like I’m playing really well.”
The first big test of that assertion will come early; Cibulkova will kick off Dubai campaign against Ekaterina Makarova, who won their most recent meeting at this year’s Australian Open.
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.