Tennis News

PARIS, France – No.26 seed Kristina Mladenovic has saved some of her best tennis for her home major tournament, and this year’s Roland Garros appears to be no different; the French No.1 eased past former doubles partner Timea Babos, 6-4, 6-3 to book a third round clash with 21-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams.

Mladenovic and Babos spent the last few years as one of the tour’s top doubles teams, reaching the 2014 Wimbledon final and qualifying for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, but the former began 2016 with countrywoman Caroline Garcia in preparation for the Rio Olympics, while the latter has paired with fellow big hitter Yaroslava Shvedova.

“It was extremely difficult to prepare this match,” she said in her post match press conference. “And she is a girl I know by heart. She’s one of my best friends. We have known each other since we were really kids.

“When you know your opponent by heart usually this is not good, because there’s pressure, there’s tension. You anticipate her shots, you try and change your game to surprise her.

“But it’s also the attitude, the general atmosphere. You don’t exactly know what to expect and what to do.”

French hopeful Mladenovic sets up 3R meeting with defending champion Serena w/straight sets win over Babos. #RG16 pic.twitter.com/0doXa0xw6Z

— Roland Garros (@rolandgarros) May 26, 2016

Mladenovic and Garcia have come into the doubles event as favorites to end Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza’s bid at the Santina Slam, while Babos is in the midst of a career-best season, upsetting Venus Williams in the Internazionali BNL d’Italia after starting the clay court season with a run to the semifinals in Rabat.

The match appeared straightforward from the start for Mladenovic, who raced out to a quick 3-0 lead, but lost the next four games despite holding points for 4-1. That proved to be the final twist in Court Philippe Chatrier’s last match of the day, as the 23-year-old won the last three games on the bounce to clinch the opening set, and just one service break decided the second for her to win the match in 79 minutes.

“I tried to work a lot on statistics with my coach. This is what we did. We looked at her past seven or eight matches on clay in the recent weeks, or, for instance — well, we looked at her stats. That’s to help me in what I was going to do.

“But look at her stats, today she did totally the contrary of what you have in the data.

“This is the beauty of our sport. It’s also why this match was difficult. I was ready.”

In what could be a rivalry for the future, the two exchanged powerful groundstrokes from the back of the court, with Mladenovic hitting 22 winners to Babos’ 13, but it was the 22 erros from the big-serving Hungarian that proved disastrous; Mladenovic managed to reign in her error count to 18.

Serena Williams stands between the Frenchwoman and the second week of Roland Garros; the two have never met before, but the three-time champion will could well face stiff opposition from the inspired youngster and the enthusiatic French crowd.

“The first word I would use is ‘at last,’ because, well, what can I say? It’s going to be difficult. Maybe I wanted to have a better draw, but then also I think it’s very positive.

“I have to take it very positively. This is an experience, something to do, it’s a dream. I grew up watching Serena play. Then I’m going to play against her.

“So she is the best, I think, in my sport. She’s a legend. I’m extremely happy, because this is a challenge.

“She is dominating. She’s been dominating every single match in the recent years. And it’s going to be very complicated. And as we speak, frankly, I’m very happy so far. I enjoy what I have done. I know how difficult it was for me at the beginning of the tournament, so what I will do is – of course I will debrief my matches. I will enjoy these two wins, and then I will try and get ready as best I can for this match against Serena.”

Earlier in the day, Virginie Razzano wasn’t able to match Mladenovic and Alizé Cornet’s wins against No.29 seed Daria Kasatkina, falling, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3, but Pauline Parmentier backed up her run to the quarterfinals of the Internationaux de Strasbourg with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Irina Falconi. No.15 seed and Rome finalist Madison Keys continued her clay court renaissance, defeating Mariana Duque-Mariño, 6-3, 6-2 to book a third round encounter with either Julia Goerges or Monica Puig.

Karin Knapp followed up her upset win over No.5 seed Victoria Azarenka by beating Anastasija Sevastova, 6-3, 6-4, and will play Yulia Putintseva, who pulled off an upset of her own over No.28 seed and 2014 semifinalist Andrea Petkovic, 6-2, 6-2.

Dominika Cibulkova and Carla Suárez Navarro booked the most high-profile clash as the Mutua Madrid Open runner-up recovered from a second set hiccup to shut out Ana Konjuh, 6-4, 3-6, 6-0, while Suárez Navarro was emphatic in her 6-1, 6-3 victory over Wang Qiang. 

La joie de @kikimladenovic après sa victoire contre timea babos ! elle est au 3ème tour ?? #RG16 https://t.co/xvYycG6O2G

— Roland Garros (@rolandgarros) May 26, 2016

DUBAI, UAE – Kateryna Bondarenko is through to the third round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships after No.5 seed Garbiñe Muguruza was forced to withdraw due to a left achilles injury while trailing 4-1 in the opening set.

“It’s good that I’m through, but it wasn’t really a win,” Bonadarenko said after the match. “She retired.”

Muguruza suffered a shock defeat last week Doha to Zhang Shuai, and looked to be struggling with her timing early on, double faulting to hand her opponent the immediate break.

At the first changeover, Muguruza called for the physio but opted not to take an injury timeout before being broken again.

“When I finished in Doha, because of the rain, a lot of people played two matches, including me,” Muguruza explained. “The second one was very tough, and I remember that as soon as I went, after the match, to my room, I started to have a pain in my left Achilles.

“The next morning was even more painful. I have been carried this since that day. And here, I have been training but on and off, honestly, because of the pain. Some days it was a little bit better, some days it was a little bit worse. It was just hard for me to serve, especially, and to just move side to side today on the court.

A lack of mobility clearly apparent, Muguruza decided that the best way back into the match was to hit her way out of trouble. But with the score at 4-1 in the first set, she decided that it wasn’t worth continuing.

“I can’t see anything right now. I have to do some kind of MRI.

“Personally, I don’t think it’s like something big, hopefully, but it’s very irritated and it’s really bothering me every time I have to run on the court.”

.@GarbiMuguruza retires in the opening set.

Kateryna Bondarenko advances to @DDFTennis Round of 16. pic.twitter.com/zVW98VFLPo

— WTA (@WTA) February 21, 2017

Muguruza’s retirement means that Bondarenko, who has never been past the second round, will now face either Viktorija Golubic or Caroline Wozniacki.

Click here to learn more about Muguruza’s injury courtesy of WTA Insider.

DUBAI, UAE – Elina Svitolina made it through to her third quarterfinal of 2017 so far after a titanic tussle with Christina McHale.

The Ukrainian triumphed 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to set up a clash in the next round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships with Lauren Davis.

“It was really tough today – I was in and out today mentally, I was a little bit losing my focus in the first set,” she said in her on-court interview after the match.

“In the end I was just trying to fight for every ball, and I think that’s why I won.”

.@ElinaSvitolina reaches third Quarterfinal of 2017!

Tops McHale 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 at @DDFTennis! pic.twitter.com/0WdyLoSLVh

— WTA (@WTA) February 22, 2017

McHale pushed Svitolina right to the end, forcing her to serve for a match which lasted two hours and 22 minutes, and saving the first of three match points.

She could not delay the inevitable for too long, though, as the 22-year-old’s grit saw her through.

Svitolina was already thinking about her next opponent, the American Davis.

“I’ve played against her a couple of times…but it’s always going to be tough in any quarterfinal,” she said.