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Olympics Saturday: Gold Rush Begins

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

The first round of the Olympics gets underway on Saturday, with several intriguing matches, including 2000 gold medalist Venus Williams’ clash against Kirsten Flipkens.

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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

ACAPULCO, Mexico – No.2 seed Kristina Mladenovic made a winning start to her campaign at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, racing past Varvara Lepchenko in straight sets.

Kicking off the opening day action on Cancha Central, the Frenchwoman needed just an hour an fifteen minutes to complete the 6-2, 6-3 victory.

“It felt great to play the first match on Central,” Mladenovic said after the victory. “I was actually really surprised at the schedule, you know, to open up the tournament on the center court.

“It was difficult for me, too, because I arrived just two days ago from Dubai. I’m still a bit jetlagged and it’s totally different conditions here, but I’m just very happy with the win.”

Mladenovic got off to a quick start against the No.91-ranked American, jumping ahead to a 3-0 lead in both sets. Mladenovic played aggressive, positive tennis to keep Lepchenko out of the rallies, hitting a serve out wide and following it up with a booming forehand. She closed out the set with a second break to the Lepchenko serve.

But the American stood her ground heading into the second, mixing up her game plan to play more aggressively and earn a break back and level the score at 3-3.

Mladenovic stayed positive, and peppered her game with dropshots to grab another break and serve out the match, sealing it with another ace out wide – her fifth ace of the match.

“I was trying to stay tough in my head, just trying to work for every single point, every game. I was just trying to go for it, and Varvara is a tough player as well. Very happy with this first win.”

Up next in the second round Mladenovic will face Heather Watson, who edged past American wildcard Bethanie Mattek-Sands, 7-5, 6-3.

Also through in Acapulco, No.8 Andrea Petkovic faced a tough battle against American qualifier Jamie Loeb, needing to come back from a set down in her 2-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory.

“I’ve been here for a week already so I’ve been practicing for a long time,” Petkovic said. “I don’t remember the last time I waited this long for a match. So at the beginning I was a bit tight, because also she had been through qualifying here”

“She was playing really fast, and I needed some time to get used to it. In the second and third set – after some rough patches – I think it was pretty good.”

Joining them in the second round will be Shelby Rogers, who moved past her American compatriot Louisa Chirico 6-2, 6-2, and Pauline Parmentier who survived a rollercoaster against Nicole Gibbs to advance 7-5, 6-7(6), 6-2.

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Serena Surges Into Olympic Second Round

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Four-time Olympic gold medalist Serena Williams survived some breezy conditions to ease past unseeded Aussie Daria Gavrilova, 6-4, 6-2, to reach the second round of the Olympic tennis event.

“It felt really good to be out htere today,” Serena said after the match. “It’s been a long time; four years ago I was out here playing the Olympics, so it’s really cool to be here again.”

Serena swept the singles and doubles events four years ago in London, but struggled early on against Gavrilova, who was making her Olympic debut. Racing out to a 5-2 lead in the opening set, Serena found herself pegged back to 5-4 against the combined forces of the Aussie and the dust storm known as a “haboob,” but played her best tennis when it mattered most to put herself a set from victory after 49 minutes.

“Early on it was super windy, and it was a survival of just who could get the ball in; it wasn’t quality tennis because of the strange and tough conditions. But I got through it.”

Gavrilova is a former Youth Olympic gold medalist in 2010, and began 2016 with a bang, winning the Hopman Cup alongside countryman Nick Kyrgios and reaching the round of 16 at the Australian Open; the youngster continued to fight in the second set, digging out of a marathon sixth game to keep herself in contention, but ultimately succumbed on her third match point.

Hoping to win her fifth Olympic gold medal – and second in singles – Serena will next play the winner of Johanna Larsson and Alizé Cornet for a spot in the third round. The American will also begin her doubles campaign with sister Venus, who took a heart-breaking loss to Kirsten Flipkens on the first day of play last night.

“We just want to have the chance. Hopefully we can win a couple of matches, and see how it goes. We love playing doubles, period, so every four years, we know we have a chance where we’re guaranteed to get some matches.”

At the start of the weekend, Serena got a shoutout from former United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is currently the Democratic nominee for the 2016 presidental election:

No.2 seed Angelique Kerber was not too far behind her American rival on Sunday, winning the last five games of her first round match against Mariana Duque-Mariño, 6-3, 7-5.

The 2012 Olympic tennis event quarterfinalist was coming off a run to the semifinals at the Rogers Cup, but didn’t have things all her own way against the Colombian, who took a 5-2 lead in the second set – holding a set point on her own serve at 5-3 – before the German came back to book her place in the second round.

Kerber will next play Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard, who sailed past Sloane Stephens, 6-3, 6-3; Bouchard beat Kerber in their most recent encounter at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

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Puig Pummels Muguruza At Olympics

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – No.3 seed Garbiñe Muguruza was sent crashing out of the Olympic tennis event in Rio after a decisive 6-1, 6-1 defeat at the hands of Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig.

Competing in her first ever Olympic Games, 22-year-old Puig notched her first ever victory over a Top 5 player against the No.4-ranked Muguruza to claim the biggest win of her career.

“I think it is. I consider it the biggest win of my career because it’s at the Olympics. This happens once every four years,” Puig said, grinning in the mixed zone after the match. “Right now, I’m in the clouds. I can’t even believe it because truly it was incredible.”

Muguruza’s usually aggressive game was lacking its bite, and she couldn’t seem to find her rhythm, getting caught a step or two late to the ball time and time again. The Spaniard struck almost twice as many unforced errors as Puig, 29 to 15. Her powerful serve fired off seven double faults, and she was broken six times throughout the hour-long encounter.

Puig took advantage of Muguruza’s lapse and came out of the gate on fire, breaking in the fourth game to quickly build up a 4-1 lead, which she backed up by breaking again and snapping up the opening set. Puig’s zinging forehand and dogged, line-to-line defense powered her through the next set as she broke Muguruza four more times to reach her first ever Olympic quarterfinals.

“I still have goose bumps,” Puig said of serving for the match and her emotional reaction afterward. “You just go into shock, you are trying to keep it together the whole time because you know in that last game, serving at 4-1 especially to consolidate that break, you’re so close to winning you start getting emotional, there’s no hiding it, you start feeling those butterflies, those nerves.

“So I think it’s all that coming out, you keep it bottled up. It’s like a Coca Cola bottle if you shake it, you shake it, you shake it, it’s going to explode. I just tried to not explode till the right moment and it worked.”

The win is a banner result for Puig, who started out the year ranked No.94. Her newly-found consistency has seen her reach the quarterfinals or better at six events as well as climb all the way to a career-high No.33.

“I know what I want to achieve and I’m letting the world know that Monica Puig is here. It’s my time,” she said. “I’ve always been there, but I’ve never been able to maintain the level. But I’m doing it now and I’m in such a good moment.

“I want the medal, and I’m going to do what it takes to reach this goal… I always seem to play my best when I play for my country.”

Puig is set to play against Germany’s Laura Siegemund in the next round for a spot in the semifinals.

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Zhang Shuai's Dream Run Continues

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MELBOURNE, Australia – Zhang Shuai battled past 2015 Australian Open semifinalist Madison Keys to become the fourth Chinese player ever to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament.

Zhang, who nearly went out in qualifying – her opponent in the last round of qualies, Virginie Razzano, served for the match in the third set – had taken out No.2 seed Simona Halep en route to her first second week at a major, and she continued that giant-killing form Monday night with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over the No.15-seeded Keys, who looked increasingly hampered by injury during the match.

“It’s so tough to play against someone injured,” Zhang said. “Maybe two points you’re feeling like you cannot play, and then the next three balls, pong, pong, pong, you make two aces, one winner. You don’t know what’s going to happen. And also last year this happened many times, and I’d almost win the match, but then I’d lose. But this time I really tried to concentrate, and I’m happy I won.”

Coming in, Zhang was 0-14 in Grand Slams and had lost 20 straight sets at majors, too – she was considering retirement. She’s not thinking of hanging her racquets up now, but she will need a break.

“Right now, after this tournament, I need a long break,” the Tianjin native commented.

“I’ve already played seven matches. Before today I was thinking, ‘Okay, today is the final.’ When somebody wins six matches at a Grand Slam, it’s already the final, right? And at night, it felt like it.

“But I’d already said this year I’ll play less tournaments. I don’t want to play too much. I want some more time for my life. I can have a holiday, rest, stay with my parents – and practice more too.”

Zhang is the fourth Chinese player ever to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal, after Li Na, Zheng Jie and Peng Shuai – Li was the most successful of the group, picking up two career Grand Slam titles.

Zhang is also guaranteed of becoming the new Chinese No.1 after this tournament. The World No.133 is currently China’s No.4 after No.83 Zheng Saisai, No.102 Wang Qiang and No.117 Duan Ying-Ying.

Next up for Zhang is Johanna Konta, who will also be playing her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.

Konta and Zhang are tied in their head-to-head, 1-1, though they haven’t played since 2013.

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