St. Petersburg champ Kristina Mladenovic is within striking distance of the Top 30 while Russian teenager Natalia Vikhlyantseva made her Top 100 debut; who else moved up the WTA rankings?
Kristina Mladenovic talks about the significance of winning the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
PARIS, France – Shelby Rogers beat the odds on Sunday, dispatching No.25 seed Irina-Camelia Begu, 6-3, 6-4 at the French Open to reach her first-ever Grand Slam quarterfinal.
Rogers proved she could play on clay earlier this year when she reached the final of the Rio Open, but the unseeded American had never been past the third round at any major tournament in her career. Meanwhile, Begu had enjoyed the most consistent clay court season of anyone in the field, reaching the quarterfinals in Charleston and Madrid, and the semifinals in Rome.
Nevertheless, Rogers has been the Cinderella story of the tournament, taking out No.17 seed Karolina Pliskova, Volvo Car Open finalist Elena Vesnina and No.10 seed Petra Kvitova just to reach the second week. Playing on Court Suzaane Lenglen, she took it to her Romanian opposition, hititng 15 winners and nine fewer unforced errors than Begu, who only hit 12 winners in two sets.
“I think any player has to be ready to do well every week,” she said in her post-match press conference. “We enter the tournaments with expectations, of course, to do well or work on things or, you know, with certain goals in mind.
“If you don’t expect to do well, then maybe you shouldn’t play, you know. I keep going back to trying to treat this as any other tournament, any other tennis match. Obviously the stakes are much higher and the players are much better.
“I’m just trying to stick with my routines and do what I have been doing all year.”
Up a set and 4-2, Rogers briefly saw her lead under threat as the No.25 seed surged back to level the second.
“I won the first set and it was working. Okay, I missed a few, but still going for the right shots kind of thing. So just keep going after it I kept telling myself. It was working in the first, it’s going to work again. So keep doing it.”
Maintaining the course, a fifth break of serve in the tenth game proved decisive for the 23-year-old American, who clinched the biggest win of her career in one hour and 21 minutes.
“I really enjoyed playing on that court. It was a great experience.
“I think that’s a very important point on backing up a big win. I guess I have done that pretty much this whole tournament, starting with the first round, because that was a huge upset for me and kind of set the tone for the last few matches I have played.”
Setting up a quarterfinal encounter with No.4 seed Garbiñe Muguruza, Rogers becomes the first American not named Venus or Serena Williams to make it this far at the French Open since 2005 (Lindsay Davenport) and, at No.108 in the world, the lowest ranked player since 2012, when qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova won her way into the last eight, ranked No.142.
“I keep reminding myself to play one point at a time and that this is just another tennis match. But that’s getting a little bit harder to do as the rounds get farther.
“But I’m very happy with the way I played, and I just hope to continue it.”
“I always dreamed it would happen but I'm not sure I thought it could.” Well @Shelby_Rogers_ , it's happening! #RG16 https://t.co/0eZ2l2LrCu
— Roland Garros (@rolandgarros) May 29, 2016
Kristina Mladenovic talks through her win in the final of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
TALLINN, Estonia: Heather Watson soared to a straight-sets win to give Great Britain the best possible start in the Fed Cup opener against Portugal.
Under the watchful eye of new captain Anne Keothavong, Watson made an impressive start to her country’s campaign, beating Ines Murta 6-1, 6-1.
? Boom! @HeatherWatson92 gives Aegon GB @FedCup Team a 1-0 lead after beating Murta 6-1, 6-1 #BackTheBrits ??? pic.twitter.com/L3nkghe6QZ
— British Tennis (@BritishTennis) February 8, 2017
The 2016 Wimbledon mixed doubles champion then assumed her role as “chief supporter”, ready to cheer on her teammates – first Johanna Konta in the singles, then Jocelyn Rae and Laura Robson in the doubles. “I’ll get the pom-poms, and the tambourines!” she joked.
A smiling @HeatherWatson92 ready to cheer on @JossRae91 & @laurarobson5 in the doubles! #BackTheBrits ?????? pic.twitter.com/zl53deFe9G
— British Tennis (@BritishTennis) February 8, 2017
Her cheerleading obviously worked – Konta cruised through her singles rubber 6-2, 6-4 against Michelle Larcher de Brito, giving Great Britain an unassailable 2-0 lead in the tie. It was good preparation for the British No.1, who will be seen in WTA Tour action next in Dubai from February 19.
PARIS, France – No.5 seeds Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic rounded out the French Open doubles quarterfinals, becoming the last team to advance to the final eight with a dominating victory over German duo Anna-Lena Friedsam and Laura Siegemund, 6-3, 6-2.
Mladenovic recovered from Saturday’s heartbreaker against Serena Williams to continue to delight the French crowd alongside partner Garcia by squeezing in a doubles win before the rain halted play for the rest of the day. The Frenchwomen are the No.2 doubles team on the Road To Singapore Leaderboard and have been a regular force on the tour since the start of the year when they teamed up in hopes of an Olympic berth.
Into their first Grand Slam quarterfinal as a team, Garcia and Mladenovic will face the on-form duo of Kiki Bertens and Johanna Larsson in the next round. The Dutch-Swedish team is fresh off of a title last week at Nürnberg and on Sunday in the third round they dealt Serena Williams and Venus Williams a 7-6(8) 4-6 6-0 upset.
The No.3 seeded team of Hao-Ching Chan and Yung-Jan Chan will have to wait another day to complete their match against No.7 Russians Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina. The Russians vaulted ahead to a commanding 6-1 lead, but the Chan sisters were just beginning to mount their comeback in the second set by opening with a break when the rain forced the match to be postponed at 1-2.
The Chans are the highest seeded team remaining in the doubles draw after the shock straight sets defeat of Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza on Sunday at the hands of Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova. Nicknamed “SanTina,” the pair sit at No.1 on the Road To Singapore Leaderboard and share the No.1 ranking in doubles, but they couldn’t muster up any magic against the Czechs as their bid for a “SanTina Slam” came to an end.
Turning in to twins @KikiMladenovic @CaroGarcia? ? #RG16 pic.twitter.com/sJRFgUX1wd
— Roland Garros (@rolandgarros) May 31, 2016
PARIS, France – No.4 seed Garbiñe Muguruza was made to work in the first set of her much-anticipated French Open quarterfinal against Shelby Rogers, but from set point down, the Spaniard rallied and never looked back, easing past the American, 7-5, 6-3, to reach her first career semifinal at Roland Garros.
Rogers had enjoyed a most impressive run into the last eight, upsetting No.17 seed Karolina Pliskova, Volvo Car Open finalist Elena Vesnina, No.10 seed Petra Kvitova, and No.25 seed Irina-Camelia Begu to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal. Muguruza herself had played solid tennis to reach this stage for a third year in a row, but it was the young American who steadied first, edging out to a 5-3 lead and getting within a point from the opening set.
The 2015 Wimbledon runner-up had only dropped one set through her first four matches, and promptly saved the set point and only lost three more points to sneak off with the opening set a few games later.
Rogers stopped the rot at six straight games, and took one last stand when she recovered from a 0-3 deficit to level the second set at three games apiece.
Muguruza ultimately had too much experience for the American, duly serving out the match to reach the final four for the first time at the French Open.
In a battle of first strike tennis, the No.4 seed proved far more consistent, striking 21 winners to Rogers’ 16, and only 13 unforced errors to 21 from the American. Coverting four of her six break point opportinities, the Spaniard also hit five aces in the 81 minute affair.
Up next is either 2010 finalist and No.21 seed Samantha Stosur or Tsvetana Pironkova.
More to come…
Shelby Rogers put a lyrical twist into the traditional Fed Cup rookie speech by performing her own version of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song.
PARIS, France – Defending champion Serena Williams fired out a warning shot that echoed around Roland Garros by swatting aside Elina Svitolina in straight sets on Wednesday morning.
The players had originally been due on court 48 hours earlier, only for the Paris weather to intervene. When they did finally make it onto Philippe Chatrier, Williams was clearly intent on making up for lost time, reeling off the first four games in the blink of an eye.
Svitolina did eventually get on the scoreboard but was unable to stem the tide for long, dropping the first set in under half an hour. The second set was almost as brief, the American wrapping up a 6-1, 6-1 victory to reach the last eight for a 10th time.
When the players last met in a major, at the 2015 Australian Open, Svitolina extended the World No.1 to three sets. However, on the clay it was never a contest, Williams making a mockery of the heavy conditions to rack up 27 winners in her 62 minutes on court.
“I think it’s definitely a whole new ballgame. I didn’t play my best in the third round and I really wanted to come out and do a lot better and prove that I can do better than that,” Williams said.
The tone was set in the opening game, Svitolina missing four first serves; Williams duly broke to love.
In the build-up to the match both Williams and her coach Patrick Mouratoglou had made no secret of the danger posed by Svitolina, particularly with four-time French Open champion Justine Henin now in her corner.
Faced with the World No.1 in full flight, Svitolina found it tough to live up to this billing. It was not until the fifth game that she hit a winner and the few openings she did carve out were more often than not slammed shut with a thudding serve.
Williams, who remains on track to become the first player to defend the title in Paris since Henin in 2007, is now just three wins away from her 22nd major title, matching Steffi Graf’s tally and closing in on Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24.
Afterwards, she refused to be drawn on her relentless record chasing exploits: “I think every day, for me, is important to get up for all my matches, you know, first round to the last round. I feel like the moment I step on the court that’s all I see, is the ball and the opportunity to do the best I can.”
She is not expecting an easy time in the next round, when she takes on one of Mouratoglou’s former charges, Yulia Putintseva. “I have actually played her a couple of times, and most recently in Indian Wells,” Williams said. “You know, she’s a tough player. She’s really hungry. I feel like she gives 200% on every single point.”
This attitude was evident in Putintseva’s rain-delayed 7-5, 7-5 win over No.12 seed Carla Suárez Navarro. Putintseva’s intensity and variety never allowed the Spaniard find her comfort zone, drawing error after error.
“I have been waiting for like two or three days for my fourth-round match. Of course it was getting nervous and all this stuff because of the weather. I had to change my hotel, as well, because my reservation finished. But I’m happy that in the end the wait was worth it,” Putintseva said.
What a passing shot by Serena Williams! ? #hotshot #RG16 (via @rolandgarros) https://t.co/ymvi9EUoIK
— We Are Tennis (@WeAreTennis) 1 June 2016
Victories from Ekaterina Makarova, Elina Svitolina and Francesca Schiavone headlined a dizzying opening day of Fed Cup action in World Group II.
Here’s how the ties stand after day one:
Russia 1 – 1 Chinese Taipei
Ekaterina Makarova found herself leading a group of young talented Russians this weekend, with two of her teammates making their Fed Cup debut and the average team age just 20 years old.
“It’s a totally different situation because every time I was playing I was one of the young players, even when I had a good ranking. But it was someone like Elena Vesnina in the team every time teaching me,” Makarova told FedCup.com before the tie.
“Now there are two girls who are debutants and it’s a good experience for me. We have a great atmosphere the girls are very nice. We’re looking forward to this weekend.”
The 28-year-old survived a scare to defeat Lee Ya-Hsuan 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 and put Russia ahead in front of a delighted Moscow crowd.
But Chang Kai-Chen put Chinese Taipei back on track, brushing away Fed Cup debutant Anna Blinkova, 6-3, 7-5.
Romania 0 – 2 Belgium
Hosts Romania were stunned on day one as Yanina Wickmayer and Kirsten Flipkens’ brace of victories put Belgium firmly in control of the tie.
Without Simona Halep and Irina-Camelia Begu, Romania struggled in singles as Flipkens dominated the opening rubber against Monica Niculescu, 6-3, 6-4.
“I knew I had to be patient and wait for the right moment to move forward,” Flipkens told press after the victory.
“It would have been a lot more difficult against Simona Halep as she is a top five player. Against Monica, I was confident going forward as I created my chances and took them when they came.”
Cirstea had a golden opportunity to rescue a point for her side, leading 5-2 in the opening set but Wickmayer came roaring back to edge through in a tight battle, 7-6(4), 5-7, 7-5.
Ukraine 2 – 0 Australia
The hosts Ukraine are in full control over Australia after Elina Svitolina and Lesia Tsurenko notched wins on day one.
Tsurenko opened proceedings with a comfortable win against Daria Gavrilova, easing past the Australian 6-2, 6-3.
“I’m very pleased with my game today,” Tsurenko explained to FedCup.com. “After the first games, the captain asked me to play deep. Don’t try to hit flat. That was the key. To play deep and wait for the right moment, and stay focused in the point whatever happened.”
Svitolina had a harder time against Barty, whose game made a mockery of her No.156 ranking as the Australian quickly took the opening set. Svitolina hit back just as strong, and finally tamped down the resistance to win 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.
“I’m happy about today, although not about the score,” Barty said afterwards. “Elina is a tough player, with a lot of experience. She raised her level. The score of the second and third set doesn’t reflect how close the games where.”
Italy 1 -1 Slovakia
Fed Cup veteran Francesca Schiavone and Slovakian debutante Rebecca Sramkova left their countries level in Italy to close out day one.
At home and on clay, Schiavone fought past Anna-Karolina Schmiedlova 6-3, 6-1 to give Italy an early lead.
“I have to speak with my body, it’s not easy to handle three hours like before – but today I enjoyed my one hour and a half and I’m happy to bring the point to my national team. It’s my last Fed Cup so there are some big emotions,” said Schiavone, who will retire from professional tennis at the end of this season.
No.116 Sramkova took on Sara Errani, and came back from a set down to win 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
“I was nervous in that first set but I just said to myself ‘I’m going to win it’. I just changed my thinking,” Sramkova told FedCup.com after the victory.
Photos courtesy of FedCup.com