Stosur Slides Past Pironkova
No.21 seed Sam Stosur is back into the semifinals of the French Open for the first time since 2012 with her win against surprise quarterfinalist Tsvetana Pironkova.
No.21 seed Sam Stosur is back into the semifinals of the French Open for the first time since 2012 with her win against surprise quarterfinalist Tsvetana Pironkova.
Who is the most famous athlete in the world? Ben Alamar, ESPN’s director of sports analytics, devised a formula that combines salary, prize money and endorsements with social media following and Google search popularity to create the ESPN World Fame 100 rankings.
The WTA’s brightest stars dominated the list: of the 8 women highlighted by ESPN, half are WTA players. Maria Sharapova (No.18), Serena Williams (No.25), Sania Mirza (No.41) and Venus Williams (No.74) were named as the most famous female athletes.
At No.18 on the list, Sharapova is the most famous female athlete in the world and her combined 17.6 million fans on social media can agree. From winning her first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon at the age of 17 to debuting her confectionary lines, the Russian’s broad popularity has cemented her position at the top.
Two “Serena Slams” 13 years apart speak to the longevity of Serena’s career, during which she’s amassed 70 titles and claims a combined 10.4 million social fans. Her off court activities – including a couple of viral cameos – keep her firmly in the pop culture spotlight as well. At No.25 she is the third most famous female athlete on the list.
A pair of trailblazers round out the ESPN World Fame 100 list: Sania Mirza and Venus Williams. Mirza galvanized an entire subcontinent when she became the first Indian woman to win a Grand Slam last year at Wimbledon, and the world’s No.1 doubles player continues to break barriers for women. Similarly, Venus made history when she became the first African-American player ever – male or female – to hold the No.1 ranking in tennis. Her 49 career titles are only eclipsed by her continuing contributions to equality in the game, and as a result she remains one of the most famous athletes in the world.
Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina weathered a rain-delayed match to continue on a collision course toward local favorites Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic.
Samantha Stosur takes on Simona Halep in the fourth round of Roland Garros.
BOL, Croatia – No.5 seed Ana Konjuh eased past Grace Min, 6-1, 6-3, in her Bol Open 125K opener. Despite rain dampening much of the afternoon action, the Croatian favorite notched her first WTA win in her home country to book a Round of 16 clash against Turkey’s Ipek Soylu.
Watch free live streaming from Bol, Croatia all week right here on wtatennis.com!
Also through is another Croat, wildcard Tereza Mrdeza, who took on fellow countrywoman Ani Mijacika. A lucky loser, Mijacika came up short once again in the first round and bowed out 6-3, 6-4.
Joining Konjuh and Mrdeza in the second round are a pair of seeded players, No.4 Nao Hibino and No.7 Polona Hercog. Hercog had to come back from a mid-match wobble to advance Petra Martic, who was looking to make it three Croatians through today. The Slovak defeated her 6-2, 4-6, 6-1. Hibino had little trouble against French qualifier Marine Partaud, making her way to the Round of 16, 6-2, 6-1.
But it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the seeds in Bol. No.1 seed Anna Karolina Schmiedlova bowed out to Kristina Kucova in the day’s biggest upset, while No.3 Shuai Zheng suffered a 6-4, 7-6(4) defeat at the hands of Ysaline Bonaventure.
Tsvetana Pironkova takes on Agnieszka Radwanska in the fourth round of Roland Garros.
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…
Garbiñe Muguruza takes on Svetlana Kuznetsova in the fourth round of Roland Garros.
Timea Bacsinszky continued her serene progress through the Roland Garros draw with a straight set victory over former finalist Venus Williams.
Twenty-seven years on from her major breakthrough, the Barcelona Bumblebee Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario has not lost her love of the game, signing up as the latest ambassador for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
However, for many the Spaniard will forever be the effervescent 17-year-old who snatched victory from the jaws of defeat against the then-queen bee Steffi Graf in the 1989 French Open final.
This was one of many enduring memories to have occurred at a tournament that has become synonymous for first thrusting iconic names into the public eye. And as Roland Garros 2016 enters the home stretch, CNN Open Court asked some of the famous old venues’ most fêted competitors to share their memories.