Women's Tennis Blog

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  • Serena Williams advances, Wozniacki falls to Cirstea at French Open

    Caroline Wozniacki at Roland Garros 2009Second seed Serena Williams avoided the fate of her sister Venus, and recovered from being a set down to beat Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain 4-6 6-3 6-4 and move into the fourth round of the French Open.

    The match was accompanied by one incident in the first set, because of which Williams called her opponent a cheat. Martinez Sanchez broke to lead 3-2, although the crucial point-winning shot appeared to rebound off her arm.

    “The ball did touch her 100 percent on her arm. The rules of tennis are when the ball hits your body, then it’s out of play […] She should have lost the point instead of cheating,” said the ten-time Grand Slam champion Williams.

    However, Martinez Sanchez insisted she was innocent.

    “I put the racquet up. The ball was in and it was a point for me. It didn’t hit me or my body. To say I’m a ‘cheat’ is stupid. I’m not going to comment on it.”

    Tenth seed Caroline Wozniacki lost to world No.41 Sorana Cirstea of Romania 7-6(3) 7-5. Wozniacki, who has recently become the first Danish WTA player to crack the Top 10, needed a medical time-out for a back problem when just two points from defeat.

    Other notable third-round results of the day: Samantha Stosur upset Elena Dementieva, Svetlana Kuznetsova dispatched Melinda Czink 6-1 6-3, Jelena Jankovic stormed into the fourth round with a 6-1 6-1 crushing of Jarmila Groth, Victoria Azarenka defeated Carla Suarez Navarro 5-7 7-5 6-2, and Agnieszka Radwanska beat Kateryna Bondarenko 6-2 6-4. (source: AFP, photo: Stephane Martinache)

  • Samantha Stosur upsets Elena Dementieva in third round of Roland Garros

    Australian seed No.30 Samantha Stosur upset Russian fourth seed Elena Dementieva 6-3 4-6 6-1 in the third round of the 2009 French Open.

    The victory over the 2008 quarterfinalist and 2004 finalist gave Stosur her best ever result at Roland Garros. She reached the third round only once, in 2007, and now she’s in the fourth round for the first time.

    Dementieva, the Olympic gold medalist, “didn’t deserve to win” her second-round match, as she stated. She was down a set against Jelena Dokic, but the Australian retired in tears with an agonizing back injury, which I learned is believed not to be serious.

    Stosur will play France’s Virginie Razzano in the fourth round. Razzano advanced with a 7-5 7-5 victory over Tathiana Garbin.

  • Maria Sharapova continues her resurrection, reaches French Open fourth round

    Maria Sharapova at the 2009 French OpenFighter Maria Sharapova played only one tournament since her comeback from a career-threatening shoulder injury and she managed to overcome a miserable start to beat Kazakh world No.98 Yaroslava Shvedova 1-6 6-3 6-4 in the third round of the French Open.

    The 102nd-ranked former world No.1 displayed the champion inside her, just like in the previous round when she battled past 11th seed Nadia Petrova, and came back from behind to advance to the fourth round.

    Sharapova is enjoying her role of an underdog at the French Open, as now the crowd is loving her. In 2007 and 2008 she was booed off after being knocked out.

    “You’re ranked outside the Top 100, so people like you,” said the Russian. “When you’re number one in the world, for some reason they don’t like you anymore. It’s amazing how the society works.”

    Sharapova will next face China’s Li Na, seeded 25th. (source: Sky Sports, photo: Stephane Martinache)

  • Sania Mirza engaged to Indian business scholar Sohrab Mirza

    Sania Mirza

    Indian tennis star Sania Mirza has become engaged to 23-year-old Sohrab Mirza, a business scholar from her hometown of Hyderabad.

    The 22-year-old Sania, now ranked only 95th in the world, is not planning to stop playing competitive tennis, just as her fiancé wants to pursue higher studies. Their marriage will therefore not take place in the near future.

    Sania is a youth icon in her country after she became the first Indian to win a WTA title and break into the world’s Top 50 in 2005. (source: Reuters, photo: Ralf Reinecke)

  • Agnes Szavay stuns Venus Williams in the third round of Roland Garros

    Agnes SzavayThird seed Venus Williams saved a match point against Lucie Safarova in the second round, but today the American succumbed to Agnes Szavay’s first match point to lose in the third round of Roland Garros third time in a row.

    Szavay, who was winless in the first two months of the season, upset the world No.3 Williams with an impressive score of 6-0 6-4. A bagel! Wow! We can now officially say that Szavay, once a rapidly rising tennis star, is back where she should be.

    Szavay, the 29th seed, scored her seventh Top 10 win defeating a player she lost to in three sets in the quarterfinals of Acapulco in February.

    The Hungarian’s next opponent will be 20th seed Dominika Cibulkova, who defeated Gisela Dulko 6-4 6-2 in the third round.

    As we’ve already posted, holder Ana Ivanovic went safely through to the fourth round, while 16-year-old Portuguese wunderkind Michelle Larcher de Brito didn’t manage to scream her way into the fourth round and fell to Aravane Rezai 7-6 (3) 6-2 after an interesting match. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

  • Ana Ivanovic cruises into fourth round at French Open

    Ana Ivanovic at Roland Garros

    Defending champion Ana Ivanovic beat seed No.32 Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic 6-0 6-2 to advance to the fourth round of the French Open.

    The eighth-seeded Serb was taken to a tiebreaker in the first set she played at this year’s Roland Garros, but since then she has lost only eight games.

    Ivanovic will play either ninth seed Victoria Azarenka or 22nd-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro in the fourth round. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

  • Roland Garros names an alley after Justine Henin

    Four-time Roland Garros champion Justine Henin, who quit tennis last year while still on top of the rankings, was in Paris on Thursday to attend a ceremony where she was honored with an alley at the claycourt Grand Slam being named after her.

    The Belgian is standing by her decision to stay away from competitive tennis, even though she knows very well how hard it is to switch to a totally different way of life.

    I think that this step, to move on, is very hard. I can tell you even if I have a lot of character, it hasn’t been that easy for myself either, to, you know, stop tennis and be back in like a normal life. I think not everyone can make this step, and maybe, you know, want to be back because they don’t know what to do. You have to discover who you are and to build another life. It’s like it’s a new birth, you know.

  • Serena Williams into Roland Garros third round, Jelena Dokic leaves injured in tears

    Serena Williams at Roland Garros 2009Second seed Serena Williams beat 133rd-ranked Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain 6-2 6-0 to move into the third round of Roland Garros. Jelena Dokic, whose comeback I enjoy following, had to retire against fourth seed Elena Dementieva because of a back injury.

    Williams had a much easier time in the second round than in her first-round match when she needed nine match points to get through a three-setter. Interestingly, the American believes her game is much better now than when she won four consecutive Grand Slam titles in 2002-03.

    The ‘Serena Now’ would definitely beat the ‘Other Serena,’ just in general. I’m older. I think I’m wiser. I think I’m just a more mature player. Back then, it was more nitty-gritty. And now it’s more composed and planned-out playing.

    Jelena Dokic at Roland Garros 2009Jelena Dokic progressed to the second round, and it’s very disappointing that she was forced to retire while leading by a set against Dementieva. Dokic left the court in floods of tears, after quitting with the score at 6-2 3-4 against. She appeared to pull something in her lower back at 2-2 in the second set.

    Dementieva was full of sympathy for her distressed opponent and even said: “I didn’t deserve to win this match.” (sources: FOX Sports, Reuters; photos: Stephane Martinache)

  • Venus Williams saves match point against Lucie Safarova to advance at Roland Garros

    Venus WilliamsThird seed Venus Williams saved one match point in the deciding set and soon after converted her first to defeat 46th-ranked Lucie Safarova 6-7(5) 6-2 7-5 in the second round of the 2009 French Open.

    The match between Williams and Safarova began yesterday, but after the world No.3 Williams lost a first-set tiebreaker the chair umpire called it a night.

    The match point Williams faced was while trailing 5-4 in the final set, but the seven-time Grand Slam champion managed to hold serve, break the Czech and hold again for the win.

    Williams was runner-up at Roland Garros in 2002, but since then she hasn’t gone further than the quarterfinals. Moreover, the American exited in the third round in three of the last four years.

    Williams will next play Agnes Szavay, who moved into the third round on Wednesday, beating Elena Vesnina 6-2 6-0. Notice, Szavay is winning again.

    No.13 seed Marion Bartoli was upset today by Tathiana Garbin 6-3 7-5. Jelena Jankovic, Caroline Wozniacki and Svetlana Kuznetsova all advanced to the third round in straight sets. Serena Williams and Elena Dementieva will play their matches later today. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

  • Li Na: the only Asian left at Roland Garros

    China’s Li Na, seeded 25th, is the only representative of Asia still alive in the singles draw of Roland Garros 2009 after the fourth day of play.

    Li defeated Swiss Timea Bacsinszky 6-1 6-4 to advance to the third round, while compatriot Zheng Jie, seeded 15th, was upset by Grand Slam debutant Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal 6-4 6-3 in the second round. China’s No.31 seed Peng Shuai lost in the first round to Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.

    Japan’s Ai Sugiyama, who extended her record for consecutive appearances in Grand Slam main draws to 60, and her compatriot Ayumi Morita both lost in the first round, along with India’s Sania Mirza.

    Defending champion Ana Ivanovic made a much more convincing score than in her first-round match and beat Thai Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-1 6-2.

    Li is now the only Asian women’s tennis player left out of the seven who entered the tournament.