Serena Williams needed treatment on her right foot while playing doubles Wednesday with sister Venus at the French Open, but the defending singles champion at Roland Garros didn’t seem to be in pain or hampered in her movement.
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She started confidently, winning the first four games, only for her 81st-ranked opponent to pull one break of serve back.
Pereira then took a 30-0 lead in the first game of the second set but let it slip against the 34-year-old American, who never looked back thereafter to record a score of 6-1 and an easy match win.
“It was a little short for me, but I think in my career, if I don’t have it by now, I need to look into something different”.
Kerber has now lost her last three matches and stated after her early exit: “I was trying it. It was not my day”.
“She expected me to put a lot of variation in my game, so I had to find another game plan in order to get the upper hand”, Bacsinszky said of Bouchard.
Also, 28th-seeded Andrea Petkovic was eliminated, losing to Yulia Putintseva 6-2, 6-2.
At 37, the lanky Croatian player proved it again to drag himself out of a tough battle with Jordan Thompson and become the oldest male player to reach the third round at a Grand Slam since Jimmy Connors at the 1991 U.S. Open. “And when I managed to change my game plan, my tactics, my game intentions, things went differently”.
Third seed Kerber was troubled by a shoulder injury while later fifth seed Victoria Azarenka, the former world number one, hobbled out with a knee injury against Italy’s Karin Knapp when she trailed 4-0 in the deciding set.
“She had the youth, I had the experience”, Williams said after beating Chirico.
Reigning champion and top seed Williams completed the Chatrier program by polishing off Slovakia’s Magdalena Rybarikova 6-2 6-0. Which all might be interpretedas great timing and precision preparation: She had not over-played, was running into form on the red stuff, and ready to go for title No4 in the city she calls her second home, Paris.
TULSA, Okla. – Henrik Wiersholm rallied from a 5-2 deficit in the second set for a 6-2, 7-6 victory over Andre Biro, clinching a 4-1 victory for Virginia over Oklahoma in the NCAA men’s tennis final Tuesday night.
Osaka also reached the third round in her first Grand Slam tournament, this year’s Australian Open.
Rafael Nadal of Spain returns the ball to Sam Groth of Australia at the French Open May 24, 2016. RE …
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Kvitova says “I’m feeling good”.
