Category: WTA Tour (WTA)

Alize Cornet of France ousted top-seeded Maria Sakkari of Greece 6-1, 6-4 on Wednesday to advance to the quarterfinals of the Rothesay Open in Nottingham, England.

It was the 25th career win against a top-10 opponent for Cornet, who converted four of a whopping 13 break chances in the 88-minute match.

Two other seeded players were shown the door in straight sets, as Switzerland’s Viktorija Golubic defeated No. 4 Donna Vekic of Croatia 6-4, 6-1 and Poland’s Magdalena Frech eliminated No. 8 Lin Zhu of China 6-2, 6-4. Britain’s Heather Watson was a 6-4, 6-4 winner against Germany’s Tatjana Maria.

Libema Open

Unseeded American teenager Ashlyn Krueger stunned No. 3 seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 6-3, 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.

Krueger, 19, saved four of five break points during her 73-minute upset of the two-time Grand Slam winner.

No. 1 seed Veronika Kudermetova advanced with a 6-1, 6-3 win against Canada’s Carol Zhao. Younger sister Polina Kudermetova was not as fortunate, falling 6-4, 6-1 to No. 2 seed and fellow Russian Liudmila Samsonova.

No. 7 seed Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus outlasted Belgium’s Greet Minnen 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

–Field Level Media

Celine Naef, a 17-year-old from Switzerland, won her WTA main draw debut on Tuesday at the Libema Open at ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, and had to come from behind against a legend to do it.

Nervous at the outset of her biggest outing ever, Naef was down a set and a break against seven-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams, but she turned the match around to win 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2 in two hours, 18 minutes. Both Naef and the 42-year-old Williams were wild-card entrants at the grass-court tournament.

With her younger sister Serena in the crowd, Venus Williams took a 3-2 lead in the second set. But Naef fought back to send the match to a tiebreak, with Williams making three unforced errors. Naef took control early in the deciding set, helped by 16 unforced errors by Williams in the final frame — 41 in all during the match.

Next up for Naef in the second round is another American, No. 8 seed Caty McNally, who defeated Katie Volynets 6-2, 6-1 in 65 minutes.

Other winners in the first round included No. 4 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, who topped fellow Russian Evgeniya Rodina 6-3, 6-4; No.6 seed Bianca Andreescu of Canada, who beat Turkish qualifier Zeynep Sonmez 6-4, 6-4; and No. 7 seed Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus, who eliminated Italy’s Lucrezia Stefanini 6-0, 6-3.

Rothesay Open

Daria Snigur of Ukraine upset No. 2 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil 6-4, 6-3 in first-round play at Nottingham, Great Britain.

After reaching the semifinals of the French Open last week, the Brazilian reached the top 10 in world rankings for the first time this week at No. 10. Yet, it was the No. 157 Snigur who came out on top, helped by five service breaks that prevented Maia for winning more than one game in a row.

No. 3 seed Magda Linette of Poland advanced with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Olivia Gadecki, Australia, and No. 5 seed Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine eliminated Spain’s Nuria Parrizas Diaz 7-5, 6-3.

Other winners included Brits Harriet Dart, Katie Boulter and Jodie Anna Burrage. Viktorija Golubic defeated Jil Teichmann 6-4, 6-3 in an all-Swiss clash.

–Field Level Media

Second-seeded Liudmila Samsonova needed more than 3 1/2 hours but finally got past Lena Papadakis 7-5, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (3) to advance to the second round of the Libema Open at ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, on Monday.

Samsonova blasted 11 aces but also suffered through 10 double faults to get past the 348th-ranked German in three hours and 40 minutes. The Russian saved 12 of 14 break points.

Top-seeded Veronika Kudermetova of Russia advanced when Alison Riske-Amritraj retired in the second set, trailing 6-3, 3-0. No. 3 seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus posted a 7-6 (5), 6-3 win over Natalija Stevanovic of Serbia.

Unseeded players Emina Bektas, Carol Zhao of Canada and Greet Minnen of Belgium also advanced.

Rothesay Open

Top seed Maria Sakkari of Greece defeated China’s Xiyu Wang 6-2, 7-6 (6) in the first round on the grass at Nottingham, Great Britain.

No. 4 seed Donna Vekic of Croatia outlasted Spain’s Cristina Bucsa 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 to advance. Eighth-seeded Lin Zhu of China ousted Alycia Parks 7-6 (5), 6-2.

Sixth-seeded Shuai Zhang of China fell to Germany’s Tatjana Maria in quick fashion, 6-1, 6-4 in 67 minutes. Seventh-seeded Camila Giorgi of Italy was leading Madison Brengle 5-1 in the opening set when their match was suspended by rain.

–Field Level Media

Top-seeded Iga Swiatek successfully defended her French Open title and won her third championship in Paris by posting a 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 victory over unseeded Karolina Muchova on Saturday.

Swiatek captured her fourth career Grand Slam championship in impressive fashion and became the youngest woman since Monica Seles from 1990-92 to claim consecutive titles at Roland Garros. The 22-year-old from Poland improved to 4-0 in major finals, joining Seles and Naomi Osaka as the lone women in the Open Era to win each of their first four Grand Slam title matches.

Swiatek was so charged during her post-match celebration that she inadvertently knocked the lid off the trophy. Undaunted, she was able to put the lid back on and sealed the trophy with a kiss.

Despite the win, Swiatek told her supporters that she knows that she’s been tough to take on her journey to glory.

“Sorry for being such a pain in the …,” Swiatek said. “I’ll try to do better. I know that we won this tournament, but it’s not easy. Being on tour for a couple for weeks without breaks, it’s tough. I’m really happy that we can feel satisfied right now and celebrate.”

Swiatek appeared to be on her way to a convincing victory after winning nine of the first 11 games of the match. Muchova, however, won the next three matches to level the match and closed out the second set with a service winner.

Muchova claimed a quick 2-0 lead in the final set and pushed it to 4-3 before Swiatek countered with a late surge, capped by a double fault from her opponent to end the match in 2 hours, 46 minutes.

“In the third, it was all about belief. It was getting rid of all these thoughts about the score and doing my best,” Swiatek told NBC Sports after the match.

Swiatek also avenged her lone career meeting against Muchova, a three-set setback in Prague in 2019.

Muchova, who is ranked No. 43 in the world, was denied in her bid to become the fourth unseeded woman to win the French Open. The 26-year-old from the Czech Republic, in fact, was hoping to join Swiatek in that group.

“This is so close but so far, but that’s what happens when you play one of the best in Iga,” an emotional Muchova said.

–Field Level Media