The French Open
Roland Garros Women’s Day 5
Aryna Sabalenka mowed down Japanese qualifier Moyuka Uchijima 6-3, 6-2 in barely an hour to reach the French Open third round as rain again interrupted play.
The second seed and double Australian Open winner was unaffected, though, with her match safely staged under the roof of the Chatrier showcourt.
But a third straight day of rain drove other matches off court more than once during the afternoon as officials played catch-up with the badly disrupted schedule..
Sabalenka broke four times and advanced with 27 winners and 18 unforced errors, saving a pair of break points as she schooled her 83rd-ranked opponent.
Uchijima has been on a tear at entry-level non-Tour events this spring, winning 20 matches until running into Sabalenka. ,
The seed said that being guaranteed a match on a covered court is a major perk.
“That’s the little advantage we get as top players because we play on the big stadiums with the roof; I knew that no matter the weather. I’m going to play my match.
“It helps to manage the energy because it’s really tough when the weather is like that and you play on the outside courts.
“It just feels like you’re wasting your energy during the day going on and off the court.”
Sabalenka – into the Paris third round for a fifth consecutive edition – will next face good friend and former WTA No.2 Paula Badosa, who has been trying to resurrect her career amid a months-long battle with back pain.
The Spaniard defeated Yulia Putintseva 4-6, 6-1, 7-5, winning a match in which she stood two points from defeat.
But Putintseva let her off the hook with a pair of double faults and a forehand error to lose the 11th game of the final set. Badosa then served out the win to love.
“Sharing the court with (Aryna) after all the results she’s doing is a pleasure for me, because this past year hasn’t been easy,” Badosa said.
“Playing these kinds of matches, it makes it all worth it,” added the Spaniard who stands 2-4 against her friend.
Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina had to work her way out of second-set trouble on the way to a 6-3, 6-4 defeat of Arantza Rus.
The Kazakh fourth seed fought back from 4-2 down in the second set after winning the first to move on in the draw after her 67-minutes victory in which she swept the final four games.
“I had to push myself today, there were a lot of ups and downs,” she said.
“In a lot of games I trailed 0-40 and that’s not so usual for me.
“No one wants to play three sets, so when I was down I was trying to focus point-by-point.
“Energy-wise today I was not so happy with myself.”
There was also a win under the roof for 15th seed Elina Svitolina, who held off a late charge from Frenchwoman Diane Parry 6-4, 7-6 (3).
The Ukrainian held a comfortable 4-1 lead which the local erased, breaking Svitolina as she served for the win.
Instead, the seed with four quarter-finals here had to close out victory with a tiebreaker after nearly two hours.
“It was not easy to play against a French player and a French crowd,” Svitolina said. “I was happy that I could finish the match in two sets.
“More people began to arrive and I felt I had to really step up my game.”
Anastasia Potapova eliminated the last Swiss in the field with her 6-2, 6-2 thrashing of Viktorija Golubic while Croat Donna Vekic defeated 18th seed Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 7-5, 6-4.
Main photo:- Aryna Sabalenka winning second round match – by WTATennis.com
Alexander Zverev on Thursday made a long-sought after return to the Shanghai Masters semi-finals, booking his first final four at the event since 2019, defeating Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-4.
The 2027 year-end No. 1 last got this far as the Covid pandemic began to surface in China in 2019. The event was not played 2020-2022, with the German making modest progress here over the past three editions since resumption.
After winning his 62nd match of the season, the 29-year-old was pleased with his performance.
“I think it was a huge step up. From just being on the court I felt both of us were playing really well.
“I was, a lot of the time, outhitting Alex, which is difficult to do from the baseline because he is so fast and he loves this kind of court speed here.
“I felt good and I’m happy with the step up from the past couple of matches.”
Zverev advanced in 78 minutes, sending over 10 aces as he defeated the Australian for the ninth time in their 13 matches.
Added the reigning Roland Garros and Flushing Meadows Grand Slam champion: “I’ve been handling pressure quite okay this year. In a way you play a bit more relaxed.
“Once Jannik (SInner) unfortunately announced he won’t play for the rest of the year, I’m 4,000 points ahead of everyone else, so I trust myself enough that I’m going to win [enough matches].
Zverev will play for the final to wrap up the Asian swing as he takes on Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who advanced when Arthur Gea quit their quarter-final with injury.
Alexander Zverev will claim world year-end No. 1 honours for the first time on the back of two Grand Slam titles and a final this season.,
The ATP confirmed the changing of the guard as current No. 1 Jannik Sinner ended his season early last week due to a knee injury which has kept him off court since winning Wimbledon three months ago.
Zverev won Roland Garros and US Open trophies and lost to Sinner in the All England Club final.
His reign at the top will begin after the ATP Final in Turin with the ranking period starting on November 23.
Zverev will be 29 years, 217 days old on the date, three days older than Andre Agassi in 1999 (29 years, 214 days).
Main photo:- Alexander Zverev by ISF Ltd
Zheng Qinwen continued an injury comeback season on Sunday, defeating Roland Garros winner Mirra Andreeva 7-5, 6-4 to win the China Open.
Victory at the 1000-level event was the first trophy for the 54th-raked Chinese player who once reached fourth in the world before elbow surgery.
Zheng saved three set points in the opening set and claimed victory by winning the last 11 points of the set, breaking late in the second to conclude her success over her teenaged opponent.
The winner now owns six career trophies after winning her first 1000; she last claimed a title in Tokyo two years ago.
In an odd twist, the new winner was cajoled into singing a few bars of karaoke during the trophy ceremony.
She will now move back into the ranking top 25 while Andreeva advances to third in the world behind Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka after defeating her third top 10 opponent this season.
“The feeling was incredible, two weeks here in Beijing, in front of my home crowd is one of my dreams, especially playing against Mirra, such a great player,” the winner said.
“I’ve been through a very, very tough year.”
Andreeva broke new ground in her own career by reaching the final, becoming the third-youngest this century to reach the top 3 behind Maria Sharapova and Kim Clijsters.
“She’s a great server. I also think today I missed a lot of returns trying to go for it, trying to be more aggressive,” Andreeva said,
“I wanted to go for it but couldn’t really find I guess the margin, couldn’t really find the rhythm, as well. I will probably need to look at this match and just see why, try to improve and learn from that.
“Overall of course it was a good tournament,” she added. “A lot of positives to take from these two weeks. Of course, I felt like today just wasn’t meant to be.
“I think I will be able to look to this match maybe from a different perspective and see maybe some good things.”
Main photo:- Zheng Quinwen by ISF Ltd
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