Tennis News

Following a strong start to her 2015 campaign at the French Open, Caroline Wozniacki will move on to the second round at Roland Garros, where she will come up against Germany’s Julia Goerges. This marks the eighth time that these two competitors will cross paths on the tour and the second time this season. Wozniacki leads the competitive head-to-head series 4-3, including wins in their two most recent matches on the tour.

Wozniacki was another one of the players who was handed a tough opening match on the tour, yet she still managed to pass the opening test with flying colours. Faced with the task of beating Karin Knapp, who had won the Nurenberg title last week, Wozniacki managed to close out the match in straight sets. Knapp played great for the first four games but was clearly tired from her title win and struck 50 unforced errors to hand the match over to the Dane.

“Four games in or five games in we played like 40-something minutes. It’s ridiculous,” Wozniacki said. “It was really close from the beginning, a lot of deuces and advantages. She’s playing really well. She won last week. So it was a tough first round, but nothing unusual from my other draws this year. I was ready and kind of excited – I knew the longer we played the better for me, so I didn’t mind at all.”

Up next for Wozniacki is Julia Gorges, who defeated CoCo Vandeweghe in three sets 6-2, 5-7, 6-1.

“I have had a lot of tough matches against her in the past,” Wozniacki said of the German. “It’s never easy playing against her. I’m just going to be ready and competitive. It’s not going to be that much different from today’s match – big serve, big forehand. So yeah, I’m just excited for it.”

This marks the eighth time that these two competitors will cross paths on the tour and the second time this season. Woznaicki leads the competitive head-to-head series 4-3, including wins in their two most recent matches on the tour.
 

Following solid starts in their respective campaigns at the French Open, former two time Grand Slam winner Victoria Azarenka will meet Lucie Hradecka in the second round of the prestigious tournament to determine who will get one step closer to the second week in Paris. This marks the third time that these two competitors will cross paths on the professional tour, with Azarenka leading the head-to-head series 2-0.

Having missed the French Open last year, Azarenka kicked off her quest in Paris with a straight sets win against Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor. She struck 27 winners and 10 unforced errors to close out the match 6-2, 6-1.

“It’s never easy to play the first round of a Grand Slam, no matter what your ranking is or your position, but it’s important to start the tournament well,” Azarenka said after the match. “I had an opponent who I didn’t know about and never played against her. For me it was important to just really try to get into the rhythm, get into the tournament, and really try to stay focused throughout the whole match.”

In the second round, Azarenka will come up against Lucie Hradecka, who had an even simpler opening match in Paris against Zheng Saisai. She defeated her in straight sets 6-3, 6-0 to secure her spot on Thursday. She struck four aces, hit 24 winers and converted four of six breaks of serve to secure the victory in less than an hour of court time.

This marks the third time that these two competitors will cross paths on the professional tour, with Azarenka leading the head-to-head series 2-0. Their most recent meeting on the tour took place several weeks ago at the Rome Masters, where the Belarusian was forced to play three sets in order to advance to the following stage of the tournament.
 

Following an opening round scare on Tuesday afternoon in Paris, Petra Kvitova is through to the second round of the tournament relatively unscathed, where she will next come up against Silvia Soler-Espinosa. This marks the first time that these two competitors will cross paths on the professional tour and will step out on court for their match on Thursday afternoon.

Against Marina Erakovic in her opening round match, Petra Kvitova was forced to contest three sets and was certainly struggling to get across the finish line in the final set before she secured the pivotal break. After nearly two-and-a-half hours on court, Kvitova managed to secure the win against Erakovic 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

“I think she didn’t miss so much, and there were a lot of good rallies. It was really difficult,” Kvitova said. “She’s a really smart player with a good touch, so I knew it was going to be difficult.

“I played her last time here, as well, and it was two sets. But, anyway, every match is different. I’m just glad that I won.”

“I have to say the conditions weren’t really easy for me. I think it was quite cold and the balls are really heavy, and they didn’t really fly,” she added. “For me it was really difficult to go for the shots. It was tough to make any winners or ace from the serve or something like that.”

Kvitova will come up against Silvia Soler-Espinosa, who only needed straight sets to defeat Pauline Parmentier 6-4, 6-3. It was a straightforward performance and sets up an intriguing second round contest.

This marks the first time that these two competitors will cross paths on the professional tour. While Kvitova had a difficult start to her 2015 campaign at the French Open, she should have less trouble in the second round.

Following a 10-0 start to his clay court season in 2015, Andy Murray maintained that undefeated run when he commenced his week in Paris with a straight sets victory to advance to the following round of the tournament. As one of the tournament favourites, Murray will advance to the second round, where he will next face Portugal’s Joao Sousa. This marks the fifth time that Murray and Sousa will cross paths on the professional circuit, and the Briton leads the head-to-head series 5-0.

Seeded third at this year’s tournament, Andy Murray reached the second round of the tournament following a straight sets win against Facundo Arguello. His 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 scoreline extended his win streak to 11 consecutive matches this season on that surface.

“The first set, I didn’t feel like it was great; I felt like it was difficult,” said Murray. “The start was very windy on the court and cold, so it was quite slow conditions. I found it difficult at the beginning. Then I felt, when the wind died down a bit in the second and third set, I felt that the level of tennis was better.”

Opposite Murray in the second round of the tournament will be Joao Sousa, who reached that stage of the tournament with a straight sets win against Canada’s Vasek Pospisil, who took part in the tournament on the heels of an ankle injury several weeks ago. He struck eight aces, 32 winners and converted seven break points to close out the match 6-3, 7-6, 6-1.

This marks the sixth time that Murray and Sousa will meet on the professional tour. Murray leads the head-to-head series 5-0, which include two recent wins in 2015, at the Australian Open and Dubai. All of those wins took place on hard courts, which adds some intrigue into their first clay court match on Thursday afternoon.