Tennis News

PARIS, France – Defending champion Serena Williams outlasted an inspired Kristina Mladenovic and weathered a two and a half hour rain delay to advance to the second week of Roland Garros, 6-4, 7-6(10).

After breezing through her first two matches here in less than one hour each, Williams faced her first big test of the tournament against French No.1 Mladenovic, who relishes playing on big stages in her country. In fact, of Mladenovic’s five career Top 10 wins, four have come here in Paris with two of those taking place right here in Roland Garros.

Mladenovic seemed comfortable as ever on Philippe Chatrier, the biggest stage of all, though ahead of the match she admitted to feeling the mixed emotions many players experience when playing against the World No.1.

“I have to take it very positively,” she said in her press conference. “This is an experience, something to do, it’s a dream. I grew up watching Serena play. Then I’m going to play against her.

“I’m extremely happy because this is a challenge. Well, this being said, it’s going to be very difficult.”

Mladenovic and Williams kept pace during a tense first set, which saw Williams brush away all four of Mladenovic’s break point chances while letting slip away two of her own. Mladenovic’s sneaky drop shots caught Williams wrong-footed on more than one occasion, and made for some spectacular rallies during the course of the contest.

(Very Very) Hot Shot de Kristina Mladenovic contre Serena Williams ! ??? #RG16 https://t.co/r8ZLJJ1IFd

— Roland Garros (@rolandgarros) May 28, 2016

But Williams turned up the heat when it counted. A drawn out battle at 4-4 saw Mladenovic bring up three break points, but the American blasted back to back aces to deny her. A lone break in the final game gave Williams the first set after almost an hour.

In the second set, Williams continued to keep the pressure on the Frenchwoman’s serve: Williams made her have to come back from 0-40 down to hold serve at 2-2, and then again in her next service game.

A Mladenovic ace sent the match into a tiebreak right as the rain, which had been threatening all match long, finally broke into a downpour.

Two and a half hours of rain delay later, the players were back on the court for the decisive battle. Mladenovic quickly built up a 3-0 lead, but it was short-lived as Williams broke back and rattled off four straight points to bring up her first of five match points.

Mladenovic rallied valiantly, saving match point after match point – including one with a gutsy drop shot, her go-to weapon in this match – but the World No.1 wouldn’t be denied a fifth time, and Williams took the match after a two-hour and thirteen minute thriller.

“I just made it a point to play my game,” Williams said of the tiebreak. “Up until that point I had not been playing my game. I was playing really defensive. It’s not me.

“So I just wanted to be Serena out there.”

Huge celebration from @serenawilliams. How much do you think that win meant to her? #RG16 #InsideRG pic.twitter.com/cIl9hKxiLm

— Roland Garros (@rolandgarros) May 28, 2016

The stats reveal just how evenly matched Mladenovic and Williams were throughout the match: both players hit three aces and struck 27 winners, though Williams hit 31 unforced errors to Mladenovic’s 35. The difference makers proved to be Mladenovic’s vulnerable serve – she hit seven double faults in total – and Williams’ dominance at the net, winning 15 of 25 net points.

“I think she played well,” Williams said afterwards. “I feel like I made a tremendous amount of errors. But, you know, I feel like she kind of forced me to. She forced me to go for it.”

With the win, Williams brings up a fourth round match against Elina Svitolina, who earlier in the day defeated former champion Ana Ivanovic.

DUBAI, UAE – Caroline Wozniacki has won six of her last seven matches in the Middle East, dispatching Swiss youngster Viktorija Golubic, 6-4, 6-2, to reach the third round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

Fresh off her Monday night win over Daria Kasatkina, Wozniacki began even more emphatically against the reigning Gstaad champion, racing out to a 5-2 lead to start the match. Though the Dane was broken serving for the opening set, she broke to love to reclaim the momentum.

The final stages of the match proved the most dramatic, as Golubic saved four match points on her own serve before the 2011 champion converted on her fifth and book her spot in the round of 16 after nearly two hours.

Up next for the the former No.1 is either No.9 seed Barbora Strycova or resurgent Chinese veteran Peng Shuai.

Earlier in the day, Croatian teenager Ana Konjuh scored another big win in her young career, ousting No.12 seed and former US Open champion Samantha Stosur, 6-4, 6-3, breaking the Aussie’s serve four times in the 83 minute match.

No.8 seed Elena Vesnina earned a decisive win over Japan’s Misaki Doi, 6-2, 7-5, and will play Konjuh for a spot in the quarterfinals.

Olympic Gold medalist Monica Puig continued her winning ways in the Middle East, upsetting No.15 seed Caroline Garcia, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2, to book a potential Rio rematch against top seed Angelique Kerber, who plays later today.

It was a great day for the Americans, as Lauren Davis, Christina McHale, and Catherine Bellis all won on Tuesday, defeating Kristyna Pliskova, Naomi Osaka, and Laura Siegemund, respectively. 

DUBAI, UAE – Last week, historic rainfall wreaked havoc on the Qatar Total Open schedule, where former No.1 Caroline Wozniacki reached the final.

Now it’s looking like the bad weather has followed her across the Gulf all the way to Dubai, where it delayed the start of her quarterfinal against CiCi Bellis.

Wozniacki, whose nickname is “Sunshine,” has figured out the culprit behind all of Dubai’s weather woes:

“At this point, I was just, it’s me. I’m bringing the rain,” she laughed in her post-match press conference.

“You know, even in Doha and in Dubai, I come and it’s raining. I step on the court and it’s raining. I was, like, this is deja vu from Doha last week!”

But Wozniacki probably doesn’t mind the rain too much. After all, it’s bringing out some of her best tennis.

“I have a winning record with this rain. Just bring it on. I’m ready for it.”

Waiting for the rain to stop… ?☔️ pic.twitter.com/t04KiqURvx

— WTA (@WTA) February 23, 2017