Wimbledon: Na Li suffers another early round defeat - UBITENNIS
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Wimbledon: Na Li suffers another early round defeat

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TENNIS WIMBLEDON 2014 – World’s number 2, Na Li has made another early round exit from a major for the second time in a row. She loses third round to Czech Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova 7-65 7-65. Cordell Hackshaw

Results, Order of Play, Draws and Interviews from The Championships

Na Li (2) went out early again in her second major in a row. Several weeks ago, she went out in the first round of the French Open and now, she was dismissed in the 3rd round of Wimbledon. Since winning the Australian Open, she has struggled to find similar form and show herself to be a consistent contender for major titles. Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova who has been showing superb form on grass this year, making it to the finals of Birmingham couple of weeks ago, remained focus and determined as she knocked out Li 7-65 7-65 in the near 2 hours and 20 minutes battle. “Well, the key was just the belief, the belief in myself, to not give her any easy points. I think I did that right. I was serving very well. I was following the tactic what my coach said. I think that was the key,” Zahlavova-Strycova said after the match.

Li came out in fine form as she broke Zahlavova-Strycova in the opening game. She looked to be very aggressive in her return game but all this momentum soon dissipated as Li was immediately broken when she double faulted on break point in her opening service game. Li continued in this passive mood as she was broken yet again in the 4th game to see Zahlavova-Strycova go up 3-1. Li was making some rather strange and amateurish errors. One such error from Li came in the that 4th game when on game point Li allowed her opponent to get away with a poor lob which Li inexplicably misjudged to go out since the ball landed right near her feet well inside the baseline. Li would make 21 unforced errors altogether in the 1st set compared to 14 from Zahlavova-Strycova. Zahlavova-Strycova remained positive on court despite being broken in the 5th game as she went after her shots particularly on the Li serve. Li saved a break point in the 8th game which would have given Zahlavova a chance to serve for the set at 5-3. The set went to a tiebreaker as they remained on serve.

In the breaker, again Li started off aggressively by taking the first two points but then became lackadaisical as she allowed Zahlavova-Strycova to be the one dictating play in the breaker particularly on Li’s service game. Up 6-5, the Czech was able to take the set 7-65 after Li mishit the ball and could not keep it in play. In the 2nd set, they would remain on serve for its entirety with no break point opportunities for either player. Li had chances to force issue up 5-4 and again at 6-5 on Zahlavova-Strycova’s serve but she missed two easy overhead shots which would have given her break points had she made them. Instead Zahlavova-Strycova held serve to extend her life in the set and be that closer to the upset victory.

Another tiebreaker would decide the set and as in the first one, Li took the early lead 2-0. However, she was unable to maintain this lead as she could not put the returns on Zahlavova-Strycova’s serves in play. Zahlavova-Strycova kept things even throughout until she edged head ahead ever so slightly at 6-5. On match point, Li serving, it appeared as though another of her forehand went long. Zahlavova-Strycova, ecstatic, came up to net to shake hands but Li had challenged the call. The celebration was cut short as Li was right; her ball was in and she had another shot at saving match point as they re-played the point. However, with this second chance at life, Li double faulted and handed the match to Zahlavova-Stryvoca 7-65 7-65.

Zahlavova-Strycova summed up her feelings on this big win, “I feel great here and I felt great on Birmingham. I believed in myself coming into this match. I thought I can do it. That what happened. I’m really glad I could pull this through.” This is indeed an impressive win. The Czech was able to stay so mentally sharp throughout the match not only by holding serve but more importantly playing the big points very well. She was clearly the one dictating play on court, finding her way up at net and winning 21/29 points there, compared to Li was 16/34. This was the major difference in the match as they had similar stats everywhere else. Zahlavova-Strycova will next face Caroline Wozniacki for a place in the quarterfinals; “[S]he’s a great player … This will be a challenge for me. This is my first time in the second week of a Grand Slam so I will enjoy. I will do the same like I did the previous matches: I will focus on myself, on my game … I like to play volleys, I like to serve good. So we see how it goes.”

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Caroline Garcia Opens Up About Recent Struggles After Claiming First Top 10 Win Since 2022 In Miami

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Caroline Garcia - Australian Open 2024 (Foto X @ausopen)

After a lacklustre start to her season, Caroline Garcia is finally finding some momentum in her tennis at the Miami Open. 

Garcia, who has been ranked as high as fourth in the world, came into the WTA 1000 event yet to reach a quarter-final on the Tour this year and hadn’t back-to-back matches. However, her fortunes have turned around at her latest event where she produced a stunning win over Coco Gauff in the fourth round on Monday. 

The 30-year-old rallied to a 6-3, 1-6, 6-2, win over the reigning US Open champion. It is the first time she has beaten a top 10 player on the Tour for 16 months. Before taking on Gauff, she also beat four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka in straight sets. 

“It’s definitely a great match and a great win for me. The last couple of months have not been easy,” Garcia said afterwards. 

Garcia claimed the biggest title of her career at the 2022 WTA Finals, where she won four out of her five matches played at the end-of-season event. However, since then she has only reached the final of two more Tour-level events which were during the first two months of last year. She is currently ranked 27th in the world and has been outside the top 20 since January. 

“Sometimes you don’t have all the results you want, and sometimes it can affect you too much,” Garcia commented.
“You have to find a good balance and a good relationship with tennis to balance your professional life and personal.
“I think we have been able to do good sometimes. On the practice courts in Indian Wells after the loss against Maria (Sakkari), I was a bit down and then we did some good practice and we saw she played well. 
“My game was there. I just had to go for it and play my matches. I have been able to do it one match at a time.”

The Frenchwoman will be hoping to continue her fairytale run in the quarter-finals where she will take on unseeded Danielle Collins. Collins, who will retire later this year, dropped only five games during her 6-3, 6-2, win over Romania’s Sorana Cirstea. 

“I just want to be focused on my game what I can do and at the end try my best and walk out of the court proud of the effort,” Garcia concluded. 

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Shocks Galore In Miami As Four Top 10 Players Crash Out Of Women’s Draw

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An action-packed Saturday at the Miami Open saw a series of top names suffer surprise losses in the third round with the the most high-profile exit being Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka. 

The world No.2 suffered a disappointing 6-4, 1-6, 6-1, loss to Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina after just over two hours of play. Sabalenka struggled particularly with her second serve with the Belarussian only winning 10 out of 27 points. In the final set, she failed to hold her serve once and smashed her racket on the ground multiple times immediately after the match concluded. 

“It’s always tough to play on big stages against these top players,” said Kalinina. “Today was really tough with nerves but I managed in the tough moments to deal with it. 
“So I’m a little bit proud of myself today.” 

Sabalenka’s defeat comes less than a week after the death of her former boyfriend Konstantin Koltsov who passed away in Miami. She has opted not to speak with the media at the tournament whilst playing due to the current circumstances. However, on Wednesday in a short statement on social media, she said her “heart was broken” by the “unthinkable tragedy.” 

Meanwhile, 32nd seed Kalinina will next play Yulia Putintseva. It is the first time she has beaten a top 10 player this season with Sabalenka being the second Grand Slam winner she has ousted in Miami. Earlier in the tournament, she also knocked out Caroline Wozniacki in a marathon encounter that lasted more than three hours. 

Another casualty in the draw is Ons Jabeur who lost 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, to Elina Avanbesyan. It is the fourth match in a row that the Tunisian has lost on the Tour. She is yet to win back-to-back matches on the Tour in 2024 but has been troubled in recent weeks by a knee injury. 

Chinese seventh seed Zheng Qinwen was knocked out of the draw in straight sets by former champion Victoria Azarenka. Zheng was broken four times in the match during her 6-4, 7-5, loss. 

Finally, Jelena Ostaoeko won just four games during her 6-3, 6-1, loss to Anna Kalinskaya. 

Despite the series of shocks, four out of five top five players remain in the draw this year. They are Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina and Jessica Pegula. 

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Coco Gauff And Aryna Sabalenka Struggle Through In Indian Wells Openers

The duo were pushed to three sets in their first matches played at this year’s WTA 1000 event.

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Coco Gauff admits she didn’t play her best tennis at Indian Wells on Saturday after coming through a rollercoaster three-set battle. 

The world No.3 needed more than two hours to oust France’s Clara Burel 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(4). Gauff found herself trailing multiple times during the match. After losing the opening set, the reigning US Open champion then had to battle back from a 0-4 deficit in the decider. Capitalising on some tentative hitting from Burel who was bidding to record the biggest win of her career. 

Despite prevailing, it was a far from vintage performance from Gauff who hit six double faults and 14 unforced errors during the first set alone. She also struggled behind her second serve, winning just 12 out of 36 points played. 

“I think for me it’s just getting through that match definitely meant a lot,” Gauff said. “Could have easily thrown in the towel. But honestly, I was just telling myself, like, win or lose, I don’t want to have any regrets on the court. I want to be like I gave myself the best opportunity to win, and I did that.
“Am I proud of how I played? Not really, to be honest. But the fight, I am proud of. I am eager to improve. I think it wasn’t my best tennis at all. I think I just have a lot of improvement that I can do to get better.”

The 19-year-old has become the first teenager in the last 15 years to have won 50 or more matches at WTA 1000 events. She will next play Lucia Bonzetti.

“That’s pretty cool,” Gauff commented on her latest milestone. “I feel like I have a lot of stats and stuff like that. Hopefully I can close this chapter of my life off good. I’m really happy with how my teenage years went.” 

Sabalenka avoids major upset 

Aryna Sabalenka was another player to experience trouble during their opening match after outlasting Peyton Sterns 6-7 (2), 6-2, 7-6 (8), in a clash that lasted almost three hours. The world No.2 was on the verge of losing and had to save four match points when down 4-5 in the final set. Despite that blip, she held her nerve to break back before prevailing in a tightly contested tiebreaker. 

“Wow, I think I was right when I see this tattoo of a tiger and I was fighting today like a tiger,” said Sabalenka. “It’s just crazy what happened. She’s an unbelievable player.
“She played crazy tennis. She said at the net, ‘I had you,’ so she’s right. I was probably a little bit lucky to get this win. Super happy to get through this.”
“I didn’t play my best tennis and she was crushing it like crazy. I was just trying to stay in the game and keep fighting for every point. But this match definitely goes into the book of craziest matches and the best matches of my career.”

Sabalenka is hoping to go one step better in Indian Wells than 12 months ago when she reached the final before losing to Elena Rybakina, who has pulled out of the tournament due to gastrointestinal issues. 

Awaiting the Belrussian in the next round will be Emma Raducanu in what will be the first meeting on the Tour. 

Elsewhere, Naomi Osaka posted a convincing 7-5, 6-3, win over world No.15 Luidmila Samsonova. It is the first time she has beaten a top 20 player since returning to competitive tennis following the birth of her child. 

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