Venus Williams beat Julia Georges 6-4 6-3 to score her 700th career match win. She is the second active player to reach this milestone after her younger sister Serena, who reached the feat last March in Miami. Venus has joined an elite club of only nine players who have reached 700 career match wins which includes Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Steffi Graf, Virginia Wade, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Lindsay Davenport, Conchita Martinez and Serena Williams.
“Wow, 700, I love it. Thank you guys for being here”, said Venus when she was asked about the statistics
Venus will face Carla Suarez Navarro who fought back from a set down to edge Monica Niculescu 5-7 6-3 6-4. The Spanish player leads 3-2 in their previous five head-to-head matches and won their only clash in 2015. While Serena usually has no problems when facing the Spaniard, Venus seems strongly troubled by Surez’s slice and ability to hit top spin on her forehand.
Italian Camila Giorgi cruised through to 6-2 in 35 minutes in the first set against last week’s Tokyo runner-up Belinda Bencic before the young Swiss rising star was forced to withdraw due to a left leg injury. Bencic was too tired after a very busy schedule last week and was forced to call it a day. Giorgi scored her second win this year over Bencic, three months after their head-to-head clash in s’Hertogenbosch where the Italian 23-year-old player won in straight sets with 7-5 6-3. Bencic, who has already played 61 matches this year, had to di dig deep to beat Anja Tomljanovic in the first round in Wuhan with 7-5 7-5 just one day after losing to Agnieszka Radwanska at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo
In the Round of 16 round Giorgi will face German Angelique Kerber who dropped her serve six times but edged Jelena Jankovic 6-4 2-6 6-2. In the first set Jankovic went up a break twice but Kerber recovered from 3-4 by reeling off three consecutive games to win 6-4. Jankovic reeled off five consecutive games to win the second set with 6-2 to force the match to the third set.
In a third set where every single game was very close Jankovic went up a break for 1-0 but Kerber broke serve three times to win six of the next seven games for 6-2
“I started very well. In the second set I lost a little bit my rhythm but she played much better. The third set was very close. Every single game was up and down. I was trying to keep going, fighting to the end”, said Kerber
Roberta Vinci, who beat Serena Williams in the US Open semifinal before losing her first Grand Slam final against her compatriot Flavia Pennetta, beat Romanian Irina Camelia Begu 6-4 6-3. In the first set Vinci went up a break to take a 4-3 lead but Begu broke back. Vinci had to save a break point chance for 4-5 before taking the decisive break to win the first set with 6-4. In a hard-fought sixth game Vinci opened up a 3-2 lead but Begu drew level to 3-3 after a long sixth game. Begu had the chance to take the lead but Vinci held on to win the next three games to win the second set with 6-3
Vinci set up a Round of 16 clash against Wuhan defending champion Petra Kvitova who overcame Daria Gavrilova in three hard-fought sets by 6-3 4-6 7-5.Kvitova was on the brink of defeat when Gavrilova served for the match at 5-3. Kvitova broke back for 4-5 before winning the next two games to win 7-5.
Ana Ivanovic, a semifinalist last week in Tokyo, fended off all the ten break points she faced and hit six aces en route to beating Madison Brengle 6-0 6-3 in Wuhan following up with her opening round win over Alexandra Dulgheru. The Serbian star earned the first break point in the second game with a drop-shot in the second game. She got a double break with another drop-shot en route to clinching the first set with a bagel in 28 minutes.
Ivanovic rallied from 0-40 down in the 12-minute first game of the second set. She faced a tougher opposition in the second set but she closed out the match with an ace with 6-3. Ivanovic
Ivanovic has dropped just seven games in the first two games in Wuhan.
Simona Halep, semifinalist at this year’s US Open, cruised past Anastasya Pavlyuchenkova with 6-2 6-1 in just 64 minutes setting up her next round match against Great Britain’s Johanna Konta. Halep hit an ace on the match point to clinch the winHalep won her 40th match on hardcourt this season.
Konta went up a set and a break to take a 6-4 1-0 lead in the second set before Viktoria Azarenka withdrew from the match
“The first round is always one of the most difficult ones but today I came here with confidence because I had a lot of good matches and good results in America. So I came on court knowing I would try everything to win. I am really happy with today’s match and I am looking forward to the next one”, said Halep
Anna Karolina Schmiedlova fought back from a set down to edge Caroline Wozniacki 1-6 6-4 7-6 (8-6) in over three hours. Wozniacki went up a set and a break with 6-1 4-3 in the second set before calling a medical time-out. Schmiedlova, who won two titles in Katowice and Bucharest, broke back in the eighth game en route to winning the second set with 6-4 to force the match to the third set. At 5-5 in the third set Schmiedlova got the break but was broken back in the next game as she was serving for the match. After a very tight tie-break Schmiedlova clinched a hard-fought win on the third match point.
“I am working hard and I never thought that I would have such a good ranking and have two WTA tournaments”, said Schmiedlova
In the next round Schmiedlova will take on Kristina Mladenovic who edged past this year’s Australian Open Madison Keys 7-5 1-6 6-2,
Coco Wandeweghe battled past Caroline Garcia with 6-3 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (8-6) after a marathon match. Garcia went up 5-2 in the third set but she failed to convert two match points before Wandeweghe clinched the win after a three-hour battle.
Garbine Muguruza reeled off 10 consecutive games from 2-2 in the first set to cruise to a 6-2 6-0 win over Sloane Stephens. Elina Svitolina beat Varvara Lepchenko 6-4 6-2
Diego Sampaolo
