Evergreen Francesca Schiavone Wins Rio Open and Breaks Back in The Top 100 - UBITENNIS
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Evergreen Francesca Schiavone Wins Rio Open and Breaks Back in The Top 100

Francesca Schiavone beat Shelby Rogers by 2-6 6-2 6-2 to win the 2016 Rio Open, her first WTA title since 2013. Next week the 2010 French Open champion will be back in the top 100.

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Francesca Schiavone won her 7th WTA title in Rio de Janeiro, at her 18th final on the tour, beating American Shelby Rogers in three sets by 2-6 6-2 6-2. With this win, the first since 2013 for the 2010 French Open champion, Schiavone will climb back in the top 100 of the rankings becoming the second oldest top 100 player right after Venus Williams, who was born just 6 days before the Italian.

At her second WTA final, both conquered on clay, Rogers played a solid first set and was up a break in the second, but then surrendered to the Italian’s better physical condition.

THE MATCH

Rogers is the first player to see a chance to break serve, with Schiavone serving at 2-2 in the first set. The American stays aggressive, and manages to seize her opportunity right away, closing in at the net and winning the point with a backhand volley winner.

Serving at 3-2 Shelby holds serve easily once again, to build a 4-2 lead looking in control of the match. The young American then manages to break again, in the 7th game, after a stunning backhand down the line on which Schiavone can’t manage to create her web of defence. Coming to the net to put pressure on the Italian, Shelby gets another break and leads 5-2.

Shelby closes the first set by 6-2 after 31 minutes at her third set point chance, as Schiavone’s defensive backhand finds the net.

The American starts the second set with 2 chances to break Schiavone’s serve up 15-40. The Italian serves a double fault on the first break point and loses her opening service game.

Francesca sees her first break point in the match as Rogers serves a double fault at 30-30. Returning on the line, the 2010 French Open champions gets the break and screams in relief, setting the score tied at 1-1.

The Italian convincingly holds serve in the third game, to get back to the lead at 2-1.

 

 

As the rallies grow longer, Rogers starts to miss more shots. The American looking in confusion loses her serve for the second time in a row, missing a very easy smash wide. For the first time in the match, Schiavone is up a break 3-1.

 

The Italian swinging more freely closes the fifth game with an ace, to lead 4-1 in the second set, then 5-2. The American can’t control the rallies as she did in the first set and continues with her streak of unforced errors.

 

After more than one hour, Schiavone wins the second set 6-2, as Rogers misses two backhands long in a row from 30-30 sending the match to a decider.

 

Both players start the second set convincingly holding serve, Schiavone at love, Rogers at 15.

The American faces two break points in the fourth game when serving down 1-2, but saves both as the Italian fails to put pressure on the important moments. Shelby holds and shouts “C’Mon”.

Soon after, Francesca seizes her opportunity and breaks in the 6th game, with Rogers serving down 2-3. The Italian gets to 0-40 and then closes the game as Rogers tries a serve and volley approach, missing the forehand volley long.

 

The Italian on a roll closes the 7th game with an ace on the second serve and leads 5-2, assuring herself a chance to serve for the championship.

 

Finally, Schiavone breaks again and wins the match at her second championship point as Rogers hits another shot long.

 

It is the first WTA title for the evergreen Italian, who had last won a WTA title in 2013 in Marrakech.

The match stats:

With Schiavone’s win there are now 6 Italians holding a WTA title, one each.

 

 

 

 

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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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