Bronx Open Recap: Siniakova Saves Match Points to Oust the Last American Standing - UBITENNIS
Connect with us

Latest news

Bronx Open Recap: Siniakova Saves Match Points to Oust the Last American Standing

All four quarterfinals were decided on a busy day in the Bronx.

Published

4 years ago

on

The first quarterfinal saw Katerina Siniakova, the No.4 doubles player in the world, face American wild Bernarda Pera. Siniakova advanced to the round of 16 in singles earlier this year at Roland Garros, taking out world No.1 Naomi Osaka in straight sets along the way. Pera upset Wimbledon semifinalist Barbora Strycova here on Tuesday.

 

Both players became frustrated early on with close line calls, as well as a lack of net calls on serves. These players are accustomed to Hawkeye challenges and electronic net calls, but those technologies are not being utilized at this tournament. This has been the root of aggravation for players all week long. In the first set, Siniakova would say to the chair umpire, “We play four games and there’s already five mistakes.” While she couldn’t know this for sure, the lack of technology leaves doubt in players’ minds. It also requires chair umpires to assert themselves more so than is customary nowadays.

Siniakova went up a break in the first and had a point for a double break, but a controversial line call would turn the set around. Pera struck an inside-out forehand extremely tight to the sideline, which was called in, to Siniakova’s dismay. Pera would go on to hold and then break in the next game, evening the set. And some big forehand returns at 5-4 would earn the American a second consecutive break and the set.

From there Pera’s punishing ground game continued to open up, gaining her the early break in the second. But with the set and a break lead, Bernarda’s winners started to turn to errors, allowing Katerina to break right back. Both held their serves for the remainder of the set, setting up a pivotal tiebreak. And these two would slug it out in the breaker, with some long, grueling rallies. A costly Siniakova double fault gave Pera two match points at 6-4, which Katerina saved by forcing the action just enough to goad Pera into making errors. At 6-6, a backhand down-the-line winner granted Siniakova a set point on her serve, which she converted by moving Pera all around the court.

In the third, Siniakova’s superior court coverage would earn her a break and a 3-1 advantage. Katerina would face multiple break points in the next game, but held for 4-1. And unlike Pera, Siniakova would not give back the lead, and took the third set 6-3.

The next quarterfinal was a serving battle, which was refreshing in a week where matches have contained so many breaks of serve. The tenth seed Karolina Muchova and qualifier Magda Linette would play 34 games and two tiebreaks in their three-setter, with only one break in the entire match. The 27-year-old Linette of Poland would not only claim that sole break to give her the second set, but also prevail in the third set tiebreak. She’ll face Siniakova in tomorrow’s semifinals.

In other action, Camila Giorgi just crushed Alize Cornet 6-2, 6-1. The Italian will face the top seed Qiang Wang, who dropped the first set today to Anna Blinkova 6-0, but came back to claim victory in three.

Related Topics:
Continue Reading
Click to comment

Latest news

Karen Khachanov beats Yoshihito Nishioka to claim his first title since 2018

Published

32 mins ago

on

27/09/2023

By

Karen Khachanov overcame Yoshihito Nishioka 7-6 (7-2) 6-1 in 1 hour and 43 minutes in the final of the Huafa Properties Zhuhai Championships to claim his fifth tour title and his first since Paris Bercy 2018. 

 

Khachanov earned an early break in the fifth game of the opening set to take a 3-2 lead. Nishioka broke back in the eighth game to draw level to 4-4. Khachanov was just two points from losing the first set when he was serving at 4-5 15-30. 

Nishioka earned an early mini-break to take a 2-1 lead, but Khachanov reeled off consecutive points to close out the first set 7-2, when Nishioka hit a backhand long. 

Khachanov won the final five games with two breaks of serve to close out the win after 1 hour and 44 minutes with a forehand winner up the line. 

Khachanov joked with Nishioka during the award ceremony. 

“I did not know that you had a birthday tomorrow, otherwise maybe I would have played different. When I play against you, I have to run a lot. Left, right, left, right, like table tennis”, said Khachanov.

Khachanov was playing in his second tour-level match since his Roland Garros quarter final last May when he suffered from a stress fracture in his back. 

Khachanov, who lost in the first round at the US Open on his return last August, dropped just one set en route to the title. The Russian player moves up to number 14 in the ATP Live Ranking. Khachanov improves to 4-1 in his head-to-head series against Nishioka. 

Continue Reading

Latest news

Alexander Zverev beats Roman Safiulin to to claim his second title of the year in Chengdu

Published

14 hours ago

on

26/09/2023

By

Alexander Zverev came back from a set and a break down to beat Roman Safiulin 6-7 (2-7) 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 at the Chengdu Open claiming the 21st title of his career. 

 

Zverev has moved to seventh seventh in the ATP Race to Turin boosting his chances of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals. 

Safiulin  saved three break points in the 10th game of the first set, which went on serve en route to the tie-break. Safiulin earned three mini-breaks to win the tie-break 7-3. 

Safiulin earned an early break in the second game to take a 2-0 lead. Zverev broke straight back and forced the second set  to a second tie-break. Zverev went up a mini-break three times, but Safiulin pulled back on serve each time. Zverev was two points from defeat at 5-5 in the tie-break of the second set but he won the final two points to win the second set. 

Zverev earned the decisive break in the fourth game to open up a 3-1 lead and closed out the win on his first match point. 

Zverev won his second title of the season after his triumph in home city Hamburg last July. “He is playing the best tennis of his life for sure. The way he was winning this week. I think he beat a lot of great players quite easily, so I think that he was playing well. Obviously, I am happy to be able to come back and to win this title”, said Zverev. 

Continue Reading

Latest news

Daria Kasatkina beats Marta Kostyuk to advance to the second round in Tokyo

Published

22 hours ago

on

26/09/2023

By

Daria Kasatkina came back from one set down to beat Marta Kostyuk 3-6 6-4 6-3 in 2 hours and 24 minutes reaching the second round at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. 

 

Katatkina is playing her first tournament since the US Open, where she lost to Aryna Sabalenka in the fourth round. 

Kasatkina set up a second round match against Greek qualifier Despina Papamichail, who beat Japanese lucky loser Sakura Hosogi 7-6 (7-3) 7-5 in 2 hours and 19 minutes. 

Kostyuk dropped just eight points on serve and broke serve in the fourth game to close out the first set 6-3. The second set featured nine service breaks in ten games. Kostyuk went up a break three times, but Kasatkina pulled back on serve each time. Kasatkina broke in the eighth and tenth games to seal the second set 6-4. 

Kostyuk went up a break twice in the third set, but she was broken back both times. Kasatkina drew level to 3-3, as Kostyuk made a overhead error, and won the final four games to seal the third set 6-4. 

Anastasya Pavlyuchenkova cruised past Donna Vekic 6-1 6-1 in just 74 minutes. Nineteen-year-old Linda Noskova saved one set point to beat Japanese lucky loser Himeno Sakatsume 6-2 7-5 setting up a second round against Anastasya Pavlyuchenkova. 

Ekaterina Aleksandrova came back from one set down to beat Anna Kalinskaya 6-7 (7-9) 6-1 7-5 in 2 hours and 21 minutes setting up a second round against Liudmila Samsonova. 

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Trending