TENNIS – Two of the current big names in women’s tennis were summarily dismissed from these championships. Simona Halep (3) and Genie Bouchard (12) who both got the semifinal and final here last year respectively, faltered badly in their first round matches as they were battling not only inspired opponents but also nagging injuries. Cordell Hackshaw
UPSETS
Jana Cepelova from the beginning looked as though she were certain that she was going to upset Halep. The Romanian just could not sustain much of an advantage in the match particularly after taking the 1st set 7-5. Cepelova continued to be unrelenting in her return of serve and play aggressive in her service games. In the 2nd set, she broke for 5-3 but Halep broke back. Cepelova just stayed focus and broke Halep again to take the set. In the 3rd set, the Slovakian player raced out to a 4-1 lead and though Halep was able to claw her way back into, the Romanian had trouble holding serve. Cepelova broke Halep again for a 5-7 6-4 6-3 win.
“I had a few losses before coming here. My confident wasn’t too high. So I knew that, you know, during the matches it’s difficult because you feel the pressure. If you don’t handle it there very well, you might lose. I knew it would be difficult, but not like today, to be honest … I think emotional. I wasn’t there. I couldn’t handle it very well. She came back in a good way with her game. She was pushing me a lot. She was aggressive. But I can say that I let her come in and play aggressive,” Halep said after the match.
This major upset but no more so than it was to see that last year’s finalist, Bouchard, go out in straight sets to Ying-Ying Duan 7-6 6-4. Bouchard opened the match 2-0 and then it all went downhill for her. She lost the next 4 games and though she leveled the set 4-4, she could not secure the tiebreaker. Duan, playing her first Wimbledon looked the more experienced player on court as she took the breaker and in the crucial 9th game of the 2nd set, she broke Bouchard and served out the match at love 7-6 6-4. Bouchard cited an abdominal tear as the reason for her poor play. She added that she was advised to not play the event but could not resist the opportunity to play Wimbledon with all its prestige and history.
Nonetheless, this loss is merely a continuation of a string of poor performances from Bouchard since the beginning of the year. Since getting to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, Bouchard is 4-13 for the rest of the year. She has been unable to string more than two match wins in a row and that has only happened once at Indian Wells. In 7 of the tournaments she has played, she did not win her opening round match including two first round losses at majors. “You know, a couple months ago when I had a loss in Indian Wells or Miami, I didn’t feel like it was the end of the world, but to some people it was. We’re closer to the end of the world now,” Bouchard said.
USUAL SUSPECTS
Petra Kvitova (2) and defending champion was in an absolute impeccable form as she took out Kiki Bertens 6-1 6-0 in just 35 minutes. Kvitova dropped only 1 point on serve, which was a double fault in the final game of the match. Poor Bertens had no answer to the power and precision from Kvitova. Kvitova will play Kurumi Nara in the next round. Angelique Kerber (10) completely destroyed her compatriot Carina Witthoeft 6-0 6-0 in just 45 minutes. Kerber has 21 winners to 5 errors, a rather impressive stat. Things most likely will not be so easy for Kerber in her next round as she faces Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Carolina Wozniacki (5) had to dig deep early in the 1st set against her opponent Saisai Zheng. Zheng was able to secure the double break in the opening set for 4-1 and despite giving one of the breaks back soon after, she served for the set up 5-4. However, she was unable to close out the set then and this allowed Wozniacki to assert herself in the match. Wozniacki went on a huge run winning 9 straight games for a 7-5 6-0.
Garbine Muguruza (20) took out American Varvara Lepchenko 6-4 6-1 to also move through to the 2nd round. 2012 Wimbledon finalist Aga Radwanska (13) got by the tricky opponent of Lucie Hradecka 6-3 6-2. Radwanska is looking to round into form at this tournament having had a dismal year. She recently got to the final of Eastbourne but lost to Belinda Bencic. Camila Giorgi (31) beat T Pereira 7-6 6-3. It was a tough opening set as she was down 1-4 in the earlier parts of the set. However, Giorgi played like the experienced player she is to secure the win. Ekaterina Makarova (8) is continuing to show signs of major success as she has made it to the 2nd week of the last 4 majors. She took out American Sachia Vickery 6-2 6-4.
SURPRISES
Former No. 1 Jelena Jankovic (28) had a marathon match against Elena Vesnina. Vesnina served for the match up 7-6 in the 3rd but Jankovic broke to level it 7-7. In the 18th game of the set, Vesnina made a couple of errors which handed the match to Jankovic 6-4 3-6 10-8. Jankovic is looking to make the 2nd week at these championships for the first time in her career. French Open quarterfinalist, Elina Svitolina (17) had to win in 3 sets also to get by Misaki Doi 3-6 6-3 6-2 as did Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova over Mona Barthel 6-7 7-6 6-2. Local favourite, Laura Robson, was unable to keep hope alive for the home crowd as she lost 4-6 4-6 to Russia’s Evgeniya Rodina.
OTHER WINNERS
Svetlana Kuznetsova (26) had a comfortable win over Laura Siegemund 6-3 6-4. French Open semifinalist, Timea Bacsinszky (15) got passed Julia Georges in straight sets 6-2 7-5 as did Sabine Lisicki (18) who beat Jarmila Gajdosova 7-5 6-4. American Christina McHale won in straight sets but it was not so simple for Mirijana Lucic-Baroni and Monica Niculescu who both won in three sets. They both beat formidable opponents; Lucic-Baroni took out Yaroslava Shvedova who made the 4th round here back in 2012 and Niculescu knocked out Monica Puig.
