Top Seeds Continue to Fall in Wuhan as Serena and Halep Exit

September 23, 2014 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
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Photo credit: Calvin Rhoden

While Agnieska Radwanska and Ana Ivanovic’s early exits from the inaugural Wuhan Open highlighted Monday’s action, the upsets continued Tuesday as top-seeded Serena Williams and the second-seeded Simona Halep failed to make it through to the third round.

Halep played overnight and drew a tough second-round matchup against rising star Garbine Muguruza. Things looked good early on for the Romanian, as she captured the first set in just 35 minutes. As quickly as she took the first set though, Muguruza bounced right back and bolted out to a 4-0 advantage in the second set.

She would go on to serve out the set and take it 6-2, forcing the match into a deciding third frame. Halep actually led 3-2 in the final set before the 20-year old Spaniard rattled off the final four games to blow past Halep 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 and push her way into the third-round.

The difference in the match came in the unforced errors category. Muguruza was extremely efficient, ripping 34 winners to 33 unforced errors. On the other side, Halep had just 21 winners and 38 unforced errors. Halep’s defeat comes on the heels of her third-round exit to Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in the U.S. Open’s third round, and the second-ranked player in the world has now lost her last two matches.

Muguruza moves on to play another rising star, Ukraine’s Elina Svitlina, who came back from 5-0 down in the first set to knock off Sabine Lisicki 7-6(3), 6-3.

The top-seeded Serena Williams was forced to retire from her match versus Alize Cornet while leading 6-5 in the first set. Just like her withdrawal from the Wimbledon doubles tournament, Williams cited a viral illness as the reason for her early exit.

“I felt dizzy and nauseous in the first set, and unfortunately, couldn’t continue,” said Serena in a statement to the press.

It is the third time this year that Cornet has defeated Serena, becoming the first player since Justine Henin in 2007 to do so. It also puts her in the third-round and a matchup with German Kirsten Flipkens, who took out Jarmila Gajdosova, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Sixth-seeded Eugenie Bouchard and eighth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki were able to make it through Tuesday. U.S. Open finalist Wozniacki had a two-plus hour battle with Carla Suarez-Navarro in a tight three-setter. After capturing the opening frame easily 6-1, Wozniacki dropped the second set 3-6 to force the match into a deciding third. She then fell behind 4-3 before turning it on again, eventually squeaking out the 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(4) victory.

In typical Wozniacki fashion, she had far less winners than her opponent. The Spaniard ripped 46 to Wozniacki’s 16, but the Dane committed just 24 unforced errors, compared to 51 for Suarez-Navarro. Wozniacki moves on to play Australian Casey Dellacqua for a spot in the quarterfinals.

Bouchard also needed three sets to make her way into the third-round as the young Canadian took out Germany’s Mona Barthel 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

“I made a few too many unforced errors in the first set, and she likes to hit the ball hard, so it was hard to get a rhythm,” said Bouchard. “But I took a step back on the first serve return, was able to get a few more returns in, and started serving a bit better in the second and third sets, so I think those two things helped me out.”

A title in Wuhan would secure a spot for the 20-year old in the WTA Finals in Singapore at the end of the year. She will take on Alison Riske next, after the American upended 11th-seeded Italian Sara Errani 6-4, 6-4.

Petra Kvitova, the highest seeded player remaining as the third seed, cruised in her second-round bout, disposing of Karin Knapp 6-3, 6-0. She will play fellow Czech Karolina Pliskova in the third-round after Pliskova took out 16th seeded Andrea Petkovic, 6-4, 6-4.

American Coco Vandeweghe also pushed through after the 10th-seeded Jelena Jankovic retired in the middle of the first set.


Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
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