Serena Struggles in Paris, Sets Up Round Three Clash With Azarenka

May 28, 2015 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
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Photo credit: Calvin Rhoden

Top-seeded Serena Williams came back from a set down on Thursday to defeat Anna-Lena Friedsam, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 in the second round at Roland Garros, setting up a third round clash with the 27th-seeded Victoria Azarenka, who was victorious over Czech Lucie Hradescka 6-2, 6-3.

Serena, with 19 career Grand Slam titles on her resume, has only two French Open titles (in 2002 and 2013), and comes into her 2015 campaign after being ousted in the second round last year at the hands of Spain's Garbine Muguruza 6-2 6-2. Returning to the same court in the same round of her loss last year, Court Suzanne Lenglen, Serena dropped the opening set, hitting a flurry of unforced errors in the first set and facing two break points in the first game of the second set before regaining her composure and finishing off the win.

Coming into their third round encounter, Azarenka has met Serena 18 times head-to-head, with Serena earning 15 victories, including wins in the finals of the 2012 and 2013 U.S. Open.

Scoring a huge upset on Thursday was the unseeded Julia Goerges of Germany, defeating the number five seed in the women’s singles draw, Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, 6-4, 7-6(4) in an hour and 46 minutes. In two previous meeting on clay, Goerges took both matches, and on Thursday, utilized her big serve and groundstrokes, hitting 39 of them for winners, in the win over Wozniacki.

"There are just some players who are a tough match-up for you, no matter the rankings, and some of them are easy match-ups no matter the rankings," Wozniacki said after the match. "Obviously Julia has given me trouble in the past and she gave me trouble again today. So that kind of sucks. I would like to have been through to the next round, but I'm not. So I just have to move on, I suppose. There's not much else to say."

Next up for Goerges is American Irina Falconi, a winner over Bulgarian qualifier Sesil Karatantcheva, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2. Goerges and Falconi will be playing against each other for the first time.

In one the longest women's matches at a Grand Slam in the Open Era, Francesca Schiavone and Svetlana Kuznetsova battled for three hours and 49 minutes before Schiavone pulled off the 6-7(11), 7-5, 10-8. The first set alone clocked in at one hour and 22 minutes, with Kuznetsova in the lead before Schiavone stormed back to take the match and the win. Up next for Schiavone is Romanian Andreea Mitu, also an upset winner Thursday over the 12th-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic. It will be the first career meeting between Schiavone and Mitu.

Petra Kvitova also advanced Thursday, coming from a set down to defeat Spain’s Sílvia Soler-Espinosa 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-2. Kvitova will meet the 30th-seeded Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania, a winner over Croatia's Ana Konjuh, 6-2, 6-0.


Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
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