Riske ousts Kerber in Zhengzhou,
Mladenovic advances
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[September 11, 2019]
(Reuters) - American Alison
Riske fought back from a set down to beat Germany's Angelique Kerber
5-7 6-4 7-6(6) in the first round of the inaugural Zhengzhou Open on
Tuesday, extending the former world number one's poor run of form.
Riske held her nerve to save a match point in the third-set tiebreak
before going on to inflict a fourth consecutive first-round defeat
on Kerber, who was beaten by Kristina Mladenovic in her first match
at the U.S. Open.
The German, a three-times Grand Slam champion, was beaten in the
second round at Wimbledon and suffered first round defeats in
Toronto and Cincinnati in the run-up to the year's final Grand Slam
at Flushing Meadows.
Mladenovic made short work of Chinese wildcard Duan Yingying earlier
in the day, winning 6-2 6-3 to set up a second round meeting with
fellow Frenchwoman and her former doubles partner Caroline Garcia.
"It was very tricky conditions. It's super humid and it's never easy
to start a tournament," said Mladenovic, who won 79% of her first
serve points during the match.
"Every first round is difficult and Yingying, I've played her in the
past and she's a very powerful player with a big serve. I think the
key today was the consistency on my serve, and I managed to read
hers well, which is her biggest weapon."
[to top of second column] |
Alison Riske of the United States returns a shot against Jelena
Ostapenko of Latvia in a second round match on day four of the 2019
U.S. Open tennis tournament
at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports
Former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko beat 23-year-old
Chinese qualifier You Xiaodi 6-3 0-6 6-2 to reach the last 16, while
France's Fiona Ferro and Alize Cornet also advanced.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar and Rohith Nair in Bengaluru;
Editing by Christian Radnedge)
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