The underdogs brought their A-games at the Family Circle Cup on Thursday, as the entire round of 16 took the courts. No.1 seed Caroline Wozniacki survived; No.2 seed Samantha Stosur did not.
Wozniacki was the first to take Stadium court, and she had to battle for over two and a half hours to beat No.15 seed Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, 7-6(6) 7-6(9).
Wozniacki let an early 4-1 lead slip and saved a set point before taking the first set in a tie-break; she fought back from 0-2 in the second set and missed five match points in the breaker, eventually saving a set point against her before closing Zahlavova Strycova out with an overhead on her sixth match point.
Next up for Wozniacki will be No.6 seed Yanina Wickmayer, who beat qualifier Anna Tatishvili, 6-4 7-5.
Stosur, the defending champion, wasn't so fortunate, falling to Elena Vesnina later on, 6-4 6-1. Stosur, who stormed to her biggest WTA title at this tournament a year ago, led 4-2 before losing 10 of the last 11 games of the match.
"A lot of things went wrong for me, unfortunately," Stosur said. "Elena played quite well. She served well and hit the ball well, and I wasn't able to really do anything to negate her hitting the ball low and flat and kind of rushing me during the points. I started well, then lost serve and the wheels kind of fell off."
The crowd tried to help rally Stosur in the second set, but to no avail. "I felt their support in the match. I would love to have played better and gotten myself back into it and be here another day, but unfortunately I'll have to wait for next year."
7 comments:
Captain are you still laughing like a villain in those old Kung Fu movies?
I have:
The Big Stuffed Bunny over WickiWickiWicki
Peng over Mirza
JJ over McHale
Vesnina over Goerges.
I'm too late for Marbella.
I'm going with:
Wiki over Bunny
Mirza over Peng
McHale over Jankovic
Vesnina over Goerges
Yanina won the first set 6-4, was up 4-2 in the second and lost 4-6, was up 4-2 in the third and lost 4-6. The reason she hasn't taken her game to the next level is: She plays too loose and makes stupid shot selection on important points.
Peng just won in three sets in 1:33 that was a fast match for a three setter.
I couldn't see the Bunny/Yanina match. Thanks for the recap Caps321.
Yesterday the Crazy Czech had the opportunity to knock off The Bunny but she choked and her temper got in the way. Any relation to Angry Bird? :P
I have this Crazy Czech chick all figured out! I agree, she had ample opportunity to steal bunny's stash and make herself an egg salad sandwich.
However, she continually tried to hammer the first serve return and would 'net' or hit it out of bounds.
Perhaps part of it is nerves but with a side order of stupidity. Doing the same thing over and over with the same results is the definition of insanity.
McHale just got out played by Jankovic. But, it was their first meeting. I think she's going to improve immensely in a short time.
Great assessment on the Crazy Czech, Caps321. You can add bad coaching specially that on court coaching was allowed. At some point the coach/husband might have figured out what was wrong with his player/wife. I don't think coaching a crazy chick is a good idea much less have one as a wife.
I only saw a portion of the first set and I wasn't impressed with McHale. I'll have to see her a couple more times and full matches before I make an opinion about her. I'll keep an eye on her though.
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