Laura Siegemund (Photo: Tony Callaio, Tennis Atlantic)
Big Day for @Shelby_Rogers_ & @LauraSiegemund as @VolvoCarOpen Field Paired to Eight
Tony Callaio and Steve Fogleman, Tennis Atlantic
After a wacky Wednesday with lots of upsets, top remaining seed Caroline Wozniacki had to win twice in one of the windiest days in Charleston memory, which was impressive enough. But the real surprises continued to come from homegrown hero Shelby Rogers and the breakout Laura Siegemund, who advanced to the quarterfinals of the Volvo Car Open in Charleston, South Carolina.
A day after beating Venus Williams in three sets the day before, Siegemund made short work of Lucie Safarova, 6-2, 6-3 in 80 minutes. The punchy German came out swinging and never let up. “I wanted to be aggressive right away…I think she was surprised how aggressive I came out”, she told Tennis Channel immediately after the victory. She’ll face 8 seed Anastasija Sevastova in the second match after 1:00 p.m.
Shelby Rogers (Photo: Tony Callaio, Tennis Atlantic)
Shelby Rogers also made short work of her opponent, Naomi Osaka, in the nightcap. Rogers advanced to the Volvo Car Open quarters in 89 minutes in a 6-4, 6-2 home-court win. The venerable Mirjana Lucic-Baroni awaits Rogers in a match to be played after the conclusion of the Siegemund-Sevastova contest.
Begu upended Stosur 7-5, 6-3 when the winds kicked in creating rough conditions for the players. Stosur commented on the conditions in her post match press, “I mean if it’s like this at home, I don’t hit or go outdoors because it’s very hard to get any sort of rhythm.”
Conditions stayed gusty all afternoon into the evening with windy conditions promised for Friday’s action.
Caroline Wozniaki (Photo: Tony Callaio, Tennis Atlantic)
Wozniacki ended up doing double duty on the day when she had her regularly scheduled round of 16 match had to be played after she dispatched Beck in straight sets, 7-5, 6-1. She took on qualifier Anastasia Rodionova defeating her soundly 6-2, 6-3.
In other action, Sevastova d. Jabeur 7-5, 7-6(6); Ostapenko d. Stollar 6-1, 1-0 ret.; Lucic-Baroni d. Bertens 7-6(5), 6-4; Kasatkina d. Gavrilova 6-3, 4-6, 6-0.
ORDER OF PLAY – FRIDAY, APRIL 7, 2017
VOLVO CAR STADIUM start 10:45 am
A. Groenefeld (GER) / K. Peschke (CZE) vs A. Spears (USA) / K. Srebotnik (SLO)
Not Before 1:00 pm
[10] I. Begu (ROU) vs D. Kasatkina (RUS)
[8] A. Sevastova (LAT) vs L. Siegemund (GER)
S. Rogers (USA) or N. Osaka (JPN) vs [11] M. Lucic-Baroni (CRO)
Not Before 7:00 pm
J. Ostapenko (LAT) vs [5] C. Wozniacki (DEN)
[1] B. Mattek-Sands (USA) / L. Safarova (CZE) or [WC] E. Halbauer (USA) / S. Kenin (USA) vs J. Brady (USA) / A. Riske (USA)
