Big Guns Out Tuesday after Monday Action at @CincyTennis
Steve Fogleman, Tennis Atlantic
Yesterday was press day at the Western & Southern Open, so that meant off-court distractions to hear words from the mouths of the elite of the sport. Nadal, Thiem, Pliskova, Halep and others sat down for round table chats with the media.
The action on court saw Petra Kvitova with a comeback win over Anett Kontaveit, 1-6, 7-6(2), 6-3. The crowd gasped in the first set, with the former Wimbledon champion struggling to find her form. And she did just enough to get through to Stephens or Safarova in the next round.
Tommy Paul had just another day at the office in his Summer of Tommy tour, relegating Donald Young to yet another first round loss in Cincinnati. The 6-4, 7-6(4) win earns Paul a match against Isner tonight.
Frances Tiafoe quickly ended the dream qualifying run by Germany’s Maximilian Marterer, 6-3, 7-6(2) and was in great spirits after the match, joking with fans and giving away $39 official tournament towels. Sascha Zverev awaits in Round 2.
Kiki Bertens had no trouble as she stormed past Oceane Dodin, 6-3, 6-0 on Grandstand yesterday in a sparsely-attended match. Up next for Bertens is a match against #7 seed Jo Konta.
Evening play saw lucky loser Ramkumar Ramanthan advance over Christopher Eubanks in three sets and Madison Keys winning a Stanford final rematch over Coco Vandeweghe in three sets.
Off court, Rafael Nadal revealed he’s still a little sore from that loss against Shapovalov in Montreal and when asked what advice he’d give Dominic Thiem, he replied, “I’d better not.”
Garbine Muguruza is easily the most genuine and emotive player in the top 10 of anything. She talked about the emotions that raced through her at Wimbledon this year, as well as avoiding social media due to trolls. “The ones who love me today will hate me tomorrow,” she said, following up with “I don’t have to read this.” Later, she spoke about the close rankings race and the need to compete every week on tour. “Shit. I gotta play. I’ll be #25 if I skip one,” she said to a room full of journalists enraptured by her refreshing honesty and affability.
We’re heating up today, with Muguruza, Simona Halep, Venus Williams, Jack Sock and Dominic Thiem lined up for a long day of tennis.
ORDER OF PLAY – TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2017
CENTER start 11:00 am
ATP – Juan Martin del Potro (Argentina) vs [10] Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic)
Not Before 1:00 pm
WTA – [9] Venus Williams (USA) vs Alison Riske (USA)
ATP – [13] Jack Sock (USA) vs Yuichi Sugita (Japan)
Night Session – start 7:00 pm
ATP – [14] John Isner (USA) vs [WC] Tommy Paul (USA)
Not Before 8:30 pm
WTA – [4] Garbiñe Muguruza (Spain) vs [Q] Beatriz Haddad Maia (Brazil)
GRANDSTAND start 11:00 am
WTA – Aana Konjuh (Croatia) vs [11] Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia)
ATP – Steve Johnson (USA) vs David Ferrer (Spain)
Not Before 2:00 pm
WTA – [Q] Taylor Townsend (USA) vs [2] Simona Halep (Romania)
Not Before 7:00 pm
WTA – [WC] Sloane Stephens (USA) vs Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic)
ATP – [3] Dominic Thiem (Austria) vs Fabio Fognini (Italy)
STADIUM 3 start 11:00 am
ATP – [9] David Goffin (Begium) vs Nick Kyrgios (Australia)
Not Before 1:00 pm
WTA – Julia Goerges (Germany) vs [10] Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland)
ATP – [WC] Jared Donaldson (USA) vs [12] Roberto Bautista Agut (Spain)
WTA – [7] Johanna Konta (GBR) vs Kiki Bertens (Netherlands)
Not Before 7:00 pm
ATP – Ivo Karlovic (Croatia) vs [8] Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France)
COURT 10 start 11:00 am
ATP – Kevin Anderson (South Africa) vs [Q] Alexadr Dolgopolov (Ukraine)
WTA – Alize Cornet (France) vs Catherine Bellis (USA)
ATP – [11] Pablo Carreno Busta (Spain) vs Paolo Lorenzi (Italy)
WTA – Elena Vesnina (Russia) vs Caroline Garcia (France)
WTA – Ekaterina Makarova (Russia) vs Barbora Strycova (Czech Republic)
COURT 4 start 11:00 am
WTA – [Q] Ashleigh Barty (Australia) vs [Q] Varvara Lepchenko (USA)
ATP – Albert Ramos-Vinolas (Spain) vs [Q] Mikhail Youzhny (RUS)
ATP – Robin Haase (Netherlands) vs Adrian Mannarino (France)
WTA – [Q] Francoise Abanda (CAN) vs [Q] Magda Linette (Poland)
COURT 7 start 11:00 am
WTA – Kristina Mladenovic (France) / Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia) vs [6] Lucie Hradecka (Czech Republic) / Katerina Siniakova (Czech Republic)
WTA – [5] Timea Babos (Hungary) / Andrea Hlavackova (Czech Republic) vs Anna-Lena Groenefeld (Germany) / Kveta Peschke (Czech)
WTA – Daria Gavrilova (Australia) / Daria Kasatkina (Russia) vs Nadiia Kichenok (Ukraine) / Anastasia Rodionova (Australia)
WTA – [7] Ashleigh Barty (Australia) / Casey Dellacqua (Australia) vs [WC] Alexa Glatch (USA) / Catherine McNally (USA)
WTA – Chia-Jung Chuang (Chinese Tapei) / Renatal Voracova (Czech Republic) vs Raquel Atawo (USA) / CoCo Vandeweghe (USA)
COURT 8 start 11:00 am
ATP – Diego Schwartzman (Argentina) vs Karen Khachanov (Russia)
WTA – [12] Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia) vs [Q] Aleksandra Krunic (Serbia)
ATP – Nikoloz Basilashvili (Georgia) vs Borna Coric (Croatia)
ATP – Ryan Harrison (USA) / Michael Venus (NZL) vs [8] Oliver Marach (Austria) / Mate Pavic (Crotia)
COURT 11 start 11:00 am
WTA – [Q] Donna Vekic (Croatia) vs [LL] Natalia Vikhlyantseva (Russia)
WTA – [15] Anastasija Sevastova (Latvia) vs Shuai Peng (China)
ATP – Leander Paes (India) / Alexander Zverev (Germany) vs Feliciano Lopez (Spain) / Marc Lopez (ESP)
ATP – Nikola Mektic (Croatia) / Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (Pakistan) vs Diego Schwartzman (Argentia) / Mischa Zverev (Germany)
WTA- After Suitable Rest – Gabriela Dabrowski (Canada) / Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia) vs Kiki Bertens (Netherlands) / Kristen Flipkens (Belgium)
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