Tennis Atlantic

Naomi Osaka, 2018 Volvo Car Open (Photo: Tennis Atlantic)

Volvo Car Open Heats Up as Round 1 Winds Down
Steve Fogleman, Tennis Atlantic

The weather heated up in Charleston in yesterday and so did the level of play at the first round of the Volvo Car Open in Charleston. Alize Cornet was the first winner of the day, a quick 6-1, 6-2 victory over Kateryna Bondarenko. Polona Hercog looked strong in her debut match over Maryna Zanevska, 6-1, 6-4. The ugliest score of the day had to be Aleksandra Krunic’s 6-2, 6-2 whipping of Bethanie Mattek-Sands. I’d seen Mattek-Sands practice a couple of times this week and she looked tentative and way less than 100%.

Polona Hercog, 2018 Volvo Car Open (Photo: Tennis Atlantic)

Naomi Osaka looked very much like she still has a hot streak in her as she closed the door on Jen Brady, 6-4, 6-4 on Billie Jean King stadium court.

Caroline Dolehide proved her qualifying was no fluke as she advanced to the second round by way of a 5-7, 6-0, 6-4 upset over Johanna Larsson. Dolehide meets Anastasia Sevastova in round 2.

Laura Siegemund, 2018 Volvo Car Open (Photo: Tennis Atlantic)

Laura Siegemund, 2018 Volvo Car Open (Photo: Tennis Atlantic)

Laura Siegemund is back to her winning ways in Charleston and was pretty ecstatic about the whole affair. After finishing off Natalia Vikhlyantseva, 7-5, 6-2, she made a bee line for her coach and gave him a warm hug, the likes of which you’d expect if she’d won a final.

RESULTS – APRIL 2, 2018
Women’s
Singles – First Round
[10] N. Osaka (JPN) d J. Brady (USA) 64 64
[11] D. Gavrilova (AUS) d O. Jabeur (TUN) 16 64 63
[12] K. Bertens (NED) d V. Cepede Royg (PAR) 64 61
[14] A. Cornet (FRA) d K. Bondarenko (UKR) 61 62
[15] M. Buzarnescu (ROU) d [Q] V. Lapko (BLR) 64 00 Retired
V. Lepchenko (USA) d A. Petkovic (GER) 64 75
P. Hercog (SLO) d [Q] M. Zanevska (BEL) 61 64
A. Krunic (SRB) d [WC] B. Mattek-Sands (USA) 62 62
[Q] F. Stollar (HUN) d [Q] F. di Lorenzo (USA) 75 61
B. Pera (USA) d J. Cepelova (SVK) 62 62
C. Giorgi (ITA) d [Q] S. Soler-Espinosa (ESP) 61 64
L. Siegemund (GER) d N. Vikhlyantseva (RUS) 75 62
C. Mchale (USA) d Z. Diyas (KAZ) 64 62
[Q] C. Dolehide (USA) d J. Larsson (SWE) 57 60 64

Women’s
Doubles – First Round
[3] A. Klepac (SLO) / M. Martínez Sánchez (ESP) d A. Rosolska (POL) / A. Spears (USA) 61 63
[WC] L. Arruabarrena (ESP) / S. Errani (ITA) d T. Maria (GER) / K. Pliskova (CZE) 64 75

VOLVO CAR OPEN – CHARLESTON, USA
$800,000
APRIL 2 – 8, 2018

ORDER OF PLAY – TUESDAY, APRIL 3, 2018
VOLVO CAR STADIUM start 10:00 am
S. Kenin (USA) vs [9] A. Barty (AUS)
K. Ahn (USA) vs S. Stosur (AUS)
E. Bouchard (CAN) vs [WC] S. Errani (ITA)
[1] C. Garcia (FRA) vs V. Lepchenko (USA)

Not Before 7:00 pm
C. Mchale (USA) vs [3] D. Kasatkina (RUS)
[1] G. Dabrowski (CAN) / Y. Xu (CHN) vs R. Atawo (USA) / A. Groenefeld (GER)

ALTHEA GIBSON CLUB COURT start 10:00 am
H. Watson (GBR) vs T. Townsend (USA)
[16] E. Vesnina (RUS) vs M. Brengle (USA)
L. Davis (USA) vs T. Maria (GER)
K. Siniakova (CZE) vs K. Pliskova (CZE)

COURT 3 start 10:00 am
[Q] C. Liu (USA) vs M. Linette (POL)
[13] I. Begu (ROU) vs [Q] G. Garcia Perez (ESP)
N. Melichar (USA) / K. Peschke (CZE) vs A. Kudryavtseva (RUS) / K. Srebotnik (SLO)
S. Aoyama (JPN) / Z. Yang (CHN) vs [2] B. Mattek-Sands (USA) / A. Sestini Hlavackova (CZE)

COURT 4 start 11:00 am
B. Haddad Maia (BRA) vs L. Arruabarrena (ESP)
M. Adamczak (AUS) / L. Kichenok (UKR) vs N. Kichenok (UKR) / An. Rodionova (AUS)