Linda Fruhvirtova

All posts tagged Linda Fruhvirtova

Sunshine and Spanish Moss: Charleston Open Qualifiers Set for Sunday Finals

Posted by Admin on March 30, 2024

Daniel Island, SC—Once again, we find ourselves between the Wando and Cooper Rivers at a majestic tennis stadium with lush surroundings on land that was a private hunting reserve for the Guggenheim family and foundation until 1996. The vibe is new meets old, and sometimes it feels like the whole community is contrived. Here, there is nothing contrived about the level of tennis and newer always meets older in qualifying.

Britain’s Heather Watson, at 31, is shockingly the oldest player in the qualifying field. She raced out to a 6-0 start, before easing past American Alana Smith, 6-0, 6-4. Watson will face Daria Saville tomorrow for a spot in the main draw, which is a marquee qualies matchup akin to a main draw match itself. In fact, the duo have squared off before in a round of 64 in Madrid in 2016 with Saville the victor, 7-5, 6-4.

Saville, the 30-year-old Australian, was a 6-1, 6-2 winner over American Grace Min.

Another Australian, Astra Sharma, bested younger American Jessie Aney, 6-0, 6-2 in the shortest match of the day at 44 minutes. Her quest for the main draw on Sunday will go through fellow 29-year-old Gabriela Lee, who outlasted Japan’s Mai Hontama, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.

Wild Card Usue Arconada survived a highly competitive straight sets contest over fellow American Elizabeth Mandlik, 7-5, 7-6(5) in a contest that lasted nearly two hours before a capacity crowd on recently enlarged Court 3 stands. The American needs to beat top qualifying seed Varvara Gracheva, who came back from a first set 6-4 loss to prevail over fellow 23-year-old Dalayna Hewitt of the US, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

The scoreline for 22-year-old Katie Volynets win over Katherine Sebov looked easy at 6-3, 6-2. The match was more competitive than it appeared as there were long points throughout the first and second sets to extend it to an hour and 45 minutes. The winner of Ann Li and Robin Anderson will meet up with Volynets tomorrow.

The big winner of the day for the youth movement was Linda Fruhvirtova with a 7-5, 4-6, 6-0 marathon over Nicole Melichar-Martinez, 30. The 18-year-old phenom will advance to the Charleston big dance with a win tomorrow over Claire Lu.

American McCartney Kessler was also a winner on Saturday, 6-2, 6-1, and will face either Lauen Davis or Sachia Vickery in Round 2.

—S. Fogleman

Upsets Abound at Early @CharlestonOpen First Round #CharlestonOpen

Posted by Admin on April 3, 2023

Posted in: Charleston, WTA. Tagged: 2023 Charleston Open, Anna Blinkova, Julie Grabher, Katherine Sebov, Lesia Tsurenko, Linda Fruhvirtova, WTA Main Draw. Leave a comment

Daniel Island, S.C.–Main draw play began this morning under cloudy skies at the Credit One Charleston Open on Daniel Island in South Carolina. A breakout Canadian, an American birthday girl, a Czech teen and a Charleston Open debutante started the action with four upsets.

On Althea Gibson court, world #92 Madison Brengle celebrated her 32nd birthday as she went on to victory over Kaia Kanepi, 6-3, 6-4. The fans serenaded her with “Happy Birthday” as she left the court after the win.

On Stadium court, 17-year-old Linda Fruhvirtova persevered in three sets to oust world #60 Jill Teichmann, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.

Next up was #89 Julia Grabher. The 26-year-old Austrian had never played at Charleston until today and she did so in winning fashion with a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 effort against #28 Shuai Zhang.

On Stadium court, another upset was in the making. This one wasn’t unexpected to anyone who has watched Canadian Katherine Sebov play this weekend or this year. The world #149 qualified in Miami two weeks ago and won her first round match. In Charleston, she’s done the same. With two wins to propel her to the main draw, Sebov played with determination over the weekend to gain entry to Charleston. Despite losing the first set narrowly today, she played through the Stadium court jitters and the pro-American crowd to outlast #57 Lauren Davis, 4-6, 6-1,6-2.

Lesia Tsurenko was too much for Paula Ormaechea today, and Tsurenko prevailed, 6-1, 6-1. Ons Jabeur will meet the Ukrainian in round 2.

Anna Blinkova set up a match with the tournament’s top seed, Jessica Pegula, with a 7-6(7), 6-2 win against Anna Bondar.

Fans Return to @USOpen Qualifying and the World’s Better for It

Posted by Admin on August 24, 2022

Posted in: Arthur Ashe Stadium, ATP, New York, US Open, US Open Qualifying, WTA. Tagged: 2022 US Open, atp, Ethan Quinn, itf, Katerina Kozlova, Linda Fruhvirtova, new york, Sara Bejlek, wta. Leave a comment

Fans Return to US Open Qualifying and the World’s Better for It

Steve Fogleman in Fushing Meadows

We’ve had COVID subvariants. Historical Inflation. Supply Chain Issues. Labor Shortages. War.

We’ve all been through so much that anything and everything is comfort food. The resumption of the US Open Fan Week was the most delicious heaping of banana pudding served up all year.

So it was in the home of the birthplace of modern democracy, the most democratic of events is back on after a two year hiatus. For the price of a subway ride, fans have been treated to courtside seats to watch Serena Williams practice in what very well may be her last days on Ashe.

And there are many more treasures on the field courts, where we’ve whittled the field down to a more manageable 64 men and 64 women for a two day sprint in quest of a trip of a lifetime to the main draw next week.

It’s a dizzying array of teens, grizzled journeymen and all player types in between grasping for the prize to be a part of the real deal of this greatness, and we always gravitate toward those who are looking for a life-altering first time grand slam entry. We found a few already in the first round.

Ethan Quinn, ranked #506 and only 18, defeated his first top-200 opponent in compatriot Ernesto Escobedo (#175) to advance to a qualifying semifinal tomorrow against Federico Delbonis (#136) with a chance to claim a second straight top 200 opponent. The 2022 Kalamazoo finalist is a University of Georgia redshirt Freshman.

Linda Fruhvirtova may be only 17, but she has already defeated the likes of Elise Mertens and Vika Azarenka. She was cool as a cucumber after her first round straight sets win over Ylena In-Albon of Switzerland, 6-3-, 6-3 in 1:23 yesterday. Next up for the Czech is Carolina Alves of Brazil tomorrow.

16-year-old Czech competitor Sara Bejlek had the toughest feat of the day on Wednesday and walked away a winner, besting six-time grand slam doubles titlist Kiki Mladenovic. Bejlek edged past the Frenchwoman in the first set, 6-4, before Mladenovic seemingly took control of the match after she won the second, 6-1. But the 16-year-old was not to be outdone, having done it too many times to remember in her young career. “Yeah, I’m like this,” she told me moments after the win. “I’m playing often in three sets. I mean, I’m strong in the head so that’s probably most important why I’m winning three set matches right now,”she said. She definitely took advantage of Mladenovic’s serve in the third and celebrated as her opponent double-faulted the match away. Final Score: 4-6. 6-1, 6-4. Bejlek will meet Australian Priscilla Hon on Court 9 tomorrow around 1pm.

Kateryna Baindl (nee Kozlova) is no Spring Chicken here. At 28, she’s trying to find her way in to a seventh US Open main draw, having reached the second round twice in her career. The Ukrainian spoke to me about the situation in Ukraine after her win over Jesika Maleckova yesterday. Next up for Baindl is Tamara Korpatsch of Germany.

Two matches, two days. Let’s do this!