by Karen
Day 2 is over and what a day it has been. From stunning upsets to come from behind victories, Day 2 had it all.
- Eugenie Bouchard is the real deal. Down for most of the first set against Hantuchova, she staged a successful comeback and won in straights.
- Taylor Townsend went down in straight sets to Koulakova. Koulakova did to Townsend what Bencic did to her in the Girls final last year. She moved her around and took advantage of her fitness. Townsend and her team really need to work on that.
- Serena Williams means business. 16 aces in a straight set victory is nothing to sniff at. She had a bit of a tough time in her opening service game, but once that was out of the way, it was guns blazing. Serena and her sister Venus are scheduled to play doubles on Day 3 of the tournament. The fact that they are playing doubles tells me that both Sisters are fighting fit.
- Kaia Kanepi reminded all of us today as to why she is a Wimbledon quarterfinalist. She dismissed Jelena Jankovic in straight sets today 3 and 2 and it was not even that close.
- As predicted Pavlyuchenkova went out to Alison Riske today in 3 tough sets.
- Madison Keys is playing tennis like she really wants to win a Grand Slam. She routed Monica Puig today 3 and 3
Tomorrow's Day 3 matches promise lots of excitement. Master Ace has his picks for tomorrow below
Top 5 seeds in the top half advanced to second round with Victoria Azarenka getting tested in both sets and Na Li started slow but cranked it up once Kania was serving for the first set. Sloane Stephens' streak of making the second week in six consecutive Slams came to an end as she lost in straight sets to Maria Kirilenko, who has missed a lot of time in 2014 due to injuries. Despite being pushed to three sets,Venus Williams, in my opinion was never threatened as she had her service games clicking with 11 aces and no double faults. Outside the French Open, Sara Errani continues to struggle in Slams for the last 2 years as she goes out in three sets to Caroline Garcia.
Predictions:
Azarenka over Jovanovski
Vandeweghe over Smitkova
Safarova over Hercog
Cibulkova over Van Uytvanck
Lepchenko over Garcia
Makarova over Doi
Gajdosova over Larcher De Brito
A Radwanska over Dellacqua
Kvitova over Barthel
V Williams over Nara
Kirilenko over Peng
Pennetta over Davis
Wozniacki over Broady
Konjuh over Wickmayer
Vesnina over Zahlavova Strycova
Li over Meusburger
OVERHEARD FROM THE
BOOTH
Sloane Stephens has parted ways with Paul Annacone. This was a long overdue decision. as most people who have read my blog have
known I did not think that Annacone brought anything of note to Federer’s game and
he certainly did not bring anything to Sloane’s game. Word is that Sloane will be working with
Etienne Dumas. I looked him up and saw
that he has previously worked with Venus a Serena and Tornado and her sister
Hurricane Black. I don’t want to come
off as racist but Sloane needs to be around her people. She needs a strong black coach in her
corner. Only they can understand what
she is going through right now game wise.
This sport of tennis is difficult and for minorities it is even harder. There is a perception in tennis that because
you are black you are automatically good.
Issues such as injuries and pressure are downplayed. We only have to look at how the media dealt
with injuries suffered by the Williams Sisters to see the truth of that situation.
Taylor Townsend suffered at the hands of her Federation’s
governing body regarding her weight. She
is now in a much better place and able to work on her game and hopefully her
fitness issues. Here’s hoping that Sloane
will be able to do the same thing.
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