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Quotes of the Day – August 5, 2013
August 06, 2013
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TENNIS CANADA
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BOUCHARD AND FICHMAN SECURE SECOND-ROUND BERTHS
August 6, 2013
The first round of the 2013 Rogers Cup presented by National Bank is complete at Rexall Centre, with Canadians Eugenie Bouchard and Sharon Fichman securing spots in the second round of the WTA Premier 5 tournament.
The evening’s feature match starred Canada’s top-ranked female singles player Bouchard, taking on Alisa Kleybanova of Russia. To the delight of the hometown fans, Bouchard triumphed over her opponent 6-3, 6-1 to reach the second round of Rogers Cup for the second straight year. Bouchard will next take on defending Rogers Cup champion Petra Kvitova on Wednesday night.
In the afternoon’s all-Canadian match, Fichman advanced past Stephanie Dubois. After dropping the first set to her Fed Cup teammate, she came back to force a third set, winning 5-7, 6-2, 6-2. She will be advancing to the second round to take on No. 15-seeded Jelena Jankovic.
Centre Court also featured a match between Venus Williams and Kirsten Flipkens. After Williams dominated the first set, Flipkens was able to climb back in the second and eventually took the match, defeating the five-time Slam champion 0-6, 6-4, 6-2.
No. 16 seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia took on Su-Wei Hsieh of Chinese Taipei in the opening match of the day. Ivanovic was able to triumph over Hsieh in less than an hour, allowing only three games against her, for a final score of 6-1, 6-2. The Serbian will now move on to face Italy’s Flavia Pennetta in the second round.
Following Ivanovic’s win, No. 8 seed Angelique Kerber took on Dominika Cibulkova in a three-hour second-round match. Despite winning the first set in a tiebreaker, Kerber was upset by the Slovakian 6-7(0), 6-2, 7-5. Cibulkova has been on a roll lately, as she defeated Agnieszka Radwanska in the final at Stanford just over a week ago. A second Slovakian, Magdalena Rybarikova, has moved into the second round after defeating qualifier Alexandra Dulgheru 6-4, 6-3. She will now face Varvara Lepchenko.
On Grandstand Court, Croatian qualifier Petra Martic fell at the hands of No. 11 seed Maria Kirilenko 6-2, 6-1. The Russian will now move on to face Alize Cornet of France, who defeated her opponent Elena Vesnina 6-3, 6-3. Jankovic also played on the second show court, defeating qualifier Anna Tatishvili 7-6(6), 4-6, 6-3 to advance to the next round.
Russian Ekaterina Makarova will also be advancing to the second round after defeating qualifier Anastasia Rodionova 6-1, 7-5. In an exciting three-set match, Svetlana Kuznetsova, who scored her spot in the main draw as a lucky loser after falling to American Lauren Davis in the last round of qualifying, was defeated by Davis again in the first round 3-6, 7-5,7-5. Davis will now go on to take on Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli in the second round.
Stay tuned to www.rogerscup.com for live scoring and updated match results during the 2013 Rogers Cup presented by National Bank.
August 06, 2013
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TENNIS CANADA
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“I think there is nothing really like coming to play the Rogers Cup. This is a tournament I grew up watching. Getting an opportunity to play in the main draw is a dream come true.”
- Canadian Carol Zhao, on playing on home courts
“I think most of it is positive, so that's a good thing. You kind of just have to deal with it and keep playing and playing hard. You can imagine what Murray deals with in England and Serena has dealt with for so many years. It's definitely tough, but people have done it before.”
- Sloane Stephens, on the attention given to Americans during the US Open
“She's a great player. She played a good first set. I won the second set, and the third I was three-love down. I know it was difficult. A lot of wind especially on one side. On the third I tried to play aggressive and to try to put a lot of balls in the court because sometimes she plays an unbelievable game, and then after not so good.”
- Roberta Vinci, on the ups and downs of her match against Julia Goerges
“Obviously I can't speak for the other players, but I think in my case my singles days are finished. When I retired, there was a reason I retired, physically and emotionally. I love doubles and playing tennis and doing events like this. But to play singles against someone like a Graf or Davenport, I mean, you look at with Martina Hingis, I played against her, some event a month and a half ago, and it was like, wow. Obviously she'd like to come back. It's a different level. “
- Monica Seles, on the potential of her playing in a women’s Legends league
“You never really know who's going to be that special player to come out and do so well, because I think tennis is a sport where anything can happen. Anything can happen. Someone could have a bad day. Someone could play amazing. I just think there is so many to choose from and everyone is doing so well. I just think really for women's tennis it's probably one of the most exciting times it's ever been.”
- Serena Williams, on who could emerge as the next big star of the WTA
August 06, 2013
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TENNIS CANADA
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STAR-STUDDED DOUBLES DRAW IN TORONTO
August 6, 2013
Aside from singles action at the 2013 Rogers Cup presented by National Bank, plenty of talented players have paired off and will take to the courts to fight for the doubles title. Here are just a few of the teams fans should look out for this week:
Martina Hingis and Daniela Hantuchova
The tennis world has been buzzing about the return of Martina Hingis, who just came out of a six-year retirement to play doubles. Pairing up with Daniela Hantuchova, the two made the quarter-finals at Carlsbad last week before heading to Toronto. Before Hingis’ retirement in 2007, the pair made the semifinals at Miami and the third round of the US Open, and with 46 combined doubles titles between them, have more than enough experience to go far at the 2013 Rogers Cup.
Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci
These two Italians have been playing together since 2010, and tore their way through the rankings to now share the world No. 1 spot on the doubles rankings. Although the furthest they’ve made it at Rogers Cup was the quarter-finals of Montreal in 2010, the 16 titles they do share together speaks for itself – these two are a force to be reckoned with.
Gabriela Dabrowski and Sharon Fichman
The only all-Canadian doubles team in the 2013 Rogers Cup, wild card pair Fichman and Dabrowski recently won the doubles draw of the Waterloo Challenger early in July. The two Miele Canadian Fed Cup team members both have plenty of experience playing doubles, and will without a doubt have a crowd full of patriotic fans to root them on as they play for the title on their home courts.
Kristina Mladenovic and Galina Voskoboeva
We already know that Kristina Mladenovic and Canada go well together, seeing as she won the doubles title at Rogers Cup in 2012 with Klaudia Jans-Ignacik, and won mixed doubles at Wimbledon alongside Canada’s Daniel Nestor. Although she and Voskoboeva don’t have a long history together, they recently won their first title together at Memphis and made it to the quarter-finals of the French Open, proving that their partnership has the potential to earn a championship here in Toronto.
Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina
Since they started playing together in 2012, Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina have worked together to win four titles together – Beijing, Moscow, Indian Wells, and Roland Garros. Their first Grand Slam title was earned after triumphing over the No. 1 pair of Errani and Vinci, an added bonus to an already amazing accomplishment.
Fans on-site should be sure to check out some of these pairs in action, as there will definitely be some thrilling doubles matches en route to Sunday’s final!
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