Petrova and Razzano Among Quarterfinalists in Maryland
By Matt Hursh Photo Credit: Susan Mullane/Camerawork USA
In its inaugural year of play, the Citi Open is providing fans in College Park, Maryland with plenty of entertaining tennis.
The Frenchlady cruised to victory over Baltacha, the World No. 57, in just over an hour and a half for a 6-4, 6-2 win to move into the quarterfinals.
Razzano, who is ranked at 81 in the world, played strong, opportunistic tennis against the seeded Brit. She won more than 50 percent of her service and return points and broke Baltacha’s serve in five of nine tries to clinch her second quarterfinal appearance of the year.
She last played in the quarters of a WTA tournament in late April, when she lost to Roberta Vinci in Barcelona.
The Frenchlady is currently mourning the death of her longtime coach and fiancée Stephane Vidal, who passed away just before the French Open in May due to a brain tumor.
In this quarterfinal appearance, Razzano will play Falconi, who advanced to the quarterfinals after her opponent, Shuai Zhang, retired due to heat illness after dropping an odd first set 6-4.
Zhang lost the first three games of the match then roared back to take a 4-3 lead. However, she felt deprived of energy late in the set, which forced her to retire.
If Razzano can beat Falconi, who is ranked two spots outside the top 100, she would be making her first semifinal appearance in nearly two years, when she was ranked as high as 16 in 2009.
A win for Falconi would all but guarantee her a spot in the top 100 when the new rankings come out next week.
In the other quarterfinal matches, Petrova cruised to another 6-2, 6-2 win over Eugenie Bouchard a day after beating Alexandra Mueller by the same score in the first round.
The Russian was absolutely dominant again on Wednesday, getting off the court with a victory in just 52 minutes. Petrova broke her Canadian opponent in four of eight return games and did not face a break point on her serve.
The World No. 32 will now have a day off before facing fifth seed Jovanovski. The Serb outlasted 37-year-old Jill Craybas to post a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 win in the late match of the day. She converted her 10th break—the 19th total break in the match—in the final game to oust the American.
The top half of the draw, including top seeds Shahar Peer and Tamira Paszek, will play their second round matches on Thursday.