Schiavone Earns Needed Win in Strasbourg

By Erik Gudris                 Photo Credit: Greg Wood/AFP/Getty

(May 22nd, 2012) Former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone earned a much needed win at the Strasbourg International today. Meanwhile, Maria Kirilenko's hopes for Paris are in some danger as she suffered an ankle injury midway through her match.

Schiavone, who reached the finals of Roland Garros last year, has been on a slump since the start of the year as she's notched a lackluster 8-14 record. But her overwhelming 6-1, 6-2 win over France's Alexandra Cadantu is a start in the right direction for the Italian who many feel is ripe for an early round exit in Paris next week.

The biggest result of the day belonged to American Sloane Stephens who split sets with No. 3 seed Maria Kirilenko before the Russian retired at the start of the third set 3-6, 7-5 due to an ankle injury that, at the moment, put her hopes for Paris in some doubt.

Several other seeds fell as Israel's Shahar Peer took out No. 9 seed Aleksandra Wozniak 7-5, 6-0 while Japan's Ayumi Morita defeated No. 6 seed Marina Erakovic 6-1, 6-3.