All tennis fans who were waiting eagerly for the 35th chapter of the famed ‘Fedal’ rivalry to unfold in the Madrid Open quarter-finals, were in for a major disappointment on Monday as the former World No. 1 Roger Federer was forced to pull out due to a back injury. The Swiss maestro had to curtail his practice session after hurting his back in an earlier training session at the Spanish capital and could not risk aggravating the injury.
That was the biggest headline making the rounds from the men’s section in this prestigious claycourt tournament yesterday. On the women’s side, much to the dismay of the spectators, the Spanish No. 1 and third seed Garbine Muguruza crashed out in the second round, falling to Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu, 7-5, 6(4)-7, 3-6.
As expected, the 2015 Wimbledon runner-up was the aggressor in this contest and she fired 39 winners past Begu, besides being four points away from victory. But the 34th ranked player’s tenacity and determination had the last word as she sent Muguruza packing from her home tournament.
The Madrid Open thus continues its trend of early upsets of the big stars. The past two days have seen the event losing its top three seeds as Muguruza joined Agnieszka Radwanska and Angelique Kerber on the sidelines.
Stephens, Ivanovic depart too
And the Spaniard wasn’t the only seed to make the exit on Monday. One of the two WTA players to have won three titles this season – Sloane Stephens – too was bundled out by another Romanian, Patricia Maria Tig.
The 16th seed could not put up any resistance against the qualifier and lost 2-6, 3-6.
A few more seeds saw their hopes getting dashed and they included 12th seed Elina Svitolina, 13th seed Karolina Pliskova and 14th seed Ana Ivanovic. The rising Australian Daria Gavrilova, who made it as far as the fourth round of her home Slam, showed flashes of that impressive play and beat Svitolina, 6-2, 7-6(4). Pliskova was felled by Christina McHale, 6(3)-7, 4-6 while Ivanovic succumbed to qualifier Louisa Chirico, 7-5, 1-6, 3-6.
Azarenka, Kvitova enter third round
Defending champion Petra Kvitova and the fourth seed Victoria Azarenka did not face any such trouble. Kvitova, a two-time winner of this tournament, faced the in-form Volvo Car Open runner-up Elena Vesnina. But the Russian could hardly pose any treat to the confident Czech, who blitzed past her, 6-3, 6-3.
Azarenka too was in a rampaging mood and she dropped just five games to cruise past Alize Cornet, 6-3, 6-2.
Another name to progress into the third round was Madison Keys, who prevailed 6-3, 6-3 over Kerber-slayer Barbora Strycova.
ATP – Ferrer, Raonic win, Goffin out
12th seed David Goffin was the only men’s seed to fall on Monday. The Belgian squandered a chance to replicate his brilliant results from the North American hardcourt swing and slumped to a 6(4)-7, 6-2, 6(7)-7 to rising star Lucas Pouille.
David Ferrer and Richard Gasquet made their returns from injury-induced hiatus to make a winning start to their Madrid campaigns. Ferrer had the tougher job of the two and he needed three set to see off his countryman Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2. Gasquet had his 6-1, 7-6(5) win over qualifier Roberto Carballes Baena.
11th seeded Milos Raonic and home favourite Feliciano Lopez also won. World No. 47 Vasek Pospisil was, however, shown the door by Radek Stepanek. 1-6, 7-6(4), 4-6.
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