By Erik Gudris | Saturday, August 6, 2016
Ana Ivanovic and Agneiszka Radwanska were several of the big names losing early in the opening round of the Summer Games.
Photo Credit: ITF Olympic Tennis
Several big names in the women’s singles event at the Summer Games in Rio find themselves out early after a slew of surprise upsets on opening day.
Saturday’s first round match saw players deal with a mixture of Olympic pressure, slow hard courts, and humid conditions. As several seeded players struggled, their unheraled opponents seized the opportunty.
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That proved true for fourth seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland. Radwanska faced off against China’s Zheng Saisai in a match that saw the Polish star struggle right from the start.
Radwanska, who didn’t fare well on the slow hard courts of Rio, dropped the opening set. Zheng continued her momentum by breaking Radwanska and then serving for the match up 5-4. Yet Radwanska broke back and looked on the verge of possibly turning things around.
Yet Zheng, using a combination of moonballs and slice backhands, broke Radwanska right back. Zheng then served out the upset win 6-4, 7-5.
China enjoyed another upset win when Zhang Shuai earlier beat No. 12 Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland.
After Zhang failed to serve out the match in the second set, the back and forth battle went down to a final set tiebreak. Bacsinszky held three match points at 6-3 in the tiebreak but was unable to close it out. Zhang ultimately prevailed 6-7(4) 6-4, 7-6(7).
Earlier in the day, Italy’s Sara Errani battled back to defeat Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
No. 9 seed Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain narrowly avoided being another upset victim herself. Her match against unseeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia also went the distance.
Ivanovic claimed the first set 6-2. Yet the Serbian couldn’t continue her momentum as the Spaniard took the second set to force a decider.
Suarez Narraro eventually took control of the final set before completing the 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 win.
USA’s Madison Keys enjoyed a routine straight sets win over Montenegro’s Danka Kovinic 6-3, 6-3.