By Richard Pagliaro | Monday, May 2, 2016
Qualifier Louisa Chirico surprised 14th-seeded Ana Ivanovic, 5-7, 6-1, 6-3, closing the Madrid Open upset on successive double faults from the former French Open champion.
Photo credit: Christopher Levy
Louisa Chirico was on the outside looking in before this Madrid Open began.
The 130th-ranked American wasn't even in the qualifying draw when she departed for Spain.
Chirico stood toe-to-toe with Ana Ivanovic in a Magic Box mirror match before the 14th-seeded Serbian finally blinked.
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The 19-year-old qualifier toppled a skittish Ivanovic, 5-7, 6-1, 6-3, to set up a round of 16 meeting with Victoria Azarenka
Ivanovic double-faulted twice in succession to end a two hour, four-minute struggle.
Third-seeded Garbine Muguruza acknowledged added pressure playing in front of the home crowd yesterday and lost in the second round today. Irina-Camelia Begu upset the 2015 Wimbledon finalist, 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-3.
Showing signs of crankiness in the final stages, Muguruza has yet to survive the second round in five career Madrid Open appearances.
Exuding plenty of positive energy, Chirico continues her Madrid roll. She swept two matches in straight sets to qualify for the main draw then bounced Monica Niculescu, 7-5, 6-1, in the opening round.
Chirico's upset of the 2008 French Open champion comes a month after she surprised 2015 French Open finalist Lucie Safarova in Charleston.
The fourth-seeded Azarenka extended her winning streak to 16 match with a 6-3, 6-2 decision over Alize Cornet. Though the scoreline seems straightforward it was a tricky test for Azarenka, who saved seven of eight break points including all four break points she faced in the second set.
"She's a good player; she's always going to be a tricky opponent because she's a great fighter and has a lot of variety," Azarenka said afterward. "But I was trying to focus more on myself and that's what helped me to get through today."
The Indian Wells and Miami champion looked hobbled at times by an apparent foot issue.
At first glance, the Ivanovic-Chirico clash gave fans a case of double vision. Both women wore identical color-blocked adidas dress, pink adidas shoes and vanilla visors to keep their pony tails in check. Both were intent on whipping their forehands to control the center of the court.
Despite winning just one of 11 points played on her second serve, Ivanovic hit some timely backhand strikes down the line to snatch the first set.
Moving closer to the baseline and striking some beautiful running drives, Chirico broke for a 4-0 second-set lead. An ace stretched the lead to 5-0. The teenager served out second set at 15 when Ivanovic sailed a forehand return.
Dictating the direction of rallies, Chirico needed just 28 minutes to breeze through the second set.
Ivanovic fought off two break points in the opening game of the decider.
The 2008 French Open champion won four points in a row and punctuated that hard-fought hold with a deep exhale.
Moving a little bit quicker and sliding with more self-assurance helped Chirico gain the edge in running rallies in the final set. Lining up her two-hander she stepped into the court, bent low to the ball and blasted a backhand winner down the line breaking for 4-3.
A forehand winner down the line gave Chirico match point, but she showed nerves flattening a forehand return into the middle of the net. Ivanovic saved a second match point with an inside-out forehand.
Ultimately, a jittery Ivanovic was betrayed by her serve. Ivanovic could not locate her toss. Successive double faults handed Chirico her biggest career win.
The day after top-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, second-seeded Angelique Kerber and ninth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova all fell at the first hurdle, several seeds were sent packing today.
American Christina McHale defeated 13th-seeded Karolina Pliskova, 7-6 (3), 6-4. McHale will face Begu next.
Australia's Daria Gavrilova was a 6-2, 7-6 (4), victor over 12th-seeded Elina Svitolina. Gavrilova will take on defending champion Petra Kvitova for a quarterfinal spot.
The fifth-seeded Czech swept Russian qualifier Elena Vesnina, 6-3, 6-3. Kvitova has not dropped her serve or a set in reaching the round of 16.
"Definitely the start it's always kind of difficult and tricky, and I'm glad that I had two matches with only two sets," Kvitova said. "Yeah, (it) was pretty good. I didn't really lost my serve so far, which is unbelievable with my percentage today. But it's very special."