Showing posts with label Washington. Show all posts
2012 US OPEN: Sloane Stephens Out Plays The Very Crafty Francesca Schiavone, Advances To Round 2
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
 |
| American Sloane Stephens after defeating Italy's Francesca Schiavone on day 2 of the 2012 US Open. |
Judging by Sloane Stephens' performance on Louis Armstrong Stadium Tuesday evening, women's tennis is out with the old, in with the new. The 19-year-old American sensation stunned veteran Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 6-4 in an intense first-round matchup that saw her upset yet another seed in Flushing Meadows, in the same fashion as she did in her debut here last year.
Stephens has had a stellar year since making her presence known at this event last year, when she reached the third round as a wild card and upset two seeds (No. 23 Shahar Peer and No. 16 Ana Ivanovic) en route. In her 2012 season, Stephens has tallied career-firsts, reaching the semifinals of two events, at Washington and Strasbourg, as well as a fourth round appearance at Roland Garros, all of which have played a part in her catapult up the ranks to No. 44. As for former French Open champ Schiavone, who played in her 13th Open this year, the last time she made a first-round exit in New York was in 2001.
The matchup between the rising, fresh-faced American and the fiery, theatrical Italian had high expectations, and the two players didn't disappoint in rally exchanges. Schiavone, the No. 22 seed, began the match with a severe case of service woes, double-faulting five times in her opening service game to hand the early break to Stephens on a silver platter. But her level of play picked up after that, and both players showed off their amazing court speed throughout the match, trading angled drop shots and tracking them down in winning efforts, much to the disbelief of the animated crowd.
Schiavone used high-looping topspin shots to keep Stephens behind the baseline, but the teenager countered her opponent's heavy spin by flattening it out with down-the-line winners, drawing a roar from the crowd with every winner she struck. Faced with battling not only Stephens' power and speed, but also the pro-American crowd and the chair umpire (the two exchanged a few words after Schiavone was warned for losing her temper), the 32-year-old Italian began to commit a slew of unforced errors (36 in the match) that eventually cost her the match.
Source: usopen.org
Photo by: Getty Images
Read the rest of this post...........
Exclusive Interview With MaliVai Washington
Friday, August 10, 2007
Black Tennis Pro's will have the pleasure of an exclusive telephone interview with MaliVai Washington on Monday, August 13. The interview will post on Tuesday morning.
Read the rest of this post...........MaliVai Washington to Debut on Outback Senior Tour
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
He reached the Wimbledon final and climbed as high as No. 11 on the ATP Rankings before a knee injury cut his pro tennis career short. He last took to the court in a pro event in 1999 when, after surgery and a long rehab effort, first-round losses in his first two events at Newport and Cincinnati convinced him to hang up his racquets.
His knee still only feels "OK," but eight years out of tennis, and watching friends such as Todd Martin and other Americans take to the senior tour, has stoked Washington's competitive fires for a return.Since hanging up his racquets the Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. resident has put his efforts into establishing the highly-successful MaliVai Washington Kids Foundation that among other things provides tennis and tutoring for inner-city Jacksonville children, and also into starting up a real estate business. Now he will take to the courts -- the grasscourts -- at the International Tennis Hall of Fame on Aug. 22 for the Outback Champions Tour's Gibson Guitar Champions Cup in Newport, R.I."Making my debut in the Outback Champions Series will be exciting," Washington said. "It's a chance to get back out on the court having been away from competitive tennis for several years. The funny thing is that the draw will look just like it did when I was on tour full-time. These are the guys I won and lost against my entire career."In Washington's round robin group will be Jim Courier, Todd Martin and Richard Krajicek who beat Washington in the Wimbledon final in 1996. In the opposing group will be former Wimbledon champs John McEnroe and Pat Cash, former No. 1 Mats Wilander and South African Wayne Ferreira. Washington originally injured his knee in a Davis Cup match for the U.S., beating Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil.
His knee still only feels "OK," but eight years out of tennis, and watching friends such as Todd Martin and other Americans take to the senior tour, has stoked Washington's competitive fires for a return.Since hanging up his racquets the Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. resident has put his efforts into establishing the highly-successful MaliVai Washington Kids Foundation that among other things provides tennis and tutoring for inner-city Jacksonville children, and also into starting up a real estate business. Now he will take to the courts -- the grasscourts -- at the International Tennis Hall of Fame on Aug. 22 for the Outback Champions Tour's Gibson Guitar Champions Cup in Newport, R.I."Making my debut in the Outback Champions Series will be exciting," Washington said. "It's a chance to get back out on the court having been away from competitive tennis for several years. The funny thing is that the draw will look just like it did when I was on tour full-time. These are the guys I won and lost against my entire career."In Washington's round robin group will be Jim Courier, Todd Martin and Richard Krajicek who beat Washington in the Wimbledon final in 1996. In the opposing group will be former Wimbledon champs John McEnroe and Pat Cash, former No. 1 Mats Wilander and South African Wayne Ferreira. Washington originally injured his knee in a Davis Cup match for the U.S., beating Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil.
"Playing competitive tennis is such an adrenaline rush for me so it will be great to get on the court and compete," Washington said. "I just wish I could do some of the things I use to do on the court well. I can still do those things today, I just can't do it as often."
Source - TennisX.com
Read the rest of this post...........
![[Valid Atom 1.0]](valid-atom.png "Validate my Atom 1.0 feed")
