It was a welcome back to the winners circle for World No1 Serena Williams, after 3 weeks out. Williams was appearing in her first match since withdrawing from her 2nd rd doubles match with sister Venus at the Wimbledon Championships. But the 32 year old was in Stanford at the Bank of the West Classic, where she’s won on her last two visits there.
WTA Stanford: Day 3, Wednesday
Serena vs Pliskova
3 weeks after exiting Wimbledon under a huge cloud of controversy and disappointment, World No.1 Serena Williams returned with a healthy hard-fought straight sets win.
Serena who by her standards has had a terrible season (not reaching the QF’s of any of the GS so far), was understandably a bit nervous. Williams has fully recovered from the virus which forced her out of the doubles match with sis Venus at SW19.
The 2 time former champion at Stanford (2011 and 12) was largely impressive in her first match, hitting a handy 9 aces and 29 winners against opponent Karolina Pliskova.
She appeared a bit sluggish in the first set, but that was to be expected. Serena though soon got her act together to eventually take the opening set 7-5.
After that Pliskova was running out of ideas of how to get back into the match. Serena though soon out her out of her misery and gladly wrapped up proceedings, by taking the 2nd 6-2.
Serena’s 10th win a row at Stanford sees her setting up a QF meeting with either Ana Ivanovic or Carol Zhao of Canada on Friday.
Day 3 results: 2nd round
1-Serena Williams (U.S.) beat Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) 7-5 6-2
8-Andrea Petkovic (Germany) beat Naomi Osaka (Japan) 6-2 6-2
Varvara Lepchenko (U.S.) beat 2-Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) 6-3 3-6 6-4
Sachia Vickery (U.S.) beat Monica Puig (Puerto Rico) 6-7(4) 6-2 6-1
Day 2 results, Tuesday: 1st rd
Venus Williams (USA) bt Paula Kania (POL): 6-3, 6-2
Ana Ivanovic (SRB) bt Sabine Lisicki (GER): 7-6 (7-2), 6-1
Carol Zhao (CAN) bt Yanina Wickmayer (BEL): 6-2, 1-0 retired
Monica Puig (PUR) bt Carla Suarez-Navarro (ESP): 6-3, 7-5
Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) bt Paula Ormaechea (ARG): 6-3, 6-4
Garbine Muguruza (ESP) bt Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) (defending champion): 6-2, 4-6, 6-2
Day 1 results, Monday: 1st rd
8-Andrea Petkovic (Germany) beat Ajla Tomljanovic (Croatia) 6-1 6-4
Coco Vandeweghe (U.S.) beat Kristie Ahn (U.S.) 6-2 7-5
Varvara Lepchenko (U.S.) beat Caroline Garcia (France) 6-4 6-3
Naomi Osaka (Japan) beat Samantha Stosur (Australia) 4-6 7-6(7) 7-5
Sachia Vickery (U.S.) beat Zhang Shuai (China) 6-1 6-2
Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) beat Kimiko Date-Krumm (Japan) 6-1 6-3
ATP Atlanta: The Final- Sunday 27th July
1-John Isner (USA) bt Dudi Sela (Israel): 6-3, 6-4
* John Isner successfully defended his Atlanta Open crown, with a straight sets victory over Israeli Dudi Sela. It is Isner’s 2nd title in the event and the 9th overall in his career
ATP Umag: The Final- Sunday 27th July
Q-Pablo Cuevas (Uruguay) bt 2-Tommy Robredo (Spain): 6-3, 6-4
* 2 weeks after winning his maiden ATP Tour title, Pablo Cuevas doubled up by claiming his 2nd tour crown, with victory over Spanish veteran Tommy Robredo.
WTA Baku: The Final- Sunday 27th July
2-Elina Svitolina (UKR) bt 5-Bojana Jovanovski (SRB): 6-1, 7-6 (7-2)
* Just like John Isner in Atlanta, Elina Svitolina also successfully defended her crown in Baku by overcoming Serbian Bojana Jovanovski. It’s Svitolina’s 2nd career WTA Tour title.
World Tennis News:
- Li Na withdraws from Montreal, Cincinnati & the US Open
- Rafael Nadal also withdraws from Toronto and Cincinnati- US Open defence in doubt.
- Sabine Lisicki breaks Venus’ service speed record in 1st rd loss at Stanford.: Video of the World record-breaking serve
All Things Tennis- from Hamza Shakeel 