IT was not the way the Top Seed Open was meant to go. Top seed and US Open favourite Serena Williams was meant to cruise to victory in the lead-up tournament as many of her closest rivals fell early in the tournament, or opted not to play. But tennis, and in particular the WTA Tour can be unpredictable as one of the Greatest of All-Time (GOAT)s found out when she bowed out in the quarter finals at Lexington to compatriot, Shelby Rogers.
It was an impressive win for the 116th ranked Rogers, who is yet to have a career title to her name and has a career-high 48th world ranking. She is a long shout away from Williams’ accolades, but it mattered little as she triumphed 1-6 6-4 7-6, coming back from a slow start to post a memorable win over her opponent in two hours and seven minutes. In doing so, Rogers became the first player outside the top 100 to defeat Williams since Virginie Razzano achieved the feat at the 2012 French Open.
Remarkably, Rogers did not face a break point in the final two sets after being broken twice in the opening set and falling 6-1 behind. Despite that, Serena’s serving game had not got going, failing to serve an ace in the first set blitz. It gave Rogers time to work into the match and she took control off the top 10 player’s second serve, winning almost half of the points, and dominating off her own serve to be in the elite category. After the players were neck and neck in the tiebreak at 3-3, Rogers earned two match points and won it off her serve after a missed return to book a spot in the final four.
Rogers now takes on up and coming Swiss star, Jil Teichmann who ended the run of returning 21-year-old American talent, CiCi Bellis. Teichmann opted to not return to defend her European titles in favour of the American circuit, and could well be rewarded if she goes all the way in Lexington after winning 6-2 6-4 in the quarter finals.
In the other semi-finals, another United States representative Jennifer Brady continued her recent good form to easily roll past Czech, Marie Bouzkova in 64 minutes, 6-1 6-2 to take on American young gun Coco Gauff. The talented teeenager stunned the last remaining seed in eighth seed Tunisian, Ons Jabeur 4-6 6-4 6-1, coming from a break down in the second set to win 10 the last 11 games and move through to the semi-finals.
Brady and Gauff move to career-high rankings after successful WTA Tour return
JENNIFER Brady and Coco Gauff led a host of players now at their career-high rankings after the first three WTA Tour tournaments have been put in the books. Brady took out the title at the Top Seed Open to move nine places up to 40th in the world for the first time in her career, […]
Brady claims maiden title in home nation
JENNIFER Brady has claimed her maiden WTA Tour title by taking out the inaugural Top Seed Open in Lexington by defeating Swiss talent, Jil Teichmann 6-3 6-4 in the final today. The match lasted an hour and 42 minutes and the title-less Brady was up against Teichmann who had only claimed her own back-to-back titles […]
Teichmann and Brady to face off in Lexington final after 70-minute routs
BOTH Jil Teichmann and Jennifer Brady needed an identical amount of time to secure respective semi-finals victories in the Top Seed Open at Lexington, winning in exactly 70 minutes over their opponents. Teichmann won 6-3 6-2 over United States’ Shelby Rogers to stop an all-American final, while Brady knocked off super young talent, Coco Gauff […]
Serena out in Lexington boilover
IT was not the way the Top Seed Open was meant to go. Top seed and US Open favourite Serena Williams was meant to cruise to victory in the lead-up tournament as many of her closest rivals fell early in the tournament, or opted not to play. But tennis, and in particular the WTA Tour […]
Bellis winds back clock to book quarter final spot
AMERICAN up and comer, Catherine Bellis (known as CiCi) has wound back the clock with back-to-back wins at the Top Seed Open showing her class in the Lexington event to book a spot in the final eight. The 302nd ranked United States representative is a far throw from her 2017 career-high ranking of 35th in […]
Gauff stuns Sabalenka in third top 15 win of her career
TEENAGE prodigy, Coco Gauff showed that that the time off did nothing to slow her down as a future Grand Slam winner, defeating second seed Belarusian, Aryna Sabalenka in three tight sets at the Top Seed Open. The win followed on from her stunning victory over reigning Australian Open champion, Naomi Osaka back at Melbourne […]
Twenty two years on, Williams sisters to face off for 31st time
TWENTY two years ago, 17-year-old Venus Williams emerged triumphant over her 16-year-old sister, Serena in the second round of the Australian Open. While both had shown immense talent as teenagers, few would have predicted what would develop, as both sisters would go on to win multiple Grand Slams, Serena vying for a record-equalling 24 if […]
British fall as other seeds advance on day one at Lexington
GREAT Britain’s great white hope, Johanna Konta‘s season continued to spiral after the third seed slipped up in the first round of the Top Seed Open in Lexington. Konta fell to Czech Marie Bouzkova in straight sets, 6-4 6-4 in two hours and one minute after dropping a match to a lowly ranked compatriot in […]
Top Seed Open draws Serena Williams to the fray
A BRAND new tournament starts up this week in Lexington, Kentucky, with the Top Seed Open set to host a wealth of top ranked players from the North America region in the lead up to the US Open, with hard court experience essential on the return of the tour. Ninth ranked Serena Williams headlines the […]
