Francesca Schiavone speeds through US Open first round
French Open champion Francesca Schiavone has won her first match at a Grand Slam since the Roland Garros final, defeating Japan’s Ayumi Morita 6-1, 6-0 in the first round of the US Open.
After securing the French Open crown with some tactically astute and composed tennis that saw the Italian ultimately defeat Australia’s Sam Stosur in an unlikely final, Schiavone was ousted 6-7(0), 7-5, 6-1 in the first round of Wimbledon by Russia’s Vera Dushevina.
The 30-year-old’s subsequent tournaments also provided little to get excited about, with a quarter-final finish (to eventual champion Caroline Wozniacki) at the Rogers Cup in Montreal the best of them, but that was sandwiched between two opening losses in Cincinnati (to Elena Vesnina) and then in New Haven (to Dinara Safina) last week.
Today though, the world No. 7 raced to a 3-0 lead on the Grandstand court, breaking 84th-ranked Morita’s serve in the second game of the match and then again in the sixth as she claimed the first set in just 29 minutes after hitting 15 winners to her opponent’s one.
Schiavone then broke her 20-year-old opponent again in the opening game of the second set, and once more in the third to further signal her intent of spending as little time on court as possible in the hot conditions dished up on day one of the year’s final Grand Slam. In the end, Schiavone took just 57 minutes to book her place in the second round.
Despite the strength of her opening round victory, Schiavone’s first serve – which landed in the service box only 44 per cent of the time – is a concern going forward, though if she can keep the winners flowing (Schiavone finished with 28 against Morita) Italy’s No. 1 will certainly have the self-belief that she can challenge deep into the tournament.
However, with 10th seed Victoria Azarenka and former champion Venus Williams (who defeated Schiavone in the fourth round at the Australian Open this year) looming as potential fourth round and quarter-final opponents respectively – should Schiavone get that far on the hard courts in Flushing Meadows - it’s still hard to see a second Grand Slam title heading the Italian’s way in New York this September.
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