Rezai defeats Venus and enters French Open calculations.
Here’s a name that wouldn’t have featured too highly in French Open title calculations before the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open – Aravane Rezai.
But after the Frenchwoman defeated Justine Henin, Jelena Jankovic and Venus Williams - all former world No. 1s – on her way to the third title of her career, Rezai has announced herself as perhaps the best chance France has of winning the women’s singles titles at Roland Garros this year.
It’s something that had to be seen to be believed, but the diminutive right-hander (she’s just 5ft 5in tall) simply overpowered Williams in the final at Madrid as the American struggled to find an answer to Rezai’s hard-hitting game.
"Sometimes you run into a player who's red hot. They hit every shot, they don't miss. All the credit to someone who can play like that," Williams said, summing up what was an imperious performance by her unseeded opponent.
While there may be little subtlety in the 23-year-old’s game, which is simply a matter of hitting the ball harder and with greater control than her opponent, at Madrid, Rezai showed that when it all falls into place it’s an almost unplayable combination.
On numerous occasions, Venus was left next to no time to prepare for her next shot, and found herself wrong-footed and stranded in the middle of the court. One memorable instance saw new world No. 2 rock back on her heels as she found the pace generated on the other side of the net too hot to handle. That’s not something you see every day on the WTA Tour.
Jankovic, capable of going toe-to-toe with some of the most powerful hitters in women’s tennis and one of the form players of the tour, had found herself similarly out-hit and frustrated in her quarter-final against Rezai.
“To be honest, I've never played a player who hits every ball like that," Jankovic said. "Some players hit the ball really hard, but no one hits every single ball like that. Doesn't matter if it's a high ball or a low ball. It was tough to read."
Rezai has produced a week of tennis that should leave more than a few players scanning the French Open draw to check how long they can avoid playing this French dynamo at Roland Garros.
If – and it’s still a big if – she can produce the same level of tennis for two weeks at the French Open, it will be tough to stop Rezai from featuring deep into the second week of the clay-court major.
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