Riske ousts Kerber, Mladenovic advances

Tennis
Zhengzhou (China), Sept. 10, 2019 (Reuters/NAN) American Alison Riske fought back from a set down to beat Germany’s Angelique Kerber 5-7 6-4 7-6(6) in the first round of the inaugural Zhengzhou Open on Tuesday.

The latest defeat in China extended the former world number one’s poor run of form.

Riske held her nerve to save a match point in the third set tie-break before going on to inflict a fourth consecutive first round defeat on Kerber.

The German was beaten by Kristina Mladenovic in her first match at the U.S. Open.

Kerber, a three-times Grand Slam champion, was beaten in the second round at Wimbledon.

She also suffered first round defeats in Toronto and Cincinnati in the run-up to the year’s final Grand Slam at Flushing Meadows.

On her part, Mladenovic made short work of Chinese wildcard Duan Yingying earlier in the day.

She won 6-2 6-3 to set up a second round meeting with fellow Frenchwoman and her former doubles partner Caroline Garcia.

“It was (They were) very tricky conditions. It’s super humid and it’s never easy to start a tournament,” said Mladenovic, who won 79 percent of her first serve points during the match.

“Every first round is difficult and Yingying, I’ve played (against) her in the past and she’s a very powerful player with a big serve.

“I think the key today was the consistency on my serve, and I managed to read hers well, which is her biggest weapon.”

Also, former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko beat 23-year-old Chinese qualifier You Xiaodi 6-3 0-6 6-2 to reach the last 16, while France’s Fiona Ferro and Alize Cornet equally advanced. (Reuters/NAN)
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(Edited by Joseph Edeh and Olawale Alabi)