Paris–
After an eight-year hiatus left in the wake of Open Gaz de France’s 2014 conclusion, the WTA has returned to Paris. The inaugural Lagardère Trophy commenced this Monday at Lagardère Paris Racing Club in the heart of the beautiful Bois de Boulogne on Paris’s west edge. The WTA 125 event features $115,000 in prize money and is played on Lagardère Paris Racing Club’s historic red clay courts.
Already, the tournament has provided a high-quality atmosphere consistent with WTA tennis. On the singles side, World No. 46 Kaia Kanepi advanced to the quarterfinals, knocking off wild card entry Linda Fruhvirtova 7-6(4) 6-4. The Estonian will face the winner of Joanne Zuger and Donna Vekić. After a 7-5 6-7(3) 7-6 (4) victory over Australian Daria Saville in the opening round, Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia––currently ranked 52nd worldwide––advanced to the quarterfinals after defeating American youngster Hailey Baptiste.
On the doubles side, Baptiste and fellow American Christina McHale will face the Russian pair of Anastasia Gasanova and Kamilla Rakhimova in the quarterfinal round after an impressive 6-1 6-1 win over the wild card pair Delia Gaillard and Jang Su-jeong. The two-seed pairing, Japan’s Miyu Kato and Georgia’s Oksana Kalashnikova, advanced to the semifinal round after beating French duo Selena Janicijevic and Elsa Jacquemot 6-4 4-6 1-0 (5).
Looking ahead to the weekend, the singles draw is likely to heat for four women who have already secured coveted quarterfinal round spots. Former Junior World No. 1, American Claire Liu, continued to look strong yesterday as she handled the tricky game of Russian Anastasia Gasanova 6-4, 6-4. She will face the winner of Thursday’s match between four-seeded Varvara Gracheva and Korean Jang Su-jeong. Former World No. 33 Magda Linette will not be moving on to the quarterfinals after losing an upset match to Romanian Ana Bogdan 7-6 (4) 6-0.
On the doubles side, The first semifinal matchup, featuring Japan’s Miyu Kato and Georgia’s Oksana Kalashnikova against Anastasia Potapova and Anna Kalinskaya is set.
Main Photo from Getty.
