{"id":15370,"date":"2019-05-31T16:33:04","date_gmt":"2019-05-31T20:33:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=15370"},"modified":"2019-05-31T16:33:04","modified_gmt":"2019-05-31T20:33:04","slug":"french-open-day-6-recap-bencic-pliskova-svitolina-bounced-martic-unstoppable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2019\/05\/31\/french-open-day-6-recap-bencic-pliskova-svitolina-bounced-martic-unstoppable\/","title":{"rendered":"French Open Day 6 Women\u2019s Recap:\u00a0 Bencic, Pliskova and Svitolina Bounced, Martic Looks Unstoppable"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the first day of third round play, five of the seeded players were eliminated. And, I think we\u2019re watching another teenage phenom, Marketa Vondrousova, finally find her breakout best.<\/p>\n

French Open Day 6 Recap<\/h2>\n

Seeds fall on Day 6<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Belinda Bencic, the #15 seed, says goodbye to Roland Garros<\/a>. The resurgent Swiss was handed a disappointing straight sets loss at the hands of 23rd<\/sup> seed Donna Vekic. It\u2019s not altogether surprising that Bencic\u2019s play would falter after her contentious second rounder against Laura Siegemund. The German and the Swiss exhausted far too much energy chirping at the chair. Surely it took an emotional toll on the World #7. But, credit where credit\u2019s due, Donna Vekic is showing herself as a force to be reckoned with. Eight aces, six break points, and a 71% first serve against the Swiss are undeniably solid stats. I think we\u2019ll see Vekic next week.<\/p>\n

Garbine Muguruza, the #19 seed, was able to claim victory, turning in a 58% first serve percentage. Falling victim to the Spaniard\u2019s strong return of serve, the #9 seed, Elina Svitolina, is out. Perhaps a walk-over in the second round didn\u2019t benefit the Ukrainian. Looks like she could have used that court time to fine tune before meeting up with a tournament tough Muguruza. The World #19 always has the ability to surprise, sometimes losing to the most unlikely opponents only to take out a superior talent in the very next tournament. And, that\u2019s the Garbine Muguruza who\u2019s moving on to the Round of 16 when Sloane Stephens awaits.<\/p>\n

Elise Mertens and Anastasija Sevastova, both seeded at the French Open, have had a very up and down year. Mertens\u2019 success has been confined to doubles. Both Mertens and doubles partner Aryna Sabalenka have been eliminated from the singles draw. Perhaps their disappointing singles play will be allayed by a slam doubles title? After two straightforward matches, Sevastova had to prove her prowess. It took more than two hours for the third set decider, which Sevastova finally claimed 11-9. Next, the Latvian will face red-hot Marketa Vondrousova.<\/p>\n

Stephens and Konta move on<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The #7 seed Sloane Stephens continues to escape potential upsets. Today\u2019s threat came in the form of Polona Hercog who out-aced the American. Again, the momentary lapses Sloane experiences could soon prove her undoing. While she was able to reclaim the momentum, the tournament\u2019s toughest won\u2019t let Stephens back in the door. If she hopes to continue on at Roland Garros, the American will need to do better protecting her serve.<\/p>\n

Still pushing through this tournament is the #26 seed, Johanna Konta. It looked like she would be exited by Lauren Davis in the second round. Perhaps it was that battled that toughened the Brit. Konta dropped only three games in her win over Viktoria Kuzmova. Hard to believe it\u2019s her first French Open seeing anything other than a first round loss<\/a>. Britain\u2019s #1 will faces her toughest task next, when she meets Donna Vekic in the Round of 16.<\/p>\n

Both unseeded, Veronika Kudermetova and Kaia Kanepi battled through a three setter. While the first two sets were competitive, the Estonian took the decider without dropping a game. Unfortunately, her celebration will be short lived as she\u2019s slated for a Round of 16 visit to Petra Martic.<\/p>\n

Martic and Vondrousova make Day 6 statements<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Second seed Karolina Pliskova bids adieu to Paris on Day 6, leaving Naomi Osaka in full control of the World #1 position. The Pliskova exit brings the total to four Top 10 players now exited in France. Patience paid off for the #31 seed, Petra Martic who has now won more clay matches on the WTA Tour. Clay is a surface which suits the Croat\u2019s game. With crafty shot selection and a consistent serve, you would be foolish not to consider Martic a title contender, even if she\u2019s still a long-shot. It\u2019s likely that Martic will be in the round of 16, as Kanepi shouldn\u2019t prove that big a challenge for the Croatia\u2019s red-hot player.<\/p>\n

Carla Suarez Navarro\u2019s only straight sets match surely didn\u2019t end as she\u2019d like. Spain\u2019s clay court specialist and #28 seed fell to teenager Marketa Vondrousova, 4-6 4-6. The young Czech has a game well suited to clay. A powerhouse baseliner, Vondrousova is a great mover. Those skills are what Vondrousova will rely on to help her reach the quarterfinals. Standing in her path is the #12 seed, Anastasija Sevastova. A confident Vondrousova should find her way through the struggling Sevastova.<\/p>\n

A Look at Day 7<\/strong><\/h4>\n

American teenager Amanda Anisimova will take on Romania\u2019s Irina-Camela Begu. Anisimova\u2019s easy power and solid defense should make Begu very uncomfortable. If the 17-year-old gets through this match, she can certainly be considered a contender for the title.<\/p>\n

Another teenager vying for a Round of 16 appearance is Poland\u2019s Iga Swiatek. This remarkable teenager defeated the #16 seed Wang Qiang while dropping only three games. Puig, the former Gold Metal Olympian will have her hands full in this meetup.<\/p>\n

The All American skirmish between a solid performing Sofia Kenin against former Slam champion Serena Williams is the match of the day. Kenin was just knocked out of the doubles draw and is now able to have a single focus on her singles play. Unfortunately, it comes against the legend that is Serena Williams. After questionable movement and cement footwork in her opening round, Williams shook off the rust to bring in a second round win 6-3 6-2. If the Williams\u2019 serve continues its power and precision demonstrated in round two, we\u2019ll see Serena move on to the Round of 16.<\/p>\n

Other seeds in action on Day 7 include #1 seed Naomi Osaka, # 3 seed Simona Halep, #8 seed Ashleigh Barty, #14 seed Madison Keys and #27 seed Lesia Tsurenko \u2013 all looking for a spot in the Round of 16.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the first day of third round play, five of the seeded players were eliminated. And, I think we\u2019re watching another teenage phenom, Marketa Vondrousova, finally find her breakout best. French Open Day 6 Recap Seeds fall on Day 6 Belinda Bencic, the #15 seed, says goodbye to Roland Garros. The resurgent Swiss was handed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1838,"featured_media":15328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5,4],"tags":[5539,5538,119,266,1248,394,204,200,60,2007,147,884,2507,6334,463,4798],"class_list":["post-15370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-french-open","category-wta","tag-2019-french-open","tag-2019-roland-garros","tag-anastasija-sevastova","tag-belinda-bencic","tag-donna-vekic","tag-elina-svitolina","tag-french-open","tag-garbine-muguruza","tag-johanna-konta","tag-kaia-kanepi","tag-karolina-pliskova","tag-marketa-vondrousova","tag-petra-martic","tag-polonia-hercog","tag-sloane-stephens","tag-viktoria-kuzmova"],"modified_by":"Yesh Ginsburg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1838"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}