{"id":37019,"date":"2021-06-03T01:01:26","date_gmt":"2021-06-03T05:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=37019"},"modified":"2021-06-03T01:01:26","modified_gmt":"2021-06-03T05:01:26","slug":"french-open-day-4-recap-serena-bencic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2021\/06\/03\/french-open-day-4-recap-serena-bencic\/","title":{"rendered":"French Open Day 4 Women&#8217;s Recap: Serena Moves On, Bencic Falls"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Conspicuously absent from the Day 4 schedule schedule at the French Open was <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2021\/05\/31\/naomi-osaka-withdraws-from-the-french-open\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">second seed Naomi Osaka<\/a><\/strong>. The controversy continues about media responsibilities and mandatory press obligations. Perhaps the best outcome is a candid conversation about mental health.<\/p>\n<p>Venus Williams suffered another first-round loss&#8211;this time on the doubles court. Playing alongside Coco Gauff, the pair fell in a tight three-set clash to 13<sup>th<\/sup> seeds Zheng Saisai and Ellen Perez. Hopefully Venus will fare better on the grass court swing.<\/p>\n<h2>French Open Day 4 Women&#8217;s Recap<\/h2>\n<h4><strong>Belinda Bencic \u2013 from Flawless to Foiled<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Belinda Bencic turned in a near flawless first round win. Wednesday, the 10<sup>th<\/sup> seed claimed only four games en route to a 2-6 2-6 loss to Daria Kasatkina. It wasn\u2019t that Bencic under-performed. All credit goes to the resurgent Russian, whose game translates so well to clay. Gone was the wayward serve which opponents loved to punish. Today, Kasatkina landed eight aces. Bencic found herself pinned back by Kasatkina\u2019s heavy topspin forehand. And, it was Kasatkina who controlled the rallies and moves into the third round where she\u2019ll meet Sorana Cirstea.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"8hlTwAvkTOdjSkSrkcZrvg\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1321292414\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'8hlTwAvkTOdjSkSrkcZrvg',sig:'UbPmc9fwhIg7v_i1fvsVq7_S7VCxbpl8GYigoNCu3k4=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1321292414',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4><strong>Aryna Sabalenka and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova Set For a Third Round Clash<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>It has been a strong season for third seed Sabalenka. The Belarusian has the second most wins on tour this season with 27. Today\u2019s win set up a third round clash with the #31 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. A repeat of the Madrid semifinal in which Pavlyuchenkova is looking for a different outcome. With Sabalenka\u2019s power and much better accuracy, it\u2019s hard to see her bow out at this point.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Veronika Kudermetova Comes Up Short on Three Setter<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>It was undoubtedly a heartbreaking loss for the 29<sup>th<\/sup> seed. Leading 5-2 in the first set, Katerina Siniakova managed to snatch it away in a tiebreak. After taking the second set and rushing off to a 5-1 lead in the decider, Kudermetova watchws that lead ebb as Siniakova continued to make shots with pinpoint accuracy.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"iNDANcpEQAJl5uGGlkX70g\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1321295361\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'iNDANcpEQAJl5uGGlkX70g',sig:'neK-D6brq8XBZWRV-INBzuYXtlgQw0aoq_vx1kW4UfA=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1321295361',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4><strong>Victoria Azarenka Will Faces Challenge in Madison Keys in Third Round<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Victoria Azarenka didn\u2019t have much clay court time behind her coming into the French Open. Yet, she\u2019s passed the first two hurdles. It took nearly an hour for the #15 seed to grab the first set. Those line painting shots continued to put the ball just beyond Tauson\u2019s reach, securing the win. Madison Keys, the 23<sup>rd<\/sup> seed, dismissed Leylah Fernandez to set up a second meeting with Azarenka. The Belarusian leads 1-0 in their head to head.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Serena Williams Moves One Step Closer to #24<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Seventh seed Serena Williams is moving on to the third round. Not a straightforward win, as Serena saw some of Mihaela Buzarnescu\u2019s shotmaking. Yet, Serena showed why she can easily be considered the greatest of all time. After dropping the second set, Williams dominated the decider, giving up a single game. Serena will met Danielle Collins on Friday. Collins, meanwhile, was absolutely dominant in a 6-0 6-2 win over Anhelina Kalinina.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<br \/>\n<a id=\"dT126nG9Q2ZkSebLuhlSHQ\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1321381201\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'dT126nG9Q2ZkSebLuhlSHQ',sig:'czldaOLXDkLv-eUsEVB9yaY9u_6FVESUrSX-4-qHB-8=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1321381201',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Conspicuously absent from the Day 4 schedule schedule at the French Open was second seed Naomi Osaka. The controversy continues about media responsibilities and mandatory press obligations. Perhaps the best outcome is a candid conversation about mental health. Venus Williams suffered another first-round loss&#8211;this time on the doubles court. Playing alongside Coco Gauff, the pair [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1838,"featured_media":37022,"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":[4,5],"tags":[269,1766,266,2747,2773,416,2254,63,476,25,70,5398,393],"class_list":["post-37019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wta","category-french-open","tag-anastasia-pavlyuchenkova","tag-aryna-sabalenka","tag-belinda-bencic","tag-coco-gauff","tag-danielle-collins","tag-daria-kasatkina","tag-katerina-siniakova","tag-madison-keys","tag-naomi-osaka","tag-serena-williams","tag-venus-williams","tag-veronika-kudermetova","tag-victoria-azarenka"],"modified_by":"Yesh Ginsburg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37019","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=37019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}