Tag Archives: Ekaterina Makarova

Garcia & Kristina Mladenovic Win French Open Women’s Doubles Title

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Caroline Garcia is a Grand Slam champion… 

The 22-year-old part-Spanish tennis player and her partner Kristina Mladenovic gave the Paris crowd a home victory to cheer as they won the women’s doubles title at the French Open.

Caroline Garcia & Kristina Mladenovic

The French duo, seeded seventh, beat Russian fifth seeds Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 6-3 2-6 6-4.

The rare triumph for the home nation gives Garcia and Mladenovic their first Grand Slam title, having only teamed up this year with a target of playing at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

They have now won titles in Charleston, Stuttgart, Madrid and Paris.

The last French victors in women’s doubles in the clay-court major at Roland Garros were Gail Chanfreau and Francoise Durr, who won in 1970 and then defended their title the following year.

Caroline Garcia & Kristina Mladenovic

“So there are the big tournaments that we have already won, which is a good success in itself, but winning a Grand Slam, and here in Roland Garros, it’s 10 steps above what is logical or normal,” Mladenovic said. “To win here with Caroline at Roland Garros, it’s incredible.”

Mladenovic and Garcia, who have lost just one match together on clay this season, got off to a bright start and built a 5-0 lead.

Makarova and Vesnina fought hard and saved six set points before Mladenovic served out the opener. But a change in the momentum saw the Russians take control of the match as they leveled it by taking the second set.

Mladenovic and Garcia kept their composure as pressure mounted toward the end of the decider, winning 12 of the last 15 points.

Garcia Reaches Women’s Doubles Final at the French Open

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Caroline Garcia has reached her first Grand Slam women’s doubles final…

The 22-year-old part-Spanish tennis player and her partner Kristina Mladenovic beat Margarita Gasparyan and Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in Friday’s semifinal at the French Open.

Caroline Garcia & Kristina Mladenovic

The all-French team, the obvious local favorites at Roland Garros, will face off against Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina of Russia in the final.

Last year, Garcia reached the third round at the French Open with then partner Katarina Srebotnik.

But this year, Garcia and Mladenovic won the women’s doubles title at the Mutua Madrid Open, defeating the No. 1 seeded team of Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza in the final, 6–4, 6–4.

Soares & Partner Sania Mirza Claim Mixed Doubles Crown at the U.S. Open

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Bruno Soares has returned to the winner’s circle at the U.S. Open…

The 32-year-old Brazilian tennis player clinched his second mixed doubles title at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. 

Bruno Soares & Sania Mirza

Soares and his partner Sania Mirza overcame a few anxious moments in the match tie break to win the title.

The top seeded pair squandered five straight championship points before scoring a 6-1 2-6 11-9 win over Abigail Spears of the USA and Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico in exactly 60 minutes.

Spears sent a backhand volley long after making it 9-9 from 4-9, as Soares and Mirza heaved a big sigh of relief.

It was first time that the two were playing together as a pair.

“Playing with him is a lot of fun. He did not play with me all these years not sure why?” gushed Mirza after the win and confirmed that the pairing will continue for the Australian Open.

Soares had previously won the Mixed Doubles title at the U.S. Open in 2012 with Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova.

Soares and Makarova won the title after defeating fourth-seeded Květa Peschke and Marcin Matkowski in the final 6–7(8–10), 6–1, [12–10].

Soares Elected to the ATP Player Council

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Bruno Soares has soared into a leadership position with the Association of Tennis Professionals.

The 32-year-old Brazilian tennis player, primarily a doubles specialist, has been elected to the ATP Player Council.

Bruno Soares

The 12-member council delivers advisory decisions to the ATP Board of Directors, which has the power to accept or reject the Council’s suggestions.

Soares won the mixed doubles title at the 2012 U.S. Open with Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova. In all, he has 17 career men’s doubles titles.

But Soares isn’t the only Latino to join the group…

André Sá will also serve on the ATP Players Council.

Sá, a Wimbledon men’s singles quarterfinalist in 2012, turned pro in 1996. He has seven career titles in doubles; his most recent coming in September 2011 at the Open de Moselle.

Along with Soares and Sa, other players elected to the council include Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka, American John Isner, Kevin Anderson, Gilles Simon, Jurgen Melzer, Sergiy Stakhovsky, Raven Klaasen and Eric Butorac. They will serve two-year terms.

Roger Federer is stepping down after serving as council president since 2008.

“Clearly we made big strides in prize money. … I think we were able to calm things down a little bit, because things were quite hectic when I came onto the council,” said Federer of his involvement on the council.

The new council’s first meeting will be in New York before the U.S. Open in August, when it will elect a president and vice president.

Muguruza Named the No. 27 Seed at This Year’s Wimbledon

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It’s another first for Garbine Muguruza…

The 20-year-old half-Spanish-half-Venezuelan tennis player, who reached her first-ever Grand Slam quarterfinals at the French Open earlier this month, has been seeded No. 27 at this year’s Wimbledon.

Garbine Muguruza

All eyes will certainly be on Muguruza, currently ranked a career-high No. 27 in the world, following her impressive run at Roland Garros. She knocked out No. 1 seed Serena Williams in the second round and was thisclose to taking out eventual winner Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals.

Muguruza, who won her first WTA tournament title at Australia’s Hobart Internationaltournament in January, will be competing for the second time at the All England Club. At last year’s Wimbledon, she lost in the second round to No. 25 seed Ekaterina Makarova 2-6, 7-6, 4-6.

But Muguruza isn’t the only Latina to earn a seed at this year’s Wimbledon.

Fellow French Open quarterfinalist Carla Suárez Navarro, who reached the women’s doubles semifinals with Muguruza at Roland Garros this year, is seeded No. 15 by the All England Club.

She reached the fourth round at the grass-court tournament last year, her best showing at Wimbledon. The then No. 19 seed lost to No. 8 seed Petra Kvitová 6-7, 3-6.

Tournament officials take a player’s grass-court record into account when assigning the men’s seedings.

Here’s the complete list of seeds (with their world ranking in parenthesis):

Women

1. Serena Williams, United States (1)
2. Li Na, China (2)
3. Simona Halep, Romania (3)
4. Agnieszka Radwanska, Poland (4)
5. Maria Sharapova, Russia (5)
6. Petra Kvitova, Czech Republic (6)
7. Jelena Jankovic, Serbia (7)
8. Victoria Azarenka, Belarus (8)
9. Angeliq ue Kerber, Germany (9)
10. Dominika Cibulkova, Slovakia (10)
11. Ana Ivanovic, Serbia (11)
12. Flavia Pennetta, Italy (12)
13. Eugenie Bouchard, Canada (13)
14. Sara Errani, Italy (14)
15. Carla Suarez Navarro, Spain (15)
16. Caroline Wozniaki, Denmark (16)
17. Samantha Stosur, Australia (17)
18. Sloane Stephens, United States (18)
19. Sabine Lisicki, Germany (19)
20. Andrea Petkovic Germany (20)
21. Roberta Vinci, Italy (21)
22. Ekaterina Makarova, Russia (22)
23. Lucie Safarova, Czech Republic (23)
24. Kirsten Flipkens, Belgium (24)
25. Alize Coronet, France (25)
26. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Russia (26)
27. Garbine Muguruza, Spain (27)
28. Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia (28
29. Sorana Cirstea, Romania (29)
30. Venus Williams, United States (30)
31. Klara Koukalova, Czech Republic (31)
32. Elena Vesnina, Russia (32)