Several close matches on May 8 at the Open de Cagnes-sur-Mer
Unfortunately, Claire Feuerstein (ranked 124th in the world), still in the running for these quarter-finals, was defeated in three sets (6/1, 4/6, 7/5) by Heather Watson (ranked 122nd) after leading 5 games to 2 in the 3rd set and having 6 match points.
Mathilde Johansson (ranked 148th), the last Frenchwoman in the quarter-finals against Maryna Zanevska (ranked 123rd), will try today to reach the semi-finals which will take place on Saturday.
Sharon Fichman, the Canadian (ranked 92nd), also had to battle to overcome Johanna Konta (ranked 111th), the Englishwoman, with a score of 6/4, 0/6, 6/4. She and her partner Heather Watson secured the double on Thursday, May 8, as they also won in doubles, 7/6, 6/4, against Cรฉcilia Costa Melgar and Ekaterine Gorgodze. They will thus be in the semi-finals in doubles this Friday, as well as in the singles quarter-finals.
The Frenchwomen Mathilde Johansson paired with Pauline Parmentier in doubles delivered an intense match but lost 4/6, 7/6, 10/2 in the super tie-break of the 3rd set.
Finally, the day ended beautifully with a high-level match between Johanna Larsson (ranked 91st), the Swedish former top 50 player, and Tamira Paszek (ranked 178th), the Austrian who was once world number 26. The players held nothing back until the last minute. They hit hard, made few unforced errors, and varied their shots well, playing with all the trajectory parameters (speed, length, direction, height) and occasionally taking their chances at the net. T. Paszek finally won 4/6, 7/5, 7/5 and will face Sharon Fichman tomorrow.
The young 9/10-year-olds will play their tournament final on Saturday at 1 PM, along with the semi-finals of the open, which promise to be of great intensity.
To conclude this 17th edition of the Open GDF SUEZ in Cagnes-sur-Mer, an exhibition wheelchair tennis match as well as the singles and doubles finals will take place on Sunday from 12 PM.
by Laurence Andreoletti
