Final contrasting stretch for Fiona Ferro and Diane Parry before Roland Garros

Diane Parry and Fiona Ferro were eliminated in the round of 16 of the Strasbourg and Rabat tournaments. On the eve of the Roland-Garros draw, it’s time for recovery and preparation for the most anticipated Grand Slam of the year.

A short but positive week for Fiona Ferro at the WTA 250 in Rabat

Withdrawn from Saint-Malo, then eliminated in the first round by American Madison Keys at the Clarins Trophy, Fiona Ferro played this week her final warm-up tournament before Roland Garros. Entered in the WTA 250 in Rabat, Morocco, the player from Valbonne first came through qualifying with two impressive victories.

Entered in the Moroccan tournament, Fiona Ferro first recorded two victories, Saturday and Sunday, to advance from qualifying, where she was the top seed. She defeated Russian Ekaterina Kazionova, 6/1-6/0, then Armenian Elina Avanesyan in three sets, 6/7-6/0-6/3.

In the first round, the player from Valbonne eliminated Danka Kovinić in two sets, 6/2-6/3. More consistent and confident, and helped by her opponent’s nine double faults on Monday, Fiona Ferro converted 100% of the seven break points she had, and won convincingly.

In the quarterfinals on Wednesday, the French player faced the number 2 seed, the world’s 51st-ranked player, Jessica Bouzas Maneiro. Despite a good start to the match, Fiona Ferro was outplayed and lost in three sets.

In the first set, more consistent and forcing her opponent into unforced errors, she converted her 2nd set point and took the first set with a double break, 6/2. The second set was much more competitive between the two players, who alternately lost their service games until the tiebreak. The Spanish player, the favorite on paper, lived up to her status by winning the decider 7 points to 2. In the third set, Fiona Ferro tired and could no longer keep up with the pace. She quickly fell behind and lost in three sets, (6/2-6/7-3/6).

In the quarterfinals, the Spanish player will face Petra Marcinko.

Diane Parry quickly stopped despite a good first round at the WTA 500 in Strasbourg

After her title at the Clarins Trophy last week, Diane Parry, back in the world top 100, entered the WTA 500 in Strasbourg as a final warm-up for the upcoming Paris Grand Slam. Crowned champion of the Paris challenger tournament (Clarins Trophy) on Sunday, Diane Parry went straight into her first round at the Strasbourg WTA500 on Tuesday.

The player from Nice faced off against Emma Raducanu. A tough draw, with the British player currently ranked 37th in the world, she is a player who has already reached the top 10 and most notably won a Grand Slam (US Open 2021). This first round lived up to expectations, offering continuous suspense from start to finish of the match.

Down 4/2 in the first set, Diane Parry raised her level of play by forcing her opponent into errors, and ultimately took the first set 6/4. In an equally balanced second set, Emma Raducanu broke first, but was quickly caught up. Diane Parry served for the match at 5/4, to no avail, before finally winning the tiebreak, final score 6/4-7/6.

In a second round more accessible in terms of ranking, Diane Parry unfortunately failed to maintain her good level of play from the day before, and lost in two sets to Chinese player Shuai Zhang, who is 14 years her senior.
More consistent and composed in key moments, particularly on return of serve, the Chinese player, ranked 74th in the world, had 12 break points in the match and converted four of them. She won in two sets, (6/2-7/5) and will face American Emma Navarro in the quarterfinals.

Both our French players will be present from this Sunday at Roland Garros, with the draw taking place tomorrow, Thursday May 21, starting at 2 p.m.