Maralpines Fiona Ferro and Diane Parry were engaged this week in the Clarins Trophy in Paris. A WTA 125 tournament preparatory to the Roland-Garros qualifiers.
A winner the day before in qualifying against Chinese player Sijia Wei, Valbonne-native Fiona Ferro was back on the court. This time, it was to challenge Russian Anastasia Zakharova (23 years old, world No. 110). A player initially scheduled to play the Rome Masters 1000 but failed in qualifying just like Alizé Cornet.
Aggressive at the start of the match, Anastasia Zakharova surprised Fiona Ferro, who was not in her rhythm. It took until the fifth game for the Azurienne to set up her varied tennis game and trouble her opponent, particularly with very short balls. As the minutes passed, the French player managed to plant doubt in the Russian’s mind, causing her to start making direct errors. It felt like the first set could swing either way in a very short time.
Fiona Ferro managed to create numerous break-back opportunities to get back into the game, thanks to the numerous forehand errors by Anastasia Zakharova.
The short game of the Maralpine posed a problem for her. But when Fiona Ferro alternated with longer balls, they often landed beyond the baseline… With grit, the Russian claimed the first set (6-2).
Visibly frustrated by her level of play and the number of unforced errors, Fiona Ferro lost her first service game again in the second set. With no solutions against a player regaining precision, the Valbonnaise seemed disheartened. The points flew by and so did the hope for a comeback. Despite a brief rally where she managed to adjust better, Fiona Ferro succumbed and was defeated (6-2/6-2) in 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Fiona Ferro will need to show a completely different level of play in her next event, the Roland-Garros tournament qualifiers in ten days.
