Two French women still in the running at the Cagnes Open

Seeds No. 1 and 2 eliminated: the suspense remains high at the GDF SUEZ Open in Cagnes-sur-Mer, which today enters its second round with two French players on the schedule.

Denis Anouilh, the tournament director, is collaborating this year with Camille Pin, co-director, who spent 15 years at the top level of French women’s tennis. On the village side, they’ve introduced some new features with after-match aperitifs, themed evenings, a fashion show on Wednesday at 6 PM at Cap 3000… And still on the schedule, the tournament for young hopefuls aged 9/10, as well as the collection of used balls (reduced to granules to be transformed into sports surfaces) and ‘bouchons d’amour’ (whose recycling helps raise funds for the benefit of disabled people or humanitarian operations).

On the courts, Mathilde Johansson and Claire Feuerstein will be the only two French representatives in the second round of the GDF SUEZ Open in Cagnes-sur-Mer. The other French players were much less successful: Alizé LIM was defeated by Mirjana LUCIC-BARONI (CRO) after losing two tie-breaks, Irina RAMIALISON couldn’t find a solution against the experienced Tamira PASZEK (AUT), and Myrtille GEORGES fell to British player Johanna KONTA. As for our young 17-year-old French player, Fiona Ferro (ranked 478th), she didn’t disappoint at all, losing in three sets after a strong fight on the central court against Kiki Bertens (ranked 151st).

Let’s highlight the elimination of seeds No. 1 (Belgian Yanina Wickmayer) and No. 2 (Swiss Romina Oprandi) from the tournament, keeping the suspense alive for the remainder of the competition with a dense and evenly matched draw.

The schedule for Wednesday, May 7

Yulia PUTINTSEVA (KAZ), the tournament winner in 2014, will start the action at 10:30 AM against Sharon FICHMAN (CAN) in what will be the last match of the first round. The second round will follow, not before 12 PM, with Mathilde JOHANSSON (FRA) facing Mirjana LUCIC-BARONI (CRO). Last year’s finalist, Maryna ZANEVSKA (UKR), will then play against Sofia ARVIDSSON (SWE). Next, Aleksandra WOZNIAK (CAN) will face Timea BACSINSZKY (SUI) and, not before 4:30 PM, Sachia VICKERY (USA) will compete against Alexandra PANOVA (RUS).

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