CUP RAINETH OVER
A thunderstorm monday evening forced the rogers cup to halt play at jarry park, delaying montrealer françoise abanda’s first match of the tournament
Venus Williams lives in Florida and is accustomed to playing tennis in hot weather, but she said that the conditions at the Rogers Cup Monday caught her attention.
“It was pretty hot out there and as players, you have to prepare for it, hydrate, eat,” Williams said after she beat fellow American Caroline Dolehide 7-5, 6-0 in a first-round match in IGA Stadium. “It’s even warmer in Florida but I’m on the court at 7 a.m. and I try to be off by 9.”
The temperatures were well above 30 degrees at court level and the conditions were made worse by the high humidity that broke shortly after 7 p.m. when a torrential thunderstorm halted the evening session.
The heat took its toll on several spectators who needed medical attention, and Williams was two points away from wrapping up her match when one of the line judges was overcome by heat. That resulted in a short delay while the judge was helped off the court to receive treatment.
Williams said she had a slow start because she had trouble with Dolehide’s serve.
“I think she had a really great second serve,” said Williams. “I think I got a better feel for it in the second set. In the first set, I was still figuring it out. I hadn’t really seen her play. I think maybe she had more of an advantage because she’s probably seen me play more than I’ve played her. It was pretty close in the first set.”
At 38, with a No. 1 ranking and seven Grand Slam titles on her resumé, Williams said she strives to get better.
When asked about her goals, she smiled and replied: “I just want to rule the world, that’s all. Small goals.”
The skies opened after Maria Sharapova took a 4-1 lead over Sesil Karatantcheva of Bulgaria in the opening match of the evening session while Montrealer Françoise Abanda was in the player lounge waiting for her late match against Belgian Kirsten Flipkens.
There was a break in the weather at 8:30 p.m. and organizers hoped to dry the courts and complete the evening session to prevent a backlog on Tuesday, but at 10:30 p.m. play was suspended for the night.
Eugenie Bouchard is pencilled in for an afternoon match against 14th-seeded Elise Mertens of the Netherlands on centre court Tuesday, while Carol Zhao of Richmond Hill, Ont., is scheduled to play Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands in an afternoon match in the Banque Nationale grandstand.
Bouchard tested the courts with a doubles match Monday as she and American Sloane Stephens upset the fifth-seeded team of Gabriela Dabrowski of Ottawa and Yifan Xu of China 6-4, 4-6, 10-6.
Bouchard said playing doubles is a way to get more matches, and Monday’s action replaced a practice session. She said any win gives a player confidence but she wasn’t putting any expectations on herself going into Tuesday’s match.
“Tomorrow’s another day; I’m just going to have to fight and see what happens,” said Bouchard.
Julia Goerges of Germany, the 10th seed, credited her fitness for allowing her to pull through as she christened the IGA Stadium with a 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4 win over Timea Sabos of Hungary.
“This is what you train for,” Gorges said after the two battled through the heat for two hours and 20 minutes. “It wasn’t just the heat, it was very humid and I was glad my fitness carried me through.”
Ninth-seeded Karolina Pliskova cruised to a workmanlike 6-4, 6-4 win over fellow Czech Katerina Siniakova.
Pliskova, who is playing her first tournament since her July 19 marriage to former Czech TV personality Michal Hrdlicka, wasn’t happy with her serve but she was grateful that she was able to close out the match in straight sets. She noted that it has been 35 degrees in much of Europe in recent weeks although there hasn’t been the energy-sapping humidity that hung over Monday’s matches.
“I had a lot of double faults and not many first serves,” said Pliskova. “I think she’s very dangerous. She hit a few shots; I missed a few shots. Overall, it pretty solid for me. I felt good. Nothing special, but I think a solid start.”
Anastasia Stevastova of Latvia, who is No. 19 and barely missed being seeded, needed only 57 minutes to beat Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia 6-1, 6-0.
Aneti Kontaviet of Estonia moved forward with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 win over Ekaterina Makarova of Russia; qualifier Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic rallied to beat Daria Gavrilova of Australia 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.
Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine had no trouble with British qualifier Katie Boulter, winning 6-4, 6-4 while Magdalena Rybakirova of Slovakia outlasted Barbora Strycova 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-2 in a two-hour and 40-minute contest.
It was pretty hot out there and as players, you have to prepare for it, hydrate, eat.