Lowly Shelby upsets Serena at Top Seed tennis tourney
Gauff reached her second WTA semifinal with quite a comeback. One point from trailing by a set and two breaks, Gauff won 10 of the last 11 games to eliminate No. 8 seed Jabeur 4-6, 6-4, 6-1
Entering Friday, Serena Williams had played 967 tour-level singles matches as a professional, with just four losses against opponents ranked outside the top 100 - and none in eight years.
Well, it’s time to add to that list: Williams was beaten by No. 116 Shelby Rogers 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5) in the Top Seed Open quarterfinals.
“It’s good to know,” Williams said, “I can play a lot, lot, lot beter.”
SHE’LL WANT TO DO SO SOON: The US Open begins Aug. 31. Rogers, who is from South Carolina, took six of the last eight points Friday ater trailing 3-1 in the tiebreaker to collect only her third career victory over a top-10 opponent.
She also reached her first WTA semifinal since 2016. Need to go even further back in the record books to find this sort of tournament exit for former No. 1 Williams: The owner of 23 Grand Slam singles titles hadn’t bowed out against someone so low in the rankings since No. 111 Virginie Razzano stunned her at the 2012 French Open.
Shortly ater that, Williams teamed up with coach Patrick Mouratoglou, who still works with her and was among the few people in the stands Friday -- fans are not allowed at the first tennis tournament in the US since the outset of the coronavirus pandemic.
It had happened only three other times, including in qualifying at Quebec City all the way back in 1995, when Williams was making her professional debut at age 14. Now she’s 38; Rogers is 27.
“It’s every kid’s dream when they’re growing up, watching her play, to be able to do something like that,” Rogers said. “Weird circumstances, weird seting, but a win is a win and I know we’re all just happy to be back playing.”
Later Friday, 16-year-old American Coco Gauff reached her second WTA semifinal with quite a comeback. One point from trailing by a set and two breaks, Gauff won 10 of the last 11 games to eliminate No. 8 seed Ons Jabeur 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.
Gauff was down 4-2 in the second set and facing a break point, but Jabeur sailed a backhand long. That was enough to let Gauff back into the match and she soon took full control.
In the semifinals, Gauff will meet Jennifer Brady, who advanced by beating Marie Bouzkova 6-1, 6-2.
Rogers faces Jil Teichmann of Switzerland on Saturday. Teichmann needed seven match points to reach the first hard-court semifinal of her career with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Cici Bellis.
HALEP ENTERS PRAGUE OPEN FINAL: Romanian top seed Simona Halep advanced to the WTA Prague Open final ater beating her compatriot Irina-camelia Begu in straight sets on Saturday.
Halep won 7-6 (7/2), 6-3 in an hour and a half to set up a final clash against 23rd-ranked Belgian Elise Mertens, who beat Czech Kristyna Pliskova 7-5, 7-6 (7/4) in the other semi-final on Saturday.
World number two and reigning Wimbledon champion Halep took a while to warm up against the 82nd-ranked Begu who had played her quarter-final match -- a three-seter -- earlier Saturday morning. Ater a two-hour break, Begu was back on court and took a 5-3 lead in the first set as Halep struggled for pace.
Halep drew level and Begu then took a medical break to receive treatment for calluses on the palm of her right hand.
Halep won the set in tie-break, but Begu kept fighting in the second before Halep finally prevailed. Shesaid the medical break had helped her as Begu “was playing really well at that point and she was kind of dominating the match”.
“I didn’t play my best tennis but... probably she was a litle bit more tired than me in the second set,” Halep told Czech television.