Naomi notches ‘name’ victory
Ana Ivanovic might be one of the brightest stars in tennis, but to Naomi Broady’s friends, she’s better known as the girlfriend of Manchester United soccer star Bastian Schweinsteiger.
After upsetting Ivanovic at the Auckland Classic for her first win over a top-20 player, friends of Britain’s Broady struggled to place the former world No 1.
“Some of my friends don’t follow tennis at all,” Broady told the New Zealand Herald.
“I have messaged them, ‘I won, I won!’ but it’s like eating humble pie ... I have to explain to them that I have won a good match and they just don’t get it.”
“They are more bothered that I played Schweinsteiger’s girlfriend, I think. They don’t get tennis whatsoever.”
Broady, 25 and ranked No 122 in the world, came through qualifying to make the main draw in Auckland where she beat Ivanovic, the Serbian second seed, 7-5, 6-4 in the first round.
Broady fired down 14 aces to overpower Ivanovic, and another 21 when she beat Latvian Jelena Ostapenko in the second round 4-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5 on Wednesday.
Broady said that before playing Ivanovic, she was inspired by the 18-year-old Russian Daria Kasatkina’s win over top seed Venus Williams in the first round.
“My coach said before the match the biggest thing would be believing you could win,” Broady said.
“The fact that the young girl went out before me and beat Venus gave me a boost. If she could take out Venus,
They are more bothered that I played Schweinsteiger’s girlfriend, I think. They don’t get tennis whatsoever.” Naomi Broady, after beating Ivanovic
why couldn’t I take out the No 2 seed?”
Meanwhile, Broady accused Ostapenko of deliberately throwing her racket and hitting a ball boy.
Ostapenko was running for a shot during the secondset tiebreak when her racket flew out of her hand, hit the back wall and then hit a ball boy on the shoulder.
Broady immediately protested to chair umpire Blaze Trifunobski that Ostapenko should be disqualified. The ball boy was summoned and questioned by the umpire as the British player protested to Trifunobski, then to tour supervisor Tony Cho.
Racket slipped
Ostapenko said the racket slipped from her hand and hit the boy accidentally. The Latvian avoided disqualification but was issued a code violation.
Broady, who beat Ivanovic in the first round, went on to win 4-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5 to reach the semifinals.
The players shook hands at the end of the match, but then renewed their verbal dispute and had to be separated by the umpire before leaving the court.
“It was quite clear that she threw her racket and it hit a ball kid, which should be disqualification,” Broady said.
“Jelena said to (the umpire) it slipped from her hand so it was just a code violation or something. On the replay it is quite clear, but that’s tennis and I managed to keep myself together quite well.”
Meanwhile, Svetlana Kuznets ova joined the growing list of seeded players making an early exit from the WTA Auckland Classic on Wednesday.
Fourth seed Kuznetsova was beaten in straight sets by Austrian qualifier Tamira Paszek while seventh seed Barbora Strycova went down to German Julia Goerges.
Going into the quarterfinals, third-seed Caroline Wozniacki and fifth-seed Sloane Stephens are the only seeded players remaining and both are in the same half of the draw.