Sasnovich rallies past Cornet, advances to Cleveland final

Associated PressAug 26, 2022, 10:05 PM EDT

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CLEVELAND — Seventh-seeded Aliaksandra Sasnovich moved within one win of her first WTA Tour title, rallying to beat eighth-seeded Alize Cornet 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-3 in the semifinals at Tennis in The Land.

Sasnovich, ranked 36th in the world, won the final three games in the second set after Cornet served for the match up 5-4. She then jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the third before closing out the 2-hour, 50-minute contest with a drop shot.

“When Alize had the chance to serve out the match, I was thinking, `If you are losing, lose aggressively,”‘ Sasnovich said. “I tried to do my best because that’s all you can do in that situation.”

No. 37 Cornet of France did not lose a set in her first three victories in Cleveland, which included the 500th of her career in the opening round.

Sasnovich, who advanced to her fourth career final, will play No. 45 Liudmila Samsonova for the championship.

Samsonova beat Bernarda Pera 6-1, 6-2 in just 53 minutes, allowing four total points in winning all eight of her service games. The unseeded Russian fired seven aces without a double-fault against the lone American in the semifinals.

Pera, ranked No. 51, had won career-best 13 consecutive WTA matches and claimed titles at Budapest, Hungary and Hamburg, Germany. It was her first loss since Wimbledon two months ago.

At French Open, Francisco Cerundolo is mad at chair umpire over Holger Rune’s double-bounce

Associated PressJun 5, 2023, 8:49 PM EDT

Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

PARIS – Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina was devastated about losing his French Open fourth-round match to Holger Rune of Denmark in a fifth-set tiebreaker Monday. He also was mad at chair umpire Kader Nouni for missing a double-bounce of the ball on a point that was awarded to Rune early in his 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (10-7) victory.

They were tied at a set apiece and on serve at 2-1 for the No. 6-seeded Rune early in the third at Court Suzanne Lenglen when the point of contention happened. Cerundolo, who was serving at deuce, hit a forehand that skidded low at the baseline and quickly bounced a second time – which normally would have meant that the point was his.

But Rune went ahead and got his racket on the ball, sending it back over the net. At about the same time, No. 23 seed Cerundolo was saying “sorry” to apologize for the odd way his forehand made the ball skim across the clay. Nouni was not immediately aware of the double-bounce, thought the ball was still in play and called Cerundolo for hindrance for talking during a point. That meant Rune got the point, and when he won the next one, too, he had a service break.

“It was unbelievable, because it was a clear double-bounce. I was mad at the umpire because he has to see it,” Cerundolo said. “It’s his fault.”

In tennis, electronic line-calling is used at many tournaments to make line calls, but replays are not used to check things like double-bounces or whether a point should be lost because a player touches the net, which is not allowed.

And while Cerundolo put the onus on the official, he also thought Rune could have ceded the point because of the double-bounce.

“For sure, I wish he would have done that, because it was a big moment,” Cerundolo said.

Rune, who moved into a matchup against No. 4 Casper Ruud in the quarterfinals, said he saw a replay after the following point, and “saw it was a double bounce. But the point already happened, and he called the score. So I felt sorry.”

But, Rune added: “This is tennis. This is sports. Some umpires, they make mistakes. Some for me; some for him. That’s life.”

Gael Monfils withdraws from French Open with wrist injury

Associated PressJun 1, 2023, 11:34 AM EDT

Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

PARIS — A thrilling five-set victory took a toll on Gael Monfils, whose withdrawal from the French Open handed No. 6 Holger Rune a walkover to the third round.

The 36-year-old Frenchman said he has a strained left wrist and can’t continue.

He battled Sebastian Baez for nearly four hours on Court Philippe Chatrier before beating the Argentine 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 in a first-round match that ended at 12:18 a.m. local time.

The victory was Monfils’ first at tour level this year, as the veteran was coming back from heel surgery.

“Actually, physically, I’m quite fine. But I had the problem with my wrist that I cannot solve,” he said. “The doctor say was not good to play with that type of injury. Yesterday was actually very risky, and then today definitely say I should stop.”

Monfils reached the semifinals at the French Open in 2008 and made it to the quarterfinals on three other occasions.