Latest news with #TerezaValentova
Forbes
3 days ago
- General
- Forbes
Coco Gauff Says French Open Must ‘Improve' Scheduling For Women's Matches
Coco Gauff would like to see the French Open 'improve' its scheduling by adding women's night matches. Last year, all 11 night matches – which begin at 8:15 p.m. and are ticketed separately – featured men's matches, and so far this year all the night matches have involved men. The last women's singles match featured in prime time came in 2023, and there have been only four since night sessions began in 2021. 'I talked about this a few days ago, and to be honest, I didn't really have all the facts about the situation," Gauff said following her second-round victory over Tereza Valentova, 6-2, 6-4. 'I do think that women's matches are worthy of a night spot.' Unlike the U.S. Open and Australian Open, which both feature two night matches (one men's and one women's), Roland Garros features only one prime time match. Gauff said she doesn't feel women's night matches should be scheduled after the men. 'And I think, to be honest, if there were gonna be two spots [in Paris], I don't think that a woman should play after the men at 8:15,' she said. "I just think that's unfair. Because you could go on at 11:00. And that's if the match really goes fast. I think there is opportunity to put the match earlier at like 7:00.. like most tournaments do the 2 night slots. I think if they're gonna put one match at 8:15, there for sure could be opportunity to put a woman there. And if they're gonna put two slots and the first match is starting at 8:15, I don't think a woman's match should be play after a men's match. I don't think people should be going on at 11:00 or 12:00 to be honest. "I definitely do agree with Ons. When you feel, like, what's best for the fans.. but I feel like we produce some high quality tennis and we have some great stars on the women's sides that fans would love to see. From my experience playing at U.S. Open, night match at 7:00 pm, with Novak [Djokovic] following me, and he's the greatest player of all time, people were almost just as excited to see me play as him. And same as other places I've played like Australia, night match, people were excited to see too. So I definitely think there's opportunity to improve that in the future with this tournament.' Ons Jabeur previously criticized French Open officials for not scheduling any women's night matches, calling it 'sad.' "It's still sad that we are still seeing this," Jabeur said. "I keep standing by my words. "In Europe, in general, it's unfortunate for women's sports in general. Not for tennis but for in general. I hope whoever is making the decision, I don't think they have daughters because I don't think they want to treat their daughters like this. "You know, it's a bit ironic. They don't show women's sport, they don't show women's tennis, and then they ask the question, 'Yeah, but mostly they watch men.' Of course they watch men more because you show men more. Everything goes together. "It's a shame from the federation, a shame from the Prime, whatever called the TV, that they made such a contract like this. A lot of great players, they deserve to be there. One of the matches was Naomi [Osaka]
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
AP PHOTOS: Highlights from the second round of the French Open tennis tournament
Coco Gauff of the U.S. serves the ball to Tereza Valentova of the Czech Republic during their second round match of the French Tennis Open, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Thursday, May 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Gauff, Pegula, Sinner sweep into third round of French Open
Coco Gauff beat Tereza Valentova in straight sets in the second round of the 2025 French Open on Thursday in Paris. Photo by Maya Vidon-White/UPI May 29 (UPI) -- Coco Gauff needed 75 minutes to oust her third-round foe, while Jessica Pegula and top-ranked Jannik Sinner were among other top tennis players to advance to the third round Thursday at the 2025 French Open. Gauff, the No. 2 player in the WTA Tour singles rankings, struggled with her serve, but still converted 8 of 13 break point opportunities in the 6-2, 6-4 win over No. 51 Tereza Valentova of the Czech Republic on Thursday in Paris. Advertisement She totaled 23 unforced errors and nine forced errors, compared to Valentova's respective 33 and 18. Gauff will meet No. 47 Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic in the third round. The winner will face No. 46 Veronika Kudermetova or No. 20 Ekaterina Alexandrova, both of Russia, in the fourth round. Bouzkova beat No. 56 Sonay Kartal of Great Britain in straight sets in her second-round match. Coco Gauff serves against Czech Tereza Valentova during the second round of the 2025 French Open on Thursday in Paris. Photo by Maya Vidon-White/UPI Kudermetova upset No. 15 Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic. Alexandrova swept No. 89 Elisabetta Cocciaretto of Italy. Pegula, ranked No. 3, beat No. 55 Ann Li of the United States in straight sets. She totaled 23 unforced errors and 14 forced errors in the 6-3, 7-6(3) victory. Li, who edged Pegula 4-1 in aces, totaled 33 unforced errors and 27 forced errors. Coco Gauff returns a shot to Tereza Valentova during their second-round match at the 2025 French Open on Thursday in Paris. Photo by Maya Vidon-White/UPI Pegula will battle No. 96 Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic in the third round. Vondrousova beat No. 26 Magdalena Frech of Poland in her second-round match. Advertisement "It was a really tough match today," Pegula said. "Ann has been playing some really good tennis this year and had a lot of close matches with good players. It was tricky with the wind. She was slicing a lot, kind of making me earn a lot of points. Coco Gauff plays against Tereza Valentova in the second-round of the 2025 French Open on Thursday in Paris. Photo by Maya Vidon-White/UPI "I felt like it was a pretty physical match, a lot of long points and long games. But happy I was able to kind of hold on to that second set there definitely." No. 7 Madison Keys and No. 70 Hailey Baptiste were among the other American women to advance at the clay-court Grand Slam. Tereza Valentova plays against Coco Gauff during their second-round match at the 2025 French Open on Thursday in Paris. Photo by Maya Vidon-White/UPI No. 6 Mirra Andreeva of Russia and No. 10 Paula Badosa of Spain were among the other top women's players to win second-round matches Thursday at Roland-Garros. Advertisement Sinner and No. 3 Alexander Zverev of Germany were among the top men to advance. Sinner dispatched No. 166 Richard Gasquet of France in straight sets. He totaled 27 winners, 20 unforced errors and 20 forced errors in the 6-3, 6-0, 6-4 match, which lasted nearly two hours. The Italian will face No. 34 Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic in the third round. Gasquet, who played the final match of his career, totaled 2029 unforced errors and 35 forced errors. "It's obviously a very special place for me to play," Sinner said. "Against Richard, we already played last year here, it's always very tough. I'm generally very happy to be in the third round. Thank you guys [fans] for making it fair." Advertisement No. 62 Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the day, beating No. 9 Alex de Minaur of Australia 2-6, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 in a 2-hour, 52-minute match. No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, No. 7 Lorenzo Musetti, No. 10 Holger Rune of Norway and Americans No. 12 Tommy Paul (No. 12) and Ben Shelton (No. 13) will be among the top men's players in action Friday in Paris. No. 16 Frances Tiafoe will meet fellow American Sebastian Korda (No. 23) in another third-round match. No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, No. 4 Jasmine Paolini of Italy, No. 5 Iga Swiatek of Poland, No. 7 Zheng Qinwen of China, No. 14 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine and No. 16 Amanda Anisimova of the United States will be among the top women in singles matches Friday at Roland-Garros. Third-round French Open coverage will start at 5 a.m. EDT Friday on TNT and Max.
The Independent
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
French Open 2025: Coco Gauff's serve is not at its best but she gets the breaks for a win
Coco Gauff kept getting herself in some trouble with shaky serving in the French Open's second round, and she kept putting herself back in position to win by breaking right back Thursday. The second-seeded Gauff, pursuing her first title at Roland-Garros, eliminated 172nd-ranked qualifier Tereza Valentova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-4 in 75 minutes on a partly cloudy, warm afternoon in Court Suzanne-Lenglen. Amid a soundtrack of sirens from nearby streets and roars from nearby courts, 2023 U.S. Open champion Gauff only managed to produce 11 winners, five fewer than her far-less-experienced opponent. Gauff also finished with 23 unforced errors, a total that included a half-dozen double-faults. Against Valentova, an 18-year-old who won the junior title at the French Open last year and was competing in the main draw at a major tournament for the first time, Gauff got broken five times. Four of those came in the second set — and each time, the 21-year-old Floridian managed to immediately rebound to claim Valentova's very next service game. 'There is a sense of urgency after getting broken, for sure. You don't want to get too far behind. You don't want to get two breaks down. You can live with one break. But she's definitely got to serve better and do a better job of holding as the tournament progresses,' said Gauff's father, Corey. 'She's probably been one of the best returners of serve on the tour the last two to three months. But that's not what you want. You want to hold first, for sure. It's not really a break until you hold.' On Saturday, 2022 runner-up Gauff will try to reach the fourth round in Paris for the fifth consecutive appearance, facing another Czech player, Marie Bouzkova. What else happened at the French Open on Thursday? Other winners in the women's bracket included No. 3 Jessica Pegula, who was the runner-up at last year's U.S. Open, 18-year-old Mirra Andreeva, and 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova, who reached the 2019 final at Roland-Garros. Vondrousova, who is unseeded this year, eliminated No. 25 Magdalena Frech 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 on Court 6 and then went out to sit in the stands at Lenglen to watch Gauff vs. Valentova. In men's play, No. 1 Jannik Sinner ended the career of 38-year-old Richard Gasquet by beating the Frenchman 6-3, 6-0, 6-4. No. 3 Alexander Zverev and No. 14 Arthur Fils won, while 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic was in late action against Corentin Moutet of France. Who is on the schedule at Roland-Garros on Friday? No. 1-ranked Aryna Sabalenka will begin third-round play at Court Philippe-Chatrier on Day 6 by facing Olga Danilovic, while the night match in the main stadium features defending champion Carlos Alcaraz against Damir Džumhur, who hurt his left knee during a fall in his second-round win. Elsewhere, Iga Swiatek continues her bid for a fourth consecutive championship by playing Jaqueline Cristian, 18-year-old qualifier Victoria Mboko of Canada takes on Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen, and No. 15 Frances Tiafoe faces No. 23 Sebastian Korda in an all-American matchup. ___
Washington Post
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
French Open 2025: Coco Gauff's serve is not at its best but she gets the breaks for a win
PARIS — Coco Gauff kept getting herself in some trouble with shaky serving in the French Open's second round, and she kept putting herself back in position to win by breaking right back Thursday. The second-seeded Gauff , pursuing her first title at Roland-Garros, eliminated 172nd-ranked qualifier Tereza Valentova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-4 in 75 minutes on a partly cloudy, warm afternoon in Court Suzanne-Lenglen.
