Riske defeated in second round at France tournament
STRASBOURG, France – Peters Township native Alison Riske dropped her second decision to France’s Kristina Mladenovic in the past year Wednesday in the second round of the Strasbourg International.
Riske, who lost to Mladenovic in the second round of last year’s French Open, lost 7-6 (4), 6-2 to Mladenovic, who is ranked 54th in the world. Riske is ranked 46th.
Riske will now await the release of the pairings for the French Open, which begins Sunday.
Mladenovic advanes to face top-seeded American Madison Keys, who rallied from one set and 5-0 down to beat Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 4-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (0) in the quarterfinals.
On the brink of defeat, Keys took plenty of risks and the strategy paid off as Lucic-Baroni failed to serve out the match.
“I was definitely thinking that I would be heading to Paris,” where the French Open starts on Sunday, Keys said. “Mirjana was playing well and I wasn’t playing great, and I was just really happy that I was able to find it and figure it out.”
Keys was more cautious in the tiebreaker of the second set and took advantage of her Croatian opponent’s mistakes to seal it.
Lucic-Baroni missed her chance to serve out the match for a third time at 5-4 in the deciding set and her game collapsed in the tiebreaker.
“For sure, my mental toughness was important.” Keys said. “Even at 5-0 I was trying hard and putting in all of my effort. My game was there, it was just a couple of points here or there that hadn’t been going my way. It was a battle to the very, very end, and I’m very relieved with this victory.”
Russia’s Elena Vesnina also advanced with a 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 win over fourth-seeded Alize Cornet, with Virginie Razzano waiting for her in the next round after upsetting former French Open winner Francesca Schiavone 6-2, 6-3.