A shot of our Sara Errani while practicing with her Italian teammate Jasmine Paolini @ Roland Garros 2017
Right after the exciting Doubles run on the Foro Italico’s homecourts with teammate Trevisan, our Sara Errani goes back on Tour competing for the legendary Roland Garros title as n.1 seed in Qualies draw for the second time in her career, 10 years later.
Philippe Chatrier’s call is stronger than ever this year, as our Sara Errani has antipicipated her stay in Paris of exactly one week: in fact, the FFT, along with the Tournament Direction, have unexpectedly decided not to grant a wild card to their own 2012 finalist, leaving the whole tennis world in shock.
However, as stated prior to her debut to the French press, the idea of competing for the main draw as top seed of the draw doesn’t bother Sarita at all:
“I’m trying to climb the rankings again. Things are improving. I was pretty badly injured at the beginning of the year. Now I can work on my fitness and tennis properly again and I’ve been feeling better in the last few weeks, though I haven’t fully got my confidence back.
That’s just the way it is: I dropped down the rankings, so I’ve got to go through qualifying. It’s not a problem. I’m mentally ready to play the qualies. If I get through, then all the better, but I think it’ll be tough. Anyway, it’s still Roland Garros and I don’t approach it any differently whether it’s qualifying or the main draw. I’ve got great memories here and I’m always happy to come back. I’ve experienced some of the highlights of my career here; the final was a really special moment, but those were different times”.
Errani’s first opponent has been the French Sara Cakarevic, currently n.502 in WTA Singles ranking. The young player – class of 1997 – is a clay specialist and has experienced her first Grand Slam appearance here at Roland Garros. She came to Paris after reaching the R16 in ITF Santa Margherita di Pula 25k tournament.
Originally scheduled as concluding match of the Qualifying Day2 on TV-covered Court14, the fans have been let for the second time in a row, as our Sara Errani was forced to debut on Court17 to avoid the incoming darkness. Nevertheless, Sara’s programme didn’t change as she proceeded to get through R2 with an easy win. The young Cakarevic fought tooth and nail but finally gave up after losing a fierce 5th game in the second set. Final score: 6-1, 6-0.
Moving up next, our champion will face the Russian Veronika Kudermetova – WTA’s n.189 – who just collected her first Qualifying win over the Bulgarian Isabella Shinikova (6-2, 6-4).
For you best information HERE you will find the full Women’s Qualifying Singles draw.
