As soon as he achieved the point that defined the game, he threw the racket and collapsed. And after a few seconds, he exploded into a heartbroken cry. Kiki Bertens, seeded number 5 in the Roland Garros singles tournament, achieved a shocking victory against the Italian Sara Errani for the second round of the Grand Slam that takes place in Paris.
The match, which was left in the hands of the Dutch tennis player 7-6 (5), 3-6 and 9-7, lasted more than three hours and ended with Bertens exhausted. The number 8 in the WTA ranking had to be assisted by the medical team at the end of the match due to the intensity of the game, which caused almost his entire body to be paralyzed by strong cramps. Despite the work on her arms and legs, Kiki said goodbye to court 14 in a wheelchair.
Furthermore, when she was being removed from the brick dust and a member of the organization’s staff tried to help her to place one of her legs on the supports of the chair, andcried out a cry of pain that echoed across the stage.
Beyond the serious physical situation that Bertens went through, the development of the match between the Europeans left a particular statistical reference. During the three sets they combined to achieve 24 break points, 10 of them consecutive in the second quarter of the match. Thanks to the victory against the native of Italy, the racket born in the Netherlands will play next Friday for round 3 of Roland Garros against Katerina Siniakova, from the Czech Republic. In her first duel in Paris, Kiki defeated the Ukrainian Katerina Zavatska 2-6, 6-2 and 6-0.
At 28 years old, Bertens accumulates 10 individual titles in the women’s tennis circuit. His last consecration was this year before the activity stopped due to the advance of the coronavirus pandemic around the world. In February, the Dutchwoman was enshrined in the tournament in St. Petersburg, Russia, which was played on a hard surface: in the final she left Elena Rybakina, from Kazakhstan, on the road 6-1, 6-3.
In addition to the dramatic definition of the triumph of Bertens, the other news of the day was the great victory that the Argentine Nadia Podoroska got. The Rosario needed almost two hours to prevail against the Kazakh Yulia Putintseva by 6-3, 1-6 and 6-2. Ranked 131st in the world rankings, Argentina’s best racket came from cutting a spell for women’s tennis in this country after classifying a national representative to the main draw of the Grand Slam on brick dust after six years. In the next round, her rival will be number 27 in the world, Slovak Anna Karolína Schmiedlová.
Nadia Podoroska gave a blow at Roland Garros: she eliminated the 27th in the world and qualified for the third round
Another resounding victory for Diego Schwartzman at Roland Garros: he beat Giustino and is in the third round
The moment the sound of an explosion stopped a match at Roland Garros and put Paris on alert
