Before she came to Birmingham, Alison Riske had never won a match in a Sony Ericsson WTA Tour main draw. As of today, with her defeat of Anna Chakvetadze, Riske has advanced into the quarterfinals of the AEGON Classic in Birmingham. Riske, a qualifier, upset 9th seed Aleksandra Wozniak yesterday, and today, she defeated Chakvetadze 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 in the third round.Riske's next opponent will be 3rd seed Yanina Wickmayer, who defeated Tammy Tanasugarn today.
Defending champion Magdalena Rybarikova, seeded 10th at the tournament, was upset today in the third round by qualifier Sesil Karatantcheva. Karatantcheva's 6-2, 6-7, 6-2 victory books her a spot against three-time Birmingham champion Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals.
Who is Riske? I thought I had heard of USA hopefuls but she hasn't been on the radar for me. She beat Wickmayer today. Wow! Is this for real?
ReplyDeleteAlison won the SMASH Junior Cup in 2009. That got her a wild card into 2009 Charleston qualifying, where she lost in the first round. I enjoyed watching her, and was impressed by her on-court poise. Alison, who is from Pennsylvania, beat Cirstea in U.S. Open qualifying a couple of years before that. And she does have quite a low profile.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great action photo, Diane. One of your's?
ReplyDeleteThanks! Yes, I took it in Charleston last year.
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