Tuesday, 29. May 2012

© AP/SCANPIX
 

Roland Garros

Paris FRA, 27.05. – 10.06.2012 / GS clay

KAIA KANEPI — ALEXANDRA PANOVA / 77. RUS /

6:3 | 6:3

Kaia won

Kaia won and will meet Irina-Camelia Begu'ga (ROU WTA 59) in the second round on Thursday.

Kaia’s own words: "Physically I feel great, my tennis was not the best today. And well, this is the first match at Grand Slam, the atmosphere here is much different from an ordinary tournament, it takes some time to get use to it. There were many Estonians watching today as well. I hope I feel better in the second match.

As I have said before, I play doubles for fun. Next year with Arvidson we also played with Huber and Raymond and we were close to a set win :) - we’ll see tomorrow. It is not easy for them as well, the first round, and we are tough opponents. My partner plays doubles very well.

I have never played with Begu before but I have seen her play. She hits with topspin, and plays points – does not hit randomly. There is no point to predict anything, it is important that I feel well and play well, then I am happy.”

Kaia will start doubles tournament tomorrow and the match is Schedule to court number 9 as the second match of the day. The first match starts at 11 local time/ 12 Estonian time. Kaia’s partner is Shuai Zhang'iga (WTA 169, doubles 43) and they will meet the first seeds Liezel Huber'i and Lisa Raymond.

 

Thursday, 31. May 2012

© Sergei Sinitsyn
 

Roland Garros

Paris FRA, 27.05. – 10.06.2012 / GS clay

KAIA KANEPI — IRINA-CAMELIA BEGU / 59. ROU /

6:4 | 6:1

Kaia won

Kaia won and will meet Caroline Wozniacki (DEN, WTA 9) in the next round.

Kaia's own words: "It was difficult in the beginning, the opponent played very well and I made mistakes while attacking. Afterwards I was told that she did not make any mistakes before it was 2:4. Then she also started to make some mistakes and I started to play better. The first two games of the second set were very long and she also had her opportunities, at the end I managed to win both games. It was good. It gives confidence when you win long games. After that I played with more bravely and had more confidence, I think she broke.

If I play good and patient with Wozniacki, then it will be a good match. I have played with her many times and I think there will not be any surprises for me in her game."

The third round match will be played on Saturday.

Kaia also continues on the doubles tournament with Shuai Zhang and tomorrow they will go against the French girls Foretz Gacon - Kristina Mladenovic. The match is scheduled as the third match at court number three.

 

Saturday, 02. June 2012

© APF/SCANPIX © Sergei Sinitsyn © Sergei Sinitsyn © Sergei Sinitsyn
 

Roland Garros

Paris FRA, 27.05. – 10.06.2012 / GS clay

KAIA KANEPI — CAROLINE WOZNIACKI / 9. DEN /

6:1 | 6:7 | 6:3

Kaia won

Kaia won very tough match and reached to the fourth round. The match statistics is here

Kaia's own words: "Very tough match was today, at first mentally and then physically. It is difficult when in certain moments the match does not come to my way and then you will end up losing the set as well. At one point in the second set I broke the strings in my racket and took a new one. Maybe I was a little tense at that time, was afraid to hit and then lost the touch. Luckily I tried to keep playing aggressively to get the feeling back and found it.

It was also difficult to start the third set but luckily I got going well. In the end it was again difficult to close out the match. It took a lot of mental power to win today.

Wozniacki played as I predicted, her backhand is much more dangerous than her forehand. Her serve is a bit improved since we last played. I was ready for her high balls and hit myself some high balls to her forehand side.

By drawing the heart to the court i showed how much I love to play in Paris :)"

Kaia's opponent in the fourth round is Arantxa Rus (NED, 88). The match will be most probably on Monday.

Kaia and Shuai Zhang will have their third round doubles match against Jarmila Gajdosova - Anastasia Rodionova tomorrow. Their match is at court number 3 as the third match of the day. Matches start at 11 local time/ 12 Estonian time.

Doubles draw Sunday order of play

 

Monday, 04. June 2012

© Sergei Sinitsyn
 

Roland Garros

Paris FRA, 27.05. – 10.06.2012 / GS clay

KAIA KANEPI — ARANTXA RUS / 88. NED /

6:1 | 4:6 | 6:0

Kaia won

Kaia won and will meet Maria Sharapova (RUS, WTA2) in the quarterfinal match on Wednesday.

Kaia's own words: "I think I played quite well in the first set. In the second set I did not play that good - I made many mistakes, did not play that aggressively and the opponent played better than in the first set. Rus was attacking well from the forehand side and moved forward to attack every time my shots were short. The game looked much different with her than with Wozniacki.

I do not know what happened in the third set but everything I tried worked out perfectly. I played bravely, did not get nervous, i think i was in a good playing zone.

The weather today was very cold, it was even uncomfortably cold to play.

I have never played with Sharapova and I look forward to it. I can test how the second ranked player in the world plays and how can I deal with her game.

Tomorrow I have a day off, there is no match and I can rest and recover. "

Statistics of today's match

 

Wednesday, 06. June 2012

© APF/SCANPIX
 

Roland Garros

Paris FRA, 27.05. – 10.06.2012 / GS clay

KAIA KANEPI — MARIA SHARAPOVA / 2. RUS /

2:6 | 3:6

Kaia lost

Unfortunately Kaia lost today and this time French Open is over for her. The statistics of today's game is here

Kaia's own words: "There is not much to tell, the balls were swept off the court and it was not competitive at all. I was a bit nervous in the beginning, did not get my game going. In the beginning of the second set I had a chance for a moment, but it was just one moment. She played very well, returned well, served well, was better in every aspect of the game. It is sad that the match was so short. I wanted to be longer out there.

Now I will return to Estonia and we will see in which condition my heels are. Then I will decide what my next tournament will be"