Anabel Medina Garrigues Retiring From Singles After Roland Garros
By Victoria Chiesa
http://0rz.tw/vXLD0
Upon winning her first round qualifying match at Roland Garros on Wednesday,
Spanish veteran Anabel Medina Garrigues announced that the second Grand Slam
of the year will be her last singles tournament. The 31-year-old, currently
ranked No. 213 in the WTA rankings, defeated 19-year-old French wildcard Jade
Suvrijn, 6-2, 5-7, 6-3.
"I really wanted to come to Paris, even if I had to go through the qualifiers,
because it's a very special tournament for me," she said. Medina Garrigues won
the women's doubles title at Roland Garros in 2008 and 2009 with fellow
Spaniard Virginia Ruano Pascual.
"...I'm going to concentrate on doubles from now on," she continued. "I'm glad
that I got through this match. The adventure can continue for a while longer."
Medina Garrigues struggled with injuries for much of 2013, but still managed
to finish in the top 100 for the 12th time in 13 years. Her most notable result
was a quarterfinal showing in Madrid, where she served a bagel set to Serena
Williams before falling in three sets. It was late in the year where her
fortunes turned, and that continued into 2014. A loss to Shuai Zhang in the
WTA 125K event in Ningbo in September kicked off a string of 10 consecutive
losses for Medina Garrigues, which was not broken until she defeated Olga
Govortsova in Oeiras in April.
Despite her struggles in singles this year, the Spaniard has continued to
thrive on the doubles court. She reached a career-high ranking of No. 3 in the
discipline in 2008, and is currently ranked No. 22. She's won two titles this
year with Kazakh Yaroslava Shvedova - Florianopolis in February and Charleston
in April.
Over her career, Medina Garrigues made the fourth round of a Grand Slam three
times: twice at the Australian Open (2002, 2009) and once in Paris (2007). She
also made three appearances in the third round at both Wimbledon and the US
Open. In total, she won 11 singles titles, with 10 coming on clay. She ranks
second among active players to Williams in clay court titles won, and the pair
were tied in clay court trophies coming into last week's tournament in Rome. If
she doesn't qualify for Roland Garros, this will be the first Grand Slam main
draw Medina Garrigues has missed since the 2003 US Open, which adds up to a
streak of 41 in a row. She will face No. 185 Tereza Smitkova in the second
qualifying round, who upset 17th-seeded American Victoria Duval earlier
Wednesday. The winner will face No. 5 seed Danka Kovinic or 16-year-old Ana
Konjuh for a place in the main draw.