Wimbledon Day 5: Rus

Curtain Call

Player: Arantxa Rus
Age: 22
Nation: Netherlands
Current Ranking: 72
Notable Conquest: Samantha Stosur (Australia, 5th seed)
Today's Result: loss to Shuai Peng (China, 30th) in straight sets

Photo via FunnyCrave

Rus is the current Dutch #1.  She's had a great summer, reaching the fourth round at Roland Garros and the third round at Wimbledon - both career bests.  In fact, she didn't even play Wimbledon last year so her ranking will get a nice boost.  She won the Australian junior singles title in 2008.


Catching Up with Old Friends


Sloane Stephens (Curtain Call, US Open Day 6) - Stephens reached the third round in her first Wimbledon main draw.  In the second round, she took out the 23rd seed, Petra Cetkovska (Czech Republic).  Today didn't work out so well as she fell to Sabine Lisicki (Germany, 15th) in three sets.  She played doubles, too.  She and partner Alla Kudryavtseva (Russia) lost in the first round to the 13th seed: Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/Sania Mirza (India).  Only 19 years old, Stephens's future appears to be very bright.  Due to her outstanding performance over the past four Slams, she has earned Golden Squid status, the first American to join the club.

Photo via USA Today

Christina McHale (Curtain Call, US Open Day 5) - McHale has now made the third round in four consecutive Slams.  She lost twice today.  In singles, she lost to German Angelique Kerber (8th) in straight sets.  In doubles, she and partner Tamira Paszek (Austria) lost to the 2nd-seeded Italians, Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci.  She has also achieved Golden Squid status. 

 

Photo via Wikipedia 

It seems only appropriate that Stephens and McHale should be admitted to the order together as they represent America's current youthful hopes.

Golden Squid Report

Juan Sebastian Cabal - It was definitely a disappointing Wimbledon for the Colombian doubles specialist.  He lost in the first round of both men's and mixed doubles.  He teamed with countryman Robert Farah in the men's draw.  They lost to Benjamin Becker/Cedrik-Marcel Stebe (Germany) in four sets.  In mixed doubles, he and partner Vera Dushevina (Russia) lost to Marcelo Melo (Brazil)/Vera Zvonareva (Russia) in straight sets.  Despite the disappointment, Olympic prospects are decent.  He and Farah won the gold medal at the Pan American Games last year.  Grass wasn't so much a problem this week as, perhaps, exhaustion.  Cabal and Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) made it to the finals at the Rosmalen Grass Court Championships in the Netherlands the week before Wimbledon.