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WTT Washington Kastles

Kastles at the French Open: Hingis, Paes, Rodionova, Brengle in Action Tomorrow

May 24, 2016 - World TeamTennis (WTT)
Washington Kastles News Release


The year's second major tournament is here and the Kastles are aiming to continue their dominant form on the French Open clay courts. Martina Hingis is one of the main storylines going into the tournament, as she and her partner Sania Mirza are going for a "Santina Slam" by attempting to hold all four major trophies at once. Fresh off winning the title in Rome, the number one doubles team in the world are seeded first in the Roland Garros draw and won't face a ranked opponent until the third round.

In the first round, Hingis and Mirza face the Russian duo of Daria Kasatkina (who plays for the Philadelphia Freedoms) and Alexandra Panova, a team they have never played. Play begins at 11 am local time, and their match is scheduled second on court 16. If Hingis and Mirza advance, the first seeded team they could face on the red clay is the No.16 team of Chia-Jung Chuang and Su-Wei Hsieh from Taipei in the third round.

Meanwhile, the lone team that beat Hingis and Mirza this clay season, Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic, are seeded fifth and are in the bottom half of the draw. The two teams met in the Madrid final earlier this month, with Garcia and Mladenovic prevailing 6-4, 6-4. The two teams could very well meet again in the final.

Also competing in women's doubles are Anastasia Rodionova and Madison Brengle.

Rodionova, the 2015 World TeamTennis Female Co-MVP, is teaming up with her sister, former Kastle Arina Rodionova, as they face a tough opponent in the fourth-seeded Timea Babos and Yaroslava Shvedova. Play on court 8 begins at 11 am, with Anastasia and Arina scheduled second. They will have to overcome the dangerous serve from Babos to advance.

Kastles veteran Anastasia Rodionova teams up with her sister this week at Roland Garros. Photo: Facebook/Washington Kastles

Brengle is teaming up with German player Tatjana Maria and will face a strong first round opponent in No. 13 seeds Medina Garrigues and Arantxa Parra Sontonja. Brengle and Maria are in for a battle, as Garrigues and Santonja are coming off a title run in Strasbourg. Play on court 15 begins at 11 am, with Brengle and Maria scheduled to go on second.

Also of note, former Kastles Venus and Serena Williams are also in the doubles draw, entering as a dangerous, unseeded team. The sisters won the Roland Garros title in 1999 and 2010. They face fellow unseeded team Jelena Ostapenko and Yulia Putintseva in the first round.

On the men's side, the Bryan brothers are looking to cap their successful 2016 clay court season. They're seeded No. 5 at Roland Garros, having won three clay tournaments this year in Houston, Barcelona and Rome.

In the first round, they face unseeded duo Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Santiago Gonzalez. The Bryans could face the talented French team of Oliver Marach (of the New York Empire) and Fabrice Martin (Philadelphia Freedoms) in the second round. The frenchmen have given the Americans trouble in the past, most recently at Delray Beach in February, where the Bryans lost to the duo 11-13 in a third-set tiebreak.

Other tough opponents in their section of the draw are Radek Stepanek and Nenad Zimonjic (who the Bryans could meet in the quarters) as well as the young phenoms, Nick Kyrgios and Alexander Zverev.

Lurking in the top half of the draw is one of the Bryan Brothers fiercest rivals, number one seeds and local French favorites Nicholas Mahut and Pierre Hughes-Herbert. Mahut and Herbert defeated the Bryans in their two meetings this year, first in Miami then in Madrid. The two teams could very well write another chapter in their rivalry in the Roland Garros final.

Doubles legend and Kastles Captain Leander Paes is also playing at Roland Garros with long time doubles specialist Marcin Matkowski. Paes has won the French Open doubles title three times before: in 1999, 2001 and 2009. Paes and Matkowski are seeded 16th and face Russians Aliaksandr Bury and Denis Istomin in the first round. Play on court 4 begins at 11 am, with Paes and Matkowski scheduled third. If they advance, Leander could potentially play his new Kastle teammates the Bryans in the quarterfinal round.

The singles draw got underway on Monday, with several Kastles players competing.

Sam Querrey battled young American Bjorn Fratangelo in four tough sets on Tuesday before falling 3-6, 1-6, 7-6, 4-6 in the first round.

On the women's side, Madison Brengle, who like her Kastles teammate Querrey much prefers faster court surfaces, fell to Elena Vesnina in her first round match 2-6, 3-6. It was Madison's second straight year that she played in the main draw at Roland Garros.

Several Kastles players, including the historic duo of Martina Hingis and Leander Paes will be competing in the mixed-doubles draw at Roland Garros. After winning three of the four major mixed doubles titles in 2015, Hingis and Paes will look to continue their dominance when they face Robert Farah and Anna-Lena Groenfeld in the first round. The French Open is the only slam that eluded the duo last year.

Bob Bryan is also playing in the mixed doubles draw, teaming up with Coco Vandeweghe as the no. 8 seed. They will take on Virginie Razzano and Vincent Millot in the first round. The mixed doubles section of the draw is scheduled to begin on Thursday.

Coverage of all French Open early-round matches, including tomorrow's, can be seen on the Tennis Channel and are also available on the Tennis Channel Everywhere app, available here. Later round coverage will switch to NBC. Be sure to follow the Kastles on Twitter (@washkastles) and Facebook (WashingtonKastles) for regular updates and catch all the Kastles in action as they look to dominate on the red clay!

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