WTA champion Monica Puig fell out of the top ten on Tuesday after her conqueror, Peng Shuai, went on to become the first Chinese player in the top 10. In a statement the WTA said they remain “deeply concerned” about Peng’s condition since she was taken ill following her second-round win at the Madrid Open. Puig suffered an upset loss to Italy’s Camila Giorgi in the first round of the French Open on Wednesday.
Giorgi remains on the radar after she laid waste to the Swiss world No. 5 on Tuesday. The fourth-seeded player must face an anxious wait after two locker room visits from organisers during her 6-2, 6-0 victory.
The Italian said: “I went to wash myself before I went to the court but after five minutes, the trainer called to tell me not to go back in the locker room because they were holding a person inside. They didn’t give any explanation, but then a doctor came and told me that I had to wait in the locker room. Then I left.”
Giorgi, one of the few players who can match Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams for power, also admitted that Peng was “not well.”
“She is not well,” Giorgi said. “I just like to see her up there.
“Sometimes you do some things and you know they are not going well,” Giorgi added. “That’s it. I can’t control the movement, I can’t control my hand, and everything is horrible.”
Sharapova leads the charge for change
A day after Puig’s second-round exit, Maria Sharapova is the focus of an investigation into an alleged match-fixing scheme that could lead to her being banned for life. Sharapova, who was banned for 15 months in 2016 for failing a drugs test, played in a tune-up event on clay in Stuttgart at the weekend and she is due to take part in the Madrid Open.
It is thought her participation in the French Open may depend on whether she has been cleared to play in Italy, where the first round in May starts. Sharapova’s lawyer, John Haggerty, said on Tuesday that she would play in Stuttgart and the Madrid Open but without condition.