Photo credit: @MubadalaSVC

By: Ana Kieu

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic resumed at the Spartan Tennis Complex all day Wednesday. In case you missed it, American tennis star Serena Williams suffered the most lopsided loss of her 23-year career to British tennis player Johanna Konta, who clearly found her form in a spectacular style to hand the upset to Williams.

But, Wednesday was a new day, and the show went on without Williams. Day 3 featured a variety of global tennis players along with cute pups of those players.

Round 2 of the Ladies’ Singles went in this particular order. Belgium’s Elise Mertens downed USA’s Ashley Kratzer in a lopsided 6-2, 6-0 victory that very much resembled Williams’ disappointing loss Tuesdsay night. Konta continued her success with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over USA’s Sofia Kenin. There was still some all-American power, as USA’s Danielle Collins beat Belarus’ Vera Lapko with a final score of 6-1, 3-6, 6-1. The hectic day of singles was capped off with a match between Belarus’ Victoria Azarenka and Russia’s Anna Blinkova. Azaranka pretty much had both sets from start to finish as she was victorious in a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Blinkova, who scored just one point early in Set 1.

“I felt pretty satisfied with winning a tough match” said Azarenka. “Today was obviously more one-sided and I wish I could’ve played better, but it’s still a win and I feel kind of the same (after the two-hour difference between Wednesday’s matches).”

Round 1 of the Ladies’ Doubles featured Japan’s Miyu Kato and Makoto Ninomiya, who defeated Poland’s Magdalena Frech and USA’s Maria Sanchez in a 1-6, 7-5, 1-0 defeat.

Notes
Spanish-Venezuelan tennis star Garbine Muguruza was forced to withdraw due to an arm injury. Russia’s Anna Blinkova replaced Muguruza in Wednesday’s match versus Belarus’ former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka.

Hungary’s Timea Babos signed autographs for the fans at USTA NorCal booth Wednesday afternoon at 1 pm PDT.

Up Next
Order of Play for Thursday, August 2.

Starting at 11 am PDT 
Romania’s Mihaela Buzarnescu [5] vs. USA’s Amanda Anisimova [Q]

Not before 1 pm PDT
Greece’s Maria Sakkari vs. Hungary’s Timea Babos [8]

Followed by 
Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic vs. USA’s Madison Keys [2]

Not before 7 pm PDT
USA’s Venus Williams [3] [WC] vs. United Kingdom’s Heather Watson

Followed by
Russia’s Anna Blinkova vs. Russia’s Natela Dzalamidze vs. USA’s Kaitlyn Christian and USA’s Sabrina Santamaria or Ukraine’s Lyudmyla and Ukraine’s Nadiia Kichenok [3]