In pictures: The story of Lyon 2020
Anna-Lena Friedsam went from a first-round tweener to her first final since since 2015, while Sofia Kenin survived dramatic fluctuations in almost every round to win her fifth career title: all the best photos from the 2020 Open 6ème Sens - Métropole de Lyon.
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16-year-old qualifying wildcard Elsa Jacquemot, the junior World No.7, took a set lead over Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove and served for the match at 5-4 in the second set.
Harry Disy/Open 6ème Sens
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Qualifying fourth seed Pattinama Kerkhove eventually needed three hours and 13 minutes to quell Jacquemot 6-7(6), 7-6(3), 7-5.
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Another qualifying wildcard, 22-year-old World No.321 Margot Yerolymos, pulled off the first-round upset, stunning former World No.50 Jana Cepelova 7-6(4), 6-1.
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Lausanne semifinalist Tamara Korpatsch, the top seed in qualifying, quickly found herself down a set to 21-year-old Belgian Lara Salden.
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Salden would drop the second set but close Korpatsch out 6-1, 2-6, 6-2 for the biggest upset of the qualifying rounds - and a maiden WTA qualifying win.
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17-year-old Marta Kostyuk qualified via near-identical scorelines over Martina Di Giuseppe 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 and Lu Jia-Jing 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 to extend her winning streak to seven following a title run at the Cairo ITF W60.
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Isabella Shinikova had defeated Diana Marcinkevica in the first qualifying round, and held a 3-0 head-to-head record over Irina Bara going into the second.
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However, Jurmala quarterfinalist Bara overturned the head-to-head to make the main draw with a 7-6(5), 6-3 defeat of Shinikova.
Harry Disy/Open 6ème Sens
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Qualifying ninth seed Magdalena Frech needed a third-set tiebreak to quell Margot Yerolymos - but therein shut the wildcard out to move into the main draw 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(0).
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Anastasiya Komardina qualified for her first WTA main draw since Hong Kong 2015 with wins over Natalija Kostic and Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove.
Harry Disy/Open 6ème Sens
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Three times a WTA champion indoors, fifth seed Alison Van Uytvanck kicked the main draw off with a straight-sets defeat of Jurmala finalist Katarzyna Kawa.
Harry Disy/Open 6ème Sens
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Former World No.25 Timea Babos also owns two WTA titles indoors - and roared back from 3-6, 3-5 down to force a decider against qualifier Irina Bara.
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However, Bara held firm with superb defence against Babos's power to emerge a 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-4 victor after two hours and 42 minutes.
Harry Disy/Open 6ème Sens
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Fourth seed Alizé Cornet fell behind 0-4 to qualifier Antonia Lottner in the first round of the main draw - but the Frenchwoman delighted the home crowd as she rattled off 13 of the next 14 games for a 7-5, 6-0 win.
Harry Disy/Open 6ème Sens
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Third seed Caroline Garcia, a Lyon resident, was extra-motivated to score a win in front of her home town fans.
Harry Disy/Open 6ème Sens
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Greet Minnen, at a career high on the brink of the Top 100 at World No.103, was also motivated to score the upset, and the match went down to the wire.
Harry Disy/Open 6ème Sens
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Having won her own first round earlier, Alison Van Uytvanck was back on court - this time as coach to girlfriend Minnen.
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Garcia was in raptures - as was the crowd - after she edged out Minnen in a 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(5) first-round thriller, the Frenchwoman's third match win of the year.
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Anna-Lena Friedsam showed off her tweener skills during a straight-sets first-round win over qualifier Anastasiya Komardina.
Harry Disy/Open 6ème Sens
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Camila Giorgi came from a break down in the first set to end Vera Lapko's WTA Tour comeback at the first hurdle.
Alexandre Hergott/Open 6ème Sens
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Former junior World No.1 Clara Burel has won her first ITF W25 title in Grenoble this year and was given a wildcard, but fell to sixth seed Jil Teichmann in round one.
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Fellow wildcard Chloe Paquet was halfway to the first big upset of the main draw after taking the opening set 6-1 over second seed Kristina Mladenovic.
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Mladenovic struggled with her serve, committing 14 double faults, but was able to mount a comeback in a match of oscillating momentum.
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Mladenovic ultimately survived Paquet 1-6, 6-2, 6-4 to extend her record against fellow Frenchwomen to eight wins in the past nine matches.
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Stalwart of French tennis Pauline Parmentier extended seventh seed Daria Kasatkina to a two-hour, 26-minute battle in the first round.
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Former World No.10 Kasatkina was delighted to survive Parmentier 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.
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Bidding for her maiden WTA quarterfinal and riding a six-match winning streak after taking the title in last week's Sunderland ITF W25, Viktoriya Tomova took a set lead over Alison Van Uytvanck.
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However, fifth seed Van Uytvanck powered back and dominated the deciding tiebreak to defeat Tomova 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(2) in two hours and 20 minutes.
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Alizé Cornet had lost her last four matches against Camila Giorgi, but with a home quarterfinal at stake took a set lead over the Italian and came within two points of the win.
Alexandre Hergott/Open 6ème Sens
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Giorgi held firm, though, and roared back to win 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-2 for her fifth straight victory over Cornet - and her first quarterfinal berth of the season.
Alexandre Hergott/Open 6ème Sens
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Top seed Sofia Kenin got her campaign under way with a straight-sets defeat of Vitalia Diatchenko in the first round - the American's first Tour win since lifting her maiden Grand Slam trophy at the Australian Open.
Alexandre Hergott/Open 6ème Sens
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Caroline Garcia was in positive, energetic spirits during her second-round clash with Ysaline Bonaventure.
Alexandre Hergott/Open 6ème Sens
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Rabat quarterfinalist Bonaventure played her role in a tight first set characterized by first-strike shotmaking.
Alexandre Hergott/Open 6ème Sens
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However, Garcia pulled away for a 7-5, 6-2 win over Bonaventure - marking the first time she had posted consecutive victories since Mallorca last June.
Alexandre Hergott/Open 6ème Sens
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The final first-round match to be completed found St. Petersburg quarterfinalist Oceane Dodin continue her resurgence, winning her 10th contest in her past 11 over Mandy Minella in straight sets.
Alexandre Hergott/Open 6ème Sens
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Tereza Martincova was bidding to reach her first WTA quarterfinal since Gstaad 2017, and stretched eighth seed Viktoria Kuzmova into a deciding set.
Alexandre Hergott/Open 6ème Sens
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Kuzmova pulled through 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in two hours and 10 minutes to reach her first quarterfinal of the season.
Alexandre Hergott/Open 6ème Sens
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Daria Kasatkina also swung into the last eight for the first time in 2020, dropping only five games to Irina Bara.
Alexandre Hergott/Open 6ème Sens
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Qualifier Jaqueline Cristian had won 11 of her past 12 matches when she came up against top seed Sofia Kenin in the second round - and looked like adding to that after saving a set point to take the first set on a tiebreak.
Alexandre Hergott/Open 6ème Sens
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World No.174 Cristian had scored her first Top 50 victory over Veronika Kudermetova in Fed Cup a month ago, and fine hitting saw her reach the verge of a Top 5 scalp at match point over Kenin.
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Australian Open champion Kenin displayed all of her dogged fighting spirit to quell Cristian, coming through a 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-4 thriller in two hours and 31 minutes.
Alexandre Hergott/Open 6ème Sens
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Second seed Kristina Mladenovic showed her frustration as she was broken twice in the first set by Anna-Lena Friedsam.
Alexandre Hergott/Open 6ème Sens
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A zoning Friedsam fired winners from all over the court to upset Mladenovic and reach her third WTA quarterfinal since returning from a second shoulder surgery last February.
Alexandre Hergott/Open 6ème Sens
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Daria Kasatkina’s fine run continued as she defeated Camila Giorgi over two hours and three sets.
Alexandre Hergott/Open 6ème Sens
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Anna-Lena Friedsam fought back from a set down to reach the semis by upsetting No.8 seed Viktoria Kuzmova.
Alexandre Hergott/Open 6ème Sens
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Top seed Sofia Kenin was made to fight for her place in the final four by Oceane Dodin, but the American won in three.
Alexandre Hergott/Open 6ème Sens
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Alison Van Uytvanck was the only player to win her quarterfinal in straight sets over Caroline Garcia - avenging girlfriend Greet Minnen's first-round loss to the home favorite.
Alexandre Hergott/Open 6ème Sens
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One year after returning from her second shoulder surgery and competing in her first WTA semifinal since Shenzhen 2016, Anna-Lena Friedsam took a set lead over Daria Kasatkina.
Alexandre Hergott/Open 6ème Sens
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Kasatkina, bidding for her first final since Moscow 2018, fought back in the second set to level the match against Friedsam.
Alexandre Hergott/Open 6ème Sens
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However, Friedsam would win 12 of the last 13 points to defeat Kasatkina and reach her second career WTA final, and first since Linz 2015.
Alexandre Hergott/Open 6ème Sens
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Alison Van Uytvanck slammed down 22 aces over the course of her semifinal against Sofia Kenin.
Alexandre Hergott/Open 6ème Sens
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Top seed Kenin has been demonstrating indefatigable fighting spirit all week to come through a series of dramatic scorelines, though - and did so once more against Van Uytvanck.
Alexandre Hergott/Open 6ème Sens
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Having saved a match point against Jaqueline Cristian, and won despite losing a 6-1, 5-2 lead against Oceane Dodin, Kenin took three tiebreaks to quell Van Uytvanck 7-6(5), 6-7(2), 7-6(2).
Alexandre Hergott/Open 6ème Sens
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In doubles, Laura Ioana Paar and Julia Wachaczyk had a Cinderella run to a maiden WTA title for each, upsetting top seeds Anna-Lena Friedsam and Mandy Minella in round one and beating Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove and Bibiane Schoofs 7-5, 6-4 in the final.
Alexandre Hergott/Open 6ème Sens
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Sofia Kenin opened the final in dominant fashion, dropping just five points on serve and breaking Anna-Lena Friedsam twice in the first set.
Alexandre Hergott/Open 6ème Sens
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Friedsam came roaring back from a break down in the second set, finding her range to force a deciding set.
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As she had all week, Kenin's ability to regroup amidst the ebbs and flows of the scoreboard was superb, and she held on to win her fourth straight three-setter this week for the title.
Alexandre Hergott/Open 6ème Sens
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Australian Open champion Kenin became the first player to win two titles in 2020, and captured her fifth career trophy, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 over Friedsam.
Alexandre Hergott/Open 6ème Sens
