Tennis Tashkent Open & Sony Ericsson WTA Tour event: Monday’s Highlights
The fourth seeded tennis ace, Elena Vesnina got the better of Lesya Tsurenko in the first round of the $220,000 Tashkent Open on Monday. The final match score was 6-3, 6-2.
Elena who matched her career-best Sony Ericsson WTA Tour result, when she made her way into the final in Istanbul back in August, has since fallen on tough times, having lost a total of three straight main draw clashes entering this competition. However,
she played extremely well in her yesterday’s match, breaking at 3-3 in the opening set and advancing from there.
"It is always hard to play the first clash in any championship. This one was equally tough as well. Moreover, I must also mention this fact that I had a crazy flight to this competition, as a routine two-and-a-half-hour flight from Moscow turned out to be
more than five hours. I felt extremely tired, however, now I am feeling much better. So, winning the opening match has really lifted my confidence to great heights,” said Vesnina.
Elena further explained her descent in the WTA world rankings to number seventy two, the lowest she has been since February.
“I have been facing injury problems right from the start of the season. I didn’t pay great attention to them, and as a result the injuries got worse and sidelined me for almost two months. I have failed to defend my points as well, and I have been a little
unfortunate with the draw in a couple of championships as well.”
Two other Russians also won their respective clashes of the Tashkent Open tennis tournament on Monday. Ekaterina Ivanova, who faced Katie O’Brien, managed to topple her in a total of two sets in the end. The final match score was 7-5, 6-1. Evgeniya Rodina,
on the other hand, surpassed her compatriot tennis foe, Arina Rodionova in a two-setter clash. The final match score was 7-6(3), 6-3. A Swiss tennis ace, Stefanie Voegele also dismissed Alina Abdurakhimova in straight sets. The final match score was 6-3, 6-1.
The rest of the seeds will play their opening round clashes on Tuesday along with the top-seeded tennis player, Alexandra Dulgheru and the second-seed Akgul Amanmuradova, who was also a finalist here back in 2009. Alexandra kicked off doubles game on Monday,
with a win alongside Magdalena Rybarikova.
Also on Monday, Nadejda Guskova, Eirini Georgatou, Yuliana Fedak as well as Zarina Diyas won their singles qualifying clashes to make their way into the main draw of the tournament.
In some other action, the top-ranked Brit, Elena Baltacha is through to the first round of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour event in Seoul, after beating a wild card entrant, So-Jung Kim in a total of two sets on Monday. The final match score was 6-3, 6-4.
Elena, as a result of this victory has reached the second round in Seoul.
Elena, who achieved her career high ranking of world number forty nine few days ago, came through in straight sets, however, had to battle really hard against her 24-year-old tennis foe after the Korean led 3-0 at one point during the second set of the match.
"I was a bit rusty after a few weeks break; however, full credit goes to her, as she fought really well until the end. That is the reason why you cannot take the wild card entrants easy, they have their home support behind them, and most importantly nothing
to lose at all,” said Elena after the match on Monday.
Baltacha will next take on either Polona Hercog or Agnes Szavay in the next round of the tournament on Wednesday.
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