The fourth day of the WTA International event in Linz brought up a plethora of matches that pleased many of the Austrian tennis fans as the first round matches continued.
No. 4 seed Suarez Navarro starts her campaign perfectly
It was a perfect way for the No.2 ranked Spaniard to start her Linz campaign, as she handled the heavy ball of Mona Barthel well in a straight sets win. Suarez Navarro, who possesses one of the most gorgeous one-handed backhands on tour, put one foot in the right direction as she tries to qualify for Singapore. She is currently on the outside looking in and needs an extremely good week in order to confirm a stellar season for the her.
Even if she goes all the way and wins the Linz title this week, there would still be further work for Suarez Navarro to do to try and keep up with the other contenders for Singapore.
After today’s win against an explosive player like Barthel, Suarez Navarro expressed that even if she does not qualify for the WTA Finals that she will still be content with the improvements she has made this season. Qualifying for Singapore still remains a considerable goal, but she realises that a Top 15 season and winning a first Premier 5 title in Doha are great accomplishments on their own.
Suarez Navarro added:
“It’s one of the best tournaments of the year and you are playing with the top players. It will be good for my career if I can play one time in Singapore.”
Oceane Dodin continues her great indoor form
One of the promising products of French tennis maintained her great run on the indoor surfaces on the WTA tour as she battled past Kristyna Pliskova in a hard-fought three sets match in Linz. It was a rare WTA first round triumph for Dodin, who went the scenic route in order to get her fourth win in four days in the Tips Arena.
Dodin started off the match in magnificent form on her serve. Both Dodin and Pliskova were sending down numerous aces and unreturned serves, and it was really a set that would be decided with the first player blinking on their serve. There really was not much between them in the early exchanges.
Pliskova saved all six break points in the first set, which included a set point that Dodin could not take advantage of. The left-handed Czech ended up taking the set 7-6 (2) in the tiebreak – a set which Dodin would have felt she should really have won.
The misfortune that Dodin faced in the first set would soon turn around in her favour in the second set. Pliskova served incredibly well in the deuce court to the backhand of Oceane Dodin. The 19-year-old Frenchwoman actually started leaning towards her backhand side out wide but that only encouraged Pliskova to start firing aces down the middle of the service box. It was a purely brilliant serving display from the Tashkent champion until the match really spiralled out of control for her.
Pliskova served for the match at 7-6 *5-3 in the second set, but lost her timing, concentration, and consistency on her serve, which allowed Dodin back into the match.
The match was filled with short and sharp rallies. Both players really aimed to overbear their opponent with the power that they have at their disposal. When looking at the match from a psychological standpoint – it was obvious that Dodin was the stronger of the two in that department. As soon as the match was moving away from Pliskova it looked like she had accepted that the outcome of the match, whereas Dodin rose to the challenge.
A combination of Pliskova errors and blistering backhand winners from Dodin was enough to seal the first round victory for the improving Frenchwoman. Dodin will now rise to No.87 in the world rankings, which is something that did not look attainable just a month prior to this event in Linz.
Dodin’s next opponent will be Romanian’s Sorana Cirstea, who also looks to shorten the rallies like Dodin.
Niculescu battles past Brengle in Linz thriller
Niculescu, who is one of the more unconventional players on the tour, outlasted Brengle in a fun, thrilling encounter on the second court in Linz. It was a match that had many twists and turns. The Romanian fought her way back into the match even when her American opponent was serving for the match.
Niculescu could face the No.1 seed Garbine Muguruza on Thursday – a true contest of variation vs power that would be scheduled on the main court of Linz.
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