TENNIS – Germany’s Valentina Steiner was amongst a series of players to make it through yesterday to the second round of the singles qualifying draw in the W75 Manama Bahrain Open – the first-ever tournament to be hosted by the kingdom on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Women’s World Tennis Tour Calendar.
Steiner advanced to qualification’s decisive stage following a 6-3, 6-2 win over compatriot Laura Boehner at the Public Security Officers Club in Gudaibiya. She will next take on qualifying’s eighth seed Mina Hodzic, who is also from
Germany, for the right to claim one of the eight available slots in the singles main draw.
Also marching through yesterday were American Jenna De Falco, and Russians Jana Kolodynska and Ekaterina Yashina.
De Falco dug deep to battle back from a set down and defeat Belgium’s Polina Bakhmutkina 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Kolodynska, on the other hand, cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 triumph over Romania’s Oana Gavrila, while Yashina beat American Mia Horvit 6-2, 6-3.
De Falco next takes on Fiona Ferro from France today, Kolodynska next faces Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty from India, and Yashina locks horns with Rina Saigo from Japan.
Also set to be in action today are qualifying top seed Alevtina Ibragimova, who will face fellow-Russian Ekaterina Ovcharenko, China’s Wushuang Zheng, Bulgaria’s Isabella Shinikova, and Germany’s Antonia Schmidt, who faces Russia’s
Varvara Panshina. Qualifying’s second round gets underway today at 11am, with the winners booking their places in the main draw.
All are welcome to attend.
Also today in the W75 Manama Bahrain Open, action in the women’s doubles begins.
The pairing of Zheng and Rutuja Bhosale from India are the top seeds, while Ekaterine Gorgodze from Georgia and Ankita Raina from India are seeded second.
Naima Karamoko from Switzerland and Carole Monnet from France are the doubles third seeds, while Viktoria Hruncakova from Slovakia and Anastasia Tikhonova from Russia are seeded fourth.
The W75 Manama Bahrain Open offers $60,000 in total prize money, and it features some of the world’s top women’s professional players with leading Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings.
W75 tournaments on the ITF Women’s World Tennis Tour offer 75 WTA ranking points to the singles winner.
These competitions are in similar standing to a men’s ATP Challenger event within the international tennis structure.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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