TENNIS – American Claire Liu registered the first upset of the singles main draw yesterday 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.
Liu, the world number 227, took down top seed Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva from Andorra, ranked 114th in the world, in a see-saw, three-set battle.
Liu won the opening set but was then swept in the second, only to roar back in the decider to secure the match with a 6-4, 0-6, 6-0 scoreline and march forward to the second round.
There, she will take on Viktoria Hruncakova of Slovakia, who was also a winner yesterday after beating British wild card Maria Ustic 6-2, 6-1 in their head-to-head of the opening stage.
Also advancing from the first round was third-seeded Dutch player Arantxa Rus, who beat German qualifier Valentina Stiner 6-3, 7-6 (5). Rus will next take on Russia’s Varvara Panshina, who defeated compatriot and fellow-qualifier Jana Kolodynska 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.
Amongst the other seeds to make it through were number five seed Sofia Costoulas from Belgium, sixth seed Jessika Ponchet from France, seventh seed Ekaterine Gorgosze from Georgia, and eighth seed Carole Monnet, also from France.
Costulas defeated Chinese qualifier Wushung Zheng in a tough three-setter 6-3, 4-6, 6-2; Ponchet outplayed Romanian wild card Briana Szabo 6-2, 6-0; Gergodze beat Italian special exempt Lisa Pigato 7-5, 6-4, and Monnet eliminated Japanese qualifier Rina Saigo 6-3, 6-1.
Elsewhere in yesterday’s first round, American Carol Young Suh Lee cruised past Chloe Piquet from France 6-1, 6-0; Italian wild card Vittoria Paganetti overcame a tough challenge from Russian qualifier Maria Kalyakina 7-6 (5), 6-2; and French qualifier Fiona Ferro beat Erika Andreeva from Russia 6-2, 6-1.
Main draw action is scheduled to continue today at the same venue from 11am. All are welcome to attend and watch the exciting matches. Entrance to the Public Security Officers Club for fans is free of charge.
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.
The W75 Manama Bahrain Open is the latest major international tennis event hosted by the kingdom in the past few months. In November and December of last year, Bahrain staged an ATP Challenger Tour tournament, a pair of competitions on the ITF Men’s World Tennis Tour, and the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group V.
There were also junior events under the ITF and Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) banners, as well as Arab and Gulf championships at the elite men’s and juniors levels.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
&uuid=(email))