In Rome, Brenda Fruhvirt completed the turn against Townsend with a canary, sister Linda was eliminated

Townsendová – B. Fruhvirtová 6:3, 2:6, 0:6

Brenda Fruhvirtová is starting at the fifth WTA tournament this year. At the premiere of the clay 1000 in Rome, she successfully passed the qualification for the third time and managed to enter the main competition for the fourth time.

In Italy, after valuable two-set wins over Germany’s Jule Niemeier and France’s Océane Dodin, she also turned the match against world number 59 Taylor Townsend, who lost her third match in a row despite winning the first set. The 17-year-old Czech beat an American nine years older, 3:6, 6:2, 6:0.

Fruhvirtová did not have a single break chance in the first set. Although she eliminated nine break points herself, she capitulated on the tenth and lost the opening set.

However, for the first time since the Australian Open in January, she was able to turn the score 0:1 into sets, and moreover, for the first time on the main circuit, she gave her opponent a canary. In the second set, she confirmed the break at the second attempt and played to a bright performance. She saved 13 of 15 break points in two hours.

In Rome, Fruhvirtová secured her return to the TOP 100, in which she will be the second youngest player after Mira Andrejevová, and after today she should appear in the TOP 90 for the first time.

In the second round, she will face the experienced Romanian Sorana Cirstea (H2H 0:0), and if she wins, she can compete for a place in the round of 16 with compatriot Markéta Vondroušová.

Mariaová – L. Fruhvirtová 7:6, 3:6, 6:2

Linda Fruhvirtová appeared in Rome at the last moment as a substitute in the qualification the day after the start of the Bundesliga in Stuttgart and was able to defeat both Yuriko Miyazaki and the Swiss Viktorija Golubic in straight sets. However, she did not claim her fourth win in four days.

The 19-year-old Czech finished the same as last year at her debut in the Foro Italico in the opening round of the main competition. While a year ago she played only one game, this year she only fell after a three-set battle with thirty-six-year-old Tatiana Maria.

Statistics of the match Tatiana Mariaová – Linda Fruhvirtová (@ Livesport)

Both tennis players mainly had problems holding their own serve in the first two sets, when the returning player won 15 out of 21 games. After winning four games in a row, Fruhvirtová secured the third set, but she did not win a game from 2:2 and lost 6:7, 6:3, 2:6 after two and a half hours.

Linda Fruhvirtová did not follow up on two wins from the qualification in Rome (@ Profimedia)

The 150th player in the world, Fruhvirtová, who was already in the TOP 50, finished in the first round at the sixth of seven tournaments this year on the main WTA circuit. Including qualifiers and smaller WTA 125k events, she has a miserable 10-14 match record.

Six Czechs are starting

A total of six Czech female tennis players will perform in Rome. On Wednesday, Kateřina Siniaková, the fresh winner of the WTA 125k tournament in Lleida, Spain, will face Nuria Brancacciová from home

Seeded Markéta Vondroušová, Barbora Krejčíková and Linda Nosková have a free draw in the first round. Semi-finalist from 2020 and seeded sixth this year, Vondroušová will begin her round of 16 defense against Romanian Ana Bogdanova, Nosková will start against the home 179th player in the world Lucrezia Stefanini, and Krejčíková will face Russia’s Elina Avanesyanová.

The highest seed is world number one and champion from 2021 and 2022 Iga Šwiateková, the title is defended by Kazakhstan’s Jelena Rybakinová.

Results of the WTA 1000 tournament in Rome

Článek původně publikován pro Livesport Zprávy.