WTA ROME – Brenda Fruhvirtová (17) continues her successful debut at the WTA 1000 clay tournament in Rome. After two wins in the qualifiers, she also managed to enter the main competition, when she defeated the American Taylor Townsend 3:6, 6:2, 6:0 thanks to avoiding 13 of 15 break points and scored her first win on the main circuit. Kateřina Siniaková (27) also celebrates her winning entry, who was not stopped even by the rain at the end of the duel with the home team Nuria Brancacciová. On the contrary, Linda Fruhvirtová (19) lost in three sets to the German Tatiana Mariaová, who is 17 years older.
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.
Siniaková – Brancacciová 6:4, 6:2
Three days after her triumph at the WTA 125k lower category event in Lleida, Spain, Kateřina Siniak added her sixth win in a row in Rome, where she managed her opening performance in only her third appearance. This year, she started with a 6:4, 6:2 win over domestic outsider Nuria Brancacciova, when even a two-hour break caused by rain before the last game did not deter her.
The 27-year-old Czech will start at the 11th WTA tournament in 2024 and will try to win two matches in a row for only the second time and thus surpass her best in the Italian capital.
Her next opponent will be the Belgian Elise Mertens (H2H 0:4), with whom she lost 8 out of 9 sets. The last time she failed was three years ago on clay in Istanbul.
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.
Krejčíková signed off
Barbora Krejčíková is once again fighting an illness that has deprived her of several tournaments this year. She last checked out of Rome, where she was supposed to fight Elina Avanesjanova on Friday for her first win since the beginning of February. She was replaced by Romanian Jaqueline Cristiano in the main competition.
The 28-year-old Krejčíková has played only two tournaments in the last three months, and in both she ended after the opening duel after a three-set defeat. She was successful at least in doubles, on Sunday she played the final in Madrid with the German Laura Siegemund.
After Krejčík’s withdrawal, a total of five Czech tennis players intervene in the event in Rome. Seeded Markéta Vondroušová and Linda Nosková have a free draw in the first round. Vondroušová, a semifinalist from 2020 and seeded sixth this year, will begin her round of 16 defense against Romanian Ana Bogdanova, while Nosková will start against the home No. 179 player in the world, Lucrezia Stefanini.
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
The article was originally published for Livesport Zprávy.
Results of the WTA 1000 tournament in Rome
Článek původně publikován pro Livesport Zprávy.
Tags: Brenda Fruhvirt reverses Townsend premiership canary Rome Siniak wins #6th row
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