World No. 3 Coco Gauff and Poland's No. 2 Iga Swiatek won their respective opening matches in the Orange group at the WTA Finals Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.
Gauff beat No. 6 Jessica Pegula 6-3, 6-2, while Swiatek recovered from a first-set blunder to beat Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova 4-6, 7-5. They won 6-2. Republic.
Gauff and Swiatek will face off on Tuesday, with the winner taking control of the Orange group. Swiatek has an overwhelming record against Gauff with an 11-1 record.
Gauff held a 16-8 advantage in winners and converted five of eight break points to end the match in 75 minutes.
“I thought they both played at a high level,” Gauff said. “I think we were able to break through at more important points.”
Swiatek, on the other hand, struggled in his first match in two months, dropping the first set and trailing 3-0 in the second before flipping the switch.
“Even though I played a lot of those (practice) games,” Swiatek said. “I forgot for a while what it felt like to feel all these things, a little bit different stress and emotions. I certainly needed time to adjust. Most importantly, I mean, even if something like that happened, I was able to get through it and be patient enough to get better.”
Swiatek defeated Krejcikova early in the third set and took a 5-0 lead en route to the match victory.
“Honestly, I just focused on getting the ball in,” Swiatek said of the early going. “I had to focus on the easy things. My main goal was just to be solid.
“I was a little rusty at first, so I'm happy to win.''
Krejcikova lamented the loss of the match.
“It definitely wasn't the best tennis I could have played, but I was really solid,” Krejcikova said. “I feel like we lost a little bit of momentum in the game and, of course, I don’t really know if it was me or Iga. She came out and started playing more aggressively and hitting targets. Began to attack better.
“Oh, unfortunately, my opponent is Iga. I have to play two sets better than her.”
Gangseo Open
Viktorija Golubic's long wait is over.
The Swiss came back from a second-set breakdown to defeat second-seeded Rebekah Slamkova 6-3, 7-5 in Jiujiang, China, earning her first win in eight years and second WTA Tour overall title. obtained.
Golubic, 32, won in Lausanne in 2016. Five years later, she reached two Wimbledon finals and quarter-finals, rising to No. 35 in the world, but plummeting to No. 168. With this win, she moves closer to the top 100. Also.
Slovakian Slamkova led 2-1 in the second set, then outplayed Golubic in a marathon game with 17 score changes to take a 3-1 lead. However, Golubic broke her opponent and returned to serve, breaking Slamkova in the second set. The final battle to win.
hong kong tennis open
Hong Kong's top seed Diana Schneider defeated Britain's second seed Katie Boulter 6-1, 6-2 in just 71 minutes.
Schneider, a 20-year-old Russian, dominated Boulter, but Boulter admitted that the busy schedule of fall tournaments forced him to play with an “empty tank.”
Schneider broke Boulter's serve four times but did not face a break point in the match.
Merida Open Akron
In the final held in Merida, Mexico, Zeynep Sonmez of Turkey defeated Ang Lee of the United States 6-2, 6-1.
Sonmez saved three of four break points in the win and led only twice, 2-1 in the first set and 1-0 in the second, before going on a six-game winning streak.
Before facing Lee in the final, Sonmez defeated 17-year-old Alina Korneeva of Russia in the semifinals, 7-6 (5), 6-2.
–Field level media