The Russian Veronika Kudermetovaeighth seed, needed exactly three hours this Monday to win 6-4, 3-6 and 7-6 (5) against the Czech Barbora Krejcikova in the first round of the WTA 500 tournament at Doha.
The Russian, ranked eleventh in the world, beat the Czech for the second time in a row, having beaten him 6-3, 6-3 in the first round in Cincinnati last year. All told, Kudermetova leads the head-to-head 2-1, having also won both of their junior meetings in 2013, the WTA reports.
The world number 11 hit fewer winners – 27 to Krejcikova’s 41 – but kept her unforced error tally at 18 to her rival’s 25. Kudermetova was also solid on her first serve, winning 74% of those points.
Kudermetova’s next opponent will be the winner of the match between her compatriot Liudmila Samsonova, runner-up in Abu Dhabi, and American Sofia Kenin, who was invited by the organizers.
In addition, the check Karolina Muchova The Italian won the 2022 Roland Garros semifinalist 6-2, 6-2 Martina Trevisan in just 79 minutes; and the Belarusian Victoria Azarenka beat Turkey 6-1 and 6-1 in just one hour ipek ozwearing black crepe on his chest because of the earthquakes in his country and in Syria.
Two former Qatari tournament champions also successfully made it through the qualifying rounds. The 2017 champion, Czech Karolina Pliskova, defeated Canadian Leylah Fernández, finalist of the 2021 US Open, 6-2, 7-5; and the 2019 winner, Belgian Elise Mertens, defeated Romanian Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 to return to the main draw in Doha.
This Tuesday the Spaniard will make his debut in Qatar Paula Badosaagainst Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia.
Badosa was absent last week in Abu Dhabi due to a viral illness. He has not played since the Adelaide tournament in January, where he reached the semifinals, and withdrew with a right thigh injury, both of which prevented him from playing at the Australian Open.
The first two favorites include the Polish Iga Swiatek and the American Jessica Pegula, who will debut on Wednesday.
Source: La Verdad
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