WTA Stuttgart: Friedsam, Sorribes Tormo, Minella and Minnen reach main draw
As usual, Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart has gathered one of the best fields outside the Majors, including Naomi Osaka, Simona Halep and Petra Kvitova. With the Fed Cup weekend behind us, the organizers have made the smart move in shifting the start of the main draw action to Tuesday, with the last qualifying round matches taking place on Monday. A former top-50 player Anna-Lena Friedsam is currently ranked 681st and she is making a return after having to skip almost the entire 2018 due to an injury. The German used protected ranking in Miami and Charleston and qualified for the main draw in Stuttgart after a 6-4, 6-4 win over the 8th seed Tereza Smitkova in an hour and 18 minutes.
Anna-Lena got broken twice but she grabbed four breaks to emerge at the top, with Smitkova serving at only 47% which wasn't enough to keep her initial shot safe. Serving for the opener at 5-3, Friedsam wasted three set points to keep the Czech in contention before breaking her at love in the next game for a 6-4. The second set saw nine easy holds on both sides and instead of a tie break Anna-Lena managed to seal the deal with a break in game ten that propelled her over the finish line. After Charleston and Lugano, Mandy Minella will play the third consecutive WTA tournament after a hard-fought 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 triumph over the 3rd seed Vera Zvonareva, prevailing in the battle of two moms.
Both players had their chances and it was Minella who played better in the crucial moments, saving three out of seven break points and creating 14 opportunities on the return to mount the pressure on the Russian. Vera suffered six breaks, bouncing back in set number two to extend the encounter before Mandy took charge in the decider, serving well and moving over the top with a double break to secure the main draw action. The 2nd seed Sara Sorribes Tormo needed two hours and 20 minutes to topple Anna Zaja 1-6, 6-1, 7-6 after trailing 5-2 in the decider!
Standing on the verge of defeat, the Spaniard started to serve well and broke back in game nine to prolong her chances, rattling off four straight points at 3-4 in the tie break to steal the triumph and set the second round encounter against Andrea Petkovic. The Belgian Greet Minnen overpowered Giulia Gatto-Monticone 6-1, 6-7, 6-2, dominating in the sets she won to book the place in the main draw, her first on the WTA level since Hobart where she played in the quarters, also as a qualifier.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2IOWqqI
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