St. Petersburg: Donna Vekic moves into round 2; Vondrousova ousted

Seventh seed Donna Vekic won her opener at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy, in St. Petersburg on Tuesday. The Croatian defeated the United States’ Kristie Ahn in straight sets 6-4, 6-1 in 70 minutes. Vekic will play Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova in the second round.

In what was a Russian derby, Alexandrova got the better of Daria Kasatkina in their round-of-32 match. Alexandrova won 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in one hour and 59 minutes. In another derby, French this time, Fiona Ferro won against countrywoman Caroline Garcia. Ferro needed two hours and 29 minutes to complete a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 win over Garcia. Ferro will play eighth seed Elena Rybakina in the second round.

The other American in the main draw, Jennifer Brady also lost in the first round. Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated Brady 6-3, 6-1 in their first-round match in an hour and 27 minutes. Kuznetsova will play the top-seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland in the round-of-16.

French qualifier Oceane Dodin defeated Slovakia’s Viktoria Kuzmova 6-2, 6-2 in 68 minutes. Dodin plays British fourth seed Johanna Konta. Konta, like the three top-seeds ahead of her, received a first-round bye in the event.

Belgium’s Alison Van Uytvanck won against France’s Kristina Mladenovic 6-4, 6-1 in one hour and 18 minutes. She will play third seed Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic in the second round.

Russian Veronika Kudermetova set a second-round clash against second seed Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands. Kudermetova came through against Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva 7-6(4), 1-6, 7-5 in two hours and 34 minutes.

Tuesday’s sole upset came at the hands of Australian Ajla Tomljanovic, who ousted fifth seed Marketa Vondrousova. Coming from a set down, Tomljanovic won 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 against the Czech in two hours and 10 minutes. She plays Russian qualifier Anastasia Potapova in the next round.

Photo Credit: WTA Twitter

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2SDMlQv