Three notable unseeded players in the tournament are former champions Serena Williams and Vika Azarenka, and last weeks Indian Wells champion Naomi Osaka.
Because of their current rankings, Serena (491) and Vika (186) had to be granted wildcards to enter the tournament, but once in the draw, it was no drama for the Belarusian as Azarenka rushed through her first match against American teenager Catherine Bellis 6-3 6-0.
Not the best luck of the draw for Serena or Naomi as they had to play each other in the opening round on Day Two.
For most of the first set points were evenly shared, yet the key ones went Osaka’s way. The Japanese number one broke, and at 3-5 40-0 Serena failed to capitalise on three game points, and lost her serve again, and the set 3-6.
Osaka pressed home her advantage in set two, winning nine of eleven points on the American second serve, breaking twice in the process, and taking home the chocolates 6-3 6-2.
A most impressive victory against such an opponent, and a confidence boost ahead of the difficult second round encounter with Elina Svitolina (4).
An interesting first round result in the men’s draw was the win by teenage wildcard Mikael Ymer from Sweden. Ranked 407, he defeated Jan-Lennard Struff 3-6 7-5 6-1.
Ymer was the beaten in the 2015 Wimbledon Junior Singles Final, and has won two ITF Futures titles, but this was his first main draw success at ATP level.
16 women’s seeds begin their campaigns on Day Three, while the men complete round one of their draw.
Azarenka v Keys (14) and Makarova v Pliskova (5) look to be excellent matches to watch out for.
No comments:
Post a Comment