The Ukrainian retired in the first set due to physical problems. Spain’s Lucia Cortez and Carolina Gomez get through the first round of the finals with great tennis.
The first round of the finals produced the first surprise of the tournament in Vitoria with the withdrawal of the winner of the 2023 edition and number 1 seed. Daria Snigur decided to quit in the first set at 5-6 down after requesting medical assistance and not being able to overcome her physical problems. The high temperatures that prevailed yesterday in the capital of Alava did not help either on a day that exceeded 30 degrees Celsius.
The rest of the favourites fulfilled the predictions. France’s Jessika Ponchet, after an even first set against Italy’s Laura Mair (5-7), imposed her experience and took advantage of her opponent’s unforced errors to win 1-6 to close out the match.
Czech Linda Fruhvirtova, seeded 3, beat Belgian Lara Salden (3-6, 5-7). The number 4 seed Yuliia Starodubtsea also did the same against the Bulgarian Lia Karatancheva in a comfortable match that started with the first game lasting 17 minutes. Lithuanian Justina Mikulskyte won her match against Estelle Cascino (6-1, 6-1) in 52 minutes. For her part, the Filipina Alexandra Eala showed fluid and powerful tennis to win her match against the Dutch Lian Tran (4-6, 2-6). The number 6, Natalija Stevanovic struggled to get through after a close match against Anastasia Gureva (6-7, 5-7), while the Australian Melisa Ercan, needed three sets to beat the French Nahia Berecoechea (6-4, 3-6, 1-6). Andorra’s Victoria Jiménez, number 7 in the tournament, was resolute and beat Latvia’s Diana Marcinkevica 6-1, 6-0 in 42 minutes of play.
Lucía Cortez and Carolina Gómez qualified for the round of sixteen.
The Spanish participation had two outstanding players. Lucía Cortez, who overcame Turkey’s Pemra Ozgen thanks to the confidence of her serve and the power of her shots from the back of the court (3-6, 6-1), and Carolina Gómez’s hard-fought win over Israel’s Lina Glushko in three sets (6-1, 3-6, 6-4). Carmen López, María Martínez and Basque Mercedes Aristegui showed a very high competitive level, taking their matches to a third set without any luck for their interests.
A total of 12 matches will be played this Thursday, starting at 11:30 a.m., eight in the singles round of 16 and four corresponding to the quarter-finals in the doubles category. Among the singles duels, the match between the Spanish Lucía Cortez and the Philippine Alexandra Eala (not before 13:00 hours), and the doubles crossing of the favourite pair, with the Belgians Magali Kempen and Lara Salden against Eden Silva and Valeriya Strakhova (no earlier than 16:00), stand out.
All the matches can be followed live streaming on the official website https://live.itftennis.com/en/