London | WTA Roundup – Kontaveit survives lights out in Tallinn while seeds fall in Parma

Tallinn | WTA 250 Tallinn Open

Top seed Anett Kontaveit came from behind and endured lights out to beat Wang Xiyu at the inaugural Tallinn Open, while Beatriz Haddad Maia battled past Wang Xinyu on Tuesda.

“It was a typical first-round match in a WTA tournament,” Kontaveit said afterwards. “I felt that my opponent played some very good tennis and, as is often the case with younger players, they hit very well, but don’t find the necessary stability to follow-up, which is what I was hoping for, and which saved me in the end – ie. that I was a little more stable.”

Playing in front of a home crowd at the Forus Tennis Center, Kontaveit was made to battle against Wang, a 21-year old ranked 58 in the world, and was was forced to come back from a set down before winning, 3-6 6-2 7-5, but there was drama as she went to serve for the match at 5-2 in the third set when the lights went out for a few seconds.

The lights failure clearly rattled Kontaveit, who was unable to take advantage of her match point, and found herself having to play several more games as Wang tried hard to turn around the set before the Estonian closed out after 2 hours and 16 minutes of play.

Wang had started the match in fine form and barely made a mistake, racing out to 4-1 after two breaks, and although Kontaveit got one back, the Chinese managed to break again to take the first set.

The match had turned in the second set when Kontaveit, serving at 3-2, broke her opponent’s serve 3 times to win 7 straight games and take a 4-0 lead in the decider and, with victory in sight at 5-2, Wang pulled things back to level.

The top seed went on to break Wang’s serve before holding her own, converting her 4th match point to take the win.

“Things got very nervous, from 5-1 to 5-5, “ the World No 4 admitted. “I felt that her level was rising again and there were a few anxious points from my perspective.

“Sometimes a game can turn around at the snap of a finger, however, and it was important to keep fighting and do my job as well as possible, for the happy ending today.”

The Estonian served up 4 aces and committed 3 double-faults in the match, compared to 3 and for Wang, while both made 18 unforced errors.

Kontaveit next faces Czech Tereza Martincova, who defeated Swedish qualifier Mirjam Björklund, 7-6(6) 6-3.

Beatriz Haddad Maia dropped a set to Wang Xinyu but prevailed in Tallinn

In other Tuesday results, 3rd-seeded Beatriz Haddad Maia from Brazil had a tough game against China’s Wang Xinyu, eventually prevailing 6-3 1-6 6-4 in an encounter that lasted 2 hours and 17 minutes, and next faces 17-year-old Linda Noskova from the Czech Republic in round two.

Noskova had to qualify for the main draw, but beat Diane Parry of France in 3 sets in her 1st-round match on Monday.

Meanwhile, Yasline Bonaventure, a qualifier from Belgium, was a 6-4 6-4 winner over American Shelby Rogers and next will play Jil Teichmann, the 9th seed from Switzerland, who got past Germany’s Laura Siegemund, 6-4 7-6(7).

Ann Li won the all-American contest with Claire Lium 6-2 7-5, and awaits the winner of Wednesday’s match between home favourite Kaia Kanepi and 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, while Croatia’s Donna Vekic was an easy 6-2 6-0 winner over local wild-card Viktoria Nuudi.

Sara Sorribes upset 2nd-seeded Martina Trevisan at the Parma Ladies Open on Tuesday

Parma | WTA 250 Parma Ladies Open

Four of the 5 seeds in action on Tuesday were ousted in the in the opening round of the Parma Ladies Open, with No 2 Martina Trevisan from Italy, No 5 seed Anna Bondar of Hungary, No 7 Nuria Parrizas Diaz from Spain and No 8 seed Lucia Bronzetti of Italy all eliminated.

Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo took out Trevisan, 7-5 6-0, marking the 3rd consecutive 1st-round loss for this year’s French Open semi-finalist, while Mayar Sherif from Egypt upset 5th-seeded Anna Bondar from Hungary, 7-5 6-4, Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto defeated another Spaniard, 7th-seeded Nuria Parrizas Diaz, 7-5 6-1, and Maryna Zanevska from Belgium dispatched Lucia Bronzetti, the 8th seed from Italy, 6-3 6-2.

3rd-seeded Irina-Camelia Begu advanced when Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova retired with the Romania leading 7-5, 5-1.

Montenegrin Danka Kovinic outlasted Oceane Dodin from France, 6-1 3-6 6-4, and will next face 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens.

Italian wild-card Matilde Paoletti earned her first tour-level win by beating Romanian qualifier Gabriela Lee, 6-4 3-6 6-0, and takes on Begu in round 2

Other winners on Tuesday included Italians Matilde Paoletti and Jasmine Paolini, Dalma Galfi of Hungary, Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands and Simona Waltert of Switzerland.