Tampico | Top seeds advance at WTA 125 event in Mexico

With the last WTA 1000 completed on Sunday in Guadalajara and the Top 8 finishers in the Race to the WTA Finals heading to Fort Worth, Texas, to start play on Monday 31 October, this week’s action is limited to the Abierto Tampico WTA 125 tournament in Mexico where the No 1 seed is Elise Mertens, the No 30 in the world from Belgium.

Mertens came through her opening match unscathed against qualifier Elvina Kalieva, 6-3 7-5, and will meet another American Ashlyn Krueger, a 6-2 7-5 winner over Indonesian qualifier Aldila Sutjiadi.

2nd-seeded Maria Bouzkova from the Czech Republic also survived a stiff challenge from Russian Elina Avanesyan, winning 7-6(4) 6-3.

Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard, however, always a fan attraction, lost a 3-set heartbreaker, to home favourite Renata Zarazua, 7-5 1-6 7-5.

The 28-year-old was up 4-1 in the first set but eventually lost it, before bouncing back impressively in the second, winning it with the loss of just 1 game to level proceedings.

She also led in the decider but was outrun by Zarazua after 2 hours and 20 minutes, the Mexican firing the only ace of the match and Bouchard producing 4 double-faults while her opponent had none.

3rd-seeded Leylah Fernandez was more fortunate, re-bounding against American Elizabeth Mandlik in a later match to advance to the round of 16.

Fernandez outlasted Mandlik, the daughter of Hana Mandlikova, in a tense first set tiebreak, and seemed to find another gear in the second to win, 7-6(8) 6-2.

The Canadian slammed down 5 aces in the one hour, 58-minute match, including a decisive one with the score tied at deuce in final game.

Another Canadian, Rebecca Marino, the No 8 seed, plays against Moyuka Uchijima of Japan in the round of 16 on Wednesday after dispatching Russian Varvara Flink, 6-3 7-5, on Monday.

In other early week results, Katerina Siniakova, the World No 1 in doubles from Czech Republic, advanced after beating America’s Alicia Parks, 6-0 6-3, while Magda Linette, the Polish 5th seed, dispatched another Canadian, qualifier Bianca Fernandez, 6-3 6-0.

Zhu Lin, the 6th seed from China needed 3 sets to get past Austria’s Julia Grabher, 6-4 3-6 6-0, and Camila Osorio, the No 7 seed from Colombia, also had her hands full against Japan’s Nao Hibino but prevailed, 3-6 6-3 6-3.