LINZ, October 11, 2016

The first round of the WTA Ladies Generali Linz continued on Tuesday with the tournament’s number four Carla Suarez Navarro winning her opening match against Germany’s Mona Barthel 6-4, 6-2.

The world number 12 from Spain won 74 per cent of her first service points and broke her opponent’ serve four times to seal victory in 63 minutes, retaining her her hopes of qualifying for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals in Singapore.

“The most important thing is to take it match by match, step by step. Today, I felt really good on the court today. It’s an important week because of Singapore – not only for me, but for other players, as well. Players all want spots in Singapore, and we only have a few more tournaments,” Suárez Navarro said in her post-match press conference and added:

“For me, this is a really good tournament, really good facilities. The hotel is close to site, and the food is really good. You guys will have an interesting week for sure.”

2012 Linz runner-up Julia Görges defeated Austrian wild card Barbara Haas 6-4, 6-4. The 27-year-old from Germany converted six of her 12 break point chances to advance in one hour and 20 minutes. Görges will next take on Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland.

Anett Kontaveit upset Eugenie Bouchard, winning 7-6, 6-4. The world number 121 from Estonia withstood five aces from the Canadian, hitting three of her own to prevail in one hour and 27 minutes. Next up for Kontaveit will be Denisa Allertova from the Czech Republic, who knocked out seventh seed Daria Kasatkina 6-2, 6-3.