LINZ, October 7, 2019 (by Alessandro Boroch)
The qualifying draw for the Upper Austria Ladies Linz was completed on Monday and twelve players were still in action, trying to secure a place for the main draw. Anna-Lena Friedsam, Nina Stojanovic, Misaki Doi, Stefanie Vögele, Tamara Korpatsch and Laura Siegemund are the players, who were able to beat their opponents and advance into the first round in Linz. Ysaline Bonvanture received a lucky loser spot after No. 3 seed Anastasia Sevastova withdrew from singles main draw due to a right shoulder injury.
Anna-Lena Friedsam took out US-American Shelby Rogers in a highly competitive three-set-battle 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in one hour and 57 minutes. Misaki Doi also had a long day at the office, beating 23-year-old Italian Jasmine Paolini 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 after two hours and six minutes. Laura Siegemund, Nina Stojanovic and Stefanie Vögele all scored straight-set-victories over Tereza Martincová 7-6, 6-0, Ysaline Bonaventure 6-3, 6-4 and Pauline Parmentier 6-4, 6-4.
Tamara Korpatsch from Germany probably had the most exciting match-up of the day, facing 15-year-old prodigy Cori Gauff, who plays her first tournament since reaching the third round at the US Open 2019. The German player managed to beat Gauff in straight sets 6-4, 6-2, despite having been a break down in both sets. The young US-American confirmed afterwards that she will still be playing doubles with her compatriot Catherine McNally, who lost to Anna-Lena Friedsam in the first round of the qualifying.
15-year-old shooting star 💫@CocoGauff 🇺🇸 missed the MD at the #wtalinz losing in the qualies finals 4-6, 2-6 vs #tamarakorpatsch 🇩🇪. Heads up, Coco! The future is yours! 🔮 @WTA #cocogauff #upperaustrialadieslinz pic.twitter.com/WhzuSmtuCt
— WTA Linz (@WTALinz) October 7, 2019
Apart from the final qualifying round, three main draw singles matches took place today. The main draw in Linz will be led by World No. 8 Kiki Bertens and World No. 10 Belinda Bencic, who are both still fighting to receive a spot for the WTA Finals in Shenzhen.
Viktoria Kuzmova, Andrea Petkovic and Kateryna Kozlova were able to get through their first round matches against Julia Grabher 6-4, 6-2, Jil Teichmann 6-1, 6-1 and Anna Blinkova 6-1, 6-7, 7-6.
Main draw action continues at 11am on Tuesday with 2017 champion Barbora Strycova taking on Alizé Cornet on Centre Court. Second seed Belinda Bencic starts her campaign against German qualifier Anna-Lena Friedsam (not before 6:30 pm).
RESULTS – October 07, 2019 Women’s Qualifying Singles – Second Round
[1] M. Doi (JPN) d J. Paolini (ITA) 46 62 63
[2] L. Siegemund (GER) d T. Martincová (CZE) 76 60
T. Korpatsch (GER) d. C. Gauff (USA) 64 62
[4] N. Stojanovic (SRB) d. Y. Bonaventure (BEL) 63 64
A.-L. Friedsam (GER) d. S. Rogers (USA) 62 62
S. Vögele (SUI) d. P. Parmentier (FRA) 64 64
Women’s Main Draw Singles – First Round
V. Kuzmova (SVK) d. J. Grabher (AUT) 64 62
A. Petkovic (GER) d. J. Teichmann (SUI) 61 61
K. Kozlova (UKR) d. A. Blinkova (RUS) 61 67 76
