With one eye on Wimbledon next month, world No. 1 Iga Swiatek on Monday came from behind to win her first grass-court match of the season at the Bad Homburg Open in Germany, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Wu-su yesterday won her first-round women’s singles qualifying match for Wimbledon.
Playing at the traditional SW19 warm-up tournament for the first time, Swiatek defeated German world No. 58 Tatjana Maria in three sets 5-7, 6-2, 6-0.
Maria broke Swiatek twice in the first set, taking advantage of a number of unforced errors from Swiatek.
Photo: AP
The four-time Grand Slam winner gained her composure ahead of the second, winning the next two sets while dropping just two games.
Swiatek was clearly looking forward to next week’s All England Club Grand Slam, which starts on Monday.
“She has a different game style,” Swiatek said of her “tricky” opponent. “But I’m pretty glad that I figured it out, because I guess problem-solving on grass is the most important thing.”
Swiatek thanked the fans including “a lot of Polish people as usual” for helping her comeback efforts.
The 22-year-old Swiatek has won three of the past five Grand Slam titles, including defending her French Open crown earlier this month.
At the Wimbledon qualifiers, Hsieh yesterday beat world No. 163 Sachia Vickery of the US 6-1, 6-4 in 55 minutes in the first round.
Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina on Monday pulled out of the Eastbourne International due to a viral illness, raising doubts over her defense of the title.
The world No. 3 had been scheduled to play Wang Xiyu on the first day of main draw action at Eastbourne.
The Kazak’s absence meant that Russian Daria Kasatkina was the highest ranked player in action on Monday as she beat Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina 6-3, 6-1 in a politically charged match.
Kasatkina was to face Karolina Pliskova in round two after the Czech advanced when Elise Mertens retired in the deciding set of their clash.
Dubai-based world No. 11 Kasatkina, who was banned from competing in Britain last year due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, acknowledged that Ukrainians are in a “way worse situation” and conceded she cannot see an imminent end to the fighting.
“My family, my parents are still in Russia,” she said. “As you can see, the last few days it’s been a big mess also there.”
It “feels [like] shit, honestly. I’m not going to hide it. It’s tough to face the circumstances for such a long time already,” said Kasatkina, who was booed off court earlier this month following her defeat by Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina at the French Open.
“I’m just trying to be a good human in this scenario. That’s all I can do,” she said.
Taiwanese sisters Chan Hao-ching and Latisha Chan were last night to play Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Ellen Perez of Australia in the women’s doubles round-of-16 at Eastbourne.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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