Courmayeur Ladies Open: Jasmine Paolini; Liudmila Samsonova clinch 2R spots



by ABBEY JOHNSON

Courmayeur Ladies Open: Jasmine Paolini; Liudmila Samsonova clinch 2R spots

Fourth seed Petra Martic was the lone casualty on Tuesday at the Courmayeur Ladies Open. China’s Saisai Zheng ousted the Croatian 6-3, 6-4 in an hour and 22 minutes. Zheng won 71% of her first-serve points to Martic’s 62% and 50% of her second-serve points to the latter’s 40%.

She was broken twice but went on to convert four of the 11 break points she had on Martic’s serve. Zheng won 65 points for the match, 14 more than Martic’s 51. In the second round, Zheng will play another Croat, in Donna Vekic.

Vekic defeated Zheng’s fellow countrywoman, qualifier Qinwen Zheng 7-6(1), 6-2 in an hour and 37 minutes. Another Chinese player who reached the second round on Tuesday was Xinyu Wang. Wang led her opponent, Spanish qualifier Cristina Bucsa 6-1, 5-0 before the latter retired in the match.

Wang will play eighth seed Shuai Zhang, in a Chinese derby for a spot in the quarterfinals.

Courmayeur Ladies Open: Jasmine Paolini keeps Italian flag flying high

Zhang came through her first-round clash against Italian wildcard, Jessica Pieri 6-1, 6-3 in 59 minutes.

Zhang won 76% of her first-serve points to Pieri’s 54%. The biggest difference between the two players, however, boiled down to the second-serve points each won. While Zhang won 47% of her second-serve points, Pieri could only win 16% of her second-serve points.

The world no. 58 lost her serve twice but went on to break her opponent’s serve six times across the match. Third seed Liudmila Samsonova reached the second round with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Stephanie Wagner of Germany. The Russian needed an hour and 19 minutes to complete her win over the qualifier.

Samsonova will play Aliona Bolsova next. Samsonova’s fellow Russian, Anna Kalinskaya clinched her spot in the second round with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Italy’s Martina Trevisan. Kalinskaya will play sixth seed, Alison Riske, next.

Meanwhile, Trevisan’s compatriot, seventh seed Jasmine Paolini also reached the round-of-16 at the Courmayeur Ladies Open. Paolini won her opening-round match against fellow Italian, qualifier Martina di Giuseppe 6-4, 6-1 in 68 minutes. Next up for Paolini, is another Italian in Lucrezia Stefanini.

Petra Martic Shuai Zhang Anna Kalinskaya