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Yulia Putintseva ousted Diana Shnaider in the first round of the Japan Open on Monday. The Kazakh, who’s playing the WTA 250 tournament this week in Osaka, needed an hour and 35 minutes to post a 6-2, 6-3 win. The sixth seed put in 81% of her first serves and won 66% of her first-serve points.
Shnaider won 55% of her first-serve points. Both players were erratic on their second serves. The 19-year-old fared slightly better than her experienced rival, winning 36% of her second-serve points to the latter’s 33%.
However, she wasn’t able to make more inroads into breaking Putintseva’s serve. Putintseva faced seven break points and saved six of them. She, however, broke Shnaider’s serve five times out of the 10 chances she had in the match.
Following this result, the world no. 83’s form slumped even further. Shnaider had lost in the second round of qualifying at the US Open, prior to this. In the days leading up to the US Open, Shnaider had played a WTA 125k at Stanford, losing in the first round to Jodie Burrage.
The last time she won two matches in a row was at the Hamburg European Open, where she lost in the semi-finals to another teen and eventual winner, Noma Noha Akugue.
Japan Open: Kateryna Baindl's the lone upset
Meanwhile, Putintseva will play qualifier Valeria Savinykh.
The 32-year-old ranked 171st in the world came through against Anna-Lena Friedsam in their first-round encounter. Savinykh won 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 after two hours and 10 minutes of play. American Ashlyn Krueger upset eighth seed Kateryna Baindl in their round-of-32 meeting.
Krueger won the first match of the day, 6-2, 6-3 after an hour and 22 minutes. She saved two of the three break points she faced while converting four break points on the Ukrainian’s serve. Lastly, fifth seed Nadia Podoroska also made it to the round-of-16 at the Japan Open.
The Argentine needed three sets and had to stave a determined comeback attempt from China’s Yue Yuan in their clash. In the end, Podoroska prevailed 6-4, 3-6, 7-5. The match was short of three hours by merely 16 minutes.