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Top seed Bianca Andreescu survived a late blip in her first-round match against Harriet Dart at the Thailand Open on Tuesday. The Canadian came through 6-3, 6-4 in an hour and 23 minutes. Andreescu built up a 5-1 lead in the second set and served for the match twice but was broken both times.
However, Dart wasn’t able to consolidate the second break back and Andreescu was able to secure the win for herself. Andreescu dropped serve thrice in the match but broke the Briton six times. The former US Open winner won 60% of her first-serve points to Dart’s 55%.
She won 46% of her second-serve points 68% points on return on Dart’s second serve.
Thailand Open: Linda Fruhvirtova dominates
In the second round, Andreescu will play Anastasia Zakharova. Zakharova defeated Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 after three hours and five minutes in their round-of-32 clash.
Meanwhile, the tournament lost its second seed in the first round. Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva, seeded second this week lost to Dart’s compatriot, Heather Watson. Watson needed three hours to post a 5-7, 6-4, 7-6(5) comeback win.
The match had lots of ups and downs. Putintseva, despite ending up on the losing side ended up winning one more point to Watson’s 112 for the match. In total, the match had 14 breaks of serve, seven apiece. In the second round, Watson will play Na-Lae Han.
The South Korean got through Romanian Gabriela Ruse 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 in two hours and 12 minutes. Marta Kostyuk also moved into the second round. The fifth seed from Ukraine defeated Chinese Taipei’s En-Shuo Liang 6-7(7), 6-3, 6-0.
Next up for Kostyuk’s Nao Hibino. The Japanese defeated qualifier Valerie Savinykh 6-0, 6-2. Another seed who scored an impressionable win was eighth seed Linda Fruhvirtova. The Czech needed just 63 minutes to get past American Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-3, 6-1.
Fruhvirtova failed to save three of the four break points she faced while converting seven of the nine break points she had on Mattek-Sands’ serve. In the second round of the Thailand Open, Linda Fruhvirtova will play Tamara Zidansek.
