Veronika Kudermetova saved a match point before completing a rally to take down Russian countrywoman and fifth seed Liudmila Samsonova 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (5) in nearly three hours in the first round of the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open on Monday.
Kudermetova saved 11 of 16 break points while converting 6 of 9 chances to break Samsonova’s serve. Down 5-4 in the third set, Kudermetova stayed alive by saving a match point and going on to win the 10th game, which flipped momentum in her favor. She won the first four points of the tiebreaker en route to victory.
The other four matches Monday did not involve seeded players. New Zealand’s Lulu Sun breezed past France’s Caroline Garcia 6-1, 6-3, while Wakana Sonobe of Japan beat Yue Yuan of China 6-4, 6-3.
A pair of Americans also advanced in three sets. Ashlyn Krueger defeated countrywoman McCartney Kessler 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3, while Katie Volynets topped Great Britain’s Sonay Kartal 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Transylvania Open
No. 4 seed Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine won 27 of 35 first-service points (77.1 percent) en route to a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Romanian Elena-Gabriela Ruse to open play in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
American Caroline Dolehide also advanced with a 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 result against Ukraine’s Daria Snigur. The longest match of the day saw Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova rally past Egypt’s Mayar Sherif 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.
Marina Stakusic of Canada beat Romania’s Sorana Cirstea 6-1, 1-6, 6-4, and Suzan Lamens of the Netherlands was a 7-6 (2), 7-6 (6) winner against Hungary’s Anna Bondar.
–Field Level Media
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