Dubai: Olympic gold medallist Monica Puig led a wild card and a qualifier into the second round on the second day at the Dubai Duty Free Women’s Open at the Dubai Tennis Stadium on Monday.
The 23-year-old Puerto Rican, who got the better of German Angelique Kerber to win the women’s singles at the 2016 Rio Olympics, had to take on-court treatment for lower back pain before overcoming Yaroslava Shvedova 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in exactly two hours on centre court.
“She’s a very tricky opponent and I have played her several times. You really have to be on your toes at every point in the match. I’m just happy that I got through today,” Puig told journalists.
She faces 15th seeded Frenchwoman and last year’s semi-finalist Caroline Garcia in the next round.
China’s Peng Shuai took full advantage of her wild card, overwhelming Lesia Tsurenko 6-1, 6-1 in under an hour, to set up a meeting with ninth seed Barbora Strycova on Tuesday.
Peng has been a standout for Chinese tennis in recent years.
She won her first career crown last season in Tianjin after having finished runner-up in her previous six finals.
With Su-Wei of Taiwan as her partner, Peng has already won two doubles Grand Slam titles — the 2013 Wimbledon and the French Open a year later.
Elise Mertens became the third qualifier to advance to the second round with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Tsvetana Pironkova, where she will meet former champion and No. 4 seed, Agnieszka Radwanska on centre court on Tuesday.
After getting a first-round bye, the top five seeds will all be in action on Tuesday.
The top seed, US champion and world number two Angelique Kerber, will be up against wild card Mona Barthel.
Second seed and last weekend’s Qatar Open champion Karolina Pliskova will take on Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic, while third seed Dominika Cibulkova will be up against Russian Ekaterina Makarova.
Mladenovic acknowledged she had her hands full in facing the red-hot Pliskova.
“It’s a big challenge as we know each other very well. We have been great friends and we have always had tough matches, especially the last one,” the Frenchwoman said.
“But, she’s definitely up there, on fire, full of confidence and she has been improving for the past two or three years. She is a tough player and it is tough to play her. You have to be very, very consistent and try to read her serve as that’s her biggest weapon. I am expecting a very difficult match,” Mladenovic explained.
In other matches, lucky loser Mandy Minella went down in three sets 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 as Lauren Davis became the second American to enter the second round on Monday, while Croatian Ana Konjuh took just 49 minutes in packing off China’s Shuai Zhang 6-0, 6-1.
Results
(Women’s singles) Monica Puig bt Yaroslava Shvedova 6-3, 4-6, 6-4; Shuai Peng bt Lesia Tsurenko 6-1, 6-1; Kristina Mladenovic bt Katerina Siniakova 6-3, 6-3; Ana Konjuh bt Shuai Zhang 6-0, 6-1; Catherine Bellis bt Yulia Putintseva 6-1, 7-5; Misaki Doi bt Madison Brengle 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-3; Lauren Davis bt Mandy Minella 2-6, 6-2, 6-1; Elise Mertens bt Tsvetana Pironkova 6-3, 6-2; Kateryna Bondarenko bt Aryna Sabalenka 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
(Women’s doubles) Raluca Olaru/Olga Savchuk bt Nao Hibino/Alicja Rosolska 4-6, 7-6 (4), 1-0 (4); Anna-Lena Groenefeld/Kveta Peschke bt Fatima Al Nabhani/Mona Barthel 4-6, 6-1, 1-0 (9); Andrea Hlavackova/Shuai Peng bt Chen Liang/Zhaoxuan Yang 7-5, 6-2; Andreja Klepac/Maria Jose Martínez Sánchez bt Jelena Jankovic/Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 6-4; Viktorija Golubic/Kristyna Pliskova bt Raquel Atawo/Yifan Xu 6-4, 6-2.
