Dubai: Top seed and defending champion Alexandra Dulgheru scraped through to the second round of the women’s singles with a 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-2 win over Martina Caregaro of Italy in the 18th Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge here on Tuesday.
Tired after waiting for a clearance for three days to sort out her passport issue and enter Dubai, Dulgheru took her time to settle in before going through in three sets at the Habtoor Grand Beach Resort and Spa tennis courts.
Dulgheru had her chances at the start of the match, but her opponent saved three game points and drew level 1-1. After that, the Romanian eased ahead in the first set tie-breaker 6-4, but Caregaro did well to win four points in-a-row and take the opening set 7-6 (6).
In the second set, Dulgheru slowly started finding her rhythm as she broke in the fifth and ninth games to win the set 6-3 to push into a deciding third. The Romanian broke in the sixth and then held for 5-2 to eventually break a second time and seal off set and match 6-2 and set up a second round meeting with Valentyna Ivakhnenko of Russia today.
The Romanian could not enter Dubai as she has a temporary passport that does not allow visa on arrival. However, tournament officials obtained special permission from the immigration and allowed the defending champion and top seed to enter the country especially for this tournament.
“It was tough for me on two different fronts. One is I arrived at 1 this morning and then making the shift from indoors to outdoors was quite difficult. To add to this, she [Caregaro] is a very good player and she strikes the ball well,” Dulgheru told media after the match.
“There is no secret here really. Every match is going to be tough and every opponent is going to give everything. I just need to stay focused and take it one match at a time,” she said.
Second seed Klara Koukalova from the Czech Republic had absolutely no trouble starting off her campaign as she eased her way to an emphatic 6-3, 6-0 win over qualifier Sandra Samir of Egypt.
The third and fourth seeds were also through to the second round with equal ease with third seed Alexandra Panova of Russia beating Nadiia Kichenok 6-1, 6-2, while fourth seed Kristina Kucova got her way past Polina Leykina 6-1, 6-0.
Meanwhile, eighth seed Maria Sakkari of Germany was the lone high-profile player to fall on the second day of the women’s singles. Ranked 76 places higher than her French opponent Fiona Ferro, the eighth-seeded German went down in straight sets 6-3, 6-3 as the remaining top seven seeds cruised into the second round.
