Dubai: The top two seeds ran into contrasting luck on the opening day of the singles main draw of the 27th Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge, at the Habtoor Grand Resort, on Monday.
Top-seeded Polina Kudermetova took less than an hour to send Swiss girl Leonie Kung packing 6-2, 6-2, while second-seeded Arina Rodionova found Britain’s Amarni Banks too hot to handle to lose 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 in nearly two and a half hours of intense action.
“I am happy with the way things went my way in this first pre-season tournament. I think this will be the ideal preparation for the next season. The weather is perfect and I will be back in Dubai to continue my preparations for the Australian Open,” the top-seeded Kedermetova said.
“I was feeling confident out there and I slowly found my rhythm. Now on, I will be happy enough to see myself progress on certain aspects of my game as the week goes by,” she added.
Also advancing in the main draw was Japanese duo of Mei Yamaguchi and Kyoka Okamura. Yamaguchi took more than two hours to knock off Daria Kudashova 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 and make it to the main draw in her maiden appearance here, while Okamura was swift and smooth in her 6-3, 6-2 win against Slovenian, Dalila Jakupovic in just 71 minutes.
Good win
Okamura’s first win in three meetings against her Slovenian opponent gave the Japanese a lot to feel confident about. “For sure, it’s a good win and now I am eagerly looking forward to my next round,” Okamura admitted.
“I think today what worked well for me was my inner strength and belief that I could beat her [Jakupovic]. Now, there will be two of us [Japanese] trying our best to see how far we can advance here, and that gives us even more reason to stay focused and continue winning,” she added.
Yamaguchi was relieved to get past a tough opponent while becoming one of eight qualifiers to advance into the main draw. “She [Kudashova] is a tough player to handle, but I am glad I could overcome here today. She played an amazing second set, but I had enough in me to come through,” said the 25-year-old girl from Saitama.
“This is my first time here and I would love to hold that crystal trophy aloft when the final is played next Sunday. That’s the reason why I came here,” she beamed.
Second day’s action on Tuesday will see popular 2022 US Junior Open Champion Alexandra Eala from the Philippines lining up against qualifier Rada Zolotareva in early action on Court 1.
