THE opening round of the 2020 WTA Tour Prague Open fantasy tournament saw a smattering of results, as majority of results went the way of higher ranked players with a couple of interesting twists.

Of the top seeds, just two missed out on heading through to the Round of 16, with both Karolina Muchova and Ekaterina Alexandrova going down in straight sets to their respective unseeded opposition. Where Muchova had a strong start against Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, winning the first two games, Kuznetsova came in fighting and warmed into the match, eventually running out victor 6-2 6-1 and only allowing Muchova to pull back the one game her way. Fellow Russian Alexandrova was not so lucky, struggling in the first set against Angelique Kerber before mounting a comeback in the second. It was not enough however, with the German remaining strong on her comeback from injury and taking out the match 6-1 6-4.

More predictably, first through fourth seeds in Karolina Pliskova, Elina Svitolina, Garbine Muguruza and Petra Kvitova all reigned supreme in straight sets wins. Of the four victories, both Pliskova’s and Muguruza’s opposition were qualifiers in Swiss Stefanie Voegele and German Tatjana Maria, going down in almost identical results, 6-1 6-0 and 6-2 6-1 respectively. While Kvitova had a similarly straightforward time against Brit, Heather Watson with a stellar 6-0 6-1 victory in just 58 minutes, second seed Svitolina had a tough time against American, Jennifer Brady, winning the second set and three match points from Brady’s serve. Svitolina’s composure was key, coming away with the 7-6 6-4 victory to head into the next round.

Of the final two seeds, both sixth seed Marketa Vondrousova and eighth seed Qiang Wang also head through to the second round, with Vondrousova skating through after defeating a lacklustre Liudmila Samsonova 6-3 6-2. the Russian lacked her usual pressure, still putting in a solid performance but not enough against the Czech talent. Qiang’s matchup with American Jessica Pegula was the first of many to go to three sets, coming from a set down to win 4-6 6-4 7-6. Pegula put in the hard yards and was well and truly in control early before dipping towards the middle of the match. A highly strung third set saw neither player find much momentum before Qiang snatched away victory in the tiebreaker.

Outside the seeded matchups, more matches went to three sets than not with just Veronika Kudermetova, Danka Kovinic and Jelena Ostapenko defeating their respective opposition in straight sets. While Kovinic and Ostapenko survived close shaves, Kudermetova dominated against her Canadian opposition, downing wildcard Leylah Fernandez 6-0 6-1. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova impressed in her two-hour win over recent tournament victor, Elisabetta Cocciaretto, allowing the Italian to gain the upper hand in the second before putting on the accelerator in the third set, winning 6-3 2-6 6-3. Yulia Putintseva continued her strong form, defeating Jill Teichman despite a slip-up in the second set. In the remaining three matches, Coco Vandeweghe, Shuai Zhang and Anastasija Sevastova all collected eventual wins over their tough opposition, all of whom refused to give up.

The Round of 16 will see some quality matchups, with a couple of players needing to up their game ahead of talented opposition. The likes of Svitolina and Kvitova do not have any other seeds to come up against until potentially the semi-finals, making for an interesting few battles as players attempt to stop the seeds in their tracks.

ROUND OF 32 RESULTS:

[1] Karolina Pliskova (CZE) defeated [Q] Stefanie Voegele (SUI) 6-1 6-0
[2] Elina Svitolina (UKR) defeated Jennifer Brady (USA) 7-6 6-4
[3] Garbine Muguruza (ESP) defeated [Q] Tatjana Maria (GER) 6-2 6-1
[4] Petra Kvitova (CZE) defeated Heather Watson (GBR) 6-0 6-1
Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) defeated [5] Karolina Muchova (CZE) 6-2 6-1
[6] Marketa Vondrousova (CZE) defeated Liudmila Samsonova (RUS) 6-3 6-2
Angelique Kerber (GER) defeated [7] Ekaterina Alexandrova (RUS) 6-1 6-4
[8] Qiang Wang (CHN) defeated Jessica Pegula (USA) 4-6 6-4 7-6
Veronika Kudermetova (RUS) defeated [WC] Leylah Fernandez (CAN) 6-0 6-2
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) defeated Elisabetta Cocciaretto (ITA) 6-3 2-6 6-3
Danka Kovinic (MON) defeated [Q] Anna Kalinskaya (RUS) 6-4 6-4
Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) defeated Alize Cornet (FRA) 6-0 7-6
Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) defeated Jil Teichmann (SUI) 2-6 7-5 6-3
[Q] Coco Vandeweghe (USA) defeated [WC] Ann Li (USA) 6-1 4-6 6-1
Shuai Zhang (CHN) defeated Jasmine Paolini (ITA) 1-6 6-2 6-4
Anastasija Sevastova (LAT) defeated Barbora Strycova (CZE) 6-3 3-6 6-4