ANETT Kontaveit has exacted a come-from-behind win over unseeded top 30 Russian, Ekaterina Alexandrova in the first round of the Ostrava Open. Trailing by a set, Kontaveit managed to steady with an important second set, then held on in a nail-biting decider to come away with the 4-6 6-2 7-6 victory.

The final set was a display of nerves from the server and tenacity from the receiver, as both players broke their opposition four times each in the 12 service games. It meant they only held two of their service games in that time, with Kontaveit winning 42 and 48 per cent of her first and second serve points, and Alexandrova 54 and 27 per cent respectively. Luckily for the Estonian, she did enough to take it to a tiebreaker which she won 8-6 to win in two hours and 14 minutes.

The Estonian’s comeback was even more remarkable considering she trailed by a double break in the decider, and then faced two match points at 4-6 down in the third set tiebreaker. Alexandrova had more than her fair share of chances to win it, leading 5-2 in the set, and then having the two match points, but it was the eighth seed who continued to push, and won the last four points over the match to claim a remarkable win.

“I was so close to being out, so I just tried to stay in the match,” Kontaveit said post-match. “I never really gave up, I tried to be a little more aggressive when I was down – I felt maybe I’d taken a little bit off my shots.”

Kontaveit will now take on Spanish qualifier Sara Sorribes Tormo who dominated Poland’s Magda Linette in a stunning upset. The world number 73 toppled the 40th ranked Pole, winning 6-1 6-3 in an hour and 15 minutes to book her spot in the second round. Neither are renowned for their big serving, but Sorribes Tormo was consistent, winning 65 per cent of her first serve points off a 77 per cent efficiency, compared to a poor 42 off 66 for Linette.

In fact, the Polish 28-year-old won just 18 points on serve for the entire match, breaking Sorribes Tormo twice and only holding serve herself twice, as the Spaniard broke a massive six times in eight games. She was the second qualifier to advance through to the second round of the Ostrava Open after Barbora Krejcikova downed fellow Czech qualifier, Tereza Martincova 7-5 6-1 in an hour and 16 minutes.

Krejcikova won an impressive 77 per cent of her first serve points off a 65 per cent clip, and broke six times in 10 games, whilst saving three of five break point opportunities herself. Ranked inside the top 100 compared to her opponents’ rank of 121, the 24-year-old continued her strong form this season and now faces the massive challenge that is fourth seed, Victoria Azarenka in the second round.

Meanwhile Maria Sakkari rounded out the first round winners with a strong straight sets victory over another Czech in wildcard Kristyna Pliskova. The Greek up and comer won 6-3 6-3 in an hour and 20 minutes to advance through to the Round of 16 and set up a date with top seed, Elina Svitolina. She won a massive 77 per cent of her first serve points, albeit off a poor serving percentage of 49 per cent, but managed to save six of seven break point opportunities.

Despite Sakkari opening the door for her opponent due to her poor serving, she managed to steady and break her opponent four times and claim the win. Aiming to run deep in the tournament and force her way into the the top 20, Sakkari will need to find a way to upset Svitolina in a couple of days time.