Mandlik reaps reward over Riske in San Jose

AMERICAN 21-year-old Elizabeth Mandlik has won through to the second round of the San Jose WTA 500 event, claiming her first ever WTA Tour main draw win in the process. Having stunned top qualifying seed Jil Teichmann to reach the main draw, Mandlik took down compatriot and former Top 20 player Alison Riske in straight sets, 6-3 6-3 in the Round of 32.

The rising star is the daughter of four-time Grand Slam winner Hana Mandlíková, and twin of fellow Mark Mandlik who competes on the ATP Tour. In her first round match, Mandlik served four aces and won 69 per cent of her first serve points up against Riske’s two and 49 per cent. Impressively the 21-year-old created 14 break point opportunities, and though her more experienced opponent saved nine of them, Mandlik was still able to break five times compared to Riske’s two. The win has seed Mandlik bolt into the Top 200, rising 63 spots into 177th.

Mandlik’s next match is up against second seed Paula Badosa, who is expected to be a much stiffer opposition and a great challenge for the youngster. In other San Jose results, eighth seed Karolina Pliskova made her way through to the last 16, knocking off British wildcard Katie Boulter in three sets, while seventh seed Daria Kasatkina took down Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in a stunning form reversal, winning6-2 6-0 after dropping the first set 6-1. Madison Keys, Amanda Anisimova and Taylor Townsend all won through on day one to give the home crowd plenty of representation in the second round.

Meanwhile in Washington top seed Jessica Pegula and third seed Simona Halep both advanced in straight sets over qualifiers, while Canadian qualifier Rebecca Marino came back from 1-4 down in the third set against Venus Williams to run out a 4-6 6-1 6-4 victor and reach the Round of 16. Sixth seed Kaia Kanepi, Australian Daria Saville, Croatian Donna Vekic, Russian Liudmila Samsonova and Chinese talent Lin Zhu were the other day one winners.

The men’s ATP 500 event at the same tournament kicked off with the results largely going to plan. It was a mixed bag for the Americans, with wildcard JJ Wolf and Dennis Kudla winning through, but three other representatives bowing out. Kyle Edmund, Jack Draper and Dominik Koepfer were among the winners, with Sweden’s Mikael Ymer finishing strong to oust Grand Slam winner Andy Murray in three sets.

In Los Cabos, three matches were played with a couple of Australian qualifiers in Rinky Hijikata and Max Purcell both reaching the second round at the ATP 250 event. Bolivia’s Ricardas Berankis took out French ninth seed Quentin Halys in the other match.

AROUND THE TOUR RESULTS:

Washington – ATP 500 | Hard

Round of 64:

Benoit Paire (FRA) defeated Peter Gojowczyk (GER) 7-5 6-4
Jack Draper (GBR) defeated [WC] Stefan Kozlov (USA) 7-5 6-2
[PR] Kyle Edmund (GBR) defeated [Q] Yosuke Watanuki (JPN) 6-4 7-6
[Q] Borna Gojo (CRO) defeated James Duckworth (AUS) 4-6 7-6 6-2
[Q] Dominik Koepfer (GER) defeated Soonwoo Kwon )KOR) 3-6 6-3 6-4
Denis Kudla (USA) defeated [Q] Michael Mmoh (USA) 1-6 6-3 6-4
Adrian Mannarino (FRA) defeated [WC] Bradley Klahn (USA) 6-2 6-4
Alexei Popyrin (AUS) defeated [Q] Tung-Lin Wu (TAI) 3-3 RET
[WC] J.J. Wolf (USA) defeated [Q] Taro Daniel (JPN) 6-2 6-3
Mikael Ymer (SWE) defeated Andy Murray (GBR) 7-6 4-6 6-1

Los Cabos – ATP 250 | Hard

Round of 32:

Ricardas Berankis (BOL) defeated [9] Quentin Halys (FRA) 7-6 7-5
[Q] Rinky Hijikata (AUS) defeated [WC] Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez (MEX) 6-3 4-0 RET
[Q] Max Purcell (AUS) defeated Henri Laaksonen (SUI) 6-3 3-6 6-4

San Jose – WTA 500 | Hard

Round of 32:

[7] Daria Kasatkina (RUS) defeated Elena Rybakina (KAZ) 1-6 6-2 6-0
[8] Karolina Pliskova (CZE) defeated [WC] Katie Boulter (GBR) 1-6 7-6 6-3
Amanda Anisimova (USA) defeated [WC] Ashlyn Krueger (USA) 6-2 7-6
Madison Keys (USA) defeated Shuai Zhang (CHN) 6-4 6-2
[Q] Taylor Townsend (USA) defeated [Q] Storm Sanders (AUS) 6-1 6-4
[Q] Elizabeth Mandlik (USA) defeated Alison Riske (USA) 6-3 6-3

Washington – WTA 250 | Hard

Round of 32:

[1] Jessica Pegula (USA) defeated [WC] Hayley Baptiste (USA) 6-2 6-2
[3] Simona Halep (ROU) defeated [Q] Cristina Bucsa (ESP) 6-3 7-5
Liudmila Samsonova (RUS) defeated [5] Elise Mertens (BEL) 7-6 6-4
[6] Kaia Kanepi (EST) defeated Greet Minnen (BEL) 6-3 6-3
Donna Vekic (CRO) defeated [7] Mayar Sherif (EGY) 6-4 6-1
[Q] Rebecca Marino (CAN) defeated [WC] Venus Williams (USA) 4-6 6-1 6-4
Daria Saville (AUS) defeated [Q] Mirjam Bjorklund (SWE) 3-6 7-5 7-6
Lin Zhu (CHN) defeated Harriet Dart (GBR) 6-4 6-3

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