THE qualifying round of the 2020 Shenzhen Open started with a bang on Saturday, as 16 players went head-to-head to try and gain a coveted main draw spot. The first four matches of the tournament saw straight sets wins before a battle between Barbora Krejcikova and Nina Stojanovic livened up proceedings with a mammoth three-set battle.

Ranking leaders in Germany’s Tatjana Maria (86th), Serbia’s Stojanovic (87th) and Hungary’s Timea Babos (89th) were tested in their respective matches, with two of the three going down to lower ranked opposition. Babos got away relatively lucky against Kaja Juvan, winning 7-5 6-4 and holding her own against the 19-year-old Slovenian who certainly gave Babos a run for her money.

The quickest victory of Day 1 saw 145th ranked Anna-Lena Friedsam blow her fellow German opponent in Maria out of the water, winning in straight sets in 50 minutes, 1-6 2-6. The favourite on the day, Maria is ranked 59 spots ahead of Friedsam but was lacklustre on the court, only winning 54.8 per cent of her first serve points and collecting three double faults in what was a stellar game for Friedsam.

Meanwhile, the match of the day saw the competition’s second seed Stojanovic pushed relentlessly by Czech Republic’s Krejcikova in a monstrous three sets and tie-breaker, 4-6 6-2 5-7. The two-and-a-half hour match saw the tides turn incessantly with both players finding form on occasion before dropping the ball, before Krejcikova eventually took control once more to knock Stojanovic out of contention.

A tight start between Swiss, Stefanie Voegele and Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu saw Begu eventually reign supreme after winning the first and third sets – the third being a comfortable 1-6 finish (5-7 6-3 1-6). American Nicole Gibbs was impressive against a well-matched opponent in Romanian Monica Niculescu, winning 6-3 6-3, while an all-Italian battle raged nearby in a tight contest that almost saw Martina Trevisan force teammate Jasmine Paolini to a third set, ending at a tight 6-3 7-5.

Meanwhile, home nation, China was unlucky on the first day of the competition, with both Ma Shuyue and Yuan Yue going down to their respective Russian counterparts in Margarita Gasparyan and Varvara Gracheva.