Waltert breaks three-year drought to repeat history
SWISS 21-year-old Simona Waltert is pretty good at knocking off number one seeds in Lausanne. Earning another wildcard at her home tournament, the right-handed talent who has almost exclusively played on the ITF Tour the last few years, stunned American Danielle Collins in three sets. Most remarkably, she faced three break points in the deciding set tiebreaker, before winning the final five points of the match to hold her nerve and claim the win, 6-7 6-3 7-6 in three hours on court.
It was Waltert’s second main draw victory on the WTA Tour, having broken through on debut three years earlier against then number one seed, Julia Goerges. Back then, Goerges was forced to retire, and Waltert advanced to the second round of the Ladies Open Lausanne after winning 6-7 6-3 3-2 with the German retiring in that sixth game of the deciding set.
Fast forward to 2022, and the Swiss youngster finally grabbed her first victory where she was given the opportunity to close it out, and that is exactly what she did. The match against Australian Open finalist Collins lasted three hours and one minute, and drew eerily similar comparisons to that first win. Waltert dropped the first set in a tiebreaker, then won the second 6-3, before Collins, who was still making her way back from injury that set her back time earlier in the year, forced her way back into it.
It went to another tiebreaker, but this time it would be the younger of the opponents to salute, with Waltert getting up 8-6 in the tiebreaker. Collins’ serving was as inconsistent as it could be, serving a whopping 15 double faults for her four aces, including seven in the deciding set. But it was more the inconsistency outside of those double faults, with the American only serving at 51 per cent in the third serve, winning 57 per cent of her first serve points, while the Swiss talent recorded 69 and 61 per cent respectively. Waltert broke six times from 17 chances and Collins broke five from 19 in a real match of the returners.
Meanwhile the other major upset in Lausanne was the straight sets win over German qualifier Eva Lys who knocked off eighth seed Varvara Gracheva in straight sets. The other seeds all advanced through, but Roland Garros runner-up Erika Andreeva beat her Russian compatriot Anna Blinkova convincingly, 6-1 6-2. In the other WTA Tour tournament in Budapest, Brazilian lucky loser Laura Pigossi stood up to take down Swede Rebecca Peterson, while the three seeds in action all advanced to the Round of 16.
On the ATP Tour, Austrian Grand Slam winner Dominic Thiem came from behind to pick up an important win over a quality opponent in Emil Ruusuvuori at Bastad to advance to the second round. Frenchman Hugo Gaston and Swiss qualifier Marc-Andrea Huesler also advanced after taking down sixth and seventh seeds, Nikoloz Basilashvili and Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune respectively. On the grass at Newport, all the seeds moved through to the second round on day two, with Andy Murray‘s crushing win over American Sam Querrey the talking point. In the French-Australian clashes, Quentin Halys upset Alexei Popyrin, before the green and gold got one back with wildcard Max Purcell causing a boilover against Adrian Mannarino in three sets.
AROUND THE TOUR RESULTS:
Bastad – ATP 250 | Clay
Hugo Gaston (FRA) defeated [6] Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO) 7-6 3-0 RET
[Q] Marc-Andrea Huesler (SUI) defeated [7] Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune (DEN) 6-3 6-4
[8] Sebastian Baez (ARG) defeated [LL] Fabio Fognini (ITA) 6-3 6-4
Francisco Cerundolo (ARG) defeated [Q] Pedro Sousa (POR) 6-4 6-3
Federico Coria (ARG) defeated [Q] Federico Delbonis (ARG) 0-6 6-4 6-4
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (ESP) defeated Joao Sousa (POR) 6-4 6-2
Aslan Karatsev (RUS) defeated Lorenzo Sonego (ITA) 6-0 2-6 6-4
Albert Ramos-Vinolas (ESP) defeated [Q] Tomas Etcheverry (ARG) 6-3 6-3
[PR] Dominic Thiem (AUT) defeated Emil Ruusuvuori (FIN) 3-6 6-1 7-6
Newport – ATP 250 | Grass
[5] Benjamin Bonzi (FRA) defeated [Q] William Blumberg (USA) 2-6 6-3 6-2
[6] Andy Murray (GBR) defeated Sam Querrey (USA) 6-2 6-0
[7] Jiri Vesely (CZE) defeated Feliciano Lopez (ESP) 6-4 6-2
[8] James Duckworth (AUS) defeated [Q] Liam Broady (GBR) 6-2 4-6 6-2
[Q] Mitchell Krueger (USA) defeated Tim van Rijthoven (NED) 7-6 4-6 6-3
[Q] Christopher Eubanks (USA) defeated Dominik Koepfer (GER) 6-4 7-5
Quentin Halys (FRA) defeated Alexei Popyrin (AUS) 7-6 6-3
[WC] Max Purcell (AUS) defeated Adrian Mannarino (FRA) 6-3 1-6 7-5
Budapest – WTA 250 | Clay
[2] Martina Trevisan (ITA) defeated [WC] Natalia Szabanin (HUN) 2-6 6-2 6-0
[3] Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) defeated Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (SVK) 6-4 6-1
[9] Anna Bondar (HUN) defeated [Q] Jesika Maleckova (CZE) 6-4 6-4
Ana Bogdan (ROU) defeated Panna Udvardy (HUN) 6-2 5-7 6-0
Elisabetta Cocciaretto (ITA) defeated [WC] Reka-Luca Jani (HUN) 7-6 6-2
Aleksandra Krunic (SRB) defeated Laura Siegemund (GER) 6-3 6-4
[Q] Despina Papamichail (GRE) defeated Dalma Galfi (HUN) 7-6 6-3
[LL] Laura Pigossi (BRA) defeated Rebecca Peterson (SWE) 7-5 6-3
Lausanne – WTA 250 | Clay
[WC] Simona Waltert (SUI) defeated [1] Danielle Collins (USA) 6-7 6-3 7-6
[2] Belinda Bencic (SUI) defeated Diane Parry (FRA) 3-6 6-3 6-1
[3] Irina-Camelia Begu (ROU) defeated Tamara Korpatsch GER) 6-4 6-2
[5] Nuria Parrizas Diaz (ESP) defeated Petra Martic (CRO) 6-2 6-2
[6] Caroline Garcia (FRA) defeated Jasmine Paolini (ITA) 6-3 6-3
[Q] Eva Lys (GER) defeated [8] Varvara Gracheva (RUS) 7-5 6-4
[Q] Olga Danilovic (SRB) defeated Misaki Doi (JPN) 6-3 6-3
[Q] Cristina Bucsa (ESP) defeated [WC] Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) 6-4 7-6
[Q] Erika Andreeva (RUS) defeated [Q] Anna Blinkova (RUS) 6-1 6-2
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