WTA Tour wrap: Frenchwomen and seeds win on opening day at Strasbourg
IT was a fairly comprehensive day of results on the opening day at the WTA Tour’s Internationaux de Strasbourg, as the two seeds reigned supreme and a couple of hometown hopefuls enter the second round.
The two seeds were predictable smashing out first round victories, as third seed Ekaterina Alexandrova flew out of the blocks against American Lauren Davis, whilst Magda Linette executed the quickest win of the day with a 60-minute smashing of Nao Hibino. A second set comeback from Davis was not enough to steal a victory from the in-form Alexandrova, who reigned supreme 6-1 7-5 in 80 minutes flat with an excellent 83 per cent first serve winning rate. Despite hitting seven double faults for six aces, she was cleaner than the American who struggled to convert. For Linette, it was a blowout 6-2 6-0 performance that puts her in good stead for the second round, however much of it was down to Hibino’s shaky performance with the Japanese talent struggling off her service games winning just one of her second serve points, while Linette converted all six break points she faced and saved five of six chances.
The two Frenchwomen also saw success on the opening day, as Alize Cornet completed the longest win of the day in one hour and 39 minutes over Kristyna Pliskova, 6-4 7-5, and 20-year-old Clara Burel backed her up with a 65-minute smashing of qualifier Varvara Gracheva. Cornet was tested by a fiery Pliskova, but kept her head to win 55 per cent of the overall points, utilising Pliskova’s shaky second service winning rate of 24 per cent to take the upper hand. Burel was clinical in her own matchup, winning 81 per cent of her first serve points and not only saving five of six break points, but also converting five of six.
INTERNATIONAUX DE STRASBOURG ROUND OF 32 RESULTS:
[3] Ekaterina Alexandrova (RUS) defeated Lauren Davis (USA) 6-1 7-5
[8] Magda Linette (POL) defeated Nao Hibino (JPN) 6-2 6-0
Alize Cornet (FRA) defeated Kristyna Pliskova (CZE) 6-4 7-5
Clara Burel (FRA) defeated Varvar Gracheva (RUS) 6-3 6-1
Picture credit: Michel Grasso
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