TWO WTA events have begun overnight, with the Silicon Valley Classic hard court 500 tournament starting up in San Jose, United States, while the newly coined Winners Open 250 event has begun in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

In San Jose, both seeds reigned supreme on the opening day, with sixth seed Croatian Petra Martic claiming a speedy 74-minute victory over Latvian Anastasia Sevastova, 6-3 6-3 to lead all-comers, while American ninth seed Alison Riske claimed a 6-3 6-4 victory over compatriot Coco Vandeweghe on home soil.

While Riske trailed 0-3 early to Vandeweghe, she fought back to claim the next nine games to control proceedings, winning 65.1 per cent of her first serve points and saving nine of 12 break points to claim the win. Vandeweghe was error-ridden upon her return to the tour, piling on 28 unforced errors for 17 winners. To make matters even more important for the seed, this win over Vandeweghe was her first in over four years, trailing their head to head 4-7 prior to this clash.

“I’m so thrilled,” Riske said. “This year has been really challenging for me. Any time I start off a match [facing a deficit] like that, I’m thinking, ‘Oh no, not this again.’ I’m really thrilled that I was able to push through.”

“Playing someone like Coco who can take the racquet out of your hand, especially on the first couple of ball off the serve, off the return, you have to be ready to go from the get-go,” she said. “It took me a second to get used to it, but mentally, I hung in there and I stuck with it, and at the end of the day, that’s the most important thing for me.”

Another Croatian in Ana Konjuh claimed a first round win, tested throughout a tight two hour and 41-minute clash with Marie Bouzkova. While the Czech fought hard, Konjuh pulled through at the tipping point of both the first and third sets to retain control and claim a 7-5 3-6 7-5 victory.

“This is the first time I played her, so I didn’t really know what to expect,” Konjuh said. “I don’t think it was the best tennis from either one of us today, but on those days, it’s really important to pull through and find a way to win. I think I managed that today.”

In the remaining matches, Poland’s Magda Linette and China’s Zhang Shuai both claimed similarly timed wins, with the former defeated Netherlands’ Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove 6-3 6-3 in one hour and 21 minutes, and Zhang requiring just one minute more to deny 18-year-old Brit Emma Raducano a second round berth, defeating her 6-3 6-2. Meanwhile, Caroline Garcia‘s experience paid off against 352-ranked American Emina Bektas.

“She’s a really nice girl and plays really, really great tennis. I played really well tonight,” Zhang said post-match. “I missed hard courts so much because in the last three-and-a-half months in Europe, we were on clay and grass. I was so excited today.”

In Romania, only three of the four matches for the day took the court with all three completed in fairly quick times, and an intriguing loss sent the way of in-form Romanian Elena-Gabriela Ruse. Fifth seed Ruse’s recent form has been remarkable, winning 12 consecutive matches before falling to Danielle Collins in the Palermo Ladies Open less than a week ago, but she could not get back to that winning form here, as Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko claimed a 6-3 6-3 victory in one hour and 38 minutes. While neither player was particularly effective off their first serve, Tsurenko took her second chances to win 11 of her 24 second serve points compared to Ruse’s seven from 29.

The second and third matches had much more significant margins, as sixth seed Slovenian Kaja Juvan downed Russian Marina Melnikova 6-1 6-1 in 70 minutes flat, winning 72 per cent of her first serve points and converting seven break points and saving four of six, while Spaniard Lara Arruabarrena downed another Romanian in Evelyne Tirou in just 49 minutes, firing on all cylinders to complete the 6-0 6-0 bagel match. The remaining clash between the third Romanian Briana Szabo and Pole Katarzyna Kawa was delayed due to rainfall.

SILICON VALLEY CLASSIC ROUND OF 32 RESULTS: 

[6] Petra Martic (CRO) defeated Anastasia Sevastova (LAT) 6-3 6-3
[9] Alison Riske (USA) defeated Coco Vandeweghe (USA) 6-3 6-4
Magda Linette (POL) defeated Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove (NED) 6-3 6-3
Ana Konjuh (CRO) defeated Marie Bouzkova (CZE) 7-5 3-6 7-5
Zhang Shuai (CHN) defeated Emma Raducanu (GBR) 6-3 6-2
Emina Bektas (USA) vs Caroline Garcia (FRA)

WINNERS OPEN 2021 ROUND OF 32 RESULTS:

Lesia Tsurenko (UKR) defeated [5] Elena-Gabriela Ruse (ROU) 6-3 6-3
[6] Kaja Juvan (SLO) defeated Marina Melnikova (RUS) 6-1 6-1
Lara Arruabarrena (ESP) defeated Evelyne Tiron (ROU) 6-0 6-0
Briana Szabo (ROU) vs Katarzyna Kawa (POL)

Picture credit: Larry Hinh/Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic