The Generali Ladies Linz 2014 kicks off

Women’s Tennis Blog is on location in Linz, the Austrian city which hosts one of the few remaining hardcourt indoor tournaments on the WTA tour.

The Austrian tournament is one of the most traditional events on tour, having been held since 1991. The list of past tournament champions includes some of women’s tennis biggest names such as Maria Sharapova, Amelie Mauresmo, Justine Henin & Lindsay Davenport as Linz always managed to attract well-known players to spearhead the event.

There will be no lack of star power at the 2014 edition either, as some of the game’s most popular players will fight for this year’s title, including former champion Ana Ivanovic, young WTA superstar Eugenie Bouchard & fan favorites Andrea Petkovic & Sabine Lisicki.

Before the star players hit the courts, the qualifying rounds have to be completed though. Following a very busy 16-match day on Saturday, the second round of qualifying was played on Sunday, as eight players made their way into the finals on Monday.

Among them are Kiki Bertens, Anna-Lena Friedsam & Tereza Smitkova, all of which won their matches in a dominant fashion.

For others, Sunday was the end of the road, including German hopeful Carina Witthöft.

The 19-year old recently enjoyed some very promising results on the ITF tour and won her first-round match on Saturday in a convincing fashion, Aliaksandra Sasnovich proved to be too much for Witthöft though as the Belarusian advanced in straight sets.

It was an even more bitter day for two Swedish fans who made their way to Linz to cheer on two of their faves. First, Sofia Arvidsson fell prey to Tereza Smitkova and afterwards, Johanna Larsson lost what was a fiercely-contested and highly emotional duel with another young Czech player, Karolina Siniakova.

Eight players will fight for the four qualifier spots on Monday as the first main draw matches are scheduled to kick off afterwards. Keep checking back to Women’s Tennis Blog all week for all the latest from inside the Generali Ladies Linz 2014!