Wednesday at the 2016 Generali Ladies Linz was the first day all four Singapore contenders in the tournament draw were in action and all four of them moved on in style.
Madison Keys was the first of the top seeds to win her match on Wednesday, beating Italian Camila Giorgi in a duel of the big hitters. Keys was followed by Dominika Cibulkova, whose encounter with Belinda Bencic was a thrilling match on paper, but turned out to be a blowout.
Cibulkova swept by Bencic in straight sets as an all-around disappointing season for the Swiss talent is coming to a disappointing end with yet another comprehensive loss. Turkey’s Cagla Buyukakcay fared better against top seed Garbine Muguruza, making the Spaniard work hard for her straight-set win on the way into the second round.
With three Singapore contenders safely through into the second round, Carla Suarez Navarro is the first player to be through to the quarters as the Spaniard got to play her second-round match against Sara Sorribes Tormo during the evening session.
The other second-round matches will follow on Thursday, a packed day of tennis in Linz, so packed that even the defending champion Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova has been bumped to the tournament’s second court for her match against Kirsten Flipkens.
That will of course not stop us from covering her progress and there will be more from Linz on Women’s Tennis Blog tomorrow.
MORE GENERALI LADIES LINZ PHOTOS:
- Tuesday: First-round play, Bouchard crashes out
- Monday: Qualifying complete, opening of main-draw action, players’ party & hula hoops
- Sunday: Qualifying continues with vetarans Patty Schnyder and Daniela Hantuchova
- Saturday: Qualifying action
