Sevastova, who finished first in the Madrid qualifiers and ranked 54th in the WTA, lost to Pironkov (WTA 116) in the first set with 3-6 and was in the second with 1-0 when the game was stopped, but after The resumption of the fight won the game with 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
In the first set, the Bulgarian tennis player took the lead with 3-0. In the long second game, she won by serving Sevastova and using the second break ball. The third game was even longer, in which three unused breakballs were left for a Latvian tennis player during 19 games.
Sevastova won convincingly in the fifth game, serving Pironkova, immediately after that she also reached 3-3. However, the Bulgarian won in the remaining games. In the eighth game, Sevastova provided three break balls in a row, of which only the first managed to play – in a set of 3-6.
The Latvian tennis player started the second set with a service and, despite two breakballs, won the game – 1-0. The fight was then stopped due to the weather.
The fight in the fourth court resumed on Tuesday with three points scored by a Bulgarian tennis player in a row, giving Sevastova two breakballs in the third game, the second of which was used.
Although in the ninth game the Latvian tennis player lost her service game again, Pironkova answered with three lost games of her service, Sevastova using the second set ball – 6-4.
Also in the decisive set, the first Latvian athlete lost the game of his service, after the third break point he gave up in the fifth game. But immediately after that, Sevastova won two games, serving the opponent, but she scored the last point in this match, winning her serving game “dry” – 6-3.
For winning the first qualifying round, the Latvian tennis player earned 20 WTA ranking points.
The two athletes have not met on the tennis court so far.
Sevastova’s most successful competition this season was at the end of March in the Miami “WTA 1000” tournament, where they managed to reach the quarterfinals. After that there was a loss in the second round of the Charleston “WTA 500” series tournament against the American Catherine McNellie, as well as two decisive victories in Latvia’s victory over India in the “Play-off” game of Billy Gina King’s Cup in Jūrmala.
Pironkova, including tournament qualifiers, lost only in Charleston in the first round, conceding 3-6, 0-6 to housewife Koria Gofa, who was number 14 in the tournament.
At the end of January, Pironkova won two rounds in Melbourne’s “WTA 500” series tournament, conceding in the eighth final to American Serena Williams. She lost the first round of the Australian Open, but had previously won three qualifying rounds in Dubai. Also in the Miami tournament after two won qualifying games and the first round match, he was stopped in the second round only by Arina Sabalenka, a Belarusian seeded with the seventh number in the tournament.
Therefore, the balance of the Sevastov season in singles (10-8) is worse than for Pironkova (8-4).
Sevastov has won four WTA singles trophies during his career, but Pironkova has one title.
The winner of this match in the second qualifying round will meet the 16th issue of the qualifying tournament – Ukrainian Martha Kostyuk (WTA 77) – who in the first round defeated Margarita Gasparyan from Russia (WTA 98) with 6-4, 6-1.
The Sevastov tournament in Madrid is playing for the fourth time in his career. The best result of Liepāja is the semi-final achieved in 2017, in which the third racket of the tournament for Romanian Simona Halepa was lost with 2-6, 3-6.
The tournament in Madrid takes place on clay.
Latvia’s first racket Alona Ostapenko, who is ranked 50th in the WTA rankings, will meet Russian tennis player Svetlana Kuznetsov, who is in the 36th place in the world ranking, in the first round of the main tournament.
Last year, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) made changes to the names of the categories of the tournaments it organized as the brand was renewed. The changes have been made in cooperation with the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) so that the competition structure can be understood by fans at the highest level of the sport.
Starting in 2021, the highest level in WTA tournaments is WTA 1000 (formerly Premier Mandatory and Premier 5), followed by WTA 500 (Premier 700), WTA 250 (International) and WTA 125 ( 125 K) levels. Tournament points and cash bonuses remain the same as before.
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