AUSTRALIAN OPEN – In the second round of the Australian Open, Tereza Valentová (18) dominated the Czech derby and stopped the onrushing Linda Fruhvirtová (20). The Czech teenager survived four set points in the first set and after almost three hours of fighting she won 7:5, 2:6, 6:3. She thus celebrates her first promotion among the top thirty-two at the Grand Slam and her debut in the TOP 50 awaits her! In the third round, she can rematch Jelena Rybakinová for the US Open.
Valentová – Fruhvirtová 7:5, 2:6, 6:3
At the beginning of the Czech derby in the second round of the Australian Open, both players lost their opening serve. Fruhvirtová was a better player from the second game on, making significantly fewer errors. She outplayed the ranking favorite Valentová and after a long game jumped to a 4:1 lead.
In the ninth game, Fruhvirtová served to win the set. However, in an exciting game full of long exchanges, she did not use four set points and was unable to avert the fourth break point overall. Valentová reduced it to 4:5 after the fight and started the turnaround. She lost just three balls in the next three games and took the first set.
But the former TOP 50 player did not give up, after a break between sets she started again confidently and took a 2:0 lead. Although she did not keep the lead again, the match continued as if on a swing. Fruhvirtová was able to confirm another break and increase to 5:2. In the eighth game, she again took advantage of Valentová’s weaker serve and sent the match to the deciding set.
The beginning of the third set was more successful for Valentová, who is two years younger, who stopped making unnecessary mistakes and, thanks to avoiding three break points in the second game, held serve for a long time. For the first time, she hesitated on it at 4:1. Fruhvirtova clawed her way back into the match and cut the gap to just one game. However, the teenager did not let the conclusion escape and after two and three quarter hours of fighting she advanced to the third round at a Grand Slam for the first time. Thanks to the win, she moved up to 44th place in the live rankings, and she will make her debut in the TOP 50 after the end of the Australian Open.
Valentová surprised in Melbourne especially in the first round, in which she defeated the seeded domestic favorite Maya Jointová in two sets. She will play for the round of 16 against Jelena Rybakinová, with whom she fell at the US Open, or Varvara Gračová.
Fruhvirtová has had one of the few positive tournaments in recent years. After three contested duels, she passed the qualification, easily defeated Lulu Sun in the main competition, and then gave a lot of trouble to the favored compatriot.
Australian Open Women’s Singles Results
