Third seed Danka Kovinic began her quest for a first WTA title with a marathon 6-3,5-7,6-4 win over world No.156 Sachia Vickery at the Rio Open.
The Montenegrin player struggled with her service throughout the match, getting just 47% of her first serves in. Kovinic had numerous opportunities to close the match out in straight sets. The third seed had an opportunity to break for a chance to serve for the match at 4-4, followed by another three golden chances for a break at 5-5. On all four occasions she failed to convert as Vickery worked hard to take the second set.
Kovinic, who is currently at a career ranking high of 50th in the world, knew that she would be in for a challenging match against the American. In their first meeting on the tour at the 2014 Hobart International, she suffered a straight sets loss. Nevertheless, two years have past and Kovinic’s game is much more developed. Breaking her opponent twice in the third set, Kovinic sealed the win after over two hours spent in the humid Brazilian climate.
During her testing opener, Kovinic saved 9/14 break points and won 57% of her service points. Shortly after her win, the 21-year-old admitted that she found the conditions difficult.
“It was so tough to play,” Kovnik was quoted as saying by wtatennis.com.
“It’s very humid and hot here, and I came from Serbia, where it’s very cold. For me, it was very hard to play; I felt like I didn’t have energy, but somehow I found a way to finish the match.
“I really don’t feel good right now.”
Elsewhere on the first day of the tournament, fifth seed Polona Hercog enjoyed a straightforward victory over American qualifier Jennifer Brady (6-4,6-2). The Slovenian broke Brady five times throughout the match and won 64% of her service points. The triumph is Hercog’s first main draw win on the WTA Tour this year.
World No.131 Shelby Rogers became the first player to kick a seed out of the tournament after racing past eighth seed Andreea Mitu 6-2, 6-2. The American was broken only once throughout the match. In the next round Rogers will face Paraguay’s Veronica Cepede Royg. After losing a close first set, Royg cruised to a 6-7(4), 6-1,6-3, win over America’s Anna Tatishvili.
Finally, Romania’s Ana Bogdan cruised past Brazilian wildcard Gabriela Ce 6-2,6-3. The rest of Monday’s play have been postponed due to poor weather conditions.
The current scene in Rio, not sure I’ve even seen a clay court so submerged. pic.twitter.com/xa4YgOaNe5
— Nick Lester (@nicklester) February 15, 2016
