Top seed Aryna Sabalenka beat Jasmine Paolini 6-4 6-4 after 1 hour and 27 minutes to advance to the second round at the Upper Austria Ladies Linz.
Sabalenka clinched both the singles title and the doubles trophy alongside her partner Elise Mertens in Ostrava.
Paolini opened up a 4-1 with a break in the fourth game. Sabalenka broke back in the seventh game for 3-4 and won the final three games thanks to another break to clinch the first set 6-4. Paolini saved a total of three break points across the first six games of the second set. Sabalenka converted the eighth break point in the seventh game to take a 4-3 lead. Paolini and Sabalenka traded breaks in the eighth and ninth games to draw level to 4-4. Sabalenka earned her second break in the ninth game and served out the match at love to secure her spot in the second round, where she will face Swiss qualifier Stefanie Voegele, Viktoria Kuzmova 7-6 (7-3) 6-3.
Vera Zvonareva beat Ukrainian 18-year-old player Marta Kostyuk 6-4 6-2 after 89 minutes to reach the second round.
Kostyuk, former Australian Open Junior champion, beat Daria Kasatkina and former semifinalist Anastasja Sevastova before losing to Naomi Osaka in three sets at the 2020 US Open. The Ukrainian player also qualified from the French Open Main Draw for the first time.
Zvonareva started the 2019 season with a return to the top 100 after giving birth to her daughter Evelyn. In 2020 the Russian player reached the Round of 16 at the Western and Southern Open in New York and won her first Grand Slam title since 2012, when she triumphed in the doubles final with Laura Siegemund.
Zvonareva went up a break three times in the opening set. Kostyuk pulled two breaks back, but Zvonareva converted her second break opportunity in the ninth game and served out the first set at love. Zvonareva converted her fourth break point in the first game of the second set. Kostyuk saved two double break points in the fifth game. Zvonareva saved a break point in the sixth game before breaking for the second time to open up a 5-2 lead. The Russian player earned two match point and sealed the win on her first opportunity with a service winner.
“It’s always difficult to play a first match at a tournament. In the beginning I could not find my rhythm, with a few mistakes, but I felt I got better and better in the match”, said Zvonareva.
Camila Giorgi battled past Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-3 5-7 6-4. The Italian player will face either this year’s Roland Garros semifinalist Nadia Podoroska from Argentina or Irina Camelia Begu for a spot in the quarter finals.
