World No.92 Alison Riske has been knocked out of the first round of the Taiwan Open following a 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-3, loss to Croatian teenager Donna Vekic.
The American eighth seed had a series of chances to grab the opening round win. After taking the first set, Riske served for the match at 6-5, but was unable to hold serve after Vekic converted her third break point in the game. The failure was costly as the 19-year-old broke her opponent three times in the tiebreak to take the match into a final set. Throughout the final set it was Vekic, who is currently ranked 16 places below Riske in the rankings, applying pressure on the American. The Croat broke Riske’s service three times during the deciding set to seal the win after two hours and 42 minutes.
During the first round marathon, Vekic won 58% of her service points with the help of nine aces. Next up for the 19-year-old will be a second round meeting with Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova. Sevastova defeated Kristína Kučová in her opening match on Monday.
Third seed Yulia Putintseva experienced little difficulty in her opening match against Russian lucky loser Marina Melnikova. The Kazakh player converted 8/12 break points to seal the 6-2, 6-3, win against the world No.212.
Former Youth Olympic gold medalist Zheng Saisai was another seed to enjoy a straight set first round win. The fifth seed trailed 3-5 in the second set before coming back to defeat Spanish qualifier Laura Pous Tió 6-2, 7-5. The triumph has earned Saisai a second round showdown with Switzerland’s Stefanie Vögele. The Swiss world No.117 defeated home player Kai-Chen Chang 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 in her firast round match.
Zarina Diyas endured a roller coaster opening set against world No.349 Lyudmyla Kichenok. The fourth seed opened up a 3-0 lead before losing the set 7-5. Despite the first set blunder, Diyas battled back to win 5-7, 6-1, 6-2.
Finally, Japanese seventh seed Kurumi Nara dropped only four games during her comprehensive 6-1, 6-3, win over China’s Qiang Wang.
Full results (Infostrada Sports)
Stefanie Voegele (Switzerland) beat Chang Kai-Chen (Taiwan) 1-6 6-3 6-4
4-Zarina Diyas (Kazakhstan) beat Lyudmyla Kichenok (Ukraine) 5-7 6-1 6-2
5-Zheng Saisai (China) beat Laura Pous Tio (Spain) 6-2 7-5
3-Yulia Putintseva (Kazakhstan) beat Marina Melnikova (Russia) 6-2 6-3
Donna Vekic (Croatia) beat 8-Alison Riske (U.S.) 4-6 7-6(5) 6-3
Elizaveta Kulichkova (Russia) beat Lee Ya-Hsuan (Taiwan) 3-6 6-4 6-4
Mandy Minella (Luxembourg) beat Naomi Osaka (Japan) 6-2 7-6(4)
