Svitolina was an overwhelming favorite in the tournament. The World No. 16 was the only Top 70 player entered in the tournament. The play against Panova today started from 5-7 5-1, as they couldn’t finish their match yesterday due to rain. Svitolina broke her opponent in the first game today, on the third break point to take the second set 6-1.
The third set started with a string of 3 breaks, out of which Panova came out on top. She kept her lead until 4-3, when Svitolina broke back. Panova had a 0-40 lead on her opponent’s serve, but didn’t take any of her chances, and instead of serving for the match, she was serving to save herself. Panova got 15-40 down on her serve, offering Svitolina two match points. She saved them both and took the match into a third set tiebreaker. Svitolina got a 6-3 lead, having 3 more match points. Panova won 8 points in a row and won the match. It lasted 2 hours and 53 minutes, and Panova saved 5 match points. She will next face the Swiss qualifier Conny Perrin.
Another player to lose unexpectedly in the opening round was the 3rd seed, Mariana Duque-Marino of Colombia. Her opponent, Amra Sadikovic came back from a set and a break, 3-6 0-3 down to win the match 3-6 7-6(5) 6-4 in 2 hours and 15 minutes.
The only seed who won her first round match today was the 7th seed Lourdes Dominguez Lino. The 35-year-old veteran had to come back from 5-7 0-2 against Patricia Maria Tig of Romania. The Spaniard eventually won 5-7 6-4 6-4 after 2 hour and 16 minutes, so all the first round matches went at least 2 and a quarter of hours. Dominguez Lino will face Sachia Vickery in her second round match.
As for the second round matches today, the seeds Lara Arruabarrena and Irina Falconi are through to the quarterfinals in straight sets. The seeded player who lost in second round today was the 6th seed Tatjana Maria. The German lost 4-6 3-6 to Paula Goncalves of Brazil. The qualifier who beat the second seed yesterday, Catalina Pella is also through to the quarterfinals. She defated Elitsa Kostova of Bulgaria 6-3 6-2 in just an hour and 8 minutes.
