The WTA Ladies Championships in Gstaad began on Monday with some low-key players taking the centre stage in the scenic Swiss locale.
Among the ones to have recorded early wins were qualifiers Mandy Minella, Amra Sadikovic, Claire Feuerstein, and the unseeded trio of Irina Khromacheva, Evgeniya Rodina and Anett Kontaveit.
Minella, a former world number 66, rallied from the brink of defeat to upstage Tunisian Ons Jabeur 4-6 7-6 6-4 in a grueling opener that went on for over two hours. Up next, she is likely to square-off against top seed and tournament favourite Timea Bacsinszky for a place in the quarter-finals.
Local hope Sadikovic, who also qualified for the main draw of the recently-concluded Wimbledon before losing to eventual champion Serena Williams in the first round, also got her campaign off to a winning start with a 6-2 3-6 6-3 conquest of Rebecca Peterson.
Later, Feuerstein, ranked as low as number 428, rounded off a perfect day for qualifiers as she rallied from a set down to stun 127th-ranked Silvia Soler-Espinosa 2-6 6-2 6-0 in 91 minutes.
Elsewhere, Rodina overcame 10 double faults and seven service breaks to clinch a 6-3 7-6 victory against the 20-year-old Barbara Haas. But, Maria Sakkari, who went all the way from the qualifiers to make the second round at Wimbledon, suffered a 7-5 6-1 defeat to Anett Kontaveit.
The Tuesday’s play will see the likes of top seeds Timea Bacsinszky and Jelena Jankovic among the others to kick-start their respective campaigns at the WTA International event here.
Order of play for Tuesday, 12 July! #thegirlsarebackinthealps #WTAGstaad pic.twitter.com/7sEyzLYfrz
— Ladies Open Gstaad (@WTA_Gstaad) July 11, 2016
