Former world No.10 Patty Schnyder has earned her first tour win since the 2011 Miami Open after fighting her way past Amra Sadikovic, 6-4, 6-7(7), 7-6(6), at the Gstaad Open in Switzerland.
The 38-year-old battled for over two-and-a-half hours during what was a roller coaster encounter for both players. The second set saw Schnyder miss four match points after leading 6-4, 5-2. Then in the decider the former world No.7 saved four match points before clinching the match in the decisive tiebreaker.
“The match was really crazy. I haven’t played too many matches like that. But the longer the match went, I got better, and the rallies got better. By the end, it was really great tennis.” wtatour.com quoted Schnyder saying after the match.
A former grand slam semifinalist, Schnyder returned to competitive tennis in July 2015 after going into retirement for four years. She is currently ranked 257th in the world and recently won a ITF $25,000 tournament in France.
“I’m not too good with stats, but I’m sure I’ve had matches like these in the past. Just the way we played and were saving each other’s match points was really great tennis. It was fun to play with Amra; she has some amazing shots. Sometimes she’ll miss some easy ones, but otherwise she’s a really complete player. It was a good win.”
Schnyder, who last won a WTA title in her native Switzerland back in 2002, will play Germany’s Antonia Lottner in the second round. Lottner wasn’t born when Schnyder made her grand slam debut at the 1996 French Open.
“Before she started a great run, I beat her. You can say that after she lost to me, she started to win! We’ll see. She can miss some, and you have to mix it up because she has a huge serve and big shots.” The Swiss player said about her upcoming match.
At the height of her career, Schnyder won 11 titles on the WTA Tour between 1998 – 2008. She has previously defeated former No.1 players Steffi Graf, Martina Hingis, Amelie Mauresmo and both of the Williams sisters.
Elsewhere at the tournament, top seed Caroline Garcia recovered from a 1-3 deficit to ease her way past Bulgaria’s Elitsa Kostova 7-5, 6-1. Meanwhile, third seed Anett Kontaveit also progressed with a 6-1, 6-3, win over Martina Trevisan.
