Third seed Daria Gavrilova experienced a dramatic start to her campaign at the Mexican Open in Acapulco.
Taking on Madison Brengle in the first round, the Australian managed to prevail 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, in a roller coaster match. Gavrilova was far from her best during the match as she produced 11 double faults compared to no aces and won only 33% of her second service points. The frustration of the Australian player almost resulted in her dismissal from the first round. After getting broken during the second set, she launch her racket towards the net. Narrowly missing the ball boy.
Daria Gavrilova is lucky the racquet missed the ball boy and she was not disqualified.#Acapulco #AMT2018 pic.twitter.com/dZGecYNY3K
— Ashish TV (@Ashish__TV) 26 February 2018
According to regulations, the Australian would have been defaulted from the match it her racket had hit the ball boy. The drama continued for Davilova at the start of the decider when she was hit with a two penalty points. She received her first for taking too long in the bathroom in between sets. Then she was hit was another after stalling when she returned to the court. Despite the controversy, she managed to close the match out after two hours and 16 minutes of play.
“My serve wasn’t really working today in the first set, but I was hurting her with my forehand,” said Gavrilova. “I was trying to get it high, and thankfully the court is bouncy here so it helps.”
There was also drama for Monica Puig in her clash with Dayana Yastremska. The Puerto Rican seemed set for a bagel in the decider, before disaster struck her opponent. During the closing stages of the match, Yastremska was forced to retire after rolling her right ankle on the court. Handing Puig the 2-6, 6-4, 5-0 ret, victory.
Elsewhere at the tournament, Belinda Bencic went out 4-6, 7-6(1), 6-3, to Veronica Cepede Royg. Bencic ended 2017 on a 15-match winning streak, but has only managed to win one match so far this season. Royg will next take on Irina-Camelia Begu, who dismissed Christina McHale 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.
