Aliaksandra Sasnovich and Viktorija Golubic knocked out the top-two seeds Misaki Doi and Yanina Wickmayer in the second round of the Japan Women’s Open Tennis at the Ariake Tennis Forest Park in Tokyo on a day affected by rain.
Sasnovich upset Number 1 seed Doi 7-5 6-3. Doi dropped her serve in the first game of the opening set. Both players were level after five breaks. Sasnovic got the crucial break in the 11th game before serving out for the set. ’
Sasnovich broke in the third game and did not face any break points. She did not convert two break points in the seventh game before breaking serve in the ninth game.
“There were no free points with my service game, all the games were tight even with those that I managed to hold and I could never get that conviction when I served”, said Sasnovich.
Golubic beat number 2 seed and defending champion Wickmayer in straight sets 6-1 7-6 (9-7). Wickmayer played a bad first set in which she failed to hold any of her service games. Golubic got four breaks to Wickmayer’s one in the first set. ’16 Wickmayer earned three break points in the sixth game at deuce but failed to convert any of them. Wickmayer dropped her serve to love in the fourth game. The Belgian player got her first break of the match in the seventh game before holding her service game to love for the first time in the match. In the tie-break Wickmayer failed to convert her chance to serve out for the set at 6-5. Golubic got the decisive mini-break and served out for the match.
“There is a lot more pressure when you are defending a title, and especially because I came back after I injured myself before the US Open. It was touugh for me in general”, said Wickmayer.
Johanna Larsson broke six times in her 6-3 6-2 win over Sabine Lisicki to advance to the second round
Katerina Siniakova cruised past lucky loser Antonia Lottner 6-1 6-4.
Korean qualifier Su Jeong Jang came back from a set down to beat Saisain Zheng 4-6 6-3 6-3.
Zhang Shuai overcame Japanese wild-card Eri Hozumi 7-6 (7-4) 1-6 6-3. Hozumi got a double break in the fifth and seventh games to take a 5-2 lead in the first set but Zhang got both breaks back to force the first set to the tie-break.
