Maria Sakkari cruised into the second round of the Abu Dhabi WTA Women’s Tennis Open on Wednesday as the Greek ninth seed defeated Russia's Anastasia Potapova 6-4, 6-2.
Sakkari earned the all-important break of the first set in the third game and closed out the opener after fending off three break points. The second set was more comfortable for the world No 22 as two breaks of serve earned her a 5-1 lead before she sealed the match at her first opportunity.
It was a polished and efficient performance from the 25-year-old, who converted five of eight break points while saving all four on her own serve.
Sakkri will face either American teenager Cori Gauff or Norway's Ulrikke Eikeri in the second round.
Sakkari: "I think it's the fastest court I've played on by far on the WTA Tour, but we have to adapt and I'm thankful that we have a tournament at the beginning of the year, so it's the last thing we need to be worrying about right now.
"For me coming from Europe, it’s good preparation for Australia. The weather is perfect here and perfect to get ready for Australia."
Kontaveit the first seed to fall
Anett Kontaveit was the first seeded player to be eliminated from the Abu Dhabi WTA Women’s Tennis Open after the Estonian fell to a 7-5, 6-1 defeat to Veronika Kudermetova.
Kontaveit, seeded 10th, grabbed the early advantage by breaking in the opening game, but Kudermetova immediately responded. Both players resisted break points in the sixth and seventh games as the first set headed toward a tie-break.
However, Kontaveit wobbled at the worst possible time and her Russian opponent pounced to seal the first set.
From there, the world No 23 never seemed to recover as Kudermetova raced into a 5-0 lead in the second set. While Kontaveit had her chances on Kudermetova's serve in the first set, the second was a different story as the world No 46 served out the match to love to book her place in the second round.
Kontaveit: "[Kudermetova] plays extremely aggressive and her shots are really powerful which can take away a lot of my strengths. She was serving well and playing risky tennis.
"I was a little bit disappointed that I couldn’t convert some of the break points I had in the first set and I felt after the first set, she got more confident and started playing even better."
Kasatkina wins first match of new season
Daria Kasatkina recovered from a minor slump to win the first match of the new WTA season on Wednesday morning, defeating Qiang Wang 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 in the first round of the Abu Dhabi WTA Women’s Tennis Open.
Kasatkina, a former finalist at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, started the much brighter player as Qiang struggled against the Russian's variety and deep groundstrokes.
However, the Chinese world No 34 found her range in the second set and her aggression was rewarded with a break of serve in the fourth game.
The seventh game proved crucial as Qiang held off two break point chances to hold serve, before levelling the match two games later.
Carrying her momentum into the decider, Qiang immediately broke serve but her advantage lasted just two games as Kasatkina levelled the set at 2-2. From then on, the swing in momentum stayed with the world No 72, who rediscovered her consistency while the errors accumulated for Qiang.
Kasatkina sealed the win after one hour and 48 minutes with a third successive break of Qiang's serve for her fifth win in six meetings against the Chinese player.
Kasatkina will face either 12th seed Karolina Muchova or Danka Kovinic in the second round.
Taking place at Zayed Sports City International Tennis Centre, the Abu Dhabi WTA Women’s Tennis Open is a new addition to the women's calendar for 2021 and was created to ensure players could compete in a tournament before heading to Australia for three weeks.
Kasatkina: "The first match after a long break is never easy. The match was tough and she was very dangerous today especially with her running forehand. At the end, I was managing to play better in the third set even though I was down 0-2. I just continued to play the way I wanted to play. I wasn't giving up any free points and I think that was the key.
"I was very disappointed that we had such few tournaments at the end of last season because I was playing really good and I was doing my best not to lose this feeling during the long pre-season. Today was the first test and I think I passed it well."
