Rybarikova downs top seed Mladenovic in Zhuhai
ZHUHAI: Magdalena Rybarikova overcame seven service breaks to beat top-seeded Kristina Mladenovic 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 (7-5) at the Elite Trophy at the Zhuhai Hengqin International Tennis Centre in southern China.
The 10th-seeded Rybarikova had lost her opening match to Julia Goerges in the Azalea group.
“I had a tough match yesterday and I had to play against someone who was resting so it was not easy for me,” Rybarikova said yesterday.
“I was saying to myself that I had to win this match because I had so many match points and it would be really cruel to end the season like this.”
Also, ninth-seeded Ashleigh Barty defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 6-1 in the Rose group, while Anastasija Sevastova beat US Open champion Sloane Stephens 7-5, 6-3 in the Camillea group.
Former world No. 1 Angelique Kerber suffered defeat at the hands of Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyu- chenkova on the first day of the Elite Trophy on Tuesday.
Pavlyuchenkova, seeded fourth, beat 29-year-old Kerber 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 in one hour and 54 minutes.
Eighth seed Kerber, who clinched both the Australian and US Open titles last year, still has a chance to qualify for the semis because of the round-robin format of the tournament.
Having struggled to find her feet in the first set, down 4-1 after the first five games, she managed to redeem herself in the second, gallantly holding serve in the third game and snatching a key break in game six before levelling the match.
The two traded service breaks at the start of the third set but it wasn’t long before the Russian had Kerber on the run.
“I was not playing good in the first set. I start to play my game actually in the second set, and then, yeah, I think at the end she won the deciding points,” she told media.