There are two more clay court events on the WTA Tour this week, the WTA 250 Prague Open and WTA 250 UniCredit Iasi Open, both of which had an early start on Sunday and will conclude in a Friday final because of the Olympic Games that begin on Saturday.
WTA 250 Livesport Prague Open
Four of the Top 50 players, including Australian Open quarter-finalist Linda Noskova and 9-time Grand Slam doubles champion Katerina Siniakova, were on the initial Prague entry list, but 6 players withdrew ahead of the draw.
The biggest name was that of Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova from Czech Republic, who needed some extra recovery time from singles action after her efforts in London, but she is playing doubles alongside Siniakova at the clay court tournament to prepare for their upcoming Olympic campaign.
Colombia’s Camila Osorio, this year’s champion in Bogota, also pulled out, having damaged an existing thigh injury during her 2nd-round Wimbledon contest against Beatriz Haddad Maia, which forced her to retire from the match and has not completely healed.
Australia’s Daria Saville lost a grueling 3-set loss to Marta Kostyuk from Ukraine in the 2nd round of Wimbledon, and has been posting content on her Instagram page about her upcoming Olympics appearance, indicating that her decision not to play in Prague was likely made as a precaution.
Other withdrawals were China’s Wang Xinyu, who created headlines with a run to the 4th round at Wimbledon, including a stunning victory against Jessica Pegula, Renata Zarazua from Mexico and China’s Zheng Saisai.
Action in the main draw at the Sparta Prague Tennis Club began on Sunday, when Germany’s Ella Seidel upset 7th-seeded Nadia Podoroska from Argentina, 6-4 2-6 6-1, saving 5 of 10 break-point opportunities while converting 7 of 18, and more aces than her opponent, 4 to 2), but also more double-faults, 8-2.
Third-seeded Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine battled for just over 3 hours to outlast the host country’s Sara Bejlek, 7-5 6-7(7) 6-2.
Kalinina, ranked No 47, will face Elsa Jacquemot next, after the Frenchwoman defeated Jessica Bouzas Maneiro from Spain, 6-3 6-4.
Fifth-seeded Viktoriya Tomova of Bulgaria was a 7-6(3) 6-3 winner over Renata Jamrichova of the Slovak Republic, and will play Croatia’s Jana Fett, who easily dispatched Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck, 6-2 6-2 in her opener.
Spain’s Rebeka Masarova edged out Dutchwoman Suzan Lamens, 2-6 6-2 7-6(5), to set up a 2nd-round meeting with Poland’s No 4 seed, Magda Linette, a 7-6(4) 6-4 winner over German Mona Barthel.
The two top-seeded Czechs, Noskova and Siniakova, will be in action on Monday.
Siniakova has been very successful at the WTA event in Prague over the years, making the semi-finals in 2015 and the quarter-finals in 2017-19 and 2021.
The Czech is seeded second in the 2024 edition and kicks off her campaign with a second head-to-head meeting against Louisa Chirico from the USA, while 19-year old Noskova opens against Katarina Zavatska from Ukraine.
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UniCredit Iasi Open
In her opening round, No 1 seed Mirra Andreeva from Russia opened her campaign in Romania with a dominant 6-1 6-2 win over Germany’s Noma Noha Akugue on Sunday.
The 17-year old won 23 of her 29 first-service points, 79.3%, and got the job done in a mere 66 minutes.
Romania’s Miriam Bulgaru pleased the home-crowd fans by upsetting the No 2 seed, Germany’s Tatjana Maria, 6-4 6-2, while Serbia’s Olga Danilovic outlasted No 4 seed Anna Blinkova of Russia, 6-2 5-7 6-1.
Spaniard Marina Bassols Ribera and Romanian Elena-Gabriela Ruse also advanced to the 2nd round, the former a 6-2 6-3 winner over local wild-card Irina Bara, while another wild-card, Ruse outlasted Anastasia Tikhonova from Russia, 6-3 5-7 6-1.
