Tuesday saw the completion of 1st-round matches in Hua Hin, and the departure of top-seeded Dayana Yastremska after the Ukrainian fell to Japan’s Mai Hontama, 7-6(4) 7-5, leaving Katerina Siniakova, the No 2 seed from Czech Republic as favourite for the WTA 250 Thailand Open 2 title.
Hontama saved 4 set points trailing 5-4 in the second set to upset the 2019 champion, her first Top 50 win since 2021.
Siniakova’s opponent in round 2 is Nadia Podoroska from Argentina, who easily won against Russian qualifier Ksenia Laskutova, 6-1 6-0, on Tuesday.
No 3 seed, Wang Xinyu from China, advanced with a routine win over Egypt’s Mayer Sherif, 6-2 6-4, and will meet Rebeka Masarova from Spain next, who needed 2 hours and 51 minutes to battle past Hungarian Anna Bondar from a set down, 3-6 7-6(2) 7-5.
Magda Linette, the 4th seed from Poland, also advanced past Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko, 6-2 7-5, lining up a 2nd-round against Rebecca Sramkova, who was a finalist at Monastir on Sunday where she lost to Britain’s Sonay Kartal.
Continuing her strong form, the Slovakian was tested by Thai qualifier Mananchaya Sawangkaew, but prevailed, 6-2 2-6 6-4.
Jana Fett from Croatia came from a set behind to get past Chinese wild-card Zheng Saisai, 2-6 6-3 6-3, and next will meet Russian-born Frenchwoman Varvara Gracheva, who advanced on Monday.
One of 2 qualifiers to make it into round 2 was Arianne Hartono from the Netherlands, who upset 7th-seeded Moyuka Uchijima from Japan, 6-1 6-1, and will meet the other, China’s Gao Xinyu.
Seven years after making her WTA main-draw debut at Nanchang 2017, 26-year old Gao won her first tour-level match by defeating Wei Sijia, 6-3 6-2 in a clash of Chinese qualifiers.
