The reigning champion Veronika Kudermetova (Russia) was knocked out at the start of the WTA 500 Toray Pan Pacific Open Tennis hard court tournament in Tokyo (Japan) with a prize fund of 922,573 USD. The Russian tennis player lost to Viktoriya Tomova (Bulgaria) by 0-2 (6:7, 3:6) in almost two hours of play.
Viktoriya Tomova led by 5:2 after a break in the sixth game of the first set, but conceded an equalizer at 5:5. The Russian made a comeback for 6:5, but the Bulgarian tennis player made a second breakthrough for 6:6 and won the set after a tiebreak.
In the second set, Viktoriya Tomova took a 3:1 lead and didn’t allow any hesitation to end the match with her fourth break in total for the final 6:3.
Viktoriya Tomova’s opponent in the second round will be another Russian tennis player – 20-year-old Diana Shnaider, who is sixth-seeded.
Veronika Kudermetova fought for the title in 2023 after success in the final over Jessica Pegula (USA) with 2-0 (7:5, 6:1), and for her it was the second career trophy.
