The third-seeded Ajla Tomljanovic (Australia) started with a straight-set victory at the WTA 250 Merida Open Akron in Mexico. The Australian tennis played defeated Elizabeth Mandlik (USA) by 2-0 (7:6, 6:1) in 1:42 hours, but needed to save four set points in the first set.
Ajla Tomljanovic committed 12 double faults, 9 of which in the first set, but won 73% of her first serve points.
The first set started equally with both players winning their service games. Ajla Tomljanovic was first to receive two breakpoints in her favor in the third game, but Elizabeth Mandlik reflected both of them and won the game. In the next game, Elizabeth Mandlik received her first breakpoint in the match and succeeded to score it, taking a lead by 3:1. Ajla Tomljanovic immediately returned the break and subsequently equalized to 3:3, although again needed to save a breakpoint.
Both players won their next serve game, but at 5:4 in favor of the American player, Ajla Tomljanovic saved two break/set points, returning from 15-40 to win the game and equalize to 5:5. In the next game, the third-0seeded Australian player made a break and in the 12th game served for the match, reaching even a setpoint at her own serve, but Elizabeth Mandlik reflected it and succeeded to rebreak.
Thus, the match entered into a tiebreak, which also gave a lot of emotions. Initially, Elizabeth Mandlik took a lead by 4-0 with two mini-breaks but equalized to 4-4 after four points in a row. Both players saved two set points each, until Ajla Tomljanovic to score for 11-9 and won the tiebreak and the set.
In the second set, however, the Australian player improved her serve and dominated the court. Both players exchanged a break in the very beginning of the set, but after that Ajla Tomljanovic won five games in a row to win the set and the match.
In the second round, Ajla Tomljanovic will face Jil Teichmann (Switzerland), who eliminated Anastasia Tikhonova (Russia) by 2-0 (6:1, 6:4).
In the other matches from the day, Antonia Ruzic (Croatia) defeated the 16-years-old wildcard Laura Samson (Czech Republic) by 2-0 (6:4, 6:4), the qualifier Maja Chwalinska (Poland) eliminated Rebecca Marino (Canada) after 2-1 (4:6, 6:4, 6:3) and the 17-years-old Alina Korneeva (Russia) overcame Alycia Parks (USA) by 2-0 (6:3, 6:1).
