The Greek tennis player Maria Sakkari lost her first match in a second consecutive WTA Tour tournament this month. The world’s No 7 lost to Donna Vekic (Croatia) by 2-0 (6:7, 1:6) at the start of the WTA 500 San Diego Open with a prize fund of 757,900 USD.
Maria Sakkari played a final at the WTA 250 Parma Ladies Open at the beginning of October, but last week she was eliminated early in WTA 500 Ostrava Open and now the same happens in the USA.
Donna Vekic will play in the second round against former world No 1 Karolína Pliskova (Czech Republic).
Chinese Qinwen Zheng eliminated Garbine Muguruza after the Spanish tennis player gave up at 0:5 in the first set due to a stomach ailment.
The 20-year-old Qinwen Zheng, a finalist at the Japan Open tournament in Tokyo two weeks ago, entered the main draw at the last minute as a “lucky loser” from qualifying after Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan) withdrew due to illness.
In the second round, Qinwen Zheng will face the leader in the top-seeded and world’s number one Iga Swiatek. The two last played in the Round of 16 at Roland Garros when Iga Swiatek won by 2-1 (6:7, 6:0, 6:2) and eventually reached the trophy.
The 8th-seeded Russian tennis player Daria Kasatkina had no particular problems and in an hour she dealt with the Canadian Leylah Annie Fernandez with 2-0 (6:2, 6:2). Thus, she awaits Madison Keys (USA) in a duel for a place in the quarterfinals.
