Poland’s Maja Chwalinska, the stunning runner-up at Roland Garros, recorded her first victory since that magical May run with a convincing 6-2, 6-2 victory over Spain’s Cristina Bucsa on Saturday in the second round of the Cincinnati Open in Mason, Ohio.
The 19th-seeded Chwalinska, who went from qualifier to finalist in Paris, won her first WTA 1000 match of the season. After the French Open, she exited Wimbledon in the first round, sustaining a right ankle injury on match point. She returned last week in Toronto but did not win her opening-round match.
“Overall I’m happy with how the recovery has gone, but it was definitely a process with some ups and downs,” Chwalinska said. “It was a bit frustrating for sure, because I had some good momentum going on. But yeah, it’s just tennis, it’s sport, it’s brutal sometimes. You gotta accept it and just learn from it. I’m healthy now, I’m grateful to be here and trying to play my best tennis.”
There were eight breaks of serve in the match, with Chwalinska converting 6 of 11. She won 28 of Bucsa’s 46 serves (60.9%) in the match.
Three seeded players were eliminated Saturday, with No. 12 Belinda Bencic and No. 21 Elise Mertens of Belgium joining 26th-seeded Latvian Jelena Ostapenko as upset victims.
France’s Diane Parry rallied past Mertens 2-6, 6-2, 6-2. After Mertens controlled the opening set, Parry flipped the match by converting 5 of 9 break-point chances over the final two sets.
Bencic’s stay was even shorter. France’s Lois Boisson took the opening set 6-3 before the Swiss star retired after 44 minutes. Bencic also withdrew from her quarterfinal match in Toronto earlier in the week.
Ostapenko dropped a 6-1, 6-3 decision to Magdalena Frech of Poland. Frech secured three consecutive breaks in the first set and added two more in the second, taking advantage of Ostapenko’s 13 double faults.
Rising Philippine star Alexandra Eala lost the first game of her match against Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania, but then reeled off nine in a row (6-1, 3-0, ret.) before Ruse had to retire due to injury.
“I think that I was playing well, I think I felt the ball good, was really focused and tried to keep myself in the zone, I think I did a good job of that,” Eala told the media. “Of course, nobody likes to finish a match with a retirement, first and foremost, I just want to wish Gabriela Ruse a speedy recovery, injuries aren’t fun, so I hope she recovers soon.”
In other matches, third-seeded Jessica Pegula routed Switzerland’s Simona Waltert, 6-3, 6-2; No. 6 Czech and Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova got past England’s Katie Boulter, 6-3, 6-3; No. 9 Amanda Anisimova ousted Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez, 6-2, 6-3; No. 14 Russian Diana Shnaider defeated Germany’s Tatjana Maria, 6-2, 7-5; No. 15 Romanian Sorana Cirstea defeated the Czech Republic’s Nikola Bartunkova, 7-6 (5), 6-3; No. 18 Russian Anna Kalinskaya edged Cincinnati native Caty McNally, 6-3, 6-4; No. 25 Emma Navarro rallied past Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2; No. 27 Clara Tauson of Denmark survived a three-set battle with Cincinnati native Peyton Stearns, prevailing 7-6 (7), 1-6, 7-5; and No. 29 Maria Sakkari of Greece outlasted Uzbekistan’s Kamilla Rakhimova, 6-2, 5-7, 6-1.
In the lone match involving two unseeded players, China’s Shuai Zhang defeated Kayla Day, 2-6, 6-2, 6-2.
–Field Level Media
