First round of the Abierto GNP Seguros event in Monterrey is already completed with a relatively good start of the title contenders. Just two of the seeds are out after Tuesday's matches - both are the Czech players, Marie Bouzkova and Katerina Siniakova.
Bozukova was the #2 seed of the tournament's main draw and got eliminated by Anna Karolina Schmiedlova. The Slovakian, currently ranked #100 in WTA list, was on the front foot from the start of both sets in the match against Bouzkova, who was a clear pre-match favorite with an average odd 1.15. Schmiedlova started both sets from early breaks and was controlling her advantage till the end, winning eventually 6-4 6-2.
Katerina Siniakova fought much more intense battle before coming short to Kamilla Rakhimova in the the tiebreak of deciding set after almost 3 hours of battle. This match had quite an unusual outcome, looking at the course of the match and final stats. The Russian won 7-6(6) 2-6 7-6(5), coming out of the trouble in both sets she won. Especially the deciding set was a highlight, once Siniakova had a matchpoint during the 10th game, when Rakhimova was serving to stay in the match. The world's number 97 cleared the danger and made a big hold, earning the win in the decisive tie-break. Moreover, despite the wasted chance, Siniakova was a dominant player throughout the match from the numbers perspective. The Czech produced twice more breakpoints than her opponents (14 to 7), gained more breaks (6 to 4) and scored more single points in general (111 to 105). Siniakova was also serving better with 8 aces and 5 double faults, while Rakhimova did not manage to serve any ace with 3 DFs on her account. Despite being the leading force both statistically and visually, the tournament's seed #6 got eliminated in first round. Good fighting spirit showed by Rakhimova got prized with her first main draw victory on the WTA level this year, following the successful appearance in qualifying stage.
Monterrey did not occured to by happy place for the finalists of last week's WTA 250 Merida Open, the first out of two February's back-to-back tournaments in Mexico. Camila Giorgi - the winner from Merida, got eliminated by the qualifier Elena Gabriela Ruse in straight sets 6-4 7-5. Last week's runner-up Rebecca Peterson has withdrawn from the tournament in Monterrey before first round.
Caroline Garcia did not disappoint in the role of top seed and headline player of whole the main draw, earning the advance into second round after confident win against Kaja Juvan. The world's number 5 played a really solid match, allowing her opponent to produce just one breakpoint in whole the match. Garcia won both sets with by one break, making the job done after 78 minutes with a score 6-3 6-4.
Another top seeds have also not spent too much time on the court. Elise Mertens, seeded with #4, defeated Diana Shnaider 6-0 6-4 in just 70 minutes. Seed number 3 - Donna Vekic, had much more difficult task in the match against Lesia Tsurenko up to a point. The Ukrainian has surprisingly taken the opening set quite easily with a score 6-2. The upset did not came true tough, as Tsurenko started to feel some pain and pulled out of the match while being 0-5 down in second set, giving the victory for Vekic.
