Australian Daria Saville claims her opening round at the WTA 500 clay-court event.
Charleston, USA, 2 April 2024 | Dan Imhoff
Charleston, USA
Daria Saville’s red-hot form on the green clay at Charleston has extended to the main draw with victory over German Tamara Korpatsch in the opening round.
The 30-year-old’s 6-4 3-6 6-2 triumph over the world No.76 on Monday set a showdown with seventh seed Elina Svitolina for a place in the round of 16.
The world No.107 has fallen in seven of her nine encounters with the Ukrainian, but has claimed eight of her past 11 matches, including two wins in qualifying.
> READ: Train with Daria Saville – “Having intentions is really important”
Aussies in action – Charleston
RESULTS
Women’s singles, first round
[Q] Daria Saville (AUS) d Tamara Korpatsch (GER) 6-4 3-6 6-2
COMING UP
Women’s singles, first round
Arina Rodionova (AUS) v [LL] Astra Sharma (AUS)
Women’s singles, second round
[Q] Daria Saville (AUS) v [7] Elina Svitolina (UKR)
Women’s doubles, first round
[1] Ellen Perez (AUS)/Nicole Melichar-Martinez (USA) v [WC] McCartney Kessler (USA)/Clervie Ngounoue (USA)
Houston, USA
Rinky Hijikata landed his maiden tour-level match win on clay at the ATP 250 tournament at Houston on Monday.
The 80th-ranked Australian picked up his sixth victory over a top-60 opponent against Christopher Eubanks, 7-6(4) 7-6(2).
Hijikata’s clay-court breakthrough against the fifth-seeded American ended a four-match losing streak at all levels and secured a first-time clash against world No.92 Brandon Nakashima.
His previous ATP match win also came against a top-60 opponent, Miomir Kecmanovic, in Los Cabos.
“Just managed to get through there. It wasn’t looking good for a while,” Hijikata said in his on-court interview.
“I think Chris didn’t miss a first serve for a long, long time and I wasn’t touching too many serves or making any.
“I’m just glad that I kind of just hung around long enough and managed to come up with a few good points when I had to.”
Aussies in action – Houston
RESULTS
Men’s singles, first round
Rinky Hijikata (AUS) d [5] Christopher Eubanks (USA) 7-6(4) 7-6(2)
Men’s doubles, first round
[4] Max Purcell (AUS)/Jordan Thompson (AUS) d Evan King (USA)/John-Patrick Smith (AUS) 6-4 6-7(5) [10-4]
John Peers (AUS)/William Blumberg (USA) d Matthew Romios (AUS)/Piotr Matuszewski (POL) 6-0 6-3
Andrew Harris (AUS)/Rinky Hijikata (AUS) v [2] Nathaniel Lammons…
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