Veteran German Tatjana Maria outclassed Indian No. 1 Ankita Raina 6-0, 6-1 in the opening round of the singles match at the Chennai Open WTA 250 tennis tournament in Chennai on Tuesday. Russia’s Anastasia Gasanova sent Alison-Riske Amritraj off with a 6-2 6-3 victory in an hour and 29 minutes. Fourth-placed Maria proved too good for the 29-year-old Indian, crushing her hopes in an hour and 15 minutes. The Wimbledon semi-finalist didn’t give Raina a chance.
Although the German didn’t hit too many winners, she simply made her way to success. She chose the slice several times, which frustrated the local player.
The first set was over in 31 minutes, with the No. 4 seed making the most of a weak Raina serve while saving two break points on her own serve.
The second also seemed to be heading for defeat before the Indian was able to win a game.
The fact that Raina could only win 38 out of 101 points over her opponent’s 63 indicated the gap in the Indian’s standard and struggle.
Maria said: “Actually I’m very happy (to win). She’s the Indian number 1 and I’m happy to beat her because she had the crowd behind her. I just tried to get her to play as many balls as possible. Maria will face Argentina’s Nadia Podoroska for a place in the quarter-finals.
Riske-Amritraj was out of her element throughout the game, struggling with rhythm and serving.
Gasanova took the first set after the players exchanged breaks early in the match. The American, who has risen from 29 to number 23 in the world after making a final 16 appearance at the US Open last week, couldn’t justify the top bill being given to her. She couldn’t impose her game on her 23-year-old opponent from Russia.
“I didn’t expect to win like that. I gave everything,” Gasanova said after the game.
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She went on to say: “I wanted to take a break from tennis after the US Open. I didn’t get a US Open visa last year and was looking forward to it this year. But the first round loss was terrible and I wanted to get a take a break. But then I saw the tournament in India and thought: why not.” Results- Singles (1st round): Anastasia Gasanova defeated Alison Riske-Amritraj (USA-X1) 6-2, 6-3; Katie Swan (Great Britain) defeated Arianne Hartono (Netherlands) 6-1, 6-2; Nadia Podoroska defeated Kyoka Okamura (Japan) 6-4, 6-3; Tatjana Maria (X4) defeated Ankita Raina (India) 6-0, 6-1; Oksana Selekhmeteva defeated Despina Papamichail (Greece) 6-3, 6-1; Carol Zhao (Canda) defeated Olivia Tjandramulia (Australia) 6-1, 6-1.
(This story was not edited by DailyExpertNews staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)
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