Australian Jaimee Fourlis has taken a commanding victory over third seed Risa Ozaki (JPN) at the ACT Claycourt International #1, sending her through to the second round.
The eighteen-year-old easily accounted for Ozaki 6-2 6-1, with her groundstrokes proving too strong for the current world No.170.
Fourlis was pleased with her victory, especially in the windy conditions that both players were faced with.
“I thought I handled the conditions really well, probably a little bit better than she did. I felt comfortable on the clay and kind of played my game, which I don’t think suited her very well, and took my opportunities when they came so I thought I did that all really well.”
Things don’t get any easier for Fourlis, who plays fellow Australian Destanee Aiava in the next round.
“We’ve had a couple of really good battles in the past three months which is really exciting. I’ve known her since we were young, trained with her, so tomorrow is going to be a new day and see how it goes.”
Aussies Priscilla Hon [8] and Lizette Cabrera [4] are also through to the second round after recording straight set victories over their unseeded opponents.
Cabrera came back from 5-2 down in the second set to win 6-1 7-5 against her Swiss opponent Karin Kennel, while Hon took less than 50 minutes to dismantle Katy Dunne (GBR) 6-0 6-1.
Canberra’s only local hope Alison Bai was unfortunately bundled out of her first round clash against Australian Ellen Perez.
Bai fought back from 4-1 down in the first set to take out the tight tiebreak 7-6(4). But Perez took out the second set 6-3 after some strong serving helped her win some easy points. Perez continued her momentum into the third set, breaking early and eventually taking out the final set 6-1.
Entry to the Canberra Tennis Centre is free with play to commence at 10am.
Draws and the order of play can be found here
Live scoring is available here
Live streaming is available here
Latest
ACT