WTA Palermo: Donna Vekic still knows how to do it
The first day of the WTA tournament in Palermo brought some surprises. With Donna Vekic , one of the favorites was able to assert herself.
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Aug 04, 2020, 11:06 am
Three hours and nine minutes - that was how long it took Steffi Graf to win an average WTA tournament. Jasmine Paolini and Daria Kasatkina, on the other hand, almost completely paid off their entry fee in round one at the restart of the women's tour in Palermo - with the better end for the Italian. Paolini won 5: 7, 6: 4 and 6: 4 and afterwards was naturally very satisfied with himself and the tennis world. "It means a lot to me. It was so emotional because we are playing in Italy and then against Kasatkina. ”
The Russian, however, has seen better days on the WTA tour and is not even among the eight seeded players in Palermo. The two top favorites Petra Martic and the French Open finalist of 2019 Marketa Vondrousova are only intervening today, but number three had to pack their bags again: Maria Sakkari lost to Kristyna Pliskova with 4: 6 and 4: 6.
Vekic and Siegemund convince at the start
After all, Donna Vekic, who had separated from coach Torben Beltz (now again on the side of Angelique Kerber) in the past few weeks and had recently trained in Monte Carlo, did justice to her favorite position against Arantxa Rus from the Netherlands. The Croatian won 6-1 and 6-2, and was relieved to find after the match that she hadn't forgotten how to play tennis.
With Laura Siegemund, only one German-speaking player is represented in the main field of Palermo. After her convincing opening win against Irina-Camelia Begu, the Stuttgart woman is now waiting for the winner of the game between Anett Kontaveit and Patricia Maria Tig.