Former Australian Open junior champion Taylor Townsend set up a second-round qualifying showdown with world No.65 Silvia Soler-Espinosa at the Hobart International with a well-earned 6-3 7-5 victory over Germany’s Carina Witthoeft.
The American 18-year-old, who just missed the cut for direct entry to this year’s Australian Open, played with far more variety and guile than Witthoeft, who struggled with her serve throughout the contest.
The German might have found a route into the match had she served out the second set at 5-4, but Townsend roared back, breaking twice to wrap up the win.
Spaniard Soler-Espinosa, the Hobart International’s top seed in qualifying, made a solid start to her bid to reach the main draw with a 6-3 6-2 victory over Colombia’s Mariana Duque-Marino.
On a chilly, windy day at the Domain Tennis Centre, Australia’s young wildcards were blown off-course in the first round in the face of some tough competition.
Naiktha Bains had hoped to go one better than 2014 and book her place in the main draw on her return to Hobart, but No.3 seed Johanna Larsson was in irresistible form throughout a 6-0 6-3 victory. The Swede will face Danka Kovinic in the second round after the Montenegrin eased past Argentina’s Maria Irigoyen 6-4 6-2.
Priscilla Hon made an encouraging start to her showdown with Belgian An-Sophie Mestach, breaking in the opening game and opening up a 4-2 lead. But the Brisbane native allowed the powerful No.8 seed back into the match and fell to a 7-5 6-4 defeat. Richel Hogenkamp awaits in the second round following Patricia Mayr-Achleitner’s retirement midway through the second set.
The chill had settled in by the time 16-year-old Kimberly Birrell stepped out to face No.4 seed Vitalia Diatchenko. The Russian, who hits double-handed off both wings, surged out to a 5-0 lead before Birrell found her feet, clawing one break back before staying with her opponent early in the second. But a double-fault on break point at 3-3 proved decisive as the junior world No.18 bowed out 6-3 6-3.
It was left to Maddison Inglis to keep Australian interest in the qualifying competition alive. The Perth-born 16-year-old broke China’s Zhu Lin in the opening game and served for the set at 5-4, but Zhu survived to clinch the set in a tie-break.
Inglis dug deep but Zhu had swung the momentum her way, closing out a 7-6 6-4 win.
Court Heart FM bore witness to a quickfire win and two marathon encounters as Lourdes Dominguez Lino and Paula Ormaechea both closed out three-set wins 7-5 in the decider after Kateryna Kozlova had quickly dismissed Virginie Razzano 6-3 6-1.
Elsewhere, there were wins for Barbora Krejcikova, Naomi Broady, Madison Brengle, Kiki Bertens and Maria-Teresa Toro-Flor.