Magda Linette eliminates Svetlana Kuznetsova in opening round

13 January 2020, by Hobart International Tennis

Sixth-seed Magda Linette has produced a gritty straight sets victory over two-time Grand Slam winner Svetlana Kuznetsova at the Hobart International on Monday.

The Polish 27 year old was challenged by the former No.2, with both sets being decided by tiebreaks in windy conditions, before claiming her maiden win over a Grand Slam champion.

“It was an extremely difficult match,” Linette reflected.

“She’s (Kuznetsova) so experienced and she defends really well, but I just had to find a way.”

Linette put her win down to her boldness to back herself in playing attacking groundstrokes.

“I think I was a little bit more powerful today, probably in the point that were longer I could swing a bit faster and I was could be more aggressive.”

“I’m really happy that I was brave and I was hitting the ball pretty fast at the end.”

“I made a number of mistakes but eventually it paid off.”

2015 champion Heather Watson continued her winning run after making her way through the qualifying rounds, rallying to defeat No.67 Jill Teichmann after dropping the opening set.

American Lauren Davis took three sets to defeat Australian wildcard Astra Sharma, sealing the win in a tense tiebreak.

In other singles matches, Kateryna Kozlova defeated Sara Sorribes-Tormo 6-2 6-1 in a battle of the qualifiers, while seventh-seed Rebecca Peterson was forced to withdraw due to injury at 4-4 in the first set of her match against Fiona Ferro.

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