Two seeds were in contention on Monday in Budapest, and if Aliaksandra Sasnovich managed to qualify, Gabriela Ruse was however eliminated.
The Budapest tournament, which takes place on clay, began on Monday, with Barbora Krejcikova and Martina Trevisan as the main headliners. This Monday, two seeds were scheduled on the Hungarian court, and they did not experience the same success. World No. 36 Aliaksandra Sasnovich, returning to competition after a two-week absence because she was banned from Wimbledon as a Belarusian, started her tournament well, with a victory against Fanny Stollar, a Hungarian player from qualifying.
The seeded No. 5 won 6-3, 0-6, 6-3 in 1:43, after a match marked by eight breaks. Completely missed the second set, Sasnovich recovered well in the third, breaking at 3-2 and 4-3, before concluding with a shutout. Next opponent: American qualifier Bernarda Pera.
A Russian-Ukrainian match in the second round
However, the tournament is already over for the No. 7 seed, Gabriela Ruse. The Romanian was knocked out by Russian Kamilla Rakhimova 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 after a 3:04 fight. In difficulty on serve (7 double faults for Rakhimova, 6 for Ruse), the two players conceded numerous breaks (5 for the Russian, 7 for the Romanian).
Rakhimova notably missed a match point at 6-4, 5-4, but she managed to make the difference in the last set, not without a new scare, as she saw her opponent come back from 0-3 to 3 -3, but managed to break it one last time at 5-3. In the next round, the Russian will be opposed to the Ukrainian Tsurenko, for a necessarily special match.
