As expected, Barbara Haas suffered an opening defeat at the WTA tournament in Linz. The 22-year-old lost against the number two of the tournament, Kiki Bertens, by 2:6, 1:6. This means that no Austrian is represented at the home tournament anymore.
“It’s always hard at the Linz tournament. I have to be prepared for the worst,” Haas said before the game, and she should be right. Bertens started off cautiously at first, but after a few minutes he gained considerably.
With a good length in her usual aggressive basic strokes, she put her opponent increasingly under pressure and took Haas the serve to 3:1 and 6:2 off. Also in the second run the Dutch player showed herself uncompromising and immediately broke to 2:0. After 74 minutes the game ended with an ace.
“I am very sorry for the spectators, but I am happy about my victory,” Bertens said after the match. “The court is a little slow, so it’s hard to play aggressively.”
For Haas, it was the fourth defeat in the opening round of the fourth Linz main event. For the first time in her career, she faced a top 10 player. Just a few weeks ago she won her sixth title at a tournament in the 25,000 dollar category in Sofia.
Meanwhile the defending champion Barbora Strycova celebrated a successful start in front of some Czech fans. After two true marathon sets over two and a half hours she defeated Kirsten Flipkens with 7:6, 7:6. She showed especially in the first set her big fighter heart, by making up for a 1:5 gap.
“Although I was behind, I felt good,” said Strycova after the game. The Czech player always unpacked her serve and volley, but Flipkens had big problems with her overhead balls throughout the match. Like Flipkens, Strycova only hit Beijing last week. Since she won the title in doubles at the outdoor event, she did not travel directly to Linz until Monday.
“Now I’m tired, but happy. Today I’m really happy to be through after two sentences, I already felt my legs.” In the round of 16 Strycova meets her compatriot Kristyna Pliskova.
In the double competition on Wednesday afternoon there was a wild card duel with Austrian participation. The ÖTV teenagers Mavie Österreicher (16) and Nadja Ramskogler (18) took on the more established Melanie Klaffner and her partner Viktoria Kuzmova. Besides the gained experience of a professional game at the highest level, there were two games for the hopes for the future.