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Qualifier Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova pulled off an upset win in Adelaide, while Paula Badosa lost in her return to the court
In the first round of the Adelaide International on Monday, qualifiers Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (32) and Anna Kalinskaya (25) scored upset victories against seeded opponents. The opening center court match, a precursor to the Australian Open (January 14-28, 2021), saw Pavlyuchenkova, a French Open finalist, defeating fifth seed Beatriz Haddad Maia with a score of 6-3, 6-4.
Russian fighter Pavlyuchenkova remarked of her Brazilian opponent, “I know (she is) a great fighter and (what) if you give her a little bit of a chance to come back.”
Given that Haddad Maia only managed 13 victories, Pavlyuchenkova fired 26. “So I knew I had to be 200 percent against her, and I’m happy it worked,” she added.
After fighting for almost three hours, Kalinskaya defeated Barbora Krejcikova, the fourth seed, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5.
Krejcikova broke Kalinskaya in the opening game of the third set, taking a 3-1 lead. However, the Russian staged an impressive comeback, securing victory on her third match point.
“It was a great match, (Krejcikova is) a very good fighter,” Kalinskaya commented on her win. “She plays incredible tennis, she knows how to hit every shot, she made the match very complicated.”
In another match, Paula Badosa, the former world number two, lost in three sets in her first match since Wimbledon of the previous year. The Spaniard fell short against Bernarda Pera 6-3, 2-6, 3-6.
Brit Katie Boulter lost to Romanian Ana Bogdan in straight sets, while Marta Kostyuk defeated Anhelina Kalinina in an all-Ukrainian match 7-6(3), 6-1.
