NEWS
Carla Suárez makes her debut at Barcelona KIA’08 on Tuesday against Alicia Molik
The centre court at the David Lloyd Club Turó will be the scene of the Canarian’s first match at 6pm.
Carla Suárez will make her debut at Barcelona KIA’08 in what will be her first match following her brilliant performance at Roland Garros. The player from the Canary Islands who has seen her world ranking rise to 49 will face Alicia Molik at 6pm, televised by Teledeporte at 8pm. The day’s schedule will see other important matchups including Lourdes Domínguez and Sara Errani (6), Liliah Osterloh and Maria Kirilenko (2) or Edina Gallovits and Julia Vakulenko.
The games of the first round of these International Championships of Women’s Tennis of Spain began on Monday with victories from the two Spanish players that entered the tournament as wildcards. María José Martínez Sánchez easily beat the Canadian Wozniak, 64 61, while Eloisa Compostizo overcame Emilie Loit in a marathon game that finished 76(4) 46 76(5).
The match between the Israeli, Shahar Peer, the tournament top seed, and the Mallorcan Núria Llagostera had to be suspended due to lack of light when the score was 5 games each in the first set. Previously, Parmentier (5) y Zakopalova (7) lived up to their status as favorites however needed three sets to beat Sprem by 62 36 62 y 26 76(3) 62 respectively. In other games on centre court, Lepchenko beat De los Ríos 75 62 and Rybarikova beat Camerin 61 62.
Doubles Results, Monday 9th
- Anderson and Stephenson 75 67(2) 10-8 Chvojkova and Jovanovic
- Cibulkova and Zakopalova 62 62 Bratchikova and Silva
- Domínguez Lino y Parra Santonja 62 64 Fernández-Brugues y Thorpe
- Jidkova and Osterloh 75 36(6) Suárez and Molik
TWO SPANISH PLAYERS QUALIFY
Previously, the qualifying round finished with two Spanish players qualifying on the singles number one court. Leticia Costas took advantage of the opportunity that was awarded to her from the organization, granting her one of the wild cards by beating Alina Jidkova 61 06 75. Also getting through the qualifying round was Maite Gabarrús, who beat 76 (5) 76 (3) the Portuguese, Neuza Silva, and will play in the first round against Arantxa Parra. The winner of this knock-out will compete in the second round with María José Martínez, which guarantees Spanish presence in the quarter finals.
For her part, Eva Fernández remained one step away from qualifying as she was beaten in three sets, 16 63 62, by Kondratieva. The qualifying phase ended with the victory of Ekaterina Ivanova, winner of this tournament in 2005, against Madison Brengle by 64 75.
