Koulikovskaya Guts It Out On Sunday
by Priya Prasad
Day two saw the rest of the main draw players roll in. Gala Leon
Garcia continued to tear the house down with her antics, making life
a little less dreary for the other players. Once again, play was
scheduled to start at 3.30pm, and not a soul was to be seen on the
practice courts between 1 and 2pm, although the weather was
considerably cooler than the previous day. Apart from the general
interest in what as happening in Wimbledon, players were pretty much
bored out of their skulls, milling around before and after practice,
waiting for something. Many plans were made for what to do in the
evening, and the clubs (or discotheques, as they are called in Italy)
in Mondello would have to be declared hazard zones for the night.
Top seed Nadejda Ostrovskaya became the biggest casualty of the day,
losing to the slight but tough-as-nails Evgenia Koulikovskaya.
While Evgenia had been slogging it out on court late the previous
night, Nadejda had enjoyed a first round bye, and it showed in the
amount of time it took for her to get into the match. Typical of her
strong and self-assured character, Evgenia kept the pressure on and
didn't let fatigue take over even when the second set went to a
tie-breaker, and took the match 6-0 7-6(4).
The rest of the players cruised through their matches, and the day
held no other surprises. Excitement built up with the impending
commencement of main draw play and perhaps the second most important
match to a player besides the final of a tournament -- the third
qualifying round.
The day also saw the doubles qualifying draw played out. Maret Ani
made up for her disappointing singles result by getting through to
the final qualifying round in the doubles. She and partner Laura
Dell'Angelo hold a very good chance of getting through to the main
draw where they would unfortunately have to play against the second
seeds Ana Isabel Medina Garrigues (another Player to Watch) and Maria
Jose Martinez.
Contenders for a spot in the main draw:
- Koulikovskaya vs. Vierin (5)
- Daniilidou (2) vs. Lubiani
- Fusai (3) vs. Sassi (6)
- Casoni (8) vs. Ramon
- Ani / Dell'Angelo vs. Geznenge / T Kovalchuk
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Last updated 26 September 2015
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