Turin, 14 Aug. (LaPresse) – The all-Italian clash in the first round of the ‘Cincinnati Open’, a WTA 1000 tournament with a prize fund of $7,433,076 taking place on the hard courts of the Lindner Family Tennis Centre in the Ohio metropolis, lasted just eight games. Lucrezia Stefanini, ranked 142nd and having come through the qualifiers, defeated Elisabetta Cocciaretto, ranked 60th in the WTA, who took to the court with her left knee heavily bandaged and retired at the end of the first set with the Tuscan player leading 5-3 after just 40 minutes of play. This is the second consecutive withdrawal for the player from the Marche region following her withdrawal in Toronto, also in her opening match, against the Australian Gibson: this time, however, the problem does not appear to have been her knee but a different kind of illness. In the second round, Stefanini is set to face the Czech Marie Bouzkova, ranked 25th and seeded 22nd. The 28-year-old from Prague has won both previous encounters, the most recent of which was in the second round of last year’s WTA 250 in Prague.
Tennis: WTA Cincinnati – Stefanini progresses to the second round; Cocciaretto withdraws
Turin, 14 Aug. (LaPresse) – The all-Italian clash in the first round of the ‘Cincinnati Open’, a WTA 1000 tournament with a prize fund of $7,433,076 taking place on the hard courts of the Lindner Family Tennis Centre in the Ohio metropolis, lasted just eight games. Lucrezia Stefanini, ranked 142nd and having come through the qualifiers, defeated Elisabetta Cocciaretto, ranked 60th in the WTA, who took to the court with her left knee heavily bandaged and retired at the end of the first set with the Tuscan player leading 5-3 after just 40 minutes of play. This is the second consecutive withdrawal for the player from the Marche region following her withdrawal in Toronto, also in her opening match, against the Australian Gibson: this time, however, the problem does not appear to have been her knee but a different kind of illness. In the second round, Stefanini is set to face the Czech Marie Bouzkova, ranked 25th and seeded 22nd. The 28-year-old from Prague has won both previous encounters, the most recent of which was in the second round of last year’s WTA 250 in Prague.