Párrizas goes to the round of 16 and Svitolina begins her ‘mission’ for Ukraine in Monterrey

The Spanish Nuria Parrizas, number 51 in the world ranking, defeated the Japanese Misaki Doi 6-2, 6-1 on Tuesday and qualified for the round of 16 of the Monterrey Tennis Open, tournament 250 of the WTA.

In the first set, Parrizas was better with his serve, he created six break opportunities, of which he completed two and was superior to a rival who failed with the serve and made numerous unforced errors

The story was similar in the second sleeve; the Spanish went ahead 3-0 with two breaks and although Doi got closer 3-1 with a break in the fourth ‘game’, later she was overcome.

Parrizas, sixth seed, will face the British Heather Watson in the phase of the 16 bestwho made her debut this Monday with a victory over the German Julie Niemier, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(4).

This Tuesday, at the close of the duels of the first round, the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, first favorites, beat Russian Anastasia Potapova, 6-2, 6-1 and signed her pass to play in the round of 16 against the Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova.

After his threat not to play, the decision of the WTA, ATP and ITF to ban Russian tennis players from playing under their flag made Svitolina finally decide to play her match against Potapova.

It was a game full of symbolism where Svitolina played with the colors of the Ukrainian flag (yellow shirt and blue skirt) and where the Ukrainian tennis player was visibly moved at the end of the game, raising his hand to his chest several times in a clear gesture of patriotism.

Svitolina’s reaction did not stop there, since the Ukrainian tennis player made these statements in the interview at the foot of the court. “This is a very special tournament for me and all the prize money I win here will go to the Ukrainian army. Right now I am on a mission for my country.”he assured with a voice broken by emotion.

The note of the day was given by the Croatian Petra Martic, who eliminated third-seeded American Madison Keys 7-5, 7-6(3), 6-3.

Martic, 85 racket in the world, offered resistance to the favorite, who won 7-5 in the first set. In a second; Keys complained of discomfort in her right shoulder, of which she took advantage of the European, which caused the decision in a ‘tie break’.

Patient, the Croatian won the sudden death and in the third set she showed solidity with the service and signed the victory. In eighths she will face the Czech Marie Bouzkuva, winner 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 against Italian Sara Errani.

In other results,China’s Xinyu Wang eliminated eighth-seeded Ann Li of the United States 6-2, 6-1, her compatriot Qinwen Zheng beat Italian Lucia Bronzetti 6-2, 6-3 and fellow Chinese Quang Wang defeated Hungarian Dalma Galfi 6-7(0), 6-1, 6-4.

This Wednesday the Spanish Sara Sorribes, fourth favorite, will face the French Harmony Tan, the Colombian Camila Osorio, fifth seed, the Mexican Marcela Zacarías and the Canadian Leylah Fernández, second seeded, to Bronzetti.

The Monterrey Open is played on hard court with a prize pool of $276,750.