Wimbledon Champion Elena Rybakina resumed her quest for an appearance at the WTA Finals at Guadalajara Open with a first-round win over Karolina Pliskova.
The Kazakh earned a 7-6(5) 6-2 over Pliskova after battling back from 3-5 down in the first set.
The Czech failed to see out the first set with Rybakina forcing a tiebreak before Pliskova double-faulted on set point. World no.24 was in cruise control from there, using her powerful groundstrokes and serving to cause Pliskova trouble whose five more double faults did not help her cause.
After getting the better of Karolina Pliskova, Rybakina will next face Jessica Pegula in Guadalajara Open who won their previous meeting in Miami this year.
Pegula along with Iga Swiatek and Ons Jebur have already locked up the WTA Final spots which are reserved for the top 8 players in the world. Rybakina can be among them with a win in this tournament.
Meanwhile, Bianca Andreescu secured a comeback win of her own over Petra Kvitova, beating the Czech 3-6, 6-2, 6-0.
Maria Sakkari ended her three-match losing run with a 6-4 6-4 victory over Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk after getting a bye into the second round.
Eugenie Bouchard beat American qualifier Kayla Day 7-5 6-3 for her first at a WTA 1000 level event since Dubai in 2019.
Madison Keys, Danielle Collins, Anna Kalinskaya, Donna Vekic, Martina Trevisan, Marie Bouzkova and Caroline Garcia also reached the next stage.
