„I dreamed of winning this match,“ said Lilli Tagger after this big dream had come true. In the sold-out Linz Design Centre, Tagger won her main draw debut at the Upper Austria Ladies Linz against former world number two Paula Badosa 6:4 and 7:6 thanks to an extremely courageous performance. In the round of 16, she will face third-ranked Liudmila Samsonova on Thursday.
In front of her family and friends from Lienz, who had travelled to Linz with her, Tagger quickly got over her initial nervousness, got into the match better and better after trailing 1:3 and was the braver player, especially in the decisive situations. The East Tyrolean won nine of the next ten games, was already on the winning track at 4:0 in the second set, but still had to go into a tie-break. The 18-year-old then showed nerves of steel and celebrated the first victory for an Austrian in the main draw of Linz since 2013, when Patricia Mayr-Achleitner even reached the quarter-finals. „I would like to thank you all. It was incredibly important to me to win my first match on clay in Austria,“ summarised Tagger in the on-court interview.
Austria's number one Julia Grabher and Sinja Kraus, on the other hand, were eliminated. Grabher from Vorarlberg lost 4:6, 3:6 to Alexander Eala from the Philippines, who was loudly supported by around 100 enthusiastic compatriots in the hall. „I'm pretty disappointed. I actually served quite solidly, but didn't return well and missed a lot of chances,“ analysed Grabher, who missed a total of nine break opportunities.
Sinja Kraus lost 3:6, 3:6 to birthday girl Sorana Cirstea, who turned 36 on Tuesday. „It wasn't my day today. I didn't get off to a good start. When you play at home, you're also a bit nervous. After the game points in the second service game, I broke away a bit. Nevertheless, I'm proud of myself for the way I fought back,“ said Kraus, who was able to stabilise considerably after trailing 0:5, but was never able to really threaten Cirstea.
The tournament is by no means over for Grabher and Kraus, who will take to the court together in the doubles on Wednesday. In the last match of the day on Court 1, an exciting challenge awaits with the duel against Jaqueline Cristian (Romania) and Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia).
Potapova & Andreeva get involved in the action
Anastasia Potapova's first match as an Austrian at her home tournament will be in the spotlight on centre court on Wednesday (not before 4 pm). The 2023 Linz winner will play against Shuai Zhang. „I'm very happy and proud to be here. It still feels a bit unfamiliar. The fans gave me a great reception at the doubles,“ said the 25-year-old, who has been competing under the Austrian flag since the start of the year.
The tournament's number one, Mirra Andreeva (WTA 10), will face Sloane Stephens, the 2017 US Open winner, in a generational duel (not before 6 p.m.). The 33-year-old American is 15 years older than her opponent and will have her hands full defusing Andreeva's powerful game.
