Local heroine Kraus misses out on a surprise after a committed performance

Sinja Kraus missed out on a surprise at the Upper Austria Ladies Linz. The 22-year-old local heroine, who played her way into the main draw thanks to a strong performance in qualifying, lost to Anna Blinkova 6:7(3), 2:6 after just over an hour and a half. With the crowd behind her, the current Austrian number one proved her fighting qualities, especially in the first set, reclaiming a lost break and saving herself in the tie-break. There, "a few too easy mistakes" by the qualifier decided the outcome of the set. Blinkova then utilised her experience and decided the match in her favour with a stable performance.

Despite the defeat, Kraus was positive about her performance at the Design Centre afterwards: "I'm taking the positives with me. (...) I saw that I could almost dictate the game against a player like that. It's nice to see that I can cause my opponents such problems with my game." Regarding the back problems that forced Kraus to take a treatment break in the middle of the second set, she gave the all-clear: "I made a stupid movement and then it went into my back, but we're in the process of loosening it up. It's not too bad."

However, she was also "a little sad" to miss the chance to compete with Elina Svitolina, who will now play Anna Blinkova in the round of 16.

Sakkari sets an exclamation mark

Maria Sakkari also showed once again how comfortable she feels in Linz. The Greek player knew how to play to her strengths on fast surfaces against Viktoriya Tomova and won 6:3, 6:2 after a convincing performance. The former number three in the WTA world rankings thus announced her ambitions to repeat her successful run in Linz from 2023. After her victory, the strong athlete, who had to end last year's season prematurely due to persistent shoulder problems, was visibly relieved: "It was a win that I really needed. I was really looking forward to finally feeling like this on the court again. I served very well and also played well from the baseline. My tactics were spot on. I missed feeling like the old Maria."

However, she was also "a little sad" to miss the chance to compete with Elina Svitolina, who will now play Anna Blinkova in the round of 16.

Muchova and Alexandrova start the tournament

Three of the top four seeded players will start the tournament on Thursday. Alongside Elina Svitolina, Karolina Muchova and last year's finalist Ekaterina Alexandrova will be on court. Muchova, last year's Czech US Open semi-finalist, will face Spanish qualifier Sara Sorribes Tormo (not before 6 p.m.). Alexandrova will then also face a qualifier. She will face Aliaksandra Sasnovich.