Donna Vekic, who reached the semi-finals of the Upper Austria Ladies Linz two years ago, was in top form in her opening qualifying match on the centre court at the Design Center, winning 6-2, 6-4 against Carole Monnet from France. She will now face Iryna Shymanovich in the qualifying final for a ticket to the main draw (not before 12 noon).
Alongside her, Tamara Korpatsch also won the German duel against Jule Niemeier (6:3, 6:2) and will face Maria Timofeeva (Uzbekistan) tomorrow in the first match on Match Court 1 (11 a.m.). American Katie Volynets, the top seed in qualifying, can also still hope for a place in the main draw after her win against Dominika Salkova (Czech Republic).
Anna-Lena Friedsam, on the other hand, was eliminated. The 32-year-old played her first WTA final in Linz in 2015 and was only beaten by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. She reached the quarter-finals again in 2023. At this year's tournament, it wasn't enough against Anhelina Kalinina (Ukraine).
The first main draw matches are also on the programme on Monday. Things will get really loud from 2 p.m. when the first major tournament highlight from an Austrian perspective awaits! East Tyrolean Lilli Tagger will take to centre court for the first time alongside new Austrian Anastasia Potopova. In the first round of doubles, the Austrian combination will play Ulrikke Eikeri (Norway) and Quinn Gleason (USA). Wildcard holder Sloane Stephens (USA) will also face German player Tatjana Maria.
