Errani’s Marathon Match and more: Palermo Open Day 1 surprises, reactions

The 2020 tennis season has finally restarted with the WTA’s Palermo Ladies Open. Here is a recap from Day 1, including the Match of the Day.

The 2020 season restart has finally after five long months of no tennis, apart from a few entertaining exhibition matches. The WTA kicked off the restart with the Palermo Ladies Open, an International event worth 280 points. Some of the tour’s bright young stars, including World #15 Petra Martic and 2019 French Open Finalist, Marketa Vondrousova.

The event got off without a hitch despite many concerns that the tournament wouldn’t last for the entirety due to an unknown player testing positive for COVID-19 mere days before today. Many players were seen wearing masks if they needed to leave the court and all staff was required to do so at all times. If the protocols are kept in place, the tournament will continue without any problems. It was a welcome sight to finally see players competing for points and miles came quickly and often throughout the wonderful facilities in Sicily.

Half of the 16 first-round matches took place today, with #6-seeded Donna Vekic leading the way in the first match of the tournament as the day’s highest-ranked competitor. She blasted her way through to the next round, defeating World #70 Arantxa Rus 6-1, 6-2 in just a shade over an hour.

Vekic was on fire in the return game today as she won 80% of Rus’ second-serve points despite the Russian’s 71.7 first-serve percentage. 6 breakpoint conversions later and Vekic moved into the next round. She’ll face Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto in Round 2; she took out Polona Hercog 7-6, 6-3 in her opening match.

Match of the Day

Easily the best match of the day came from Sorana Cirstea and Sara Errani. The pair fought in a two-hour, 57-minute marathon match that saw an incredible mix of powerful groundstrokes, excellent shot placement, outstanding court coverage, and fine touch at the net. Errani broke out and won the first set 7-5 despite being broken 3 times; she won the majority of her points on serve (51.4% of her service points won compared to 43.1%) despite being much weaker in this aspect of the game.

Errani continued her momentum into the second, breaking Cirstea to open the set. Cirstea bounced back, however, ripping off 6 straight games (3 breaks of serve) to even the match at one set apiece.

The final set had some of the best tennis we’ve seen all year, and that includes pre-shutdown tennis. Errani showed why touch, shot placement, and defense can win a match just as easily as a powerful serve can.

The two battled back and forth for the entirety of the match, and even though the Italian was visibly injured (likely cramps from the heat), she ran down ball after ball and ended up saving 8 of the 10 break points she faced in that set. She was effective on her serve (85.4% first serve percentage) and finished off all three of her break point opportunities to cap off an improbable win.

Day 1 Results (Round of 32)

(6) Donna Vekic def.  Arantxa Rus 6-1, 6-2

Sara Errani def. Sorana Cirstea 7-5, 1-6, 6-4

Laura Siegemund def. Irana-Camelia Begu 6-3, 6-4

Ellisabetta Cocciaretto def. Polona Hercog 7-6, 6-3

(8) Ekaternia Alexandrova def. Kristina Mladenovic 5-7, 6-0, 6-1

Jasmine Paolini def. Daria Kasatkina 5-7, 6-4, 6-4

(7) Dayana Yastremska def. Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-3, 6-4

Kristyna Pliskova def. (3) Maria Sakkari 6-3, 6-4

Day 2 (Round of 32) Match Schedule – August 4th

4 pm CEST – Court 2: Tamara Zidansek vs Oceane Dodin

4 pm CEST – Court 6: (5) Elise Mertens vs Aliaksandra Sasnovich

4 pm CEST – Centre Court: (2) Marketa Vondrousova vs Kaja Juvan

 5:15 pm CEST – Court 2: Nadia Podoroska vs Fiona Ferro

5:15 pm CEST – Court 6: Kirsten Flipkens vs Ludmilla Samsonova

5:15 pm CEST – Centre Court: (1) Petra Martic vs Alison Van Uytvanck

6:30 pm CEST – Centre Court: Camila Giorgi vs Rebecca Peterson

7:45 pm CEST – Centre Court: (4) Annett Kontaveit vs Patricia Maria Tig

Day 2 of the Palermo Ladies Open, the first tournament in tennis’ return to action, begins at 4 pm CEST (10 am EST).