Lugano 2019: Thursday's Order of Play and Match Points
CENTRE COURT -- 11:00 a.m. start
[3] Viktoria KUZMOVA (SVK) vs. Iga SWIATEK (POL)
Stefanie VOEGELE (SUI) vs. Viktorija GOLUBIC (SUI) (to be finished 3-0)
Timea BACSINSZKY (SUI) vs. [WC] Svetlana KUZNETSOVA (RUS)
[4] Belinda BENCIC (SUI) / Viktoria KUZMOVA (SVK) vs. Giorgia MARCHETTI (ITA) / Arantxa RUS (NED)
Not before 6:00 p.m.
[Q] Antonia LOTTNER (GER) vs. Kristyna PLISKOVA (CZE)
COURT 1 -- 11:00 a.m. start
Evgeniya RODINA (RUS) vs. [8] Vera LAPKO (BLR)
[7] Rebecca PETERSON (SWE) vs. Veronika KUDERMETOVA (RUS)
After suitable rest
Vera LAPKO (BLR) / Mandy MINELLA (LUX) vs. [3] Sorana CIRSTEA (ROU) / Andreea MITU (ROU)
After suitable rest
[1] Veronika KUDERMETOVA (RUS) / Galina VOSKOBOEVA (KAZ) vs. Mona BARTHEL (GER) / Xenia KNOLL (SUI)
After suitable rest
[WC] Timea BACSINSZKY (SUI) / Ylena IN-ALBON (SUI) vs. [2] Cornelia LISTER (SWE) / Renata VORACOVA (CZE)
MATCH POINTS
After Budapest champion Alison van Uytvanck's second-round loss to Fiona Ferro on Wednesday, 18 different WTA singles champions in the first 18 events of the season is guaranteed. There are no 2019 singles titlists left standing in either Lugano or the concurrent Claro Open Colsanitas in Bogota.
Photos: Vive la difference! 16 titles, 16 winners in 2019 so far
Svetlana Kuznetsova has won all four of her meetings with Timea Bacsinszky in their careers. The former Top 10 players, both currently ranked outside of the Top 100 due to injury struggles, have not faced each other since 2016. Their match was moved from Wednesday to Thursday due to precipitation.
The all-Swiss affair between Stefanie Voegele and Viktoria Golubic was also interrupted by the weather and postponed to Thursday, with Voegele leading 3-0 in the opening set. Voegele holds the head-to-head edge over Golubic, having won their only prior meeting, at a Challenger event in France in 2016.
Viktoria Kuzmova and Iga Swiatek will meet for the first time. 20-year-old Kuzmova, the highest seed remaining in Lugano, was the runner-up in junior singles at the 2016 US Open, while 17-year-old Swiatek was the junior singles champion at Wimbledon last year.
German qualifier Antonia Lottner, conqueror of home favorite and No.1 seed Belinda Bencic in the first round, will square off against Kristyna Pliskova, the left-handed of the Pliskova twins, for the first time.
