Two seeds fell early on Day 2 at the Guadalajara Open Akron as Anna Kalinskaya and Katerina Siniakova conquered No.9 seed Barbora Krejcikova and No.11 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia, respectively, in the opening round.
After No.15 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova was sent home by Camila Osorio on Monday, Krejcikova and Haddad Maia are the highest seeds to fall in Guadalajara, the final WTA 1000 event of the season, so far. The pair were two of the 17 players who came into the week with a mathematical chance of qualifying for the WTA Finals Fort Worth in two weeks, but needed to win the title along with other results to do so.
Turning point: A tough opening set gave way to an easy finish for Siniakova. After she lost an early break lead, Siniakova denied Haddad Maia a chance to turn the set all the way around when she held serve in the eighth game from 0-40 down. After failing to convert two break points herself at 4-4, Siniakova won the next seven games to cushion her eventual 98-minute win.
Stat of the day: Haddad Maia's last three losses have all come to Czech opponents. She fell to Krejcikova in the quarterfinals of the Tallinn Open and was beaten at the Agel Open in Ostrava in her first match by Karolina Muchova.
Third Top 20 win of the season 🙌@K_Siniakova kicks off her stay in Guadalajara with a win!#GDLOPENAKRON pic.twitter.com/uAGgp2E3w7
— wta (@WTA) October 18, 2022
Streak snapped: Siniakova's doubles partner, by contrast, never got going against Kalinskaya. After withdrawing from the Winners Open last week in Cluj-Napoca with a left wrist injury, Tallinn and Ostrava champion Krejcikova saw her nine-match winning streak ended in 1 hour and 42 minutes.
The early games proved key in Kalinskaya's third Top 20 win of the season. She broke Krejcikova for 2-0 in the first set on her fourth break point after a six-deuce game, and saved two break points to extend her lead to 3-0.
She never faced a break point for the rest of the set and broke Krejcikova at 1-1 to take the lead in the second. Though the Czech broke at love to even the score at 2-2, she dropped serve again and never recovered. Kalinskaya lost just two points in her last three service games.
Off the court, on the purple carpet and more in Guadalajara
Collins, Keys, Ostapenko sail through
Three of the other players with an outside shot of qualifying for the season-ending championships all cleared the first hurdle. Danielle Collins, Madison Keys and Jelena Ostapenko were all straight-set winners, losing a combined 15 games in six sets.
No.12 seed Ostapenko had the quickest path through in a 6-1, 6-3 win over American qualifier Lauren Davis. She broke Davis' serve five times in 70 minutes to move through to a second-round meeting with another American qualifier, Kayla Day, or wild card Eugenie Bouchard.
No.13 seed Collins needed 73 minutes for a 6-4, 6-1 win over Caroline Dolehide in an all-American affair where she won seven straight games from 4-4. Elsewhere, Keys came from an early break behind in a 6-3, 6-3 win over Poland's Magda Linette.
Collins' next foe is Polish qualifier Magdalena Frech, while Keys' next opponent is US Open and Wimbledon quarterfinalist Ajla Tomljanovic.