Czech teenager Linda Fruhvirtova won a match at the Mutua Madrid Open for the first time in her career on Tuesday, defeating American Katie Volynets 6-3, 7-5 in the first round of the WTA 1000 event.
In their first meeting, World No.58 Fruhvirtova converted four of her seven break points en route to a 1-hour and 43-minute victory over 103rd-ranked Volynets. Each player had 15 winners, but 17-year-old Fruhvirtova had 11 fewer unforced errors than Volynets in the match.
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In the back-and-forth first set, Volynets led by an early break before Fruhvirtova won four games in a row to lead 4-2. Volynets pulled back on serve at 4-3, but Fruhvirtova won the next eight points consecutively to take the opening frame.
10th win of the year 👍
— wta (@WTA) April 25, 2023
🇨🇿 Linda Fruhvirtova defeats Volynets 6-3 7-5 to kick off her campaign in Madrid!#MMOPEN pic.twitter.com/6Hu5TtYP9K
In the second set, there were no breaks of serve through 5-5, but in that game, Fruhvirtova prevailed in a lengthy rally to finally break for 6-5. Fruhvirtova successfully served out the match, which she finished with her second ace.
Fruhvirtova will next meet No.19 seed Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia in the second round. 2017 Roland Garros champion Ostapenko dismissed Fruhvirtova 6-2, 6-0 in their only previous meeting, on the hard courts of Dubai earlier this year.
Fruhvirtova, who fell to Kaia Kanepi in the Madrid first round last year, is the youngest player currently ranked inside the Top 100. The Czech, who won her first WTA singles title in Chennai last year, turns 18 on Monday, May 1.
Zanevska dispatches Kenin
In the same section of the draw, Maryna Zanevska easily triumphed in her Mutua Madrid Open main-draw debut, cruising past 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin 6-0, 6-3 in just 58 minutes.
💥@zanevskamaryna fires her 19th winner to book her spot in R2 on her debut in Madrid!#MMOPEN pic.twitter.com/IQCIB2KXrb
— wta (@WTA) April 25, 2023
Belgium's Zanevska had 19 winners to just seven unforced errors in her defeat of Kenin. American Kenin has never won a match in Madrid -- she lost in the first round in 2019, and fell in the first round of qualifying in 2018.
Former World No.4 Kenin had won their only previous meeting in straight sets, which was on the hard courts of Hobart earlier this year. But Zanevska got her revenge in their first-round match on Tuesday, setting up a second-round showdown with No.14 seed Liudmila Samsonova.
The winner of the Zanevska-Samsonova match will meet the winner of the Fruhvirtova-Ostapenko match in the third round.