Tennis in the Land's top two seeds, Beatriz Haddad Maia and Leylah Fernandez, were each involved in topsy-turvy matches in Tuesday's first round in Cleveland. Haddad Maia prevailed in her battle, but Fernandez was ousted.
Cleveland: Scores | Order of Play | Draws
No.1 seed Haddad Maia of Brazil defeated Swiss qualifier Viktorija Golubic 6-3, 7-5 on Tuesday. Former Top 10 player Haddad Maia needed just under two hours to move past 2021 Wimbledon quarterfinalist Golubic.
The scoreline and match time do not tell the entire tale. Haddad Maia won the first set relatively easily, but Golubic went on a tear to open the second set, racing to a 5-0 lead.
However, 2023 Roland Garros semifinalist Haddad Maia refused to be pushed into a third set, and the Brazilian won seven games in succession to close out the evening encounter. During that rebound, Haddad Maia saved two set points at 5-2 and four more at 5-4.
With the victory, Haddad Maia set up a second-round meeting with Cristina Bucsa of Spain. Haddad Maia has won all three of her previous matches against Bucsa.
Earlier on Tuesday, another qualifier, Ana Bogdan of Romania, overcame No.2 seed Fernandez of Canada 1-6, 7-6(2), 6-2 in 2 hours and 32 minutes, grabbing her ninth career Top 25 win. Bogdan now holds a 2-0 head-to-head lead over 2021 US Open finalist Fernandez.
Fernandez dominated the opening set and served for the match at 5-4 in the second set. Bogdan, though, ended up squeaking out the second set in a tiebreak without facing a match point.
Bogdan zipped to a 5-0 lead in the third set, but there was still plenty of action remaining. Bogdan had seven match points at 5-1, but Fernandez saved all of those, winning that game to extend the match. The 5-1 game featured 15 deuces and lasted 22 minutes alone.
Despite not closing out the match there, Bogdan remained calm, serving out the win in the very next game. It was Bogdan's first main-draw win at any event since Roland Garros, where she notched her prior Top 25 win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Bogdan will see a familiar face in the second round: lucky loser Greet Minnen of Belgium. Bogdan defeated Minnen in the final round of qualifying on Sunday.
