Clara Burel defeated the lucky looser Tamara Korpatsch at the start of the WTA 1000 China Open
Clara Burel (France) defeated the lucky loser Tamara Korpatsch (Germany) at the start of the WTA 1000 China Open in Beijing. The French tennis player won the match by 2-1 (6:3, 5:7, 6:3) in 2:12 hours of play to reach the second round of the Masters’ tournament.
Tamara Korpatsch qualified for the main draw of the WTA 1000 China Open as a lucky loser after the withdrawal of the American tennis player Caroline Dolehide. Two more Americans withdrew from the tournament hours before the start of their first-round matches – Bernarda Pera and Amanda Anisimova.
Clara Burel was not confused by the change of her first opponent at the WTA 1000 China Open and started the match strongly and motivated for victory. She won her first serve game “on zero” and broke for 2:1. However, Tamara Korpatsch returned the break immediately and equalized to 2:2. Both tennis players exchanged a game for 3:3, when Clara Burel won three games in a row to close the set at 6:3.
In the second set, both tennis players won their serve games, although Clara Burel needed to save two break points in the second game. Tamara Korpatsch reached two more breakpoints in the seventh game and this time did not miss the chance to break. She served for the set at 5:4, but the French tennis player succeeded in rebreaking and equalized. In the very next game, Tamara Korpatsch broke once again, and at her serve, she closed the set at 7:5.
The third set started strongly for Clara Burel, who broke for 2:0. Both players exchanged one more break, which kept the advance for the French player to 3:1 and after another break she extended her lead to 5:1. Although Tamara Korpatsch returned one of the breaks, she was not able to sustain the attacks of her opponent and Clara Burel closed the set at 6:3 and won the match.
Her next opponent will be the fourth-seeded Coco Gauff. Both players played only once in the second round of the WTA 1000 Indian Wells Open in 2024, when the American player made a comeback to win by 2-1 (2:6, 6:3, 7:6).
Earlier in the day, Xinyu Wang (China) defeated Mai Hontama (Japan) by 2-0 (6:1, 6:3), the qualifier Yulia Starodubtseva (Ukraine) eliminated Laura Siegemund (Germany) after 2-0 (6:4, 7:6), and Taylor Townsend (USA) won her match versus Martina Trevisan (Italy) by 2-1 (6:2, 4:6, 6:3).
