Martincova lost to the French favourite and did not qualify for the top 16 in Lyon

Tereza Martincova was in the first round of the WTA 250 tournament in Lyon on Tuesday. The twenty-eight-year-old Czech challenged the favoured Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia, who after an evenly fought match is enjoying her advancement to the eighth round.

Martincova is not having the best tennis season, having lost four times in a row in the main singles competitions before this event. The last time she failed to beat the later winner of the Melbourne Grand Slam Aryna Sabalenka at the Australian Open, to whom she lost 1::6 and 4::6.

The current 87th player in the world faced a clear favourite in the opening round of the Open 6e Sens Métropole de Lyon event. The world number five Garcia was looking to successfully start her quest for a home title.

The native of Prague did not start well as she lost her first serve. However, in the ensuing opening set she created six break point chances, the last of which she converted to reduce the score to 4::5.

But the effort was in vain. Martincova failed to hold her serve in the next game and allowed her opponent to take the set.

At 1::1 in the second game, the Czech tennis player scored a break, but again did not confirm it. A difficult situation came at the score of 4::5 from her point of view. Garcia created two match points, but Martincova fended them both off with straight points from her serve.

The set then went to a tiebreak. In it, the Frenchwoman had two more match point opportunities and thanks to a double fault by the Czech, she dominated the shortened game 7:4.

Tereza Martincova left the two-hour match as a loser after partial results 4::6 and 6::7. Linda Noskova will defend the Czech colours in the semi-final stage on Wednesday, when she will play against Egypt’s Majar Sharif.

Linda Fruhvirtová had a successful Tuesday in Hua Hin, Thailand. The seventeen-year-old talented player defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6: 3 and 6: 1 and next she will face Slovenian Tamara Zidanšek.

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