Half success rate of Czech women. Fruhvirtova quits after the fight, Noskova’s ride continues!

The last Czech representatives at the WTA concurrent tournaments have had their second performances. The journey through the tournament in Hua Hin, Thailand, ended for Linda Fruhvirtova after a three-hour battle with Slovenia’s Zidansekova. Linda Noskova, on the other hand, continues to progress through the spider of the event in Lyon, France, without losing a set.

The season has started fantastically for both young rising stars. Fruhvirt reached the eighth round of the Australian Open, while Noskova made her debut in the WTA finals. Both of these feats pushed the young tennis players beyond the top 50 of the women’s rankings. With the absence of most of the top players in tennis, this week opened up the chance for more success.

Fruhvirt leaves Thailand

The tournament’s No. 8 seed in Hua Hin, Linda Fruhvirt started her run in style. In the first round, she allowed the returning Mattek-Sands, coming back from injury, just four games to advance to the next stage of the tournament in an hour.

In the second round, the troublesome Slovenian Tamara Zidanšek awaited her. The current 132nd player in the WTA rankings already has a French Open semi-final appearance to her credit. So it was clear that Fruhvirt had a challenge ahead of her.

The first half of the match did not go well at all for the Czech. After losing the first set 3:6, she was already down 1:4 in the second and everything seemed to be decided.

However, the native of Prague finally fought back and turned the set on its head with five games in a row, 6:4. In the final game, Fruhvirtova may have run out of not only physical but also mental strength and after practically three hours of fighting she bid farewell to the tournament with the result 3::6, 6::4, 4::6.

Despite the elimination, Linda Fruhvirt should move into the top 50 for the first time in the new edition of the rankings.

Linda Noskova’s run continues

Linda Noskova had to start her journey through the indoor tournament in Lyon already in qualification. The native of Vsetín handled both qualifying opponents with grace. She managed both duels without losing a set and could look forward to the main competition.

Even the first round was a clear affair as Noskova got past former world number one from Spain, Garbiñe Muguruza after a 6:1, 6:4 result.

In her second appearance, she faced the sixth seed, Egypt’s Mayar Sherif. The clash between the two neighbours in the rankings should have offered an even show, but the opposite was true.

Noskova again entered the match fantastically. She immediately took her opponent’s serve in the fourth game and after another break at the end she went up 6: 3. With her hard play from the baseline the Czech continued to dictate the pace of the game and it paid off.

In the end, the second set was even clearer than the first set. After 69 minutes and without losing a single serve, Linda Noskova ended the match on serve again and after winning 6::3, 6::2 she is looking forward to the quarterfinals. In Friday’s program she will play against unseeded Colombian Camila Osorio.

Whatever the outcome of this match, Linda Noskova will also jump into the top 50 for the first time in the rankings, currently one place ahead of Fruhvirt.

Source