Will the talented Czech write the next chapter of her amazing story? Linda Fruhvirtova opens today in Madrid

The Spanish capital will host the prestigious WTA 1000 tournament from today. The young Czech tennis player dropped out in the first round last year, but a lot has changed in the past 365 days.

And it actually started a month earlier. At the tournament of the same category in Miami, at the age of 16, she made a big surprise. She defeated Montenegro’s Kovinic, Belgium’s Mertens and former world number one Azarenka to record a thunderous success.

Everything takes its time. At the Grand Slams, the next two, it was no mean feat. Fruhvirt didn’t qualify. But by the end of the summer, a very different story of the young Czech began to unfold.

US Open

In the last week of August, the native of Prague passed the qualification at the Flushing Meadows courts relatively calmly and her debut at the Grand Slams awaited her. On 30 August, she took the court number nine against China’s Wang and after a reliable performance (15 unforced errors against 41 errors of her opponent) she recorded her first victory at the highest category tournaments.

Fruhvirt won 6-3, 6-4 and even a smooth defeat by Muguruza in the following round cannot change the pleasant memories of the 2022 US Open.

Chennai

Eleven days later, an even brighter story began to unfold. The Czech lost the opening set to Liang at the tournament in India, but turned the match around and in the following matches against Sweden’s Peterson, Russia’s Grachova and Argentina’s Ukrainian-born Podoroska, she never knew the bitterness of defeat.

In the final match of the tournament she faced the experienced Polish Linett. The opening set was evenly matched, decided by a loss of serve in the ninth game. The Pole won 6-4. The seventeen-year-old Czech was not broken, after all, she values herself especially for being a great fighter. She outplayed her opponent 6-3 in the second set, but the hardest part was to come.

In the deciding set, the Pole started to serve and after confirming the break she was already leading 4-1. In the next game, Linnet was one ball short of a 5-1 lead. It was time to showcase the warrior Linda and she did.

The Czech held her serve and from that moment on she didn’t allow her opponent another game. After almost two and three-quarters hours, she enjoyed her first tournament title and what’s more: she became the youngest tennis player in the WTA Elite 100.

Year 2023

Linda Fruhvirt can only be partially satisfied with this year so far. She made it through to the eighth round at the season-opening major in Australia, but only made the second round four times at smaller events. Now it’s Madrid’s turn. Here’s her chance to celebrate her 18th birthday in style. Plus, she’s got a formidable opponent in the first round.

The American Volynets. She is ranked 103rd, although she has been in the top 100 before. Today’s opponent of Linda Fruhvirtova is actually experiencing a similar year as the Czech starlet. Third round at the Australian Open, plus a semifinal at a smaller tournament in Austin, USA, and not much else. The duel awaits us this evening.

Source:: WTA, Tennismajors