Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva advances to 2nd round of Toray Pan Pacific Open
Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva has advanced to the second round of the WTA 500 tournament in Tokyo, Japan, after defeating Greece's Maria Sakkari, Qazinform News Agency reports, citing the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation.
Ranked world No. 67, Putintseva earned her place in the main draw through qualifying before facing World No. 30 Sakkari in the opening round.
The closely contested match lasted two hours and twenty-eight minutes. Putintseva took the opening set 6-4 but lost the second 3-6. She then regained control in the deciding set, cruising to a 6-1 victory.
During the match, Putintseva recorded two aces, committed no double faults, and converted seven of her 16 break-point opportunities.
Putintseva will next face fellow Kazakhstani and world No. 1 Elena Rybakina in an all-Kazakh second-round clash. As the tournament's top seed, Rybakina received a first-round bye and will make her Tokyo debut against Putintseva.
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina is just one victory away from securing the yearend world No. 1 ranking for the first time in her career.