Schivone's nightmare on the tour continues

Francesca Schiavone's nightmare on the tour continues after her three sets defeat to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.Schiavone has now lost in five consecutive first round matches on the tour and last won back to back matches in September 2013. Things looked to be going well for the former Grand Slam champion who raced to a 61 lead. In the second set it was a much closer encounter with both players holding serve till 4-4. Then Pavlyuchenkova seized her opportunity to break Schiavone and eventually take the set. Then it appears that in the final set that Schiavone felled apart as the Russian races to a 5-0 lead. This big lead was just too much for the Russian to lose and she took it 61. Final scoreline was 16 64 61. 

 

The only other main draw match was between Hobart International runner up Klara Zakopalova and wild card Caroline Garcia. Zakopalova eased her way to the second round after a 76 62 win. In the next round she will face 4^th seed Angelique Kerber who she hasn't beat since 2007. The final round of qualification was played today. Making the draw were Lara Arruabarrena (def.Záhlavová-Strýcová 61 75), Johanna Larsson (def Pfizenmaier 75 63), Galina Voskoboeva (def.Plíšková 57 64 76) and Anna-Lena Friedsam (def.Cetkovská 62 62)