After the Australian Open, some world tennis leaders took a break from their performances to prepare, in particular, for the representative “thousandth tournament” in Doha. However, many Russians chose to maintain their gaming tone and this week took part in tournaments in Linz and Hua Hin. Both ended positively for domestic athletes.
Thus, Diana Schneider won a trophy for the first time in her career at competitions under the auspices of the WTA. The 19-year-old tennis player has long attracted attention with her good results. Last September, she reached the final for the first time in Ningbo, China, but in the decisive match she could not cope with Tunisia's Ons Jabeur (1:6, 2:6). In addition, she was in the top four twice: in Nanchang and Hamburg.
The current season before the trip to Thailand was not going well for the Russian. In Brisbane she lost at the start to Mirra Andreeva, and at the Grand Slam tournament in Melbourne in the first round she lost to the Italian Yasmina Paolini. However, the black streak ended for the girl in Hua Hin.
She performed great all week. Already at the very beginning of the competition, the girl knocked out the first seeded Magda Linette from the fight for the trophy. Moreover, in the third set she simply defeated the 22nd racket of the world, winning with a score of 6:1. Schneider also had no problems in her confrontation with Paola Badosa. The Spaniard cannot heal her back, because of which she missed almost the entire last season. And in the match with Diana, she decided to play in the second game. Later, on social networks, the lover of Stefanos Tsitsipas reassured her fans and promised to return to the court as soon as possible.
In the third round, Schneider did not notice resistance from the 137th number in the WTA ranking Dalma Galfi, giving only three games to her opponent, and then the Russian had to play with two representatives of China: Xinyu Wang and Zhu Lin. Both athletes are of approximately the same level, they are in the top 50, but have never been in the top thirty in their careers.
The semi-final match with the younger, 22-year-old Wang turned out to be stubborn only in the end. The tennis player easily took the first set - 6:2, and in the second she allowed her opponent to believe in her strength: the Chinese made a break and led 3:1. However, Diana managed to restore equality and even at 5:4 she earned a match point in her favor, but did not convert it. As a result, the strongest was determined in a tiebreaker, in which Schneider still put the squeeze on her opponent - 7:5.
The domestic athlete already met with 30-year-old Lin last year and won quite easily, even after hanging up the steering wheel. However, the excitement of this being the second final of Schneider's career still took its toll. In the first game she led 3:0, but at the same time saved herself from a triple break point, and then almost lost her entire advantage.
With the score 4:2, the Chinese woman took a point at the reception. Fortunately, Diana re-entered the game and immediately took her opponent’s serve, and then calmly brought the matter to 6:3.
In the middle of the second set, it seemed that Diana was a little tired. She began to make a lot of mistakes: 11 unforced ones versus Zhu Lin’s six. As a result, the Russian gave up four games in a row and lost 2:6. Moreover, the girl gave her last serve to zero.
All this looked very alarming before the third game. But Diana somehow managed to reboot during the break. And she came out as determined to win as she was at the beginning of the match. On her serve she lost only four points, but on her return she acted very aggressively and ultimately allowed her opponent to take only one of her own games - 6:1. The first thing the Russian woman did immediately after the meeting was call her mother.
“Parents are of great importance in the preparation of tennis players. They must be given their due, and the fact that Diana called her mother first speaks volumes about her human qualities and civic position. I am sure that she will have new results and some more,” noted Honored Trainer of the Russian Federation Alexander Kalivod in an interview with RT.
Following the results of the tournament in Thailand, Schneider will rise from 108th place in the WTA rankings to 73rd and will be very close to the best result in his career - 60th position. At the same time, according to Olympic doubles champion Elena Vesnina, Diana can now set herself more serious goals at tournaments.
“Congratulations to Diana on her first professional adult title, this is a very big success and a great start to the year for her. It is clear that Schneider continues to progress and improve, this is very important, because when you have your first WTA title under your belt, you can set goals for yourself to win titles at tournaments of a higher category. Therefore, Diana is a great fellow and such a victory is very valuable and important for her, especially now,” Vesnina told RT.
Alas, Ekaterina Alexandrova, who showed up for a more prestigious tournament in Linz, was unable to support her compatriot. The athlete performed unsuccessfully at the Australian Open, losing in the first round to German Laura Siegemund, with whom Vera Zvonareva worked wonders in doubles last year. However, in Austria, she managed to redeem herself and the fans a little, defeating Anastasia Potapova and Donna Vekic on the way to the final. The match with the Croatian turned out to be especially stubborn. The 21st racket of the world gave away the first game, and was able to take the second and third in tiebreaks. Moreover, at the last one she lost 1:5.
For the title, Alexandrova had to fight with the tournament's first seed, Elena Ostapenko, who looked great on the court this year and had already won the trophy in Adelaide, breaking the resistance of Daria Kasatkina. At that tournament, the Latvian also defeated Alexandrova.
Catherine failed to take revenge for her recent defeat. Ostapenko acted too powerfully and actively that day. Thus, the Latvian representative had an excellent serve: in the first set, she won 92% of the points with the first ball. In addition, she took her opponent deeply at her feet and then immediately launched a counterattack, driving her opponent into the corners. Alexandrova could not do anything about it and gave away the opening game - 2:6, without earning a single break point.
The second followed approximately the same scenario. The domestic athlete tried to force a fight, but made a lot of mistakes in her rallies. Perhaps she did not have time to recover from the exhausting confrontation with Vekic, which lasted more than three hours the day before. Ekaterina tried and even earned a break point in the third game, but could not convert it, and then saved herself from two match points, but Alena still took advantage of the third - 6:3 and won her second trophy of the season and the eighth in her career.
Despite the defeat in the final, Alexandrova at the end of the tournament will become the fourth Russian woman in the top 20 of the world ranking, taking 19th place. Slightly above her will be Daria Kasatkina (14), Lyudmila Samsonova (15) and Veronika Kudermetova (16).