Parmentier Weathers Monterrey Storm
MONTERREY, Mexico – No.3 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova has tended to play her best tennis at the Abierto Monterrey Afirme, winning the title three times – most recently in 2013 – but the Russian came up against stiff opposition in qualifier Pauline Parmentier on a stormy Tuesday night, falling, 6-2, 6-2 in the first round.
“I played a really good match,” she said during her on-court interview. “It wasn’t tight at all in the beginning; I played really good with the spin on the forehand and she had a problem with that. I’m really happy to win this match. It wasn’t easy to come back after the rain; I was a bit tight, but I think I made it, so it’s good.”
A former Top 40 player, Parmentier qualified for the Monterrey main draw dropping just one set en route, and roared through the opening exchanges before rain interrupted proceedings – canceling the planned second night match between No.2 seed Caroline Wozniacki and Olga Govortsova.
“I think playing qualifying helped me a lot because I won three matches when it was very hot. Now it was ok, so it was better for me; I had a rest today and it was good.
“But to play three matches before the main draw was really good.”
Serving for the match at 5-1 in the second set, Parmentier couldn’t find a serve on match point and Pavlyuchenkova engineered only her second service break of the match.
“I did a wonderful double fault on match point,” the veteran laughed, “But I said, ‘Ok, it’s still 5-2 for me, so refocus on the game, move my legs and just watch the ball!'”
Up next for Parmentier is Monica Puig, who outsteadied local wildcard Marcela Zacarias, 6-2, 7-5.
It was a solid day all around for Monterrey’s qualifiers, who went 3-0 on Tuesday as Parmentier was joined by Julia Glushko, who eased past Alexandra Dulgheru, 6-1, 6-1, and Nicole Gibba, who upset No.7 seed Danka Kovinic, 7-5, 6-2.
Rio Open winner and wildcard Francesca Schiavone couldn’t maintain her momentum when switching from clay to hardcourts, falling to former Wimbledon semifinalist Kirsten Flipkens, 6-3, 7-6(5). In the first match of the day, 2012 champion Timea Babos ran into nemesis Polona Hercog, who improved their overall head-to-head to 4-0 with a 6-2, 6-2 win over the current 2016 ace leader. American Christina McHale took out Mexico’s Victoria Rodriguez, 6-0, 6-4, while Yanina Wickmayer survived the only three-set match of the day against Johanna Larsson, 6-2, 4-6, 6-1.
