Anna-Lena Friedsam of Germany, seeded 24th in qualifying, defeated Finland's Anastasia Kulikova in the first round of qualifying at the WTA 1000 tournament in Beijing. The match finished 6-4, 7-6(7) in the German's favor, sending her through to the next round of qualifying. The tournament is played on hardcourt and has a prize fund of $9.4 million.
Friedsam took the first set 6-4. In the second set the two players stayed neck and neck all the way to a tiebreak. Kulikova scored seven points in it, but that was not enough to force a deciding third set. Friedsam closed out the match in straight sets.
A second win in a short span
According to api.tennis, the two players have met twice, with Friedsam winning both encounters. Shortly before Beijing, they faced off in the second round in Singapore, where the German won 6-4, 6-3. Kulikova had reached that match after beating Jiaqi Wang 6-4, 7-5. The Beijing clash proved tighter, with the second set going all the way to a tiebreak.
Friedsam is ranked 239th with 313 points. Kulikova sits at 308th with 221 points.