Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo, seeded eighth at the tournament, defeated Slovak Viktória Morvayová 6-0 2-6 7-6(1) in the first round of the WTA 125 event in Jingshan. The win sent her through to the second round. The tournament is being played on hard courts with a prize fund of $115,000, according to api.tennis. Per rank.tennis, Sorribes Tormo is ranked 176th with 423 points.
Sorribes Tormo took the first set 6-0 without dropping a game. In the second, the initiative shifted to Morvayová, who won it 6-2 to level the match. The decisive set went to a tiebreak, in which the Spaniard allowed her opponent just one point.
Three sets and two tiebreaks in a row
This was the second consecutive match for Sorribes Tormo to be decided by a tiebreak in the third set. At the tournament in Guadalajara, she beat Ena Koike 7-5 6-2, then lost to Caroline Dolehide 6-4 3-6 6-7(5). Earlier still, in Barranquilla, the Spaniard fell in the second round to Kaitlin Quevedo 7-5 5-7 1-6. This time, she came out on top in the deciding stretch of a three-set match.
Morvayová arrived in Jingshan after the tournament in Singapore. There she beat Nika Radišić 6-3 6-3, then lost to Talia Gibson 6-7(2) 6-7(1) and to Joanne Garland 4-6 3-6. Her head-to-head record against Sorribes Tormo now stands at 1-0 in the Spaniard's favor.