© Mallorca Open
© Mallorca Open
Mallorca comeback for Garcia
A difficult first round for the French no. 6 seed at Mallorca Open
Santa Ponsa Tennis Club opened their new grass courts near Calvia at the end of May ready for the inaugural Mallorca Open which takes place this week, 14th to 21st June 2016.
Caroline Garcia of France, the only seeded player in action, defeated Carina Witthoeft of Germany 7-5, 6-4. After a slow start where Witthoeft raced into a 3-0 first set lead, Garcia came back hard to take the win and her place in the second round of the tournament.
"[Witthoeft] started well, she was 5-2 up," Garcia said. "I couldn't hit the ball properly so I just had to slow down and give myself a little bit more time. Then it got better and better, doing less mistakes, making the comeback.
"It's good to always fight and stay positive and come back with matches like this - it's good for confidence."
The novelty of this new grass court tournament in Mallorca drove former top-10 player Daniela Hantuchova to begin her 18th grass-court season on tour at the Mallorca Open, where she won her opening match on Monday. Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia and Mariana Duque-Marino of Colombia were also first-round winners.
On court today (Tuesday), No.1 seed Garbiñe Muguruza will play her first match on grass in her home country, along with her fellow top seeds Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic and Kristina Mladenovic.
