Monica Puig advanced to the second round with an improvement of performance while her opponent had to drop out of the Volvo Car Open Monday. Katerina Siniakova found that her back pains were too much to maintain the strength necessary to play the distance retiring from play at the Miami Open. Puig took her place into the second round in a 4-6, 6-2, 4-1 score at the Volvo Car Stadium at the Family Circle Tennis Center.
The first tournament of the clay court season has the Olympic gold medalist looking for another strong run on the surface against the 16th seed. Last year, Puig went 12-6 which was a tremendous improvement from 2015. Siniakova went an impressive 19-7 making it to the finals at Bastad where she ended a six game match winning streak. This was her first time making the main draw and carrying a seed gave her a slight advantage to put Puig on notice to step up her game. The 23 year old made her fourth appearance hoping to advance beyond the second round.
She came out with hard shots in the rallies but the Czech’s positioning put her in a good spot to make solid returns back across to Puig. The opening game went to deuce which the Puerto Rican was unable to gain leverage on serve handing the break to Siniakova. Unforced errors on the 23 year old gave her a chance at a love service but the fight came around just in time to threaten. The 16th seed brought it to an abrupt halt snapping the break opportunity while adding to her lead.
Puig knew that producing a victory on serve had to come in or face an uphill battle on overcoming the run that Siniakova had already. She maintained her win avoiding deuce but her returns were still a problem. She had only managed to hit back three of her last ten handing the Czech star another win while avoiding the break. Puig still had her way of getting through her service hold but the lead was still in the hands of the Czech who showed signs of concern in her game.
After Puig took the seventh game, Siniakova took a lengthy medical timeout to have the trainer massage her lower back which seemed to be bothering her. While she was being tended to, Puig’s coach Juan Todero came out to have a chat tell his girl to stay tight and play the remainder of the set out while she carried some consistency on the serve. She made it count in the ninth gaining another game that threatened the 23 year old to break on serve. She didn’t as Puig’s unforced errors helped her stay out front and win the opening set after 53 minutes despite her pains still a problem
It played a role in the second set as Puig found it easier to deal with the opposition not at 100 percent. The pains made it difficult for Siniakova to answer everything the Puerto Rican brought to the table enabling a 3-0 lead from the start. The 23 year old Czech managed to etch out a victory on serve but getting ahead of Puig was clearly going to be an issue. With that and the high winds picking up, it was a wonder whether she could find the energy to continue. Puig was up 4-1 and yet the sixth went into action with the look of concern on her face. She continued play with the notion of her abilities that gave her the win.
As the seventh got underway, the pace returned in favor of Puig who ran for the finish line in the second taking a 6-2 victory that set up the pivotal third set. The back pains that Siniakova was facing were of great concern to many who were watching. She went into the third set with every hope to playing but right from the start, it was the Olympic gold medalist who conducted wins to her name. She coasted through games like she didn’t have any competition in front of her.
Siniakova managed to get one game under her belt but after the fifth game was completed, the 23 year old couldn’t continue and called for her retirement of the match that concluded the first round in two hours and one minute. Puig’s improvement of her offense throughout the match allowed her to prepare for her second-round match that would take place against the winner between Daria Kasatkina and Danka Kovnic taking place Wednesday.
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