Monica Puig had another tough exit from a WTA premier event this season. Her game as a whole did not give her the power necessary to bring down Yulia Putintseva who took the match in straight sets 6-2, 7-5 on Court One at the Italian Open.
The Puerto Rican has won the last two straight against the Kazak but has been in a lack of victories in the last three months. Having played just three games on the clay courts, Puig hasn’t seen much action to press herself deep into tournaments. The 23-year-old found herself quickly out of Madrid last week in a rough three setter against Lauren Davis. With another chance to start fresh and the French Open close approaching, Puig’s need for success had to arise.
She earned an easy triple break to start the match but as soon as she got possession, the 23-year-old double faulted twice followed by an unforced error that in turn produced a break for Putintseva. The 22-year-old consolidated the win with her first service hold that caught Puig in the third. Having trouble with gaining control of her serve, Puig once again dropped under the pressure to give her opponent a 3-1 lead. The confidence continued to build up for the Kazak as she won another game on her service hold. The winning streak for Putintseva was over as Puig won on a great improvement to her serve that had the score cut in half.
It was the last win she would see the Putintseva remained strong and aggressive to push herself to win the last two required games. The seventh was a complete breakdown for Puig who notched her third double fault that easily handed the Kazak the set win in 35 minutes. While she showed great success with an offense that had scoring 79 percent on first serve points even with a dismal second service.
The 22-year-old had nothing to show to start the second set as things got very awkward. The Kazak committed three double faults in the opening game that handed the break to Puig. The Puerto Rican couldn’t counter on the differences of her opponent on serve in the second as her problems continued to rattle her. Like the opening set, the players followed the break of serves prior to Putintseva consolidating the break with a hard-fought win on serve. The gap was opening for the Kazak as she gained another break on Puig to lead 3-1.
The pace began to follow how the first played out as Putintseva had another step forward before Puig could answer. As soon as the sixth was decided, the 22-year-old fired away with another service hold and a chance to move into the second round. Puig was on her last leg and somehow produced another hold against the Kazak to stave off an end to her tournament run. The need for defense against Putintseva was critical in the ninth where she made the first serve returns do work and give her a triple break point. Putintseva was shocked by the result as she was unable to get a point.
The danger was growing for the 22-year-old as she found herself with just a game between her and Puig that would be essential to avoid a deciding third set. She brought everything she had to break down the serve of Puig who struggled but did her best to keep the game alive and capture it by all costs. After three breaks and a downspin from Putintseva the set was dead even sending the two to play the set to its brink. Putintseva was on the mark to stay ahead and did so with an ace that helped her get the 6-5 lead thereby putting Puig back on notice. She had a lot of fight but found herself in a tight spot as the game was forced to deuce where the Kazak gained the advantage to put it away after 1 hour and 40 minutes.
While her second serve didn’t get any better, the young tennis star made a name for herself once again to bring together a positive outing. She’ll go on to face British star Johanna Konta in the second round scheduled for Wednesday.
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