Lucic-Baroni battles in New Haven, Cornet cruises

Croatian veteran Mirjana Lucic-Baroni put her injury woes behind her against Anett Kontaveit, while Alize Cornet won 6-0, 6-0 in New Haven.

Published : Aug 21, 2017 09:26 IST

Mirjana Lucic-Baroni dug deep in her first-round clash at the Connecticut Open, while Alize Cornet handed a double bagel to Yulia Putintseva.

Struggling with a shoulder injury in recent months, Lucic-Baroni battled past Anett Kontaveit 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3 in New Haven on Sunday.

Lucic-Baroni suffered first-round exits in Toronto and Cincinnati but the 2017 Australian Open semifinalist finally had something to cheer about against the world number 28 at the WTA Premier tournament.

"Really tough match, really tough first round," said Croatia's Lucic-Baroni, who will face either Katerina Siniakova or Peng Shuai in the next round. "I think she's playing the best she's played.

"It was a bit up and down, I was getting a bit frustrated with myself not being able to keep the one level the whole time but she picked up and played better so I was really happy overall that I was able to lift the level at the end to get the win.

"It hasn't been a secret that I've been struggling with my shoulder a lot and haven't been able to play. I know I'm playing good, I know I'm fit, I'm strong but it's difficult when your body's not letting you do what you want to do.

"Lucky I'm tough, I'm strong, I'm stubborn. It's been a couple of months but I got my win and now it's like I can relax, it's good."

It was far more straightforward for Frenchwoman Cornet, who blitzed Putintseva 6-0 6-0.

Cornet claimed six breaks of serve to dismantle the Kazakh in just 60 minutes.

Up next for Cornet in the second round is 2014 Australian Open runner-up Dominika Cibulkova.

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