A new season begins with success for Croatia's male and female tennis stars.
The qualifying matches at the ATP-WTA tournament in Brisbane, the ATP tournaments in Doha and Pune, and the WTA tournaments in Shenzhen and Auckland began a new tennis season which was successfully opened by Croatia’s best female tennis players. Our Croatian representatives achieved three wins and one defeat, reports Slobodna Dalmacija on December 30, 2017.
Zagreb’s Jana Fett played in the 1st round of qualifiers for the WTA tournament in Auckland, defeating Bulgaria's Elitsa Kostovo 6-2, 6-1, while Pula-born Tereza Mrdeža was better than Switzerland’s Viktoria Golubic 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 in sets.
Viktor Galović defeated Argentinian Renza Oliva 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the 1st qualifying round in Brisbane, and Franko Škugor stopped Belarusian Ilja Ivaška 6-3, 6-3 in Pune, India.
The major tournament drawings were made on Saturday, so Croatia’s best male and female tennis players learned the names of their rivals for the beginning of the new season.
Mirjana Lučić-Baroni and Ana Konjuh will participate in the ATP-WTA tournament in Brisbane. Lučić-Baroni will play in the 1st round against Germany's Tatjana Maria and Konjuh will play against Holland’s Kiki Bertens. At the WTA tournament, the Croatian flag will continue to be flown by Ajla Tomljanović, an Australian-Croatian tennis player who will play on her home turf in Brisbane. Tomljanović received an invitation for the tournament and will play against 17-year-old Australian Destanee Aiava.
At the WTA tournament in Auckland, Donna Vekić and Petra Martić are in the lead. Osijek’s Vekić will face Belgian Kirsten Flipkens in the first round, and Split’s Martić will face Czech Markéta Vondroušová.
Marin Čilić is the first seed at the ATP tournament in Pune, India, and is free in the 1st round. In the second round, he will play against the winner of Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena and India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan. Ivo Karlović was supposed to play in India, but on Friday canceled his appearance.
Translated from Slobodna Dalmacija
