Great success was achieved by the best Croatian female tennis player Petra Martić!
Croatian female tennis player Petra Martić (WTA - 51) entered the 3rd round of the WTA tournament in Indian Wells for the first time in her career after advancing in the 2nd round against Czech player Barbora Strycova (WTA - 25) with a score of 7-5, 6-4 after one hour and 55 minutes of play, reports Gol.hr on March 10, 2018.
Martić won the first set where she lost the service at 4-4 but managed to overcome the 31-year-old Czech tennis player. In the 12th game, Martić was 0-40 and after the longest game and two other missed opportunities to win the first leg of the duel, Petra managed to break for the second time in the match.
Martić excellently opened the second set in which she led 2-0, but lost the lead in the next leg. Petra missed a new chance for a break in the eighth game, but for the next, she did not have to wait long. It all began when Strycova served to stay in the match - she decided to defend herself from the attack, but Martić was ready on the net, and her precise diagonal backhand ended the match and led Petra to another win. This was Petra’s third match against Strycova and the first time she was better since the US Open in 2011.
Martić will play against Roland Garros winner, Latvian Jelena Ostapenko on Sunday for the quarterfinals.
Croatia’s best tennis player Marin Čilić, who is 2nd seeded at the ATP tournament Masters 1000 series in Indian Wells, was free in the 1st round of the tournament. On Friday, Čilić learned that he would play in the 2nd round against Hungarian Marton Fucsovic (ATP - 65) who defeated Viktor Troick (ATP - 68) 7-6 (3), 6-1 to reach his first win at the Masters 1000 series. Čilić and Fucsovics will play in the 2nd round in Indian Wells on Sunday, and this will be their second duel. The first was played in the quarterfinals of last year's tournament in Basel, where Čilić won only in a tie-break in the third set.
On Saturday, Borna Ćorić will play his second round match against Spain's Alberto Ramos-Vinolas.
Translated from Gol.hr
