The Luxembourg number 1 faced Denisa Allertova from the Czech Republic, but it was not the first time the two opponents had met. The 33 year old Luxembourger won 7:6 and 6:3 in their last encounter, in Nuremberg in 2018, and she holds a higher position in the world rankings. Minella therefore went into the match as favourite.
Minella played a good first set, despite issues with the precision of her shots and a little less aggression than usual, winning 7:6.
In the second set both players seemed very evenly matched, although Allertova was prone to errors. Minella profited from the errors in due course but was forced to take a break for medical reasons when scores were tied.
By the end, it was the Czech who emerged victorious with a score of 6:7.
Allertova took the lead immediately in the third set, although Minella fought back to keep the game balanced.
Allertova’s nerves won out in the crucial tie-break and she took the third set 6:7, winning the game.
FOTOGALERIE: Andréck and Roland Miny of pressphoto.rtl.luFOTOGALERIE: Andréck and Roland Miny of pressphoto.rtl.lu
Qualification:
Monday saw the final qualification games, with former winner Monica Niculescu, young Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, Chloe Paquet and Antonia Lottner progressing to the next round. Ysaline Bonaventure was also able to grab a spot in the main tournament as a lucky loser.
1st round:
Viktoria Kuzmova squeezed past Katie Volnyets with 6:7, 7:6 and 6:1, Russian Margarita Gasparyan beat Jil Teichmann soundly with 2:6, 7:6 a 6:3 and Tatjana Maria eliminated Shelby Rogers with ☺6:3, 1:6 a 6:4.
