Six losses, then the spark
Yuliia Starodubtseva arrived in Monterrey on a run of six straight defeats. She is leaving with a quarter-final spot. The 26-year-old Ukrainian beat seventh seed Janice Tjen 6-4, 6-3 in the second round of the Abierto GNP Seguros, overnight Tuesday into Wednesday.
The numbers tell the story: 5-0 in aces, and four breaks converted from five chances. Against an Indonesian player who had spent the summer climbing, that kind of efficiency was enough.
The run leading into this result shows just how badly she needed it. Since beating Nottingham first-round winner in June, Starodubtseva had crashed out in the first round of five straight events. Her win over Austrian Lilli Tagger in the opening round in Mexico snapped that ugly streak.
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The Charleston reminder
This Mexican run takes the Ukrainian back to the best spell of her career. In April, she reached the first WTA final of her life in Charleston, losing that day to Jessica Pegula. Four months later, the ranking points and the confidence had all but vanished.
A French player joins her in the last eight. Diane Parry booked her place by beating Ukrainian Oleksandra Oliynykova 6-4, 7-6 (3). One final second-round match was still due to be played on Tuesday night, between Taiwanese qualifier En-Shuo Liang and Czech Nikola Bartunkova.
A draw that is opening up
In round one, eighth seed Cristina Bucsa of Spain, Hungary’s Panna Udvardy, Uzbekistan’s Maria Timofeeva and Czech Darja Vidmanova all came through in straight sets.
With Tjen out, the lower half of the draw has lost one of its main threats. For Starodubtseva, the chance is real: she has not reached a WTA quarter-final since Charleston.
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