“Pavlyuchenkova triumphs in first WTA win since January 2022 at Madrid Open”

Pavlyuchenkova wins WTA match for the first time since January 2022

The former first racket of Russia in the first round of the tournament in Madrid beat the representative of Andorra Victoria Jimenez-Kasintseva. Her next opponent will be compatriot Daria Kasatkina

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Russian tennis player Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova reached the second round of the WTA tournament in Madrid.

In the first match, the Russian woman defeated the representative of Andorra Victoria Jimenez-Kasintseva, the 175th racket of the world, with a score of 6:1, 6:7 (5:7), 7:6 (9:7).

Jimenez-Kasintseva is 17 years old and is a former world number one junior. Her mother is Russian, her father is a former professional tennis player from Andorra.

The next opponent of Pavlyuchenkova will be compatriot Daria Kasatkina, seeded at the tournament under the eighth number.

31-year-old Pavlyuchenkova is now ranked 599th in the world rankings. This is her first WTA win since January 2022, when she reached the third round at the Australian Open.

After that tournament, due to problems with her knee, she did not play for several months, tried to return to the court in April, but ended up finishing the season ahead of schedule. This year, Pavlyuchenkova lost in the first round of the Australian Open and several other tournaments, but in March and April she won several matches at the ITF tournaments.

Pavlyuchenkova is a former world No. 11, Tokyo Olympic champion in mixed doubles. In 2021, the Russian woman reached the final of Roland Garros.

In other matches of the first round in Madrid, Russian Anna Kalinskaya defeated Czech Brenda Frukhvirtova (2:6, 6:4, 6:4), Anna Blinkova lost to Spaniard Nuria Parrizas-Diaz (3:6, 0:6), and Varvara Gracheva – Chinese Xiyu Wang (7:6 (7:2), 3:6, 4:6). The next opponent of Kalinskaya will be the representative of Kazakhstan Elena Rybakina.

The tournament in Madrid, which belongs to the WTA-1000 category, will end on May 6. The prize fund of the competition is €7.7 million.