Top seed Olga Govortsova has crashed out in the first round of qualifying at the Brisbane International, falling to 20-year-old Russian Anastasia Pivovarova.
Pivovarova went on the attack from the outset breaking the Belarussian early in both sets on the back of some heavy hitting before serving out an impressive 6-4 7-5 victory after an hour and 41 minutes.
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It was a welcome return for the promising Muscovite having battled abdominal and back injuries for much of the past two years and a broken wrist.
“I’m just really happy to be back winning again after missing so much time injured,” Pivovarova said.
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The Russian served strongly and saved eight of 11 break points, frustrating Govortsova with her flat backhand.
She was realistic, however, when assessing her form coming into the Australian summer, with match play clearly her priority.
“I don’t want to set goals right now, it’s about winning matches for me and hopefully no more injuries,” she said.
For 75th-ranked Govortsova, 10 double faults proved costly, with her final one handing Pivovarova the break to serve out the match.
In other early matches, Czech Lucie Hradecka avenged a straight-sets loss from three years ago to down Croatian Petra Martic 6-4 6-4, while Australia’s Tammi Patterson fell to Slovenia’s Masa Zec Peskiric 6-0 7-6(2), eighth seed Andrea Hlavackova was too strong for Anastasiya Yakimova.