Italian Camila Giorgi’s hopes of winning the 2016 Hobart International are still alive despite an inconsistent first round performance.
Giorgi started strongly against Kazahkstan’s Zarina Diyas in the final centre court match of the tournament’s opening day.
The second seed took the first set 6-4, but then her game quickly unraveled. Diyas took advantage of Giorgi’s rising unforced errors, quickly building a 5-0 lead. Giorgi eventually held serve in the sixth game, but Diyas leveled the match by taking the set 6-1.
An on-court visit from her father in the break helped Giorgi refocus. She won the opening seven points of the final set, as she raced to a 2-0 lead.
Diyas, a quarterfinalist at the Hobart International in 2015, quickly broke back but was struggling to handle Giorgi’s power-hitting. The world No.35 tore through the final set to take it 6-1.
“It was a nice match. The first set and third set I play good,” Giorgi said.
She explained too many errors cost her in the second set, but was pleased to find her range late in the match. She also listed her movement as a positive.
The world No.35 is now the highest-ranked player in the tournament after the withdrawal of American Sloane Stephens, but claimed she was not feeling any extra pressure.
“I just focus on the match, nothing else,” she said.
Giorgi next faces the winner of the round one clash between Japan’s Nao Hibino and lucky loser Pauline Parmentier of France.
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