Caroline Garcia suffered an early exit at the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open, losing in straight sets to Lulu Sun, while 17-year-old Wakana Sonobe produced another superb display, defeating Yue Yuan as she progressed to the last 16.
Sonobe’s excellent form continued in the day’s opening match of day three on Stadium Court, as the 17-year-old recorded her third straight-sets victory in as many days, this coming just over one week since she lifted the girls’ singles title at the Australian Open.
Having dispatched Hailey Baptiste and Cristina Bucsa in qualifying, the Japanese youngster faced China’s Yuan in the Round of 32. After taking the first set 6-4, Sonobe trailed 3-2 in the second, before producing a magnificent display of tennis in which she won four straight games, breaking her opponent’s serve twice to claim another hugely impressive 6-4, 6-3 victory.
French star Garcia’s tournament came to a premature conclusion following a disappointing performance against New Zealander Sun, who went into the match having lost her previous seven Main Draw matches. The 23-year-old dominated early on and dropped just a single game on her way to taking the first set.
The second was slightly more evenly matched as Garcia, WTA Finals champion in 2022, sensed the need for an improvement, but Sun was far more assured and never looked in trouble, eventually taking just 75 minutes to seal a 6-1, 6-3 victory, her first since last August.
Ashlyn Krueger came out on top in a highly entertaining all-American contest against McCartney Kessler. Krueger had taken the first set comfortably, it was a far more even battle in the second, which was eventually settled via a tie-break, edged by Kessler.
Krueger recomposed herself in the final set and produced some fantastic tennis to secure a 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 triumph and is now joined in the last 16 by compatriot Katie Volynets, who came from behind to defeat Great Britain’s Sonay Kartal on Court 1.
The 23-year-old won the first set but her opponent, of the same age, fought back brilliantly and progressed to the next round courtesy of a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory.
In the final singles match of the day, Veronika Kudermetova overturned a one-set deficit to beat Liudmila Samsonova 5-7, 6-1, 7-6.
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