UPDATE 6pm: Evergreen veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm used a mixture of guile and composure to successfully progress to the second round of Brisbane International qualifying in straight sets on Friday.
The 44-year-old Japanese beat Australian Arina Rodionova 6-3 6-3 in testing conditions in just over 1h and 20mins.
Date-Krumm, who hit a career high of world No.4 in 1995, said a week’s preparation on the Gold Coast helped her acclimatise to the Queensland humidity.
“I was already a bit used (to the conditions) but it was very humid and pretty difficult to concentrate,” she said.
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Date-Krumm remained steadfast and dogged on crucial points, while a fiery Rodionova was often her own worst enemy, overcooking a number of groundstrokes throughout the match.
Date-Krumm skipped out to a 3-0 lead in the first set, before consolidating on serve to take it 6-3.
She had a similarly enthusiastic start to the second, breaking in the opening game.
However, when serving for the match with new balls at 5-2, Rodionova rallied and saved two match points before breaking back.
It looked as though the momentum had changed, but the swing proved only temporary.
A stellar forehand passing shot set up match point for Date-Krumm in the next game before a Rodionova error surrendered the match.
Date-Krumm now meets Elizaveta Kulichkova in round two of qualifying after the Russian toppled Australian wildcard Lizette Cabrera in straight sets.
“So far, it’s been so good… I just hope it keeps going,” she said.
Earlier, Australia’s Daria Gavrilova was the first woman to progress to the second round of qualifying after chalking up a straight-sets win.
The 20-year-old, who recently claimed the Australian Open Wildcard Playoff in Melbourne, toppled the seventh-seeded Danka Kovinic 7-6(7) 6-3.
Gavrilova, ranked 124 places below the 109th ranked Kovinic, stood two points from conceding the first set but was able to force a tiebreak.
She brought up set point at 6-5 in the tiebreak with an ace, only for Kovinic to fight back and bring up a set point of her own.
A loose forehand on a short ball handed Gavrilova the first set 7-6.
She then went on to take the second in more convincing fashion, 6-3.
Gavrilova will play former world No.16 Virginia Razzano in the next round of qualifying, after the Frenchwoman held off Russian Alexandra Panova 7-6(6) 6-4.
Top seed Yaroslava Shvedova overcame a first-set struggle to move past Argentina’s Paula Ormaechea 7-6(3) 6-2.
In an all-Australian battle, 32-year-old Anastasia Rodionova withstood a spirited comeback from wildcard Storm Sanders to prevail 6-3 2-6 6-4.
Sanders sent down her 12th double fault on match point in an unfortunate end to the 2h 08min struggle.
Elsewhere, Anastasia Rodionova’s doubles partner, Russian Alla Kudryavtseva downed Frenchwoman Alize Lim 6-4 7-5, Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko, a 2013 Brisbane semifinalist, saw off German Tatjana Maria 7-6(4) 6-4; while Tsurenko’s countrywoman Maryna Aanevska prevailed in a nail-biter 4-6 6-2 7-6(4) over Australian Olivia Rogowska.
It was a bad day for the home wildcards. Naiktha Bains was unable to build on her recent run to the Australian Open Wildcard Playoff semifinals, falling to Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski 7-6(6) 6-3, Abbie Myers went out to Poland’s Paula Kania in three sets.
American seeds Madison Brengle (No.4) and Irina Falconi (No.8) both posted opening victories; Brengle digging deep to get past Taiwain’s Su-Wei Hsieh 6-2 4-6 6-3 and Falconi easing through against Russian Evgeniya Rodina 6-1 6-3.
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