Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates) – Beatriz Haddad Maia’s Abu Dhabi WTA 500 debut had a rocky start, but as she made adjustments to her game, she eventually took off in the match and looked for a big comeback against the Czech Marie Bouzkova, who finished with ‘tyre’. She took 2h27 to score the final grade of 4/6, 6/3 and 6/0.

“The first round is always difficult for everyone. I tried to adapt to the conditions. She’s a good player,” commented Bia, who will face the winner of the duel between Canadian champion Bianca Andreescu. ‘US Open in 2019, and the Kazakh Yulia. Putintseva, coming from qual. The left-hander from São Paulo has never faced the Kazakh on the circuit and has a victory and a defeat against the Canadian.

Bia suffered early in the game, winning just one of the first eight points played and had to go from 0-40 in the second game, saving three break points to confirm. However, soon after she earned a break and narrowly missed extending the lead in game five, when Bouzkova saved two more break points.

lucky charm number 3 😅

Beatriz Haddad Maia forces a decision with a little help from the net.#MubadalaAbuDhabiOpen pic.twitter.com/ALh0FFm4Mw

– wta (@WTA) February 7, 2023

It was then the Czechs’ turn to recover, returning the break in the sixth game. Bouzkova still saved another break in the seventh and tenth, she took advantage of the first set point she had, broke Bia’s serve and thus closed the initial set, in which the Brazilian was quite aggressive, but ended up paying with a high number. errors.

Risking a little less, the left-hander from São Paulo saw the tactical change pay off in the second half. After missing a break point in the first game, in the third she earned the break that would put her top of the scoreboard. Bia saved two break points in the sixth and in the ninth he had three more break chances, converting the third to close the set.

In the third and decisive partial, Bia flies away for good and dominates the actions against the Czech, who wins only eight of the 32 disputed points. With a large advantage in the volume of play, the left-hander from São Paulo won 86% of service points and 75% of returns, scored three consecutive breaks and thus made a nice comeback on Bouzkova.