​Heather Watson brought the surprise of the day at the WTA in Abu Dhabi, the athlete from Great Britain beat Veronika Kudermetova, the ninth favorite of the WTA 500 competition.

Veronika KudermetovaPhoto: Laurent Lairys / Panoramic / Profimedia

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Veronika Kudermetova was knocked out in the first round of the WTA in Abu Dhabi by Heather Watson

The match, which lasted an hour and 45 minutes, was won by Watson in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5.

Ranked 16th in the world, the Russian was far from the level she would like to be at work, Kudermetova lost three games during the match in which she started.

In the round of 16 in Abu Dhabi, Heather Watson (ranked 156 in the world) will meet Cristina Bucha (Spain – a lucky loser, ranked 74 in the world).

On Tuesday, they played at the WTA in Abu Dhabi

Danielle Collins – Naomi Osaka 7-5, 6-0

Christina Buksa – Wang Sinyu 5-7, 6-0, 6-3

Sarah Sorribes – Linda Noskova 6-3, 3-6, 6-3

Magda Lynette – Alexandra Iala 7-6(4), 6-1

Heather Watson – Veronika Kudermetova (9) 6-3, 7-5

Know:

  • We will remind, in the main singles draw there is a representative of Romania: Sorana Kirstya. Our athlete (ranked 26th in the world) beat Maria Sakkari (the third favorite in the race) in the eighth place. The match will take place on Wednesday at around 11:00 and can be watched live on Digisport channels.

The Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open takes place from February 5 to 11 on hard, is part of the WTA 500 category, has a total prize pool of $922,573, and the title champion is Belinda Bencic (2023).

The main favorites from Abu Dhabi are Olena Rybakina (1), Ons Jaber (2), Maria Sakkari (3) and Barbora Krejchikova.