16-year-old advances in Memphis after top seed collapses in brutal heat
There were dramatic scenes at the Memphis Classic as the heat took its toll as Ekaterina Alexandrova collapsed and was forced to retire from her first-round match against 16-year-old Kristina Liutova.
Temperatures reached 34 degrees Celsius with humidity levels extremely high and Alexandrova and WTA Tour debutant Liutova were involved in a marathon opening match at the Leftwich Tennis Centre in Tennessee.
The first set alone took more than an hour to complete as the teenager needed in one hour and 11 minutes to win her first-ever set at the top level before the world No 19 took the second set to take the match to a decider.
But Alexandrova started to struggle late on during the third set and the match was paused for a short break, but she was handed a time violation as she took too long to serve.
The 31-year-old tried to continue, but she collapsed to the ground with the score 7-6 (7-2), 4-6, 5-4 in Liutova’s favour.
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Medics rushed over to her, leading to concerning scenes as her opponent became emotional and started crying while the veteran received treatment.
Although the former world No 10 – who has won five career singles titles – was able to get back on her feet, she forfeited the match, handing Liutova her first-ever singles win on the WTA Tour with the official match time three hours and 11 minutes.
The 16-year-old booked her place in the main draw after winning her qualifying match and faces Australian Maya Joint for a place in the quarter-final.
Liutova started the tournament at No 229 in the official WTA Rankings, but she has jumped 25 places in the Live WTA Rankings to a new career-high of No 204.
The youngster had earned $49,499 in career prize money before the WTA 250 Memphis Open and she is now guaranteed to add another $4,285 to her tally.
If she gets past Joint she will face either sixth seed Caty McNally or fellow qualifier Ma Yexin in the quarter-final, which is worth $7,025 in prize money and 54 ranking points and likely jump into the top 200 of the rankings.
Alexandrova was not the only seed to fall on Tuesday as second seed McCartney Kessler was stunned 6-4, 6-1 by Renata Zarazua, third seed Viktorija Golubic lost 5-7, 6-2, 6-7 (3-7) against Katie Volynets and eighth seed Yuliia Starodubtseva was beaten 4-6, 7-5, 2-6 by wildcard Sloane Stephens.
