WTA Tashkent Open: Uzbekistan's Nigina Abduraimova upsets Lara Arruabarrena
Tuesday 9 September 2014 21:53, UK
Uzbekistan's Nigina Abduraimova sealed her first WTA victory in five years as she upset fourth-seeded Lara Arruabarrena to advance to the second round of the Tashkent Open.
Home favourite Abduraimova defeated the world No 72 from Spain 7-5 6-4 for only the second Tour victory of her career.
The 189th-ranked Abduraimova had not won a tour-level match since 2009, although she was playing a large majority of her matches on the ITF circuit.
The 20-year-old was handed a wild-card entry in Tashkent and broke her opponent twice in each set to cause an upset and reach the next round.
Second-seeded Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania advanced easily by beating Ukrainian player Kateryna Kozlova 6-3 6-1, while Italian No 3 Karin Knapp ousted Turkey's Cagla Buyukakcay 6-2 7-6 (7-3).
Fifth-seeded Donna Vekic of Croatia and No 6 Misaki Doi of Japan also advanced in straight sets.
Ksenia Pervak of Russia caused the only other upset, beating seventh-seeded Anna-Lena Friedsam of Germany 7-6 (7-4) 6-0.
