Miami (USA) – Brazilian participation in the doubles bracket of the WTA 1000 in Miami came to an end this Monday, with Ingrid Martins falling in the round of 16. Ingrid and Russian Anna Blinkova were surpassed by Belgian Elise Mertens and Taiwanese Su-Wei Hsieh, leaders of the ranking and main seeds, who scored a double 7/5 in 1h35 of play.
Ingrid and Blinkova managed to get a spot in the bracket at the last minute, and won their debut last Sunday, against the Chinese Xinyu Jiang and Yue Yuan. The result yields 120 WTA points for the partnership. The 27-year-old from Rio de Janeiro and 53rd in the ranking is six places below her career best and managed to win her second game of the season, her first in 1000-level tournaments.
Executioners of Ingrid and Blinkova in the round of 16, Mertens and Hsieh have already won two titles this year, at the Australian Open and also at Indian Wells. They will face North Americans Sofia Kenin and Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the quarterfinals, who defeated Romanian Monica Niculescu and Georgian Oksana Kalashnikova 6/3 and 6/4.
“Today it was decided in detail, but we were prepared for it. We had our opportunities, but at these times we have to make the most of them. We took advantage of some, others we wasted. It’s no wonder they are number 1 in the rankings, we’re going to learn a lot from this game.”
“But it was a good week, the first time playing with Anna. We played a good game and had a very good attitude. That’s what matters most now. I have to keep training hard and prepare myself well for the clay court tour next week.”
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The two sets of this Monday’s match had similar scripts. Mertens and Hsieh broke early in the first half and led 4/2. They allowed a draw in the eighth game, but would break again at the end of the set. The top seeds won 3/1 in the second set and the partial had four consecutive breaks of serve. Twice, Ingrid and Blinkova were looking for a draw, but were unable to get ahead on the scoreboard, allowing their rivals to define the game in two sets.
In addition to Ingrid, Brazil had two more players in the doubles bracket. Both Beatriz Haddad Maia, alongside the American Taylor Townsend, and Luísa Stefani, alongside the Dutch Demi Schuurs, fell on their debut. Bia also played the singles bracket. The 27-year-old from São Paulo and number 13 in the world fell in the third round, surpassed by the British Katie Boulter.
