Fifteen-year-old British hopeful Mika Stojsavljevic was denied a first-time WTA win as she lost a thrilling match 6-4 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (8-6) against Moyuka Uchijima in Tokyo.
Stojsavljevic is the defending US Open Girls champion, but she was handed a tough draw at the Pan Pacific Open against Japan’s Uchijima, ranked world No. 57 – a full 576 places above her in the WTA rankings.
The teenager, who found herself forced to break serve in all three sets, had to save five match points in total in the first-round contest and eventually lost in the sixth seeding.
Three of these match points were saved in the second set as Stojsavljević fought back to take the deciding set and win the tie-break 9–7.
The Briton then came out of the blocks to take a 5–2 lead in the third set, before being broken while serving for the match, with Uchijima taking the decisive tie-break and the match ending shortly after. Done. Three hours on the court.
Had she won, Stojsavljevic would have moved up nearly 200 places in the WTA rankings and ensured a second-round meeting with top seed and Olympic champion Qianwen Zheng.
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Stojsavljevic was in jubilant mood after winning the US Girls Open by defeating Sonobe Wakana earlier this year.
What’s going to be on Sky Sports Tennis?
- Erste Bank Open, Vienna – ATP 500 (21–27 October)
- Swiss Indoors, Basel – ATP 500 (21–27 October)
- Guangzhou Open, China – WTA 250 (21–27 October)
- Toray Pan Pacific Open Tennis, Tokyo – WTA 500 (21–27 October)
- Hong Kong Tennis Open – WTA 250 (28 October – 3 November)
- Jiangxi Open – WTA 250 (28 October – 3 November)
- Merida Open Akron – WTA 250 (28 October – 3 November)
- Rolex Paris Masters – ATP 1000 (28 October – 3 November)
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