Cincinnati (USA) – Beatriz Haddad Maia’s partnership with Kazakh Anna Danilina marked an important win in Cincinnati’s WTA 1000 doubles debut. On Wednesday, they beat Australian Samantha Stosur and Taiwan’s Latisha Chan by 6/3 and 7/6 ( 7-5) in 1h31 of match.

Victory from the start guarantees a confrontation in the round of 16 with the Japanese Ena Shibahara or the Chinese Shuai Zhang, seeds 3 of the tournament. Interestingly, Bia and Danilina can defeat the defending tournament champions in back-to-back stages. Last year the title went to Samantha Stosur and Shuai Zhangwinning the final against another Brazilian, Luísa Stefani, who was playing alongside Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski.

Australian Open finalists in January, Bia and Danilina started the week at ninth in the race for a place in the WTA Finals. They have already earned 2,036 points this season. The last of the top 8 are currently the French Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic, with 2,130 points. Victory on debut earns 105 points in the standings, with a chance of 190 points for a place in the quarter-finals.

In the first set, Bia and Danilina often put pressure on their opponents’ serve, especially because of five double faults by Stosur and Chan. The Brazilian and the Kazakhs created five break points and scored two breaks, both escaping when they had serve threatened.

The second half was much more balanced and saw four consecutive breaks. Stosur and Chan were twice in the lead on the scoreboard and couldn’t hold their lead. Bia and Danilina were one game away from victory in matches where they led by 5/4 and 6/5, but the rivals confirmed serve in the moments of greatest pressure.

The second set tie-break started with 2-0 for Bia and Danilina, who gave the round at 3-2, but immediately looked for the tie. Danilina showed good baseline play, especially in the returns where she managed to keep her rivals away from the baseline. Bia won an important point with the second serve to tie the score at 4-4 and also had a great net intervention to reach the match point. The victory was confirmed on the second occasion.