Tennis player Elena Malõgina gets first-time win over top-100 player
Estonian tennis player Elena Malõgina has taken the most prestigious win of her career so far, beating world number 98 Oksana Šelehmeteva (neutral flag) in straight sets, 7–6 (5), 7–6 (3).
Malõgina pulled off the feat in round one of the ongoing W75 tournament in Trnava, Slovakia, which Šelehmeteva was top seed at.
Malõgina, currently ranked 455th in the world, had previously beaten another big name, Germany's Mona Barthel, once ranked 23rd in the world, though at the time of their clash she was outside the top 200.
On the day Malõgina started the match very strongly, rushing to a 5:2 lead. In the next game she had two break-point set balls, then two more on her own serve, yet Šelehmeteva pulled through and leveled the score. Suddenly Malõgina found herself trailing 6:5 in games and 40:15 in points.
This time it was the Estonian's turn to show indefatigable resolve, as she battled her way to a tiebreak situation. Even then, after initially going 4:2 down, she pulled back to win 7:5.
Set two was a similar chain of events as Malõgina twice created some headway, first at 2:0 and later at 5:3, but again failed to capitalize on that. The match eventually headed into a second tiebreak situation. This time Malõgina, 25, only went 3:2 down before fighting back to take the set tiebreaker, and with it the match, 7:5.
Malõgina faces 20-year-old Tessa Johanna Brockmann (Germany), ranked 292nd in the world, in round two in Trnava.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Anders Nõmm
