Lilli Tagger fumbles US Open dress rehearsal
The 18-year-old Tyrolean exits the WTA 500 in Monterrey in the first round.
The last tournament before the US Open, starting next week, ends for Lilli Tagger with a first-round defeat.
The 18-year-old from Lienz fails in her opening match at the WTA 500 hardcourt tournament in Monterrey: Tagger loses to Yuliia Starodubtseva in 1 hour and 42 minutes with a score of 3:6, 4:6.
In the first set, the Austrian lost her serve twice. In the second set, Tagger started ideally with an early break to go 1:0 up, but subsequently was broken three times. The final break also simultaneously led to the loss of the match.
Two Consecutive First-Round Exits
With her first tournament victory on the WTA Tour, at the end of July in Prague, Tagger fought her way into the top 50 of the WTA world rankings for the first time. Since then, however, little has gone her way.
At the WTA 1000 in Cincinnati, she successfully navigated qualification but failed in the first round of the main draw. Now, in Monterrey, she suffers another first-round defeat.
It's not the best preparation for the US Open, starting on August 31st, where the 18-year-old will participate for the first time this year. In the live world rankings, Tagger provisionally remains at rank 48.
