Fifteen-year-old British hopeful Mika Stojsavljevic was denied a first-ever WTA win as she lost a thrilling match against Moyuka Uchijima 6-4 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (8-6) in Tokyo.
Stojsavljevic is the reigning US Open girls champion but was handed a tough draw at the Pan Pacific Open against Japan’s Uchijima, the world No 57 – a whole 576 places higher than her in the WTA rankings.
The teenager, who found herself a break of serve up in all three sets, had to save five match points in total through the first-round contest before finally succumbing to the sixth.
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Stojsavljevic saw off Sonobe Wakana in straight sets to win the girls’ US Open at Flushing Meadows
Three of those match points were saved in the second set as Stojsavljevic battled back to force a decider, taking the tie-break 9-7.
The Briton then raced out of the blocks and into a 5-2 lead in the third set, before she was broken, crucially, when serving for the match, with Uchijima going on to take the deciding tie-break and the match in just under three hours on court.
Had she won, Stojsavljevic would have risen almost 200 places in the WTA rankings and secured a second-round meeting with top seed and Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng.
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Stojsavljevic was in jubilant mood after beating Sonobe Wakana to win the girls’ US Open earlier this year
What’s coming up on Sky Sports Tennis?
- Erste Bank Open, Vienna – ATP 500 (October 21-27)
- Swiss Indoors, Basel – ATP 500 (October 21-27)
- Guangzhou Open, China – WTA 250 (October 21-27)
- Toray Pan Pacific Open Tennis, Tokyo – WTA 500 (October 21-27)
- Hong Kong Tennis Open – WTA 250 (October 28 – November 3)
- Jiangxi Open – WTA 250 (October 28 – November 3)
- Merida Open Akron – WTA 250 (October 28 – November 3)
- Rolex Paris Masters – ATP 1000 (October 28 – November 3)
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