The second round of the Orléans Masters is underway today. Katerina Tomalová was buoyed by her round one win and was delighted to be playing today.
The Czech number one women’s singles player faced a young prospect from Denmark, Amalie Schulz, who at the 2018 European Junior Championships in Tallinn, Estonia, picked up a silver medal.
Both Schulz and Tomalová were promoted from qualification and replaced the withdrawn players of Line Kjærsfeldt and second-seed Mia Blichfeldt. There is a Danish theme for Tomalová this week, as she also trains in Denmark full-time at the Centre of Excellence. The currently ranked 105 in the world in the Race to Tokyo is in the hunt for points to move into the qualification spots.
Both games against Schulz followed a similar pattern. Tomalová earned an early head start, Schulz pulled the scoreline back level and occasionally took the lead, only for the Czech’s experience and know-how to put the game to bed. She was pleased with the 21-17, 21-17 win.
-Good day at the office today! This was the match I spent so long preparing and working for. One day it just had to come and for that I was waiting.
Danish theme
In keeping with the theme, today Tomalová faced Line Christopherson, another young Danish talent and the player who defeated Schulz in that European Junior final in 2018. Christopherson has rocketed up the world ranking to 38 and recently had the experience of playing some of the top women’s singles players on the planet, namely Pusarla V. Sindhu and Pornapawee Chochuwong.
Tomalová, who joked on social media that she had booked a flight for today, had no hotel room arranged and only one tournament shirt, embraced the pleasant surprise that she was playing.
-I am glad that I'll be running on court and not sitting on a plane.
In the opening game, a very close battle ensued, however, at 16-15, Christopherson broke away winning 21-16, and continued this rhythm in the second game, winning 21-5.
Christopherson will now face Ira Sharma in the quarterfinal, who gained a surprise win over Bulgaria’s Mariya Mitsova.