Having passed through the qualifying tournament, Fiona Ferro enters the main draw of the WTA 250 in Ostrava. The player from the Alpes-Maritimes easily dispatched the second seed, Dominika Salkova, yesterday, and Laura Pigossi today.
Fiona Ferro is confirming her good form since the start of the year. If we set aside the elimination during the Australian Open qualifiers, the player from Valbonne has been stringing together strong performances. With a record of six wins and three losses, her climb up the rankings should soon begin to take shape.
Following her final defeat last week in Manama, it is in Ostrava, a WTA 250 event, that Fiona Ferro has the opportunity to continue her ascent. Still ranked 369th in the world while awaiting the update of the official rankings expected tomorrow, she now has another opportunity to break into the top 300 definitively.
To achieve this, the Côte d’Azur native went through the qualifying tournament. In the first round, she faced the second seed of the qualifiers, Czech Dominika Salkova (21 years old, ranked 144th in the world). A match dominated comprehensively against a young player competing on home soil but unable to handle the pressure of Fiona Ferro’s returns (6-4/6-4).
In the second round of the qualifiers, she then faced a more experienced player, Brazilian Laura Pigossi (31 years old, ranked 202nd in the world), a former top 100 player who has always struggled to establish herself on the circuit. A clay court specialist, she has never truly shone on fast surfaces. The two players had faced each other twice before this match, with a clear advantage for Fiona Ferro (two wins in straight sets). This afternoon, the outcome was the same. In a one-sided match, the Frenchwoman won easily (6-1/6-1) in just over an hour of play. As the day before, it was the quality of the Frenchwoman’s return that made the difference against a player not known for her service quality.
Fiona Ferro does not yet know her opponent for the first round of the main tournament. Unless there is a last-minute withdrawal, she is expected to face either one of the Fruhvirtova sisters, German Tamara Korpatsch, or Slovakian Rebecca Sramkova. In Ostrava, she will not be the only Frenchwoman competing as Diane Parry will also be present to challenge Océane Dodin in a 100% French confrontation. This match will be the moment of confirmation for the player from Nice, following her quarter-final in Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. We will thus be closely following the journey of the Côte d’Azur players this week.
