Viktoria Hruncakova recovered from losing the opening set to beat Erika Andreeva 6-7, 6-4, 6-4 at the WTA 125K in Caldas da Rainha. She was the better returner over the distance, converting six breaks to Andreeva's four and saving six of the ten break points she faced.
The first set was traded blow for blow, with breaks at 1-0 and 3-2 for Andreeva and at 2-2 and 4-4 for Hruncakova before Andreeva took the tiebreak. In the second, Hruncakova broke immediately at 0-1, was pegged back at 1-1, then broke again at 3-4 to level the match. The decider followed the same pattern: Hruncakova broke at 1-2, Andreeva hit back at 3-3, and Hruncakova broke straight away at 3-4 to serve it out.
The margin was thin everywhere: Andreeva actually won more points overall, 99 to 94, and won 44 return points to Hruncakova's 36. But Hruncakova landed 77% of first serves to 73% and hit six aces to two, and that extra hold-and-break in each of the last two sets was the difference despite her six double faults.