TENNIS star Cara Black and New Zealander Marina Erakovic were knocked out in the first round of the $2,37 million Western and Southern Open Premier WTA tournament after losing a tense women’s doubles match in Cincinnati, US, yesterday.
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The pair went down 7-6 (5), 7-6 (6) to German pair of Angelique Kerber and Andrea Petkovic in a match that lasted nearly two hours.
Black and her partner fought hard in both sets, which had to be decided after tie breakers, but still came out second best as they lost the tie breakers 7-5 and 8-6.
The first round exit comes as a huge blow to Black and Erakovic’s preparations for the US Open later this month as it came less than a week after Black and Erakovic lost in the semi-finals in California to miss out on a place in the final.
In Black and Erakovic’s first four tournaments together this year, they made it to three finals and reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon.
While Black’s participation in the tournament came to an end with the loss, her partner Erakovic still had a chance to redeem herself as she was scheduled to meet Czech Republic world number nine Petra Kvitova in a second round singles match last night.
The world number 77, from Auckland, beat Spanish world number 20 Carla Suarez Navarro 6-4, 6-3 in a first-round upset on Monday.
