World No. 24 Anna Kalinskaya shared insights into her doubles debut with American Iva Jovic at the WTA-1000 tournament in Rome, Italy. The pair advanced to the second round after defeating Eri Hozumi and Fangxian Wu with a score of 5:7, 6:3, 1:0 [10:6].
“My coach arranged the partnership, and I was immediately on board. It was a tough match since I haven’t played doubles in a while, and when I did, I usually dropped out early. Playing with Iva for the first time, we had to find our rhythm. I’m satisfied overall—it wasn’t easy because our opponents are both doubles specialists who quickly seized the initiative. We had to adapt to the doubles game. We’re glad we managed to pull through and will at least play one more match,” Kalinskaya told a Championship correspondent.