– through to Round-of-16 at Monterrey Open

SACHIA Vickery climbed to 91 in the latest Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings, and she proved that her steady improvement in the sport is no fluke, when she disposed of Irina Falconi in straight sets 6-1, 6-4, to reach the Round-of-16 at the Abierto GNP Seguros tournament in Monterrey, Mexico.

According to reports out of Mexico, Vickery double-faulted seven times to Falconi’s two. However, she overcame that by winning 68 percent of her first serves and 39 percent of her first returns against the 161st-ranked Falconi.

Vickery has now won back-to-back main draw matches at multiple events in the same season for the first time in her career, having opened the 2018 campaign by reaching her first WTA semi-final at Auckland and posting her best win rankings-wise of her career with the defeat of No.28 Agnieszka Radwanska in the quarter-finals.

With four breaks from six looks, Vickery completed her 13th career main draw win on hard-court. She will meet wildcard Ana Sofia Sanchez or qualifier Usue Maitane Arconada who easily won their lone previous clash at Tampico at ITF level in 2017. (Rawle Toney)