There was no joy for English duo Maria Tsaptsinos or Emily Bolton at the WTT Contender Novo Mesko in Slovenia as both went out at the first qualifying round in singles and doubles.

The singles defeats were both in deciding fifth sets and, in Tsaptsinos’ case, after she had come back from 2-0 down to world No 350 Petra Petek of Croatia. In the event, her opponent took the decider 11-6.

Bolton led her match 2-1 against Qian Yang of Australia (WR 697) after taking the third 12-10, but her opponent hit back to take the next two games.

In the doubles, it was a four-game defeat to Czech pair Nikita Petrovova & Karolina Mynarova.

Sam Walker is in action in the men’s singles tomorrow, when he faces Eric Glod of Luxembourg in the first qualifying round. Walker is also in the doubles – he and Aleksandr Khanin are seeded into the last 16 and will face an as yet undecided quailfying pair.

Results

Women’s Singles
Qualifying round 1
Qian Yang (AUS) bt Emily Bolton 3-2 (6-11, 11-3, 10-12, 11-5, 11-3)
Petra Petek (CRO) bt Maria Tsaptsinos 3-2 (11-4, 11-7, 9-11, 6-11, 11-6)

Women’s doubles
Qualifying round 1
Nikita Petrovova & Karolina Mynarova bt Maria Tsaptsinos & Emily Bolton 3-1 (11-8, 8-11, 11-7, 11-9)