(Photo credit score: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images)
Unseeded Qinwen Zheng of China pulled off a first-round upset, sweeping No. 6 seed Jessica Bouzas Maneiro of Spain 7-5, 6-1 on Monday on the Athens Open.
Zheng, who collected seven aces to zero for Bouzas Maniero, saved 6 of seven break factors and transformed 4 of seven break factors within the one-hour, 49-minute match. After breaking Bouzas Maniero to shut out a hard-fought first set, Zheng broke her opponent twice within the second set and cruised to victory.
In one other upset, unseeded Mai Hontama of Japan upended No. 8 seed Magda Linette of Poland 6-4, 7-5, breaking Linette’s serve 3 times in every set. Other first-round winners included Athens native and No. 4 seed Maria Sakkari, No. 5 seed Sara Bejlek of the Czech Republic, American Alycia Parks, Austria’s Lilli Tagger, Elena Micic of Australia and Great Britain’s Harriet Dart.
UniCredit Iasi Open
No. 2 seed Petra Marcinko of Croatia outlasted Argentine wild card Nadia Podoroska 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 within the first spherical of the clay-court match at Iasi, Romania.
Marcinko saved a formidable 16 of 19 break factors, together with all eight within the decisive third set, whereas changing half of her eight break-point alternatives to keep away from an early upset. Podoroska collected three aces to none by Marcinko, whereas each gamers dedicated eight double faults.
No. 7 seed Anna Bondar of Hungary swept wild card Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain 7-5, 6-4, whereas Armenia’s Alina Charaeva cruised previous Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva of Andorra 6-0, 6-1 and French wild card Clara Burel outlasted fortunate loser Varvara Lepchenko 2-6, 7-5, 6-3.
–Field Level Media