(Photo credit score: Mike Frey-Imagn Images)
Fifth-seeded Liudmila Samsonova and sixth-seeded Leylah Fernandez each superior in straight units within the opening spherical of the Abu Dhabi Open, performed on the out of doors laborious courts within the United Arab Emirates.
Samsonova, from Russia, defeated Sofia Kenin, 6-4, 6-0, whereas the Canadian native Fernandez knocked off Chloe Paquet of France, 6-0, 6-3.
The first 4 video games of the Samsonova-Kenin match all featured breaks of serve, earlier than each gamers steadied. Kenin had two break probabilities at 4-4, however couldn’t convert, whereas Samsonova got here by means of at 30-40 to win the primary set. She cruised in 26 minutes, successful 26 of 35 factors within the second set.
Fernandez captured her match in 65 minutes, successful 54 of 80 factors (67.5%) contested.
Americans gained within the two different essential draw matches performed on the primary day of essential draw competitors. McCartney Kessler defeated Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 6-3, 6-3, whereas Hailey Baptiste rallied to edge Serbia’s Teodora Kostovic, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Transylvania Open
China’s Yue Yuan upset sixth-seeded Antonia Ruzic of Croatia 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 on the primary day of essential draw competitors on the indoor laborious courts in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
The match took 2 hours, 35 minutes and featured 14 breaks of service. Yuan, ranked No. 130, raced out to a 5-0 lead within the deciding set, failed on two match factors within the sixth sport, however prevailed on her subsequent service alternative.
The different seeded participant in motion, No. 8 Anna Bondar of Hungary, gained a three-setter over Germany’s Ella Seidel, 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-0. Seidel took an early 3-1 lead within the second-set tie-breaker, however Bondar gained 4 straight factors to take management.
In the opposite two essential draw matches, Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo upset Bulgaria’s Viktoriya Tomova, 6-2, 7-5 and Ukraine’s Oleksandra Oliynuykova ousted Egypt’s Mayar Sherif, 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-4.
Ostrava Open
Sixth-seeded Caty McNally knocked off Suzan Lamens of the Netherlands, 6-3, 7-5, on the primary day of essential draw motion in Ostrava, Czech Republic.
No. 8 Hungarian Panna Udvardy edged Darja Vidmanova of the Czech Republic, 7-5, 6-3, however seventh-seeded Moyuka Uchijima of Japan fell to Armenian Elina Avanesyan, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.
McNally trailed, 4-2, within the second set, however broke Lamens’ serve and ultimately evened the set at 5-5. In an 11-point eleventh sport, the Cincinnati native broke for the sixth time within the match and held at like to triumph.
In the 2 different essential draw matches, Katie Volynets routed Poland’s Linda Klimovicova, 6-2, 6-1, whereas the host nation’s Tereza Martincova shocked Hungary’s Dalma Galfi, 2-6, 6-3, 7-5. Martincova is ranked No. 469, whereas Galfi is at 91.
–Field Level Media