Russia’s Tereza Martincova defeated Ukrainian 10th seed Elina Svitolina 6-7 (2), 7-5, 7-6 (5) in a nearly three-hour match Monday in the first round of the Qatar TotalEnergies Open in Doha.
Svitolina converted nine of 10 break-point opportunities and saved 12 of 22, but Martincova had seven aces and wound up winning nine more points in a 251-point epic.
American teen Coco Gauff, the 14th seed, beat countrywoman Shelby Rogers 6-2, 6-3. Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian knocked off 11th seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 6-4, 6-3, and Switzerland’s Jil Teichmann beat German 13th seed Angelique Kerber 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Other first-round winners included Latvian No. 15 seed Jelena Ostapenko and Belgian No. 16 seed Elise Mertens.
Two seeded players who opened with byes won their second-round matches Monday. Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit, the No. 4 seed, beat Ana Konjuh of Croatia 6-2, 6-3, and Spanish No. 5 seed Garbine Muguruza took down Sorana Cirstea of Romania 7-6 (4), 6-1. In a matchup of unseeded players, France’s Caroline Garcia knocked off former world No. 1 Simona Halep of Romania 6-4, 6-3.
Abierto Akron Zapopan
Sixth-seeded Sloane Stephens of the United States needed less than an hour to defeat a player half her age, prevailing 6-2, 6-2 over the Czech Republic’s Brenda Fruhvirtova in the first round at Guadalajara, Mexico.
Stephens, the 2017 Wimbledon champion, is 28 years old. Fruhvirtova, who had won consecutive lower-tier pro events this event, is 14. Fruhvirtova had become the youngest winner of an ITF Tour event since 2015.
The other four seeded players in action Monday all lost. France’s Harmony Tan upset second-seeded Madison Keys of the United States 6-4, 1-6, 6-1. Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova knocked out fifth-seeded Nuria Parrizas Diaz 6-1, 6-4, and Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic topped seventh-seeded Misaki Doi of Japan 4-6, 7-5, 6-4. Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya beat eighth-seeded Qinwen Zheng of China 6-3, 2-6, 6-2.
Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti, China’s Qiang Wang and Russia’s Anastasia Potapova also advanced.
–Field Level Media
