Second-seeded Kristina Mladenovic rallied from a difficult start to down Chloe Paquet 1-6, 6-2, 6-4 in an all-French battle Tuesday during the opening round of the Open 6eme Sens in Lyon, France.
Mladenovic, who had 14 double faults, failed to win a game on her own serve in the opening set, but she settled in from there. She cruised through the second set without being broken, then broke Paquet’s serve four times in the third set, including to clinch the match after Mladenovic failed to serve out at 5-3.
Also advancing to the Round of 16 were No. 6 Jil Teichmann of Switzerland, No. 7 Daria Kasatkina of Russia and No. 8 Viktoria Kuzmova of Slovakia. Teichmann was the only seeded player to win in straight sets, downing France’s Clara Burel 6-4, 6-3.
Abierto GNP Seguros
Top seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine cruised through the opening round, dispatching Montenegro’s Danka Kovinic 6-3, 6-2 in exactly an hour at Monterrey, Mexico.
Svitolina had six aces and three double faults, not facing a break point all match. She won 24 of 29 (83 percent) first-serve points.
Also moving on were No. 2 Johanna Konta of Great Britain and No. 10 Lauren Davis of the United States, who downed Argentina’s Nadia Podoroska 6-0, 6-3. Konta won 6-3, 7-5 over Belgium’s Kim Clijsters, a 36-year-old playing her second match after more than seven years away from the WTA Tour.
The only seeded player in action to fall was Belarus’ Victoria Azarenka, who lost 6-2, 6-2 in just 67 minutes to Slovenia’s Tamara Zidansek.
–Field Level Media
