Czech qualifier Nikola Bartunkova knocked off No. 9 seed Diana Shnaider of Russia 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-3 in a back-and-forth first-round match at the Berlin Tennis Open on Monday.
Bartunkova fell behind 3-0 in the second set, rallied for a 5-4 lead and served for the match before Shnaider saved double match point, then prevailed in the tiebreaker. Shnaider went up 3-0 again in the third set but Bartunkova ripped off six straight games to turn the tables.
Only two other main-draw matches were played on Monday. Belgium’s Elise Mertens charged back for a 1-6, 6-3, 6-0 victory over Russia’s Liudmila Samsonova, and Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova won her first set 6-1 before Austrian opponent Anastasia Potapova retired.
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No. 3 seed Emma Navarro shrugged off a first-set tiebreaker loss and defeated Hungary’s Anna Bondar 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-2 in the first round in Great Britain.
Navarro won an impressive 76.8% of her total service points (63 of 82) to counter Bondar’s 9 of 13 break points saved. Her next opponent will be Ukraine’s Yuliia Starodubtseva, who rallied past Australian Maya Joint 6-7 (8), 7-5, 6-4.
Czech No. 4 seed Marie Bouzkova defeated her fellow Czech Tereza Valentova in straight sets, but two seeded players were eliminated. China’s Qinwen Zheng caused an upset by beating Greek sixth seed Maria Sakkari 4-6, 7-6 (1), 6-4, and Germany’s Tatjana Maria advanced by defeating No. 9 seed Janice Tjen of Indonesia 6-3, 6-2. Spaniard Jessica Bouzas Maneiro and Australians Talia Gibson and Taylah Preston also moved on.
–Field Level Media
