Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus rallied for a 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 upset of No. 2 seed Viktoriya Tomova of Bulgaria in first-round action Monday at the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest.
Sasnovich converted seven of eight break points and advanced to face Russia’s Maria Timofeeva, a 7-5, 7-6 (3) winner against Swiss qualifier Simona Waltert.
No. 4 seed Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain held off Bulgaria’s Gergana Topalova 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, but the other two seeded players in action were not as fortunate. Suzan Lamens of the Netherlands rolled 6-3, 6-0 over No. 8 Varvara Gracheva of France, and Russia’s Elina Avanesyan knocked out No. 5 Magda Frech of Poland 7-6 (5), 6-4.
Also advancing were Spain’s Rebeka Masarova, Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova and France’s Carole Monnet.
Palermo Ladies Open
No. 2 seed Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic was up 7-6 (14), 5-1 in the first round in Italy when Poland’s Katarzyna Kawa was forced to retire.
Their marathon first-set tiebreak included three set points for Kawa and eight for Muchova, who faces Noma Noha Akugue of Germany in the second round. Noha Akugue outlasted countrywoman Mona Barthel 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.
Australia’s Astra Sharma eliminated sixth-seeded Russian Anna Blinkova 6-0, 7-5. Switzerland’s Jil Teichmann was a 6-1, 6-1 winner over Mia Ristic of Serbia. Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu dominated Spain’s Marina Bassols Ribera 6-0, 6-0 in 58 minutes.
–Field Level Media
