Top seed Anastasia Potapova of Russia claimed the Transylvania Open title in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, defeating unseeded Italian Lucia Bronzetti 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 on Sunday for her third career WTA title.
Ranked No. 32 in the world, Potapova rebounded from losing the first set to win the two-hour, two-minute match and is 5-0 against Bronzetti, ranked No. 72.
Potapova hadn’t dropped a set in the tournament, but Bronzetti broke her serve in the first set for a 5-4 lead before consecutive forehand winners sealed the set win.
In the second set, Potapova bounced back, winning the final five games of the set to even the match. After committing 25 unforced errors in the opening set, the Russian cut that number to 11 while notching 12 winners to just four for Bronzetti.
Trailing 5-2 in the decisive third set, Bronzetti managed to stave off three championship points, but Potapova eventually put the match away.
Qatar Open
Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia avenged her Australian Open loss to Emma Raducanu of Great Britain, posting a 6-3, 7-5 victory in the opening round at Doha, Qatar.
Raducanu, the No. 2 British player, has lost in the first round three straight weeks after falling in Singapore and Abu Dhabi. Coming off a Linz Open title last week, Alexandrova recovered from 3-1 deficits in both sets to earn the victory. She will face World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus on Tuesday.
American qualifier Alycia Parks pulled off a 6-4, 7-6 (2) upset of No. 11 Diana Shnaider of Russia. Poland’s Magdalena Frech took down No. 13 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, while Cristina Bucsa of Spain defeated No. 14 seed Anna Kalinskaya of Russia 6-7 (3), 7-5, 6-4.
The other first-round winners were No. 12 seed Mirra Andreeva of Russia, No. 16 seed Liudmila Samsonova of Russia, Armenia’s Elina Avanesyan, Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk, Canadian Leylah Fernandez, Belgium’s Elise Mertens, Greece’s Maria Sakkari, France’s Caroline Garcia and American Amanda Anisimova.
–Field Level Media
