Germany’s Jule Niemeier earned a big win on her home soil when she took down defending champion and fourth seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia 7-6 (4), 6-4, in the first round of the bett1open on Tuesday in Berlin.
It was the third career top-10 win for Niemeier, who absorbed Jabeur’s seven aces and won 30 of 37 first-service points (81.1 percent). Niemeier also saved four of six break points while going 3-for-3 in converting her break-point chances.
No. 8 seed Daria Kasatkina of Russia also fell, as countrywoman Elina Avanesyan pushed past her 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7). Avanesyan saved two match points during the third-set tiebreaker and rallied from down 6-4 to clinch the match in the 16th point.
Top seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, second seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan and fifth seed Coco Gauff of the United States all won in straight sets. Ekaterina Alexandrova and Anna Blinkova of Russia also won, while Australia’s Jaimee Fourlis advanced due to opponent Xinyu Wang of Chian retiring after they split the first two sets.
Two matches were suspended due to rain and scheduled to be completed Wednesday. Aliaksandra Sasnovich led Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 1-1 in an all-Belarusian battle, and Rebeka Masarova of Spain was all square with Nadia Podoroska of Argentina 6-3, 3-6, 1-1.
Rothesay Classic
No. 2 seed Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia outlasted the Czech Republic’s Linda Noskova 6-2, 5-7, 6-1 in first-round action in Birmingham, England.
Fourth seed Anastasia Potapova of Russia spent two hours and 31 minutes to defeat Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk 6-7 (6), 7-5, 6-4, and No. 8 seed Sorana Cirstea also needed three sets to advance past fellow Romanian Ana Bogdan 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.
In an all-British showdown, Harriet Dart rallied past Jodie Burrage 4-6, 6-2, 7-5. Poland’s Magdalena Frech and China’s Lin Zhu also won their matches.
–Field Level Media
