France’s Varvara Gracheva fended off 5 of 6 break points to defeat No. 3 seed Peyton Stearns 6-2, 6-3 in the Round of 32 at the ATX Open on Tuesday in Austin, Texas.
Stearns, who had six aces with six double faults, saved three match points but not a fourth in the final game of the match.
No. 1 seed Jessica Pegula led Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands 6-3, 3-2 when Rus retired due to injury. No. 2 seed Diana Shnaider eked past fellow Russian Tatiana Prozorova 0-6, 6-2, 7-5, and Great Britain’s Jodie Burrage hit a career-high 14 aces to beat Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Other early winners included Caroline Dolehide, Germany’s Tatjana Maria, Japan’s Ena Shibahara, Belgium’s Greet Minnen and Spaniard Cristina Bucsa. Two more matches remained Monday night: Romania’s Sorana Cirstea against Germany’s Laura Siegemund and Dutch eighth seed Suzan Lamens against Russia’s Kamilla Rakhimova.
Merida Open Akron
Daria Saville of Australia converted 6 of 10 break points to upset No. 6 seed Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-4, 7-6 (6) in first-round action in Merida, Mexico.
Saville rallied out of a 3-0 deficit early in the second set as well as a 2-0 hole to start the ensuing tiebreaker. She saved one set point at 6-5 on her way to winning the final three points of the match, taking down the 19th-ranked player in the world.
Croatia’s Petra Martic swept past Sloane Stephens 6-2, 6-3. Poland’s Magda Linette and Slovakia’s Rebecca Sramkova also won in straight sets, and Francesca Jones of Great Britain led 6-4, 3-0 when Egyptian opponent Mayar Sherif retired.
Two remaining matches pitted Greek eighth seed Maria Sakkari against Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez and Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian against Ukrainian Yuliia Starodubtseva.
–Field Level Media
