No. 3 seed Elise Mertens of Belgium never faced a break point in a 7-6 (5), 6-3 win over Spain’s Cristina Bucsa in the first round of the Japan Open on Tuesday in Osaka.
On a day when seeded players finished 5-0, Mertens struck seven aces and converted four of five break points to win in one hour and 42 minutes. She advanced to face Czech Tereza Valentova, a 6-1, 6-2 winner against Alexandra Eala of the Philippines.
No. 4 Leylah Fernandez of Canada beat Hailey Baptiste 6-2, 7-5. Fifth-seeded Czech Marie Bouzkova blitzed Japan’s Ena Shibahara 6-1, 6-1 in 61 minutes. No. 7 Ann Li defeated France’s Varvara Grecheva 6-4, 6-0 in 62 minutes. No. 8 Jessica Bouzas Maneiro eliminated Katie Volynets 6-2, 6-4. Also advancing were Dalma Galfi of Hungary, Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland, Jaqueline Cristian of Romania and Rebecca Sramcova of Slovakia.
Ningbo Open
Australian qualifier Ajla Tomljanovic stormed back for a 1-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3 win over No. 5 seed Clara Tauson of Denmark in the opening round in Ningbo, China.
Tauson struck 11 aces but lost the momentum with back-to-back service breaks to start the second set. In the only other match involving a seeded player, No. 8 Liudmila Samsonova of Russia handled China’s Hanyu Guo 6-2, 6-4.
In other first-round action, China’s Lin Zhu outlasted Britain’s Emma Raducanu 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine defeated Canada’s Victoria Mboko 6-3, 7-6 (3). Karolina Muchova beat fellow Czech Marketa Vondrousova 6-4, 6-3. Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova ousted Croatia’s Antonia Ruzic 6-3, 6-2, while China’s Yue Yuan defeated compatriot Xinyu Wang 6-3, 6-3.
–Field Level Media
