Poland’s Magdalena Frech rallied to upset No. 6 seed Mirra Andreeva of Russia 2-6, 7-5, 6-0 in first-round action at the Berlin Tennis Open on Monday.
Andreeva, who turned 18 in April, has had a successful season. She won WTA 1000 titles in Dubai and Indian Wells and became the youngest WTA 1000-level champion in tour history. But Frech caught her by surprise Monday; the 27-year-old held on in the second set after squandering a 4-1 lead before dominating the third set.
No. 8 seed Paula Badosa of Spain breezed past Germany’s Eva Lys 6-1, 6-3 in 60 minutes, while Emma Navarro beat Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk 6-2, 6-3. Navarro and Badosa will meet in the second round in a matchup of the Nos. 9 and 10 players in the WTA rankings.
Also advancing were Ons Jabeur of Tunisia, Rebeka Masarova of Switzerland and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic.
Lexus Nottingham Open
Czech seventh seed Linda Noskova saved two match points in the third-set tiebreaker to survive and advance past Romania’s Anca Todoni 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (6) in the first round in England.
Noskova fell behind 6-4 in the tiebreaker before ripping off four straight points to end the match. In a high-powered affair that lasted two hours and 36 minutes, Noskova hit 11 aces while Todoni recorded 13 aces without a double fault and saved 11 of 13 break points.
No. 2 seed Clara Tauson of Denmark and No. 4 Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan won in straight sets while Canadian fifth seed Leylah Fernandez pushed past the Netherlands’ Suzan Lamens 6-3, 4-6, 7-5. Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska upset ninth seed Olga Danilovic of Serbia 6-4, 7-6 (4).
Other winners included Lin Zhu of China, Anna Blinkova of Russia and Antonia Ruzic of Croatia.
–Field Level Media