HAMBURG, Germany – No. 4 seed Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain dropped the first set before charging back to defeat Ana Bogdan of Romania 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the first round of the Palermo Ladies Open in Italy.
Sorribes Tormo converted five of nine break-point opportunities to win the three-hour, 19-minute match despite not serving a single ace.
No. 3 seed Shuai Zhang of China had to put in some work to win her first-round match, beating Spain’s Rebeka Masarova 7-6 (3), 7-6 (7). Sixth seed Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania also needed three sets to beat Spaniard Marina Bassols Ribera 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
Italy’s Jasmine Paolini and Frenchwomen Leolia Jeanjean and Oceane Dodin also won, Reuters reported.
Anastasia Potapova of Russia took down sixth seed and countrywoman Varvara Gracheva 7-5, 6-3 in the first round in Germany.
Third seed Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic, fourth seed Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus and eighth seed Andrea Petkovic of Germany all had easier times, winning their opening matches in straight sets.
Misaki Doi of Japan wore down Russian opponent Oksana Selekhmeteva to win 7-6 (10), 6-0. Poland’s Magdalena Frech advanced when Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya retired after losing the first set 6-1.
Other winners included Alexandra Cadantu-Ignatik of Romania, Rebecca Peterson of Sweden and Maria Carle of Argentina.
Elsewhere, Karen Khachanov saved two match points as he won his first-round match at the Hamburg European Open, while Botic van de Zandschulp had a surprise loss and Barbora Krejcikova won her opener in the women’s draw.
The seventh-seeded Khachanov won against Jan-Lennard Struff 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (2) after twice saving match point at 6-5 down in the decider before forcing a tiebreak.
Van de Zandschulp, seeded fifth, was beaten 6-4, 6-4 by Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who goes on to play Slovakian qualifier Jozef Kovalik, AP reported.
In the women’s draw of the clay-court event, last year’s French Open champion Krejcikova, seeded third, broke Suzan Lamens’ serve four times in a 6-2, 6-4 win to set up a second-round match with Magdalena Frech.
Fourth-seeded Aliaksandra Sasnovich won against Nastasja Schunk 6-1, 6-4, while Anastasia Potapova upset sixth-seeded Varvara Gracheva 7-5, 6-3.
Andrea Petkovic won an all-German match with Tamara Korpatsch 6-3, 6-3.
