LONDON — Second-seeded Liudmila Samsonova needed more than 3 1/2 hours but finally got past Lena Papadakis of Germany 7-5, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (3) to advance to the second round of the Libema Open at ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.
Samsonova of Russia blasted 11 aces but also suffered through 10 double faults to get past the 348th-ranked German in three hours and 40 minutes. The Russian saved 12 of 14 break points.
Top-seeded Veronika Kudermetova of Russia advanced when Alison Riske-Amritraj retired in the second set, trailing 6-3, 3-0. No. 3 seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus posted a 7-6 (5), 6-3 win over Natalija Stevanovic of Serbia.
Unseeded players Emina Bektas, Carol Zhao of Canada and Greet Minnen of Belgium also advanced, Reuters reported.
Elsewhere, top seed Maria Sakkari of Greece defeated China’s Xiyu Wang 6-2, 7-6 (6) in the first round on the grass at the Rothesay Open in Nottingham, Great Britain.
No. 4 seed Donna Vekic of Croatia outlasted Spain’s Cristina Bucsa 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 to advance. Eighth-seeded Lin Zhu of China ousted Alycia Parks 7-6 (5), 6-2.
Sixth-seeded Shuai Zhang of China fell to Germany’s Tatjana Maria in quick fashion, 6-1, 6-4 in 67 minutes.
Seventh-seeded Camila Giorgi of Italy was leading Madison Brengle 5-1 in the opening set when their match was suspended by rain.
Meanwhile, Beatriz Haddad Maia became the first Brazilian woman to reach the top 10 of the WTA rankings following her dream run to the semi-finals of the French Open.
The 27-yaer-old beat Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur in the last eight in Paris to become the first Brazilian woman in 55 years to reach a Grand Slam semi-final.
She was eventually beaten by eventual champion Iga Swiatek.
Brazilian women’s has had precious little success since the days of Maria Bueno who claimed seven Grand Slam titles between 1959 and 1966 — long before the advent of the WTA rankings which were introduced in 1975.
Three-time French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten reached number one in the men’s ATP rankings in 2000.
Haddad Maia will take a ranking of 10 into the grasscourt season in which she impressed last year and will feature in this week’s Nottingham Open as build-up to Wimbledon begins.
Coach Goran Ivanisevic believed that Novak Djokovic has “a lot more” grand slam titles in him.
The Serbian broke the record he has been pursuing relentlessly with his 23rd major trophy at the French Open Sunday, making him the most successful male player ever.
He can equal Margaret Court’s all-time record at Wimbledon, where he will be the hot favourite, and could break it at the US Open, where a first calendar Grand Slam by a man since Rod Laver in 1969 would also be on the line.
That he has reached 23 despite the problems caused by his refusal to be vaccinated against Covid-19, leading to him being deported from Australia last year and missing the US Open, is all the more remarkable.
“It’s incredible,” said former Wimbledon champion Ivanisevic, Djokovic’s coach since 2019.
“I’m really sorry that Rafa (Nadal) is not here, but I say a long time ago before even I became member of his team that him and Rafa, they’re going to go over 22.
“I am hoping Rafa is coming back winning one more and Novak is the only player who can win the calendar Grand Slam. He was one match away two years ago, so he has a chance this year.
“It’s still a long way. But grand slams are the goal. I don’t know how many, but I think he has in his body a lot more.”
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