No. 2 seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia survived a first-round scare Monday at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy, completing a 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 win against Switzerland’s Jil Belen Teichmann in St. Petersburg, Russia.
All four main-draw matches on the opening day of play in the WTA 500 tournament went the distance.
No. 5 seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland held on for a 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (5) victory over Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova.
Eighth-seed Elise Mertens of Belgium came back from a break down in the third set, rallying for a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 win against France’s Alize Cornet in two hours and eight minutes.
Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova eliminated Italy’s Camila Giorgi 6-2, 1-6, 6-2 in one hour and 44 minutes.
–Field Level Media
