Australia’s Kimberly Birrell delivered in two tiebreakers, beating defending champion Yuan Yue of China 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5) in the first round of the ATX Open on Monday in Austin, Texas.
Each player broke serve twice in the first set and three times in the second before Birrell closed each set on her first opportunity. Yuan, the fourth seed, put just 58 percent of her first serves in play.
The other two seeded players in action also dropped their opening match. Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic squeezed past the seventh-seeded Katie Volynets of the United States 7-6 (3), 7-5, and Russia’s Anna Blinkova overtook sixth-seeded Moyuka Uchijima of Japan 4-6, 6-4, 6-0.
Spain’s Nuria Parrizas Diaz defeated former University of Texas star, Malaika Rapolu, making her WTA Tour debut for the United State, 6-2, 6-4.
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Armenia’s Elina Avanesyan, down 3-1 in the third set, reeled off the final five games to complete a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 rally against seventh-seeded Magdalena Frech of Poland in the first round in Merida, Mexico.
Avanesyan wound up saving nine of the 13 break points she faced. She advances to a second-round matchup against Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, who edged Slovakia’s Renata Jamrichova 7-5, 5-7, 7-5.
Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina beat French qualifier Leolia Jeanjean 6-4, 1-6, 6-1, and Australian qualifier Maya Joint topped Austria’s Julia Grabher 6-3, 6-2. Colombian qualifier Emiliana Arango ousted Argentine lucky loser Maria Lourdes Carle 6-2, 6-3.
–Field Level Media
