The top two seeds easily advanced, but fourth-seeded Nuria Parrizas Diaz had to retire in the third set as opening round action continued in the first round of the Unicredit Iasi Open on Tuesday in Romania.

Top-seeded Elina Avanesyan of Armenia defeated Romanian Andreea Prisacariu, 6-3, 6-3 while No. 2 Jaqueline Cristian of Romania overwhelmed Daria Lodikova, 6-1, 6-4. In a battle of Spanish players, Parrizas Diaz and Irene Burillo split the opening two sets, both at 7-5. But 2 hours, 43 minutes into the match, Parrizas Dias retired, trailing 4-1 in the deciding set.

In a battle of veteran Romanian players, Sorana Cirstea defeated Mihaela Buzarnescu, 6-2, 6-2. Other winners were No. 8 Francesca Jones of Great Britain, Hungary’s Panna Udvardy, the Czech Republic’s Anna Siskova, Argentina’s Maria Lourdes Carle, Andorra’s Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva and Switzerland’s Simona Waltert.

MSC Hamburg Ladies Open

Fifth-seeded Lois Boisson, the upstart Roland Garros semifinalist, cruised past Austria’s Julia Grabher, 6-1, 6-3 as opening round play continued in Hamburg.

The Frenchwoman broke Grabhner’s serve on five occasions, winning nearly 45 percent of the points played on her opponent’s first serves. The only other seeded player to compete was No. 7 Anna Bondar and the Hungarian survived a three-hour marathon to prevail over German Noma Noha Akugue, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (3).

Two other matches went the distance. Austria’s Sinja Kraus edged Turkey’s Berfu Cengiz, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, while Australian Astra Sharma nipped Spanish teen Ariana Geerlings, 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-2.

–Field Level Media

British tennis player Tara Moore was handed a four-year anti-doping sanction by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Tuesday.

Moore tested positive for the anabolic steroids boldenone and nandrolone following a tournament in Colombia in April 2022. The 32-year-old was provisionally suspended at the time, but an independent tribunal ruled in December 2023 that Moore bore no fault or negligence.

However, the CAS confirmed on Tuesday that it has upheld the appeal made by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA). Moore had made a counter-appeal, arguing that the presence of the banned substances in her system were caused by food eaten while in Colombia.

Moore, the No. 1-ranked doubles player in Britain when she was provisionally banned, will be subject to the four-year ban minus 19 months already served. She will not be eligible to compete again until the start of the 2028 season.

“For the ITIA, every case is considered according to the individual facts and circumstances,” ITIA chief executive officer Karen Moorhouse said. “Our bar for appealing a first instance decision is high, and the decision is not taken lightly.

“In this case, our independent scientific advice was that the player did not adequately explain the high level of nandrolone present in their sample. Today’s ruling is consistent with this position. We understand that players and their support teams may have questions about this decision, and we will answer these fully once we have reviewed the details of the ruling.”

Moore’s suspension follows on the heels of World No. 1 Jannik Sinner serving a three-month anti-doping ban earlier this year. Former women’s world No. 1 Iga Swiatek served a one-month suspension after testing positive for the prohibited substance trimetazidine in August 2024.

Moore has competed primarily on the ITF World Tour since returning in April 2024.

–Field Level Media