No. 1 seed Ons Jabeur put on a show for the fans in her home nation of Tunisia by beating Ann Li of the U.S. 6-2, 6-3 in 73 minutes Tuesday in the first round of the inaugural Jasmin Open Monastir.
Jabeur, who’s risen to the world No. 2 ranking after reaching the finals at both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, saved all eight break points she faced and won 28 of her 35 first-service points (80 percent) against Li.
No. 2 seed Veronika Kudermetova had an even easier time. The Russian eliminated countrywoman Varvara Gracheva 6-1, 6-0 in just 54 minutes.
Fourth seed Petra Martic of Croatia advanced in straight sets while sixth seed Anastasia Potapova overcame fellow Russian Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3. Other winners included Magdalena Frech of Poland, Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia, Moyuka Uchijima of Japan, Diane Parry of France, Evgeniya Rodina of Russia and Harriet Dart of Great Britain.
AGEL Open
Sixth seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland rallied past Canadian Eugenie Bouchard 6-7 (7), 6-1, 6-4 in the first round in Ostrava, Czech Republic.
Bouchard, who held a 6-2 edge in aces and saved eight of 12 break points, saved a set point en route to her first-set tiebreaker victory before Bencic stormed back.
No. 5 seed Daria Kasatkina of Russia defeated 2021 U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu of Great Britain 7-5, 6-4, for her first victory since Aug. 27. Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus upset Latvian eighth seed Jelena Ostapenko 6-2, 6-2.
Americans Caty McNally and Alycia Parks also advanced.
–Field Level Media
