Ekaterina Makarova of Russia recovered from a tough opening set to produce a 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Romania’s Sorana Cirstea on Tuesday in the first round of the Internationaux de Strasbourg in France.
The third-seeded Cirstea saved five of 10 break points but was outplayed over the last two sets. Makarova won despite five double faults.
Eighth-seeded Pole Magda Linette rolled to a 6-1, 6-1 second-round victory over Brit Heather Watson. Belgium’s Maryna Zanevska also reached the quarterfinals by beating France’s Harmony Tan 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 in two hours and 30 minutes in the second round.
Other first-round winners were American Bernarda Pera, France’s Fiona Ferro and Germany’s Anna-Lena Friedsam.
Morocco Open
Second-seeded Ajla Tomljanovic won 78 percent of her first-serve points while posting a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in second-round play at Rabat, Morocco.
Tomljanovic saved 9 of 12 break points while overcoming seven double faults. In another second-round match, Australia’s Astra Sharma defeated Croatia’s Petra Marcinko 5-7, 6-3, 6-3.
In first-round matches involving seeded players, No. 4 Mayar Sherif of Egypt rolled to a 6-0, 6-2 win over Chloe Paquet of France, and fifth-seeded Anna Bondar of Hungary outlasted Italy’s Cristiana Ferrando 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.
–Field Level Media