Spanish qualifier Cristina Bucsa earned the biggest win of her career Monday, upsetting fourth-seeded Alize Cornet of France 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 in the opening round of the Open 6eme Sens Metropole in Lyon, France.
Bucsa, a 24-year-old who is ranked 139th in the world, had never previously defeated a player rated in the top 50. She prevailed despite registering no aces and six double faults. Bucsa also faced 15 break points but saved 10 of them. Cornet staved off just five of 11 break points on her serve.
Sixth-seeded Ana Konjuh of Croatia also dropped her first-round match after winning the first set, falling 5-7, 6-0, 6-3 to British qualifier Katie Boulter.
Fifth-seeded Jasmine Paolini of Italy beat Romania’s Irina Maria Bara 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, and Russia’s Varvara Gracheva, Hungary’s Anna Bondar and Switzerland’s Stefanie Voegele also advanced.
Abierto GNP Seguros
Fourth-seeded Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain needed more than three hours to complete a 7-5, 6-7 (2), 6-1 win over Russia’s Kamilla Rakhimova in the first round at Monterrey, Mexico.
Sorribes Tormo finished with a 71 percent to 58 percent edge in first-serve rate.
Fifth-seeded Camila Osorio of Colombia got past Poland’s Magdalena Frech 6-3, 7-6 (6), needing four match points to wrap up the second-set tiebreaker.
Other first-round winners included Mexico’s Marcela Zacarias, Bulgaria’s Viktoriya Tomova, Great Britain’s Heather Watson and Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia. Second-seeded Leylah Fernandez of Canada was in action late Monday night against Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova.
