WTA roundup: No. 3 seed Peyton Stearns ousted in Austin

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France’s Varvara Gracheva fended off 5 of 6 break points to defeat No. 3 seed Peyton Stearns 6-2, 6-3 in the Round of 32 at the ATX Open on Tuesday in Austin, Texas.

Stearns, who had six aces with six double faults, saved three match points but not a fourth in the final game of the match.

No. 1 seed Jessica Pegula led Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands 6-3, 3-2 when Rus retired due to injury. No. 2 seed Diana Shnaider eked past fellow Russian Tatiana Prozorova 0-6, 6-2, 7-5, and Great Britain’s Jodie Burrage hit a career-high 14 aces to beat Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Other early winners included Caroline Dolehide, Germany’s Tatjana Maria, Japan’s Ena Shibahara, Belgium’s Greet Minnen and Spaniard Cristina Bucsa. In the late matches, Romania’s Sorana Cirstea battled past Germany’s Laura Siegemund 6-3, 0-6, 6-1, and Dutch eighth seed Suzan Lamens dropped the first set before rally past Russia’s Kamilla Rakhimova 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Merida Open Akron

Daria Saville of Australia converted 6 of 10 break points to upset No. 6 seed Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-4, 7-6 (6) in first-round action in Merida, Mexico.

Saville rallied out of a 3-0 deficit early in the second set as well as a 2-0 hole to start the ensuing tiebreaker. She saved one set point at 6-5 on her way to winning the final three points of the match, taking down the 19th-ranked player in the world.

Croatia’s Petra Martic swept past Sloane Stephens 6-2, 6-3. Poland’s Magda Linette and Slovakia’s Rebecca Sramkova also won in straight sets, and Francesca Jones of Great Britain led 6-4, 3-0 when Egyptian opponent Mayar Sherif retired. Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez upset Greek eighth seed Maria Sakkari 7-5, 6-2, and Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian was leading 6-4, 4-1 when Ukrainian Yuliia Starodubtseva retired.

–Field Level Media