The first day of women’s tennis at the Netherlands tournament in ‘s-Hertogenbosch delivered major surprises as both the top two seeded players were eliminated in straight-set defeats Monday.
Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova, holding the tournament’s No. 1 seed and winner of back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023, was defeated 6-4, 7-6 (5) by Hungary’s Panna Udvardy. The upset was particularly notable given the ranking gap, with Udvardy sitting nearly 50 positions below Alexandrova at 65th compared to 17th. Despite closely matched statistics throughout the contest, Udvardy’s slight edge in break point conversions (3 of 6 opportunities) proved decisive in the evenly contested match.
Denmark’s Clara Tauson, seeded second, also suffered an early exit with a 6-4, 6-4 loss to 17-year-old Mia Pohankova from Slovakia. The teenager secured victory by winning the match’s final five games, earning her first career victory against a top-30 ranked player. Belgium’s Elise Mertens, the third seed, managed to avoid a similar upset by dominating Canada’s Bianca Andreescu 6-1, 6-2.
Additional first-round results saw Poland’s Magda Linette mount a comeback victory over Australia’s Kimberly Birrell 2-6, 6-1, 6-2. Robin Montgomery also staged a rally to defeat Australia’s Daria Kasatkina 5-7, 6-0, 6-4, while Ukraine’s Daria Snigur handled Spain’s Paula Badosa 6-1, 7-6 (2).
At the HSBC Championships in London, Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova overcame a first-set loss to defeat McCartney Kessler 6-7 (1), 6-3, 6-3 in opening round play.
Despite serving struggles that included 11 double faults against just three aces, Pliskova compensated by winning 51% of return points and capitalizing on 8 of 11 break point chances.
Rain disrupted the London schedule, with only two other matches reaching completion Monday. Great Britain’s Harriet Dart prevailed over Russia’s Liudmila Samsonova 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, and Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian defeated Qinwen Zheng 6-4, 7-6 (4).
The day’s final scheduled match between Canada’s eighth-seeded Leylah Fernandez and Great Britain’s Katie Boulter was halted by darkness. Play was suspended with Fernandez leading one set to none and the second set tied 3-3.
