China’s Qinwen Zheng entered the Athens Open without a seed and left the first round with a convincing victory, taking down Spain’s No. 6 seed Jessica Bouzas Maneiro by a score of 7-5, 6-1 on Monday.
Zheng dominated the serving department, racking up seven aces compared to none for Bouzas Maneiro. She also showed strong defensive play, saving six of seven break points she faced, while converting four of her seven break-point chances. The match lasted one hour and 49 minutes. Zheng broke her opponent’s serve to seal the opening set, then broke twice more in the second to cruise to the finish line.
A second upset came courtesy of Japan’s Mai Hontama, who defeated No. 8 seed Magda Linette of Poland 6-4, 7-5. Hontama was relentless on Linette’s serve, breaking it three times in each set. Among other first-round winners were Athens native and No. 4 seed Maria Sakkari, No. 5 seed Sara Bejlek of the Czech Republic, American Alycia Parks, Austria’s Lilli Tagger, Elena Micic of Australia, and Great Britain’s Harriet Dart.
At the UniCredit Iasi Open, a clay-court event held in Iasi, Romania, Croatia’s No. 2 seed Petra Marcinko fought off Argentine wild card Nadia Podoroska 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 to advance past the first round.
Marcinko was exceptional under pressure, saving 16 of 19 break points — including all eight in the deciding third set — while converting four of her eight break-point opportunities. Podoroska served three aces to Marcinko’s none, and both players each committed eight double faults.
Elsewhere in Iasi, Hungary’s No. 7 seed Anna Bondar swept Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo 7-5, 6-4. Armenia’s Alina Charaeva dominated Andorra’s Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva 6-0, 6-1, and French wild card Clara Burel outlasted lucky loser Varvara Lepchenko 2-6, 7-5, 6-3.
