Google News Lyon Open: Cristina Bucsa stuns Alize Cornet; Katie Boulter stops Ana Konjuh's in 1R
by ABBEY JOHNSON
The Lyon Open lost two of its seeds on the first day of play on Monday. Fourth seed Alize Cornet and sixth seed Ana Konjuh crashed out of the tournament after losing their first-round matches to Cristina Bucsa and Katie Boulter respectively.
In the match between Cornet and Bucsa, the Spanish qualifier came from a set down to win 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 in two hours and nine minutes. In the first set, Cornet ran with the proceedings. She won 91% of her first-serve points and saved both break points she faced.
On the other hand, Bucsa could win only 47% of her first-serve points and lost her serve twice to concede the lead to her opponent. Bucsa, however, upped her level across the latter two sets even as Cornet’s dipped. In the second set, Cornet could only manage to win 28% points off her first-serves and was broken on four occasions.
In the deciding set, the 2022 Australian Open quarter-finalist won 50% of her first-serve points and lost her serve twice. In comparison, Bucsa won 59% and 81% of her first-serve points in the second and third sets respectively, while losing her serve thrice in the second set.
The only break point she faced in the deciding set, Bucsa went on to save. For a place in the second round, Bucsa will play either Dayana Yastremska or Ana Bogdan.
Comebacks were the norm at the Lyon Open
Meanwhile, Boulter also came from a set down to upset Konjuh, 5-7, 6-0, 6-3 in an hour and 54 minutes.
Boulter lost her serve thrice in the match while converting six of the 12 break points she had on Konjuh’s serve. In the second round, the Briton will take on Hungarian Anna Bondar. Bondar defeated Japanese qualifier, Yuriko Miyazaki, 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-5 in two hours and 38 minutes.
Swiss qualifier Stefanie Voegele also advanced to the round-of-16 with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 win over French wildcard, Elsa Jacquemot. Voegele now awaits either Mariam Bolkvadze or second seed, Sorana Cirstea. Fifth seed Jasmine Paolini also moved into the second round of the Lyon Open.
The Italian’s match against Irina Bara also saw her come from down a set to claim a 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory in two hours and 25 minutes. Paolini will play either Tamara Korpatsch or Oceane Dodin next. Meanwhile, the only player who won her match in straight sets was Varvara Gracheva who posted a 7-6(0), 7-6(2) win over Kristina Kucova. In the second round, Gracheva will meet either Vera Zvonareva or Alison Van Uytvanck.