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The top two seeds at the Monterrey Open crashed out on Tuesday in their respective opening rounds. Kristina Kucova, the Slovakian lucky loser, ousted the top-seed Sloane Stephens in straight sets 6-2, 6-2 in merely 70 minutes.
At the bottom of the draw, Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya, a qualifier in the main draw, took down the second-seeded Nadia Podoroska, 6-4, 6-4 in an hour and 34 minutes. In the second round, Kucova will play Leylah Fernandez while Kalinskaya will take on Nina Stojanovic.
Swiss qualifier Viktorija Golubic posted an upset over sixth seed Anna Blinkova in the first round. Golubic also won in straight sets 6-4, 6-4 in an hour and 52 minutes. In the second round, Golubic will play against Lauren Davis.
Fifth seed Heather Watson also exited in the opening round. In the British derby between Watson and Harriet Dart, Dart claimed a 6-4, 7-6(1) win over her higher-ranked compatriot. In the second round, Dart will play Viktoria Kuzmova.
Monterrey Open: Sara Sorribes Tormo extends winning run
The only two seeds to advance safely to the second round were third seed Saisai Zheng and seventh seed Sara Sorribes Tormo. Zheng defeated Russian Varvara Gracheva 6-3, 7-5 in an hour and 37 minutes.
The Chinese player will next play compatriot Lin Zhu who defeated Eugenie Bouchard – who reached the final of the Guadalajara Open last week – 7-5, 7-6(3) in the last match of the day. The Spaniard, meanwhile, came from a set down to beat Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 in a marathon that was only seven minutes shy of three hours.
The match featured 16 breaks of serve. But the Spaniard who won her first WTA career title last week at the Guadalajara Open and who reached a career-high of no. 57 in the rankings was convincingly able to outlast Tsurenko. In the second round at the Monterrey Open, Sorribes Tormo will play Kaja Juvan, who won the qualifiers’ derby against Maria Camila Osorio Serrano 6-4, 6-4.