WTA roundup: Pair of top-5 seeds swept out early in Libema Open

[June 13, 2018]  A pair of top-five seeds were swept by qualifiers Tuesday as first-round play concluded at the Libema Open at s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.

Fourth-seeded Anett Kontaveit of Estonia fell to Veronika Kudermetova of Russia 6-4, 7-6 (4), while fifth-seeded Zhang Shuai of China lost to Hungarian Fanny Stollar 6-3, 6-3.

Second-seeded Elise Mertens of Belgium, on the other hand, had little trouble with Slovenia's Polona Hercog, winning 6-2, 6-4. Third-seeded Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands had a much more difficult time advancing against Russian Natalia Vikhlyantseva, winning 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (5).

In Tuesday's upsets, both underdogs dominated play -- particularly Stollar. The 161st-ranked player in the world had six aces to Zhang's two, nearly doubled Zhang in first-return points percentage and won 59 percent of the total points. Stollar also won every one of her break points. Kudermetova, ranked No. 170 in the world, aced Kontaveit nine times and won nearly 80 percent of her first serves.

Aside from Kontaveit and Zhang, the rest of the top eight remains in the field, headlined by top-seeded American CoCo Vandeweghe. She faces Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands in the second round on Wednesday.

Nature Valley Open

Defending champion and No. 6 seed Donna Vekic of Croatia narrowly escaped Britain's Gabriella Taylor 7-5, 5-7, 7-6 (3) to advance in a relatively upset-free first round in Nottingham, England. Top-seeded Ashleigh Barty of Australia defeated Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland 6-3, 6-3.

Of the five seeded players in action Tuesday, only seventh-seeded Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan lost, and that was after retiring just three games into her match with Australian Samantha Stosur.

No. 4 seed Johanna Konta of Great Britain and No. 5 Mihaela Buzarnescu of Romania both advanced, though Buzarnescu narrowly escaped against Paraguay's Veronica Cepede Royg, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (5). Konta handled Japan's Kurumi Nara, 6-2, 6-3.

Konta advanced to the finals of the tournament in her home country last season, losing to Vekic in three sets.

--Field Level Media

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