WTA roundup: Top seeds roll at Libema Open

[June 13, 2023]  Second-seeded Liudmila Samsonova needed more than 3 1/2 hours but finally got past Lena Papadakis 7-5, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (3) to advance to the second round of the Libema Open at 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, on Monday. 

Samsonova blasted 11 aces but also suffered through 10 double faults to get past the 348th-ranked German in three hours and 40 minutes. The Russian saved 12 of 14 break points.

Top-seeded Veronika Kudermetova of Russia advanced when Alison Riske-Amritraj retired in the second set, trailing 6-3, 3-0. No. 3 seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus posted a 7-6 (5), 6-3 win over Natalija Stevanovic of Serbia.

Unseeded players Emina Bektas, Carol Zhao of Canada and Greet Minnen of Belgium also advanced.

Rothesay Open

Top seed Maria Sakkari of Greece defeated China's Xiyu Wang 6-2, 7-6 (6) in the first round on the grass at Nottingham, Great Britain.

No. 4 seed Donna Vekic of Croatia outlasted Spain's Cristina Bucsa 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 to advance. Eighth-seeded Lin Zhu of China ousted Alycia Parks 7-6 (5), 6-2.

Sixth-seeded Shuai Zhang of China fell to Germany's Tatjana Maria in quick fashion, 6-1, 6-4 in 67 minutes. Seventh-seeded Camila Giorgi of Italy was leading Madison Brengle 5-1 in the opening set when their match was suspended by rain.

--Field Level Media

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