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It was the third career top-10 win for Niemeier,
who absorbed Jabeur's seven aces and won 30 of 37 first-service
points (81.1 percent). Niemeier also saved four of six break
points while going 3-for-3 in converting her break-point
chances.
No. 8 seed Daria Kasatkina of Russia also fell, as countrywoman
Elina Avanesyan pushed past her 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7). Avanesyan
saved two match points during the third-set tiebreaker and
rallied from down 6-4 to clinch the match in the 16th point.
Top seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, second seed Elena Rybakina
of Kazakhstan and fifth seed Coco Gauff of the United States all
won in straight sets. Ekaterina Alexandrova and Anna Blinkova of
Russia also won, while Australia's Jaimee Fourlis advanced due
to opponent Xinyu Wang of Chian retiring after they split the
first two sets.
Two matches were suspended due to rain and scheduled to be
completed Wednesday. Aliaksandra Sasnovich led Victoria Azarenka
6-4, 1-1 in an all-Belarusian battle, and Rebeka Masarova of
Spain was all square with Nadia Podoroska of Argentina 6-3, 3-6,
1-1.
Rothesay Classic
No. 2 seed Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia outlasted the Czech
Republic's Linda Noskova 6-2, 5-7, 6-1 in first-round action in
Birmingham, England.
Fourth seed Anastasia Potapova of Russia spent two hours and 31
minutes to defeat Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk 6-7 (6), 7-5, 6-4, and
No. 8 seed Sorana Cirstea also needed three sets to advance past
fellow Romanian Ana Bogdan 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.
In an all-British showdown, Harriet Dart rallied past Jodie
Burrage 4-6, 6-2, 7-5. Poland's Magdalena Frech and China's Lin
Zhu also won their matches.
--Field Level Media
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