BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia outlasted top-seeded and 17th-ranked Elise Mertens of Belgium 7-6 (5), 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4) in a marathon match on Tuesday at the Birmingham grass-court tournament.
Tomljanovic overcame 14 aces by Mertens, who had 12 double-faults in a tight, tense match that lasted just over three hours. Ranked No. 72, the 28-year-old Tomljanovic, who was born in Croatia, had won 14 of 26 singles matches this season entering this tournament.
In other matches Tuesday: No. 2 seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia beat 19-year-old American Catherine McNally 6-4, 6-2; Shuai Zhang of China defeated Vitalia Diatchenko of Russia 6-2, 7-5; Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine beat American Madison Brengle 4-6, 7-5, 6-3; Leylah Fernandez of Canada topped Yafan Wang of China 7-5, 6-3; Daria Kasatkina of Russia came back to defeat Polona Hercog of Slovenia 4-6, 6-3, 6-3; Anastasia Potapova of Russia rallied to defeat Nina Stojanovic of Serbia 5-7, 7-6 (8), 6-4; and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia beat Lauren Davis of the United States 6-4, 6-1.
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