LYON, France (AP) — Top-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova was knocked out of the Lyon Open in the opening round by 139th-ranked Clara Tauson of Denmark on Monday.
Tauson won convincingly 6-3, 6-4, showing a better second serve. She finished the first set with an ace, and the match on a long serve return by the Russian.
Alexandrova was reaching the third round of the Australian Open while Tauson, the 2019 Junior Australian Open champion, was winning a minor event in Germany off the main tour.
Tauson’s only other win of note was in September against recent Australian Open finalist Jennifer Brady at the French Open.
No. 2-seeded Fiona Ferro barely avoided the same fate as Alexandrova, as she was made to fight for nearly three hours to overcome Magdalena Frech of Poland 5-7, 7-5, 7-5 in the empty hard court stadium.
Frech, ranked 161st, broke in the first game of the first set, but had to break Ferro again to prevent the tournament’s leading Frenchwoman from serving out at 5-4. But Ferro broke back and served out a second time.
No. 6-seeded Sorana Cirstea of Romania lost to Nina Stojanovic of Serbia 6-4, 6-0 for the first time. Stojanovic reached the Australian Open doubles semifinals.
___
More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
