Harriet Dart bowed out of the first round of the Eastbourne Open on Tuesday after suffering a 4-6 6-2 7-5 defeat by Zeynep Sönmez.
Dart, who won the Women’s Doubles event at the Nottingham Open alongside Maia Lumsden last week, started brightly, breaking Sönmez three times in the opening set as she served out six aces.
Despite that, Sönmez mounted a stirring comeback, saving two break points to go 2-0 up in the second set, before breaking Dart twice, going 5-2 up before serving out to level the match.
Dart started brightly, breaking Sönmez three times in the first set
The final set was a tussle of endurance. The pair traded seven breaks between them before Dart found herself serving for the match at 5-3.
But Sönmez wasn’t ready to give up, with the world No 54 coming back to win the following three games, to set up a tie against world No 45 Sara Bejlek.
Fellow Brit Alicia Dudeney, who was also handed a wildcard for the event, was also knocked out in straight sets by world No 48 Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, while there were multiple big upsets, with fourth seed Barbora Krejcikova suffering a 6-3 7-6 defeat by world No 73 Kimberly Birrell.
Meanwhile, No 1 seed Jasmine Paolini was left shocked after she suffered a 4-6 3-6 loss to world No 112 Tatjana Maria.
Fery sets up second-round tie with Cerundolo
Arthur Fery advanced to the next round of the Eastbourne Open
Britain’s Arthur Ferry advanced to the second round of the Eastbourne Open following a ‘rollercoaster’ match that saw him beat Argentinian Roman Andres Burruchaga 6-2 4-7 7-5.
The win will mean that for the first time in the tournament’s history, six male British players have reached the round of 16, with Jan Choinski, Jack Draper, Jack Pinnington Jones, Giles Hussey, and Tobey Samuel all advancing.
Fery dominated in the first set, first taking a 3-0 lead before going on to seal it 6-2. Things turned in the second set, when Burruchaga matched him game for game, before breaking Fery to go 4-3. The Brit saved three set points as he attempted to wrestle back momentum, but ultimately Burruchaga would see out the set.
Riding high on momentum, Burruchaga took a 5-3 lead in the final set, but a resilient Fery fought back to level at 5-5 before winning the final two games.
“It was a roller coaster,” Fery, who will play Juan Manuel Cerundolo in the next round, said to the ATP Tour after the match.
“I started off very well, came out of the blocks and then struggled a lot in the second set and to start the third. He was playing a lot better. Then I just tried to dig deep and tried to get the break back, and then managed to get over the line.”
Osaka advances as Svitolina stutters at Bad Homburg Open
Naomi Osaka advanced to the next round of the Bad Homburg Open
A dominant Naomi Osaka secured her spot in the quarter-finals of the Bad Homburg Open, with a 6-3 6-3 victory over Elise Mertens.
Osaka needed just one hour and seven minutes to seal victory, breaking Mertens at her first opportunity to do so, before dominating with her own service game to see out the first set.
Things continued in a similar vein from there, with Osaka going 4-2 up in the second set, before wrapping up the match by breaking Mertens in the final game.
She will play either Ekaterina Alexandrova or Mirra Andreeva in the next round.
World No 8 Elina Svitolina was taken to three sets by Liudmila Samsonova, who, after losing the first set, left the Ukrainian stunned by going 5-3 up before breaking her opponent to level the match at 1-1.
However, Svitolina’s big-game experience came to the fore in the final exchange, with the 31-year-old breaking her opponent in three of the last five games to see out the match 6-3 3-6 2-6.
Tsitsipas’ tough year continues in Mallorca
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Stefanos Tsitsipas stopped play to complain to the umpire about the ‘soft balls’ in his match against Ignacio Buse at the Vanda Pharmaceuticals Mallorca Championships.
Stefanos Tsitsipas suffered a 7-6 7-4 6-3 defeat in the round of 32 against Peruvian player Ignacio Buse and during the match, bizarrely stopped play to complain to the chair umpire about the condition of the tennis balls being used.
It continues the former world No 3’s poor season, with Tsitsipas having dropped to 88th in the ATP Tour rankings.
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