Egypt’s Mayar Sherif claimed her first title in nearly four years Monday after Spain’s Paula Badosa retired in the final of the Iasi Open in Romania.
In a match moved back from Sunday due to rain, Sherif was up 6-4, 4-0 when Badosa was forced to bow out due to injury after 70 minutes.
Sherif, 30, took control with a service break in the seventh game of the opening set and broke Badosa twice to open the second set.
Sherif claimed her first WTA Tour-level trophy since winning the Parma Open in Italy – also on clay – in October 2022.
Livesport Prague Open
Croatian sixth seed Antonia Ruzic made a quick exit, losing her opening-round match 7-6 (2), 6-4 to Dominika Salkova, who was playing in front of a friendly crowd in her native Czech Republic.
Salkova won 52.2% of her return points while holding a narrow 5-4 edge in breaks. She survived a roller coaster of a match which saw her win the first four games but losing the next five.
Czech No. 1 seed Marie Bouzkova and No. 8 seed Daria Snigur of Ukraine did not have the same trouble in their opening matches. Bouzkova beat Jessica Bouzas Maneiro of Spain 7-5, 7-5, while Snigur won a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 marathon against Germany’s Ella Seidel.
In unseeded action, Ayla Aksu of Turkey beat Belgium’s Sofia Costoulas 2-6, 6-3, 6-4; Lucie Havlickova of the Czech Republic triumphed against Alycia Parks 6-2, 6-4; Carol Young Suh Lee overcame Ukraine’s Veronika Podrez 6-1, 5-7, 6-2; and France’s Oceane Dodin swept Czech Alisa Oktiabreva 6-3, 6-3.
MSC Hamburg Ladies Open
No. 2 seed Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine swept Kaitlin Quevedo of Spain 7-5, 6-4 on the opening day of the tournament in Germany.
It was a chaotic match, with 14 games won by the returning player and just eight won by the serving player. Kalinina, though, was more opportunistic, winning 8 of 17 break-point opportunities to overcome a no-ace performance with nine double faults.
In other Day 1 action, Anna Bondar of Hungary bested Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima 7-5, 6-4 by winning 48.4% of her return points. German wild card Julia Stusek outlasted Argentina’s Nadia Podoroska for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win in the most competitive match of the day.
-Field Level Media
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