By Field Level Media
Sep 22 (Field Level Media) – Top seeds advanced to the second round of the Korea Open in Seoul on Tuesday.
No. 1 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia knocked out Anastasia Zakharova of Russia, 6-4, 6-1, and No. 2 Kimberly Birrell of Australia defeated Slovenia’s Tamara Zidansek 7-6 (2), 6-4.
Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania, the No. 4 seed, ousted Eva Lys of Germany 6-1, 6-2. No. 6 Anna Bondar of Hungary came from a set back before defeating Renata Zarazua of Mexico 2-6, 6-3, 6-1.
Yeon Woo Ku and Sohyun Park both won to reach the second round, following Back Dayeon on Monday. The three players — all wild-card entrants — became the first trio of South Koreans to reach the second round of the same WTA tournament for the first time since 1984 in Rio de Janeiro.
Singapore Tennis Open
No. 8 seed Donna Vekic of Croatia was upset bv China’s Xinyu Wang 6-1, 6-2 in Singapore, one of two seeds out of the tournament.
No. 2 Amanda Anisimova was forced to withdraw due to an injury to her left wrist.
Anisimova, still searching for her first tournament title of 2026, was scheduled to meet Talia Gibson of Australia in the second round. The American had received a bye straight into the second round. Lucky loser Viktoria Morvayova of Slovakia will step into Anisimova’s spot to face Gibson.
No. 7 Maria Sakkari of Greece had a quick match, knocking off Czech Linda Fruhvirtova 6-4, 6-1.
In other first-round action on Tuesday, Alycia Parks topped lucky loser Mei Yamaguchi of Japan 6-4, 6-3. Russian Tatiana Prozorova moved on with a 5-7, 7-6 (6), 6-2 victory over Sofia Costoulas of Belgium, and Oleksandra Oliynykova of Ukraine defeated Vivian Wolff 6-1, 7-6 (5).
(–Field Level Media)
