High-seeded Simona Halep needed to combat laborious to advance to the second spherical of the Prague Open in beating unseeded Polana Hercog 6-1, 1-6, 7-6 (3) on Tuesday. It was the primary aggressive match for Halep since she gained the Dubai Championships in February for her 20th profession WTA title. Earlier than the Wimbledon champion recovered from a foot damage she sustained in Dubai, the coronavirus pandemic compelled a five-month break.
The Romanian dropped her serve six instances and double-faulted eight instances earlier than prevailing in a tiebreaker. She’s going to face subsequent Czech wild card Barbora Krejcikova.
Second-seeded Petra Martic, who reached the semifinals in Palermo final week, overcame Varvara Gracheva 7-6 (2), 6-Three to face Kristyna Pliskova within the second spherical.
Third-seeded Elise Mertens recovered from a second set scare to beat Jasmine Paolini 7-5, 4-6, 6-3.
Fifth-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova was upset by Lesia Tsurenko 6-2, 6-4, sixth-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was knocked out by Arantxa Rus 7-5, 6-2 and Irina-Camelia Begu dispatched ninth-seeded Anastasia Sevastova 6-2, 6-2.
The second European event within the WTA’s restart amid the pandemic is following even stricter well being protocols than the Palermo Open final week.