STRASBOURG, France — Top-seeded Sara Errani lost in the first round of the clay-court Strasbourg International Monday, falling to Monica Puig 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.
It was the third straight tournament that Errani lost in the opening round. The Strasbourg tournament is a warm-up for the French Open, which starts Sunday.
Defending champion Samantha Stosur, seeded third, defeated qualifier Lauren Davis 6-3, 7-5 to reach the second round, while eighth-seeded Timea Babos beat Olga Govortsova 6-4, 6-1.
Also, lucky loser Virginie Razzano beat Yaroslava Shvedova 6-3, 6-3, Zarina Diyas ousted lucky loser Shelby Rogers 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, and qualifier Mirjana Lucic-Baroni beat Qiang Wang 6-2, 2-6, 6-1.
On Sunday, qualifier Alla Kudryavtseva rallied to upset ninth-seeded Alize Cornet 1-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the first round Sunday.
Fourth-seeded Kristina Mladenovic needed three sets to outlast Madison Brengle of the United States 6-4, 2-6, 7-5.
Also, Hsieh Su-Wei defeated Xu Yi-fan 6-3, 6-1 to advance to the second round.
Jil Belen Teichmann rallied to defeat Kurumi Nara 2-6, 7-5, 6-1, and Alison Riske also advanced by beating Alize Lim 6-0, 7-5.
The outdoor clay-court event is a warm-up for the French Open, the second Grand Slam tournament of the year, which starts in a week.
Qualifier beats Fognini
In Nice, France, qualifier Donald Young rallied to reach the second round at the Nice Open, beating sixth-seeded Fabio Fognini 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 Monday.
Young served 10 aces, twice as many as Fognini.
Fifth-seeded Joao Sousa needed three sets to overcome another qualifier, Quentin Halys, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. Halys had 12 aces, but also had nine double-faults.
Another qualifier advanced to the second round when Diego Schwartzman defeated Fernando Verdasco 7-6 (5), 6-1.
Also, Guido Pella struggled before beating Daniil Medvedev 6-1, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5), while Taylor Fritz defeated Illya Marchenko 7-6 (4), 6-4.
Lepchenko, Friedsam advance
In Nuremberg, Germany, seventh-seeded Anna-Lena Friedsam advanced to the second round of the clay-court tournament in Nuremberg, beating Johanna Larsson 6-3, 6-4 Monday.
Also, Varvara Lepchenko beat Katharina Hobgarski 6-0, 6-3, Christina McHale defeated Nao Hibino 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-2, Polona Hercog edged qualifier Stepnahie Vogt 7-5, 7-6 (4), and Kiki Bertens beat Tatjana Maria 6-1, 7-6 (0).
Berdych splits with coach
Tomas Berdych has split with coach Daniel Vallverdu just ahead of this month's French Open due to his disappointing results in the recent past.
The 30-year-old Berdych is yet to reach a single final this season and has already lost 10 times, including a disappointing second-round loss to world No. 71 Damir Dzumhur in the Monaco Masters.
World No. 8 Berdych, who started working with the former coach of world No. 2 Andy Murray in December 2014, said in a Facebook post he was yet to decide on his new coach.
"My results lately have not been what I expected. As I am not a tennis player at the beginning of his career I have to act quickly when I feel that I need a change," Berdych said.
Berdych is currently training in Paris and with the second Grand Slam of the year starting in Roland Garros next week.
Turkey to host new event
The ATP says a new men's grass-court tournament will be held in Turkey next year as a warm-up to Wimbledon.
The tournament will be held in Antalya from June 25-July 1. It will feature a 28-player singles event and 16-pair doubles draw and offer 482,000 euros ($540,000) in prize money.
Seven grass courts will be built at the Kaya Palazzo Belek hotel resort under the guidance of Wimbledon's All England Club.
It's the latest addition to the grass-court season following the introduction of a three-week gap between the French Open and Wimbledon. Also next year, the grass-court tournament in Nottingham, England, will return to Eastbourne and take place the same week as the Turkish event.
It will be the second ATP tournament in Turkey, which has hosted the Istanbul Open the past two years. — Agencies
