Two-time WTA Tour champion Jill Teichmann came back from one set down to beat Spanish qualifier Marina Bassols Ribera 3-6 6-4 6-1 in the opening round of the Ladies Open in Palermo.
Bassols Ribera opened up a 3-1 lead with a break in the fourth game. Teichmann broke straight back in the fifth game, but Bassols Ribera broke for the second time to win the first set 6-3. Both players traded breaks twice in the second set en route to 4-4. Teichmann converted her third break point in the 10th game to win the second set 6-4. The Swiss player broke twice in the second and sixth games to close out the second set 6-2.
Teichmann made a successful return to the Palermo Ladies Open, where she won the title two years ago.
Chinese qualifier Zheng Qinwen beat Liudmila Samsonova 6-3 6-2. The Chinese teenager, who is playing in the main draw of a WTA Tournament for the first time in her career, converted four of the seven break points and saved nine of the ten break points she faced in the match.
Zheng earned her first break in the sixth game to win the first set 6-3. The second set started with three consecutive breaks. Zheng broke twice to open up a 3-1 lead. The Chinese player saved three break points to hold serve at deuce before converting her second break point in the seventh game to claim the second set 6-2. Sixth-seeded player Oceane Dodin beat Romanian qualifier Alexandra Dulgheru 6-3 6-2. Natalia Vikhlyantseva saved six of her seven break points she faced and converted four of the eleven break points in her 6-3 6-2 win over Leonie Kung from Switzerland.
