WTA Roundup: Clijsters, Azarenka fall in Monterrey; Mladenovic beats Paquet in Lyon

Kim Clijsters was beaten by Johanna Konta in the opening round of Monterrey Open, while Kristina Mladenovic rallied to reach the second round in Lyon.

Belgian Kim Clijsters managed to win just 12 return points in the 85-minute loss to Johanna Konta at the Monterrey Open.

Kim Clijsters suffered another loss as her comeback continued at the Monterrey Open, while Victoria Azarenka started her 2020 with a defeat on Tuesday. Back after more than seven years off the WTA Tour, Clijsters fell to a second straight loss, going down to second seed Johanna Konta 6-3 7-5 in the first round.

Clijsters, a wildcard at the WTA International tournament, managed to win just 12 return points in the 85-minute loss as Konta posted her first win of the year. The four-time grand slam champion has been handed two tough draws this year, having lost to Garbine Muguruza in Dubai last month.

READ |

Playing for the first time since last year's US Open, seventh seed and last year's runner-up Azarenka was beaten 6-2 6-2 by Tamara Zidansek. Top seed Elina Svitolina cruised through the opening round with a 6-3 6-2 victory over Danka Kovinic.

American 10th seed Lauren Davis also eased through, while there were wins for Anastasia Potapova, Leylah Fernandez, Arantxa Rus, Kateryna Bondarenko and Tatjana Maria.

- Mladenovic sends Paquet packing in Lyon -

Kristina Mladenovic overcame a poor start to beat wildcard Chloe Paquet in an all-French first-round encounter at the Lyon Open on Tuesday. Mladenovic racked up 14 double faults but stormed back to beat her 166-ranked compatriot 1-6 6-2 6-4.

Half of those double faults came in a one-sided opening set, which Mladenovic put behind her to seal victory in two hours and 12 minutes. The second seed, who will now face Anna-Lena Friedsam, said: "It was definitely not an easy match to face a countrywoman and also a friend, even though I don't know as much about her in the tennis - like, how she plays."

"It's never easy to start a tournament and we never played each other before, so it wasn't easy. It was very far from perfect but I'm just pleased with how I stayed calm and composed and how I fought through to find solutions to get the win."

There were no surprises on the second day of main-draw matches, with seventh seed Daria Kasatkina defeating Pauline Parmentier 6-2 5-7 6-4. Jil Teichmann dumped out Clara Burel 6-4 6-3, while Viktoria Kuzmova, Camila Giorgi, Tereza Martincova and Viktoriya Tomova also progressed.