Lyon Open: Caroline Garcia and Alize Cornet kick-off maiden event with French wins

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French players, Caroline Garcia and Alize Cornet advanced to the second round at the Lyon Open on Monday. Garcia, the third seed, needed three sets to win against Belgium’s Greet Minnen. After two hours and 16 minutes of play, Garcia won 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(5).

In the second round, she will face another Belgian Ysaline Bonaventure. Bonaventure defeated Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk 6-4, 6-4 in their opening-round match on Monday. The fourth-seeded Cornet came through in straight sets against German qualifier Antonia Lottner 7-5, 6-0 in one hour and 18 minutes.

Cornet awaits the winner between Vera Lapko and Camila Giorgi in the second round. Romanian qualifier Irina Bara defeated Timea Babos in their first-round match. Bara won 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-4 in two hours and 42 minutes. Bara’s compatriot, and fellow qualifier, Jaqueline Cristian defeated Priscilla Hon in their round-of-32 clash.

Cristian advanced into the second round with a 6-2, 6-0 win in 74 minutes. Bara awaits the winner between seventh seed Daria Kasatkina and Pauline Parmentier in the second round. Cristian awaits either the top-seed Sofia Kenin or Vitalia Diatchenko in the round-of-16.

Fifth seed Alison Van Uytvanck also moved ahead in the draw with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Poland’s Katarzyna Kawa in exactly an hour. Van Uytvanck will face the winner between Viktoriya Tomova and French qualifier Magdalena Frech in the second round.

Lastly, Anna-Lena Friedsam won against Russian qualifier Anastasiya Komardina. Friedsam won 6-2, 6-2 in an hour and 32 minutes. She will play either the second seed Kristina Mladenovic or French wildcard Chloe Paquet in the second round. Photo Credit: WTA Twitter