Haddad Maia moves ahead as Bogdan stuns Fernandez at Cleveland Open

No.1 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia beat qualifier Viktorija Golubic 6-3, 7-5 in the first round of the Cleveland Open on Tuesday.

Haddad Maia came back from 5-0 down in the second set, saving two set points at 5-2 and four more set points at 5-4.

Ana Bogdan toppled No.2 seed Leylah Fernandez 1-6, 7-6(2), 6-2, garnering her first main-draw win since the French Open.

Bogdan cruised to a 5-0 lead in the third set. Fernandez saved seven match points in a marathon seventh game, eventually pushing the set to an eighth, but Bogdan then finished the job, having capitalized on Fernandez’s 11 double faults.

Czech third seed Katerina Siniakova and American sixth seed Peyton Stearns both needed three sets to advance. Siniakova rallied for a 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-6 (5) victory over Japan’s Sayaka Ishii, saving three match points in the ninth game of the third set as she dug out of a 5-1 hole.

Stearns beat Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima 6-0, 1-6, 6-1 despite committing eight double faults and saving none of the four break points she faced.

Meanwhile, top-seeded Danielle Collins is out of the WTA 500 event in Monterrey, beaten 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 by Erika Andreeva in a match that finished about 1 a.m. Wednesday at the hardcourt tournament in Mexico.

Andreeva beat a top 20 player for the first time to advance to the quarterfinals of a top-level WTA tournament, also for the first time.

Earlier, sixth-seeded Linda Noskova dropped just one game in a 49-minute, 6-0, 6-1 win Tuesday over Anna Danilina of Kazakhstan to reach the round of 16.

The 19-year-old Czech player will next meet either Wang Xiyu of China or Germany’s Tatjana Maria.

Defending champion Donna Vekic withdrew from the Monterrey tournament after winning the Olympic silver medal in Paris.

Players allege double standards after Sinner escapes doping ban: Denis Shapovalov was among players who called out what they said were double standards in the sport after world number one Jannik Sinner was cleared of wrongdoing despite failing two drug tests this year.

The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) said on Tuesday an independent tribunal had cleared Sinner to continue competing, and former top 10 player Shapovalov was among those quick to suggest the Italian received preferential treatment.

“Can’t imagine what every other player that got banned for contaminated substances is feeling right now,” the Canadian wrote on social media.

“Different rules for different players.”

Sinner’s representatives told Reuters they would not respond to opinions on social media.

“Jannik has been found innocent following a rigorous process and a detailed review by an independent panel,” his team added.

“The reasons are explained in the independent panel’s publicly available decision. It is not for us to answer comments made on social media.”

The Italian’s coach, Darren Cahill, told ESPN they wanted to move on from the episode.

“We’re not looking for any sorrow or anything because we are quite thankful there is no ban attached,” he said.

“He would never, ever intentionally do anything and he’s in a situation which is incredibly unfortunate.”

Sinner tested positive for clostebol at Indian Wells in March with low quantities of the banned substance found in his system again after another test days later but the 23-year-old successfully challenged automatic provisional suspensions.

He is now free to compete at the Aug. 26-Sept. 8 U.S. Open, the final Grand Slam of the year.

Sinner, who lost in the Indian Wells semi-finals, was stripped of 400 ranking points and $325,000 in prize money.

The Australian Open champion, who maintains his innocence, said the substance entered his system after receiving massages from his physiotherapist, who had used a spray containing clostebol for his own finger wound.

The ITIA, an independent body established in 2021 by the governing bodies of the sport, said it had consulted experts who concluded Sinner’s explanation was credible and therefore it did not oppose his appeals to lift the provisional suspensions.

Agencies