Cirstea beats Petkovic in 1st round of Nuremberg Cup

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NUREMBERG, Germany (AP) Sorana Cirstea rallied to defeat home favorite Andrea Petkovic 2-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5) in the first round of the Nuremberg Cup on Tuesday.

Petkovic was 2-0 up in the second set, but the sixth-seeded Romanian fought back and won the last four points in the tiebreaker to clinch the victory after 2 hours, 45 minutes.

Cirstea next faces American Madison Brengle, who defeated compatriot Varvara Lepchenko 6-1, 6-3 on Sunday.

Also Tuesday, Kristyna Pliskova defeated Lara Arruabarrena 6-3, 7-5 in the second round, while Sweden's Johanna Larsson beat American Christina Mchale 6-3, 6-0.

There were first-round wins for Heather Watson and Veronica Cepede Royg over Ukrainian opponents.

Top-seeded Sloane Stephens' match against Yulia Putintseva was suspended until Wednesday with the score 7-5, 4-6, 3-3.