Upper Austria Ladies: Niemeier upsets Blinkova to reach second round

German qualifier Jule Niemeier advanced to the second round of the Upper Austria Ladies by winning against Russian Anna Blinkova 6-3, 6-4 at the TipsArena in Linz.

Niemeier, ranked No 159, will play second seed Ekaterina Alexandrova next.

Linz WTA 500, other first-round results (TipsArena, hard, USD 802.237, most recent results first):

• Petra Martic vs. Katerina Siniakova
• Dayana Yastremska vs. Erika Andreeva
• Anastasia Potapova vs. Sara Errani
• Clara Burel vs. Sinja Kraus
• Angelique Kerber vs. Lucia Bronzetti
• Elisabetta Cocciaretto beat Lucrezia Stefanini (Q): 6-2, 6-0
• Jaqueline Cristian (LL) beat Nadia Podoroska: 6-3, 6-4
• Clara Tauson (Q) beat Camila Giorgi: 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
• Jodie Burrage (Q) beat Varvara Gracheva (7): 6-4, 6-0
• Katie Boulter beat Jasmine Paolini (6): 6-2, 6-2
• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Martina Trevisan: 6-4, 6-0