Top seed Simona Halep fights into Prague Open second round

PRAGUE - Top seed Simona Halep fought hard in the WTA Prague Open first round as she edged out Slovenia's Polona Hercog 6-1, 1-6, 7-6(3) on Tuesday.

Halep needed seven match points in the two-and-a-half hour match as both players fired 29 winners while Help made less mistakes, 39 against Hercog's 42.

"I knew it was going to be difficult," Romanian Halep told the WTA official website. "All our matches were very tough and very long. She knows me pretty well, we played in juniors. She changes the rhythm, she plays dropshots, a little bit softer then harder, so it was tougher for me to be in the point."

No.2 seed Petra Martic of Croatia bounced opened her Prague Open campaign with a 7-6 (2), 6-3 victory over Russian Varvara Gracheva.

Martic took a medical timeout between sets on Tuesday but eventually won the match.

"Not an easy one, especially the first set," Martic said.