Elise Mertens claimed her first WTA title of the year after defeating Alize Cornet in straight sets to capture the Jasmin Open crown on Sunday.

The world number 42 reeled off the last 11 games as she soared to a dominant 6-2 6-0 victory after just 80 minutes in Monastir.

Mertens landed the seventh WTA title of her career - and first since the 2021 Gippsland Trophy - following a timely return to form off the back of a disappointing 2022 that had seen her reach just two quarter-finals.

The Belgian overcame Cornet in three sets when they met in St. Petersburg earlier this year, and she quickly gained the upper hand in the fifth contest between the pair.

Mertens rescued two break points to hold for 2-2, before breaking twice as she eventually cruised to the opening set.

A late wildcard in Tunisia, Cornet had progressed to her first final since Chicago last year without dropping a set, and was targeting her first silverware since triumphing in Gstaad four years ago.

But the world number 37 could not establish any momentum in her quest to get back into the final; nine double-faults certainly hindering her intentions.

Mertens fully capitalised. The fifth seed won 83 per cent of her first-service points, while breaking a further three times as she breezed to a commanding victory.

World number one Iga Swiatek will face Barbora Krejcikova in the Ostrava Open final after beating Ekaterina Alexandrova on Saturday.

Swiatek continued her stellar season with a 7-6 (7-5) 2-6 6-4 victory over the Russian.

A tie-break was needed to settle the opening set, with Swiatek securing a crucial break of serve when 6-5 up.

The Pole was caught off guard in the second set as Alexandrova took it the distance, before Swiatek claimed the solitary break of the decider to lead 4-3 and did not allow her opponent a way back.

Swiatek, who has 60 wins to her name in 2022, will do battle with Krejcikova in the championship match after she came from a set down to defeat Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-4.

Rybakina served 17 aces to Krejciokva's two, but the Czech 26-year-old battled to victory to put herself in the final of her home tournament.

At the Jasmin Open, Alize Cornet knocked out second seed Veronika Kudermetova with a 6-4 6-3 triumph to clinch her place in Sunday's final.

Cornet saved nine of 11 break points to beat the world number 12 and has not dropped a set all week at the tournament in Tunisia.

Elise Mertens awaits Cornet in the final after a 6-4 6-0 success over Claire Liu, who knocked out top seed Ons Jabeur on Friday.

Mertens broke Liu at 5-4 up to take the first set before emphatically sealing victory with a sublime second in which she won 24 of the 29 points.

Home favourite Ons Jabeur was on the end of a big upset at the Jasmin Open on Friday as the world number two was eliminated by Claire Liu in the quarter-finals.

Jabeur saw off Ann Li and Evgeniya Rodina in straight sets to reach the last eight, but Liu – ranked 73 in the world – came out on top 6-3 4-6 6-4.

Liu is now into her second semi-final of the season and will face Elise Mertens, who defeated Moyuka Uchijima 6-0 3-6 6-4 in the final match of the day.

Second and third seeds Veronika Kudermetova and Alize Cornet will meet in the other semi after beating Diane Parry and Tamara Zidansek respectively in straight sets.

At the Ostrava Open, meanwhile, tournament favourite Iga Swiatek reached her 10th semi-final of the year with a 6-4 6-4 victory over qualifier Caty McNally.

Swiatek needed nearly two hours to seal her 59th victory of the season – just one short of tying Caroline Wozniacki, the most recent female to hit 60 wins in a calendar year (2017).

She will now face Ekaterina Alexandrova, who proved too strong for Tereza Martincova in a 6-1 4-6 6-1 victory.

Another grand slam winner in Barbora Krejcikova earlier beat Alycia Parks 7-6 (9-7) 6-3 on home soil to maintain her positive form, a week after triumphing at the Tallinn Open.

Awaiting her in the semi-finals is Elena Rybakina following the reigning Wimbledon champion's 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 victory against Petra Kvitova.

Anett Kontaveit and Maria Sakkari were both knocked out of the Ostrava Open on Thursday as several top seeds tumbled.

Third seed Kontaveit, who won this competition last year, retired when a set down to Tereza Martincova, while world number seven Maria Sakkari was defeated 5-7 7-5 7-5 by 21-year-old American Alycia Parks in a big upset.

Parks lost the opener but found two crucial breaks of serve when 6-5 up in both the second and third sets to eliminate the fourth seed.

The withdrawal of Belinda Bencica – seeded sixth – with a foot injury put Barbora Krejcikova into the quarter-finals, while Ekaterina Alexandrova will also be in the last eight after overcoming fifth seed Daria Kasatkina 6-1 7-6 (7-1).

The tournament favourites were in much better form at the Jasmin Open in Tunisia, as the top two seeds sealed their places in the quarter-finals with straight-sets wins.

Favourite Ons Jabeur cruised to a 6-1 6-3 victory over Evgeniya Rodina, converting four of her seven break points to safely advance to the next round of her home tournament.

And number two seed Veronika Kudermetova eased past Magdalena Frech 6-3 6-4 to set up a quarter-final meeting with Diane Parry.

Emma Raducanu has withdrawn from the Transylvania Open with a wrist injury, compounding a miserable 2022 for the British number one.

The teenager became an overnight star on the WTA Tour last year when she won the US Open women's singles title in her first appearance at Flushing Meadows.

However, her attempts to follow up that success have been hamstrung by a succession of niggles, with Raducanu currently down at 67th in the world rankings.

Her withdrawal from next week's event in Romania – the country from which her father hails – is just the latest injury problem, with Raducanu having been forced to quit during the semi-finals of last month's Korea Open with a glute problem.

This followed a first-round retirement at the Nottingham Open before Wimbledon, though Raducanu ultimately recovered to reach the second round of the grass-court major.

A first-round exit at the Ostrava Open this week, followed by the latest setback, means Raducanu's season appears effectively over, with the 19-year-old likely to set her focus on regaining full fitness ahead of 2023.

Iga Swiatek is through to the quarter-finals of the Ostrava Open after Ajla Tomljanovic retired hurt in their second-round match on Wednesday.

The world number one had won the first set 7-5, but her Australian opponent was forced to concede at 2-2 in the second.

Swiatek is now the female player with the most wins in a single year (58) in the last five seasons. Former world number one Ash Barty recorded 57 victories in 2019.

The second seed in Ostrava is out after Paula Badosa was beaten 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 by Petra Kvitova in front of a delighted Czech crowd, while Elena Rybakina is also through to the last eight after coming from behind to win against Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 7-5.

Wednesday's two other matches saw more success for Czech participants as Karolina Muchova beat seventh seed Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-4 6-4, while Barbora Krejcikova defeated Shelby Rogers 6-2 6-2.

There was less Czech joy at the Jasmin Open in Tunisia, where Katerina Siniakova was beaten 7-5 6-2 by Claire Liu.

Elsewhere, number three seed Alize Cornet eased past Harriet Dart 6-3 6-4, Elise Mertens came from behind to beat Despina Papamichail and Diane Parry went through against French compatriot Lucrezia Stefanini after the latter retired hurt in the second set.

Belinda Bencic fought back to defeat Eugenie Bouchard in an Ostrava Open first-round contest that took over two and a half hours to settle.

Bouchard took the first set, but Bencic came from behind to advance with a 6-7 (7-9) 6-1 6-4 victory on Tuesday.

Eighth seed Jelena Ostapenko, runner-up in the Korea Open, suffered a premature exit as Aliaksandra Sasnovich consigned the former French Open champion to a 6-2 6-2 defeat.

Emma Raducanu also went out in straight sets, with Daria Kasatkina beating the 2021 US Open champion 7-5 6-4.

Catherine McNally blitzed to a 6-1 6-2 victory over Anna Blinkova, while Alycia Parks progressed past Karolina Pliskova to secure the first top-20 win of her career.

Top seed Ons Jabeur swept aside Ann Li with relative ease in a 6-2 6-3 victory at the Jasmin Open to reach the last 16.

Veronika Kudermetova, the second seed, breezed past Varvara Gracheva with a commanding 6-1 6-0 win.

Anastasia Potapova, Petra Martic, Magdalena Frech and Harriet Dart were among the other victors.

Elena Rybakina advanced to the last 16 at the Ostrava Open on Monday, but fellow former grand slam winner Victoria Azarenka exited at the first hurdle.

Rybakina, who has struggled for consistency since victory at Wimbledon earlier this year, came back from a set down to dispatch Madison Keys with a 5-7 6-3 6-3 win.

She could face eighth seed Jelena Ostapenko in the next round, but one name not in the draw will be Azarenka, who could not claw back victory against Ekaterina Alexandrova in a 6-4 4-6 2-6 defeat.

Alexandrova is in line to play either Emma Raducanu or Daria Kasatkina in the next stage.

Meanwhile, top seeds Iga Swiatek and Paula Badosa earned the identity of their opponents after receiving first-round byes.

Swiatek will play Ajla Tomljanovic, who progressed in straight sets against Zhang Shuai, as Badosa faces Petra Kvitova, who was made to work a little harder in three by Bernarda Pera.

At the Jasmin Open, third, fifth and seventh seeds Alize Cornet, Elise Mertens and Katerina Siniakova each advanced with respective straight-sets routs of Laura Pigossi, Jaqueline Cristian and Chloe Paquet – the latter retiring as she trailed 4-0 in the second set.

But eighth seed Magda Linette is out after letting an early lead slip against Lucrezia Stefanini, who celebrated a 2-6 6-4 6-4 victory.

Iga Swiatek warned the tennis schedule is "not safe" and "could cause injury" as she pulled out of the Billie Jean King Cup Finals.

The world number one was due to represent Poland in an event that will be staged in Glasgow from November 8-13, but withdrew on Monday.

That competition will start just a day after the WTA Finals finish in Fort Worth, Texas.

US and French Open champion Swiatek criticised governing bodies the WTA and International Tennis Federation (ITF), who run the Billie Jean King Cup, over the calendar.

"I was thinking it through a lot and discussing it with my team, but I will not be able to play at the Billie Jean King Cup in Glasgow," Swiatek posted in an Instagram story.

"It makes me sad. I'm very sorry, because I play for Poland whenever it's possible and I always give it my best.

"Playing in Poland this year [in the qualifiers] was an honour and I hoped to do this again at the end of the season.

"I'm disappointed that tennis governing bodies didn't come to an agreement on something as basic as the calendar of tournaments, giving us only one day to travel through the globe and changing the time zone.

"The situation is not safe for our health and could cause injury."

Barbora Krejcikova claimed her first title of the year by beating top seed Anett Kontaveit in the inaugural Tallinn Open final on Sunday.

Krejcikova had not won a singles title since her third triumph of 2021 in Prague last July, but ended her drought with a 6-2 6-3 defeat of the top seed.

The Czech ended the home favourite's hopes of being crowned champion in a showpiece match that was over in an hour and 21 minutes.

Kontaveit had won 24 consecutive indoor matches on hard courts, but she was no match for the 2021 French Open champion.

Krejcikova won 71 per cent of points on Kontaveit's second serve, breaking twice in the opening set and three times in the second.

She drew first blood to go 4-2 in the first following precise groundstrokes off both wings, then broke for a second time to seal an opening set in which Kontaveit made 13 unforced errors.

World number four Kontaveit responded with a break in the opening game of the second set, but failed to back that up with a hold.

Kontaveit had the initiative again at 3-1, but there was a sense of deja vu as her opponent broke straight back and served out the match after moving 5-3 in front with another break.

Mayar Sherif became the first Egyptian to win a title on the WTA Tour as she toppled Maria Sakkari in Saturday's Parma Ladies Open final.

The 26-year-old from Cairo scored a 7-5 6-3 victory over Greece's world number seven after both won their semi-finals earlier in the day.

Sakkari began the day by beating Danka Kovinic 7-5 6-2, while Sherif earned her place in the title match by battling to a 6-4 3-6 6-4 victory against Ana Bogdan.

The final surprisingly went the way of Sherif, who first entered the WTA top 100 in August of last year and has reached a high of 44th in the rankings.

She began this week at number 74 but will climb again after the biggest success of her career.

"It means a lot for my country," Sherif said. "I'm just thrilled and happy. This was never expected."

Sherif, who studied sports medicine at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, was understandably weary after her two wins on Saturday. Friday's play had been cancelled due to rain, forcing the players to take to the courts twice on finals day.

"I'm exhausted," Sherif said, quoted on the WTA website. "Today was a very tough day for me, many hours on court. I'm very happy that I pulled it off. I had to dig very deep."

At the Tallinn Open, Sunday's final will be a tantalising tussle between Anett Kontaveit and Barbora Krejcikova.

World number four Kontaveit was a 6-4 6-4 winner against fellow Estonian Kaia Kanepi in their semi-final.

Czech Krejcikova, who won last year's French Open, saw off Swiss second seed Belinda Bencic 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-2) 6-2.

Anett Kontaveit secured a spot in the semi-finals of the Tallinn Open after overcoming Ysaline Bonaventure 6-3 3-6 6-3.

On home soil, the top seed won 80 per cent of total service points in the opening set but Bonaventure fought back in the second to send the match to a deciding set.

A valiant effort from Kontaveit in the third set secured a spot in the final four, where she will face compatriot Kaia Kanepi after her 6-2 3-6 7-6 (8-6) victory over Karolina Muchova in the final match of the day.

Earlier on Friday, second seed Belinda Bencic defeated Donna Vekic to set up a semi-final clash against Barbora Krejcikova, who defeated Beatriz Haddad Maia in straight sets.

At the Parma Ladies Open, the scheduled semi-finals were postponed due to rain and will instead be played on Saturday, with the final to follow later in the day.

Top seed Maria Sakkari faces Danka Kovinic, with play to begin at 10:30 local time, and will be followed by Ana Bogdan against Mayar Sherif.

Tallinn Open top seed Anett Kontaveit kept her hopes of winning her home tournament alive with a 6-2 6-1 demolition of Tereza Martincova on Thursday.

The 26-year-old won five out of the final six games as she stormed to the first set, before securing her place in the quarter-finals with a superb second set in which she broke Martincova four times.

Fellow Estonian Kaia Kanepi is also through to the quarter-finals after a 7-5 7-5 victory over Ann Li.

The world number 32 found a crucial break with the opener tied at 5-5 as she took the first set, before breaking Li three times in the second to seal the win.

Eighth seed Shuai Zhang was dumped out by Donna Vekic in a 6-2 6-4 defeat, while fellow seed Jil Teichmann also saw her tournament ended as Ysaline Bonaventure beat her 7-6 (10-8) 6-3.

At the Parma Ladies Open, top seed Maria Sakkari came from a set down for the second consecutive match to overcome Maryna Zanevska and reach the semi-finals.

Zanevska sparked hopes for an upset as she broke the world number seven three times on her way to taking the opening set.

But Sakkari improved in the second to tie the match, before overcoming two breaks of serve from her Belgian opponent to win six of the last seven games and earn a 2-6 6-4 6-4 success.

Sakkari will face Danka Kovinic in the semi-finals, after the 27-year-old's 6-4 6-4 triumph over Italian Jasmine Paolini.

Irina-Camelia Begu's run of 12 consecutive wins on clay came to an end as she was defeated 6-2 7-6 (8-6) by Ana Bogdan in an all-Romanian clash. 

Bogdan's opponent in the final four will be Mayar Sherif, who beat American Lauren Davis 7-6 (7-2) 6-3.

Korea Open finalist Jelena Ostapenko was knocked out in the first round of the Tallinn Open after letting a one-set lead slip against Kaia Kanepi.

Ostapenko looked to be cruising after winning the opener, but Kanepi levelled in the second despite the Estonian watching five set points come and go.

Kanepi then romped to victory with a stunning final set to defeat Ostapenko 4-6 6-4 6-0 and keep her hopes of winning her home tournament alive.

In second-round action, Beatriz Haddad Maia is through to the quarter-finals after a 6-1 7-5 success over Linda Noskova.

After Haddad Maia cruised to a one-set lead, the second was a much tighter affair before the Brazilian's class showed as she broke Noskova and then held serve to earn a straight-sets win.

Second seed Belinda Bencic also secured her place in the final eight with a 6-4 6-7 (2-7) 6-3 triumph over Katie Boulter.

At the Parma Ladies Open, top seed Maria Sakkari came from behind to beat Arantxa Rus and seal her quarter-final spot.

Rus saved five out of five break points as she won the opening set 6-3 to give her hope of an upset.

Those hopes were soon dashed though as world number seven Sakkari broke twice to take the second set 6-2, before clinching the match in the third to tee up a clash with Maryna Zanevska.

World number 33 Irina-Camelia Begu made it 12 consecutive wins on clay by overcoming Matilde Paoletti in straight sets and will face fellow Romanian Ana Bogdan in the next round after she beat Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-2 3-6 6-3.

Fourth seed Sloane Stephens saw her tournament come to an end after she was defeated by Danka Kovinic.

Anett Kontaveit fought back to secure her place in the last 16 of the Tallinn Open in her native Estonia against a spirited Xiyu Wang.

The in-form Wang made life difficult for top seed Kontaveit initially, impressively taking the first set against the world number four.

Kontaveit then appeared to be cruising to victory when she took the second set 6-2 and found herself 5-1 up in the third, but Wang staged something of a revival.

Wang won four games on the trot to stun Kontaveit, only for the 21-year-old to lose her nerve as her opponent broke again and then served out the match 3-6 6-2 7-5, taking her through to face Tereza Martincova.

Beatriz Haddad Maia was also caused problems by a Chinese player, with Xinyu Wang taking the third seed to three sets.

Haddad Maia took the first set fairly comfortably but was blown away in the second before her composure returned in the decider, winning 6-3 1-6 6-4 to also progress to the last 16.

The other seed in action on Tuesday was Jil Teichmann, and she had no such issues seeing off Laura Siegemund 6-4 7-6 (9-7), although the day's most impressive win saw Donna Vekic thrash Maileen Nuudi 6-2 6-0.

At the Parma Ladies Open, second seed Martina Trevisan was stunned 7-5 6-0 by Sara Sorribes Tormo.

It was a bad day for seeds throughout the draw in Italy. Anna Bondar (fifth), Nuria Parrizas Diaz (seventh) and Lucia Bronzetti (eighth) all lost in straight sets.

Third favourite Irina-Camelia Begu did buck that trend, however. She benefited from Viktoriya Tomova retiring, although the Romanian was already a set and 5-1 up.