The Israeli, a bronze medallist at the Samsun Grand Prix earlier this year, was made to work hard for gold as she was locked in a fierce battle with Odette Giuffrida of Italy in the final.

Cohen continually fended off attacks from Giuffrida and managed to take the contest to golden point, where a shido penalty from the Italian in the added period handed the judoka from Israel the Baku Grand Slam crown.

World number eight Ma Yingnan of China secured the first bronze medal on offer in the division by beating Laura Gomez of Spain, with the other going to Bundmaa Munkhbaatar of Mongolia after she overcame Erika Miranda of Brazil.

Former world champion Boldbaatar Ganbat of Mongolia held off the challenge of Japanese debutant Ryuju Nagayama in the final of the men’s under 60kg weight category.

Nagayama, a junior world champion, had exceeded all expectations by powering through to the final and held his own in the gold medal bout but fell short in the end having amassed four penalties to Ganbat’s three.

Asian Championships silver medallist Diyorbek Urozboev of Uzbekistan defeated compatriot Sharafuddin Lutfillaev in the opening bronze medal bout before Britain’s Ashley McKenzie edged Amartuvshin Dashdavaa of Mongolia to clinch the other spot on the podium.

Tokyo Grand Slam winner Tsukasa Yoshida managed to succeed where her team-mate Nagayama had failed as she claimed the women’s under 57kg honours with victory over Nekoda Smythe Davis of Britain.

Sabrina Filzmoser of Austria proved too strong for fellow veteran Miryam Roper of Germany to seal a bronze medal and China’s Lu Tongjuan had enough in her locker to beat Brazil’s Rafaela Silva in the other third place play-off.

Mikhail Pulyaev asserted his dominance as the top Russian judoka in the men’s under 66kg event, defeating Asian Games bronze medallist Azamat Mukanov of Kazakhstan by ippon to secure gold.

Tarlan Karimov gave the home crowd some success to cheer as he earned bronze with a golden score ippon triumph against Kenneth van Gansbeke of Belgium.

Sugoi Uriarte of Spain also finished the event in the Azerbaijani capital with a medal as he outperformed Fabio Basile of Italy in the second bronze medal bout.

Spain’s Julia Figueroa managed to improve on her bronze medal performance at the Paris Grand Slam in January as she was given the gold medal in the under 48kg division as opponent Eva Csernoviczki of Hungary, an Olympic bronze medallist at London 2012, was forced to withdraw through injury before the final.

Laetitia Payet of France and Otgontsetseg Galbadrakh of Mongolia each took bronze medals with victories over Guinea-Bissau’s Taciana Lima Balde and Dilara Lokmanhekim of Turkey respectively.

It is the first of three remaining meets in the Olympic qualification phase with 500 points on offer for gold medallists, 300 for runners-up, and 200 for third-place finishers.

The second event is the Almaty Grand Prix from May 13 to 15, followed by the invite-only World Judo Masters in Mexican city Guadalajara from May 27 to 29.

The Heydar Aliyev Sports and Exhibition Complex is Baku’s largest multi-sports venue and was renovated and modernised for the inaugural European Games last year.

Action is due to continue tomorrow with the women’s under 63kg and under 70kg competitions as well as the men’s under 73kg and under 81kg tournaments.

To watch all the latest action and interviews on Judo TV click here.