Sixth-seeded Sybille Bammer of Austria rallied to beat Pauline Parmentier of France 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 on Tuesday and reach the second round of the Strasbourg International.
Chang Kai-chen of Taiwan suffered a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 defeat by third-seeded Virginie Razzano of France.
Razzano will meet Sofia Arvidsson in the second round after the Swede routed Jill Craybas of the US 6-2, 6-1. Craybas squandered her nine break points, while Arvidsson converted five of eight break chances.
Julia Goerges of Germany and Dia Evtimova of Bulgaria also advanced. Goerges outlasted Maria Elena Camerin of Italy 5-7, 7-5, 6-1 and will next face Bammer, while Evtimova defeated Tatjana Malek of Germany 6-4, 7-5.
The 267th-ranked Evtimova reached the second round of a WTA tour event for the first time in her career and will next play top-seeded Maria Sharapova of Russia.
Bammer led 4-0 in the final set but faltered as Parmentier won five straight games to get an opportunity to serve out the match.
But a double-fault from the Frenchwoman helped Bammer level at 5-5.
Goerges trailed 5-1 in the second set but won eight straight games, and dominated the decider.
Fifth-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain and Yvonne Meusburger of Austria also moved into the second round.
Medina Garrigues cruised past Sandra Zahlavova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-0 and Meusburger beat Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia 6-4, 6-3.
Meusburger will take on Kristina Barrois of Germany, who edged Stephanie Foretz of France 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (8). Barrois was scheduled to play fourth-seeded Peng Shuai, but the Chinese suffered from dizziness and withdrew.
Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic beat Julie Coin of France 7-5, 6-2 and will face Medina Garrigues.
In the late matches, eighth-seeded Elena Baltacha of Britain beat Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-3, 7-5, and seventh-seeded Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia routed Mariana Duque Marino of Colombia 6-1, 6-1 in just 47 minutes.
Sevastova will meet Kristina Mladenovic of France, who outlasted Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (5).
Mladenovic, the world’s top-ranked junior and a junior French Open champion, rallied from a 5-2 deficit in the last set to force a tiebreaker. She won 101 points, to Voegele’s 100.
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