Top seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark struggled to a 6-3, 7-6 (7/2) win over local favorite Mandy Minella to reach the second round of the Luxembourg Open on Tuesday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei rallied from a set down to defeat Slovakia’s Kristina Kucova 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-3.
Hsieh converted nine of her 12 break-point chances and took advantage of the eight double faults served by Kucova to set up a second-round match against eighth seed Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia, who defeated Italy’s Francesca Schiavone 6-4, 6-3.
Second seed Sloane Stephens of the US made lighter work of her day as she beat 2009 champion and Swiss wild-card Timea Bacsinszky 6-3, 6-3.
Photo: EPA
Two seeds fell on Tuesday: No. 4 Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium lost to Katarzyna Piter of Poland 6-4, 6-2, and No. 6 Mona Barthel of Germany lost to Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3).
Third seed Sabine Lisicki of Germany was in trouble early on against Croatia’s Donna Vekic, but recovered to win in three sets 2-6, 6-3, 6-0.
Additional reporting by staff writer
KREMLIN CUP
AFP, MOSCOW
Serbian qualifier Vesna Dolonc battled from a set down to upset former winner Dominika Cibulkova and advance to the second round of the joint ATP-WTA Kremlin Cup in Moscow on Tuesday.
Dolonc, 24, came through the 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 winner against ninth seed Slovak Cibulkova, who won her first WTA title in Moscow in 2011.
The opponents traded breaks twice before Cibulkova made a break in the eighth game to clinch a 1-0 lead in 43 minutes.
In the second, the rivals continued trading breaks, but this time Dolonc, who is 92nd in the WTA rankings, acted with more accuracy to level at one set all after 1 hour, 43 minutes on court.
In the deciding set, Dolonc made the winning break in the sixth game to take the set and the match in 2 hours, 17 minutes.
Spanish sixth seed Carla Suarez Navarro upset home hope Vera Dushevina to ease into the second round.
The 25-year-old won 6-4, 6-3 in 1 hour, 19 minutes in her first meeting with 121st-ranked lucky loser Dushevina.
Top-seeded Angelique Kerber, coming off her third career title in Linz, Austria, last weekend, withdrew from the tournament on Monday with an abdominal strain.
In the ATP section of the event, Italy’s unheralded Paolo Lorenzi battled back from a set down to book a place in the second round after compatriot Filippo Volandri retired with a hip injury.
Volandri, ranked 91st, produced three breaks in the first set for a 1-0 lead as his 31-year-old rival replied with two breaks.
No big serves were produced in the second before the seventh game when Volandri, 32, broke his opponent’s serve again to gain a 5-3 advantage. However, Lorenzi refused to surrender and survived a match point before breaking back twice to level at one set all after 1 hour, 39 minutes on court.
In the deciding set, Lorenzi, ranked 83rd, broke again for a comfortable 4-1 lead, before Volandri withdrew injured.
Lorenzi next meets another compatriot, defending champion and second seed Andreas Seppi.
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