Russian qualifier Arina Rodionova upset top-seeded Kaia Kanepi 6-4, 6-2 in the second round of the Aegon Classic on Tuesday.
The Estonian, who had a first-round bye, was broken once in the first set and twice in the second in her first match on grass for almost a year.
Rodionova, who had two matches in qualifying, advanced to the round-of-16 against 2009 champion Magdalena Rybarikova after the 14th seed beat Coco Vandeweghe of South Africa 6-2, 6-1.
Photo: AFP
“I remember last year when I played in [qualifying] here, it was much easier for me in the main draw,” Kanepi said. “I think I didn’t have any rhythm at all and she played very well.”
Mirjana Lucic defeated the only other seeded player to lose, saving a match point to win 6-7 (2/7), 7-6 (7/4), 7-5 against No. 5 Roberta Vinci of Italy.
Lucic made the Wimbledon semi-finals in 1999 as a promising 17-year-old, but was absent from the WTA tour for much of the last decade because of personal problems. She will next play either Ayumi Morita of Japan or Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic.
SONY ERICSSON OPEN
AP, COPENHAGEN
Top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki eased into the second round of the Sony Ericsson Open on Tuesday with a 6-2, 6-3 win over unseeded Irina Falconi of the US.
The 20-year-old Dane will play Angelique Kerber of Germany, who beat Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-2 at the WTA indoor hard-court tournament.
Earlier, Simona Halep of Romania beat sixth-seeded Latvian Anastasija Sevastova 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/4), 6-0, while qualifier Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan earned a 6-3, 6-1 victory against seventh-seeded Jelena Dokic of Australia.
Fifth-seeded Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic won 6-2, 6-1 against Sweden’s Sofia Arvidsson. Another Czech, fourth-seeded Lucie Safarova, knocked out Australian qualifier Johanna Konta 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.
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