Moscow, Russia – Eighth seed Lucie Safarova highlighted Monday's opening-round winners, while former champion Francesca Schiavone lost at the Kremlin Cup tennis event.
The Czech Safarova outlasted Russian wild card Margarita Gasparyan 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 on the indoor hardcourts at Olympic Stadium, while the fading former French Open champ and 2009 Moscow titlist Schiavone succumbed to Poland's Urszula Radwanska 6-3, 6-1 on Day 1. Schiavone was also a Moscow runner-up in 2005.
Also on Monday, Swede Sofia Arvidsson handled Serb Bojana Jovanovski 6-2, 6-4 and Czech Klara Zakopalova whipped Romanian Alexandra Cadantu 6-3, 6-3. Zakopalova will meet her fellow countrywoman Safarova in the second round.
The top seeds in Moscow are former U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur, Marion Bartoli and former world No. 1s Caroline Wozniacki and Ana Ivanovic.
This week's fifth seed, Dominika Cibulkova, beat Estonian Kaia Kanepi in last year's Moscow finale.
The 2012 winner of this $740,000 tournament will collect $122,000.
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