BAD GASTEIN, Austria – Top-seeded Sara Errani sweated to get past Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus 6-4, 6-4 to reach the second round of the Gastein Ladies on Wednesday.
The 19th-ranked Italian dropped serve three times and held off eight more break points.
Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia, who beat Errani in the final at Bucharest last Sunday, overcame a slow start to defeat Patricia Mayr-Achleitner of Austria 3-6, 6-2, 6-0. The seventh-seeded Schmiedlova won nine straight games from 3-2 in the second set.
Polona Hercog of Slovenia reached the quarterfinals by beating the fifth-seeded Lucie Hradecka of Czech Republic 6-3, 6-2, and Danka Kovinic of Montenegro advanced to the last eight with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Richel Hogenkamp of the Netherlands.
In first-round play, Johanna Larsson of Sweden downed Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland 6-2, 6-2.
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