Tashkent, Uzbekistan (SportsNetwork.com) - A pair of top-three seeds, 2012 champion Irina-Camelia Begu and Karin Knapp, posted first-round wins Tuesday at the Tashkent Open.
The second-seeded Romanian Begu blitzed Ukrainian Kateryna Kozlova 6-3, 6-1, while the third-seeded Italian Knapp handled Turkey's Cagla Buyukakcay 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) at this hardcourt tournament.
Fifth-seeded Croat and 2012 runner-up Donna Vekic got past Luxembourg's Mandy Minella 7-5, 6-0, while sixth-seeded Japanese Misaki Doi doused Czech Katerina Siniakova 6-4, 6-3 on Day 2.
Upsets came when Uzbekistanian wild card Nigina Abduraimova dismissed fourth-seeded Spaniard Lara Arruabarrena 7-5, 6-4 and Russian Ksenia Pervak, the 2011 Tashkent champ, took out seventh-seeded German Anna-Lena Friedsam 7-6 (7-4), 6-0.
Last year's Tashkent runner-up Olga Govortsova of Belarus bested Russian qualifier Margarita Gasparyan 6-3, 6-4, while Latvian wild card Jelena Ostapenko beat 2009 Tashkent winner Shahar Peer of Israel 6-3, 7-5.
Also advancing were Ukrainian qualifier Lesia Tsurenko and Russian Alexandra Panova.
In some second-round action on Wednesday, top-seeded and defending champion Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia will take on 2010 Tashkent titlist Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia.
This week's winner will earn $43,000.
