Ivanovic, Stephens win Rome openers
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Rome, Italy (SportsNetwork.com) - Four seeded women, including No. 11 Ana Ivanovic and American Sloane Stephens, posted opening-round wins Monday at the $2.6 million Italian International tennis event, a clay court French Open tune-up at Foro Italico.
The former world No. 1 and former French Open champion Ivanovic whipped Italian Karin Knapp 6-1, 6-1, while the 16th-seeded Stephens overcame capable Serb Bojana Jovanovski 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
In other action involving seeds, former U.S. Open champ and former Roland Garros runner-up Samantha Stosur took out 15th-seeded 2013 Wimbledon runner-up Sabine Lisicki 6-3, 6-3 and former French Open champ Francesca Schiavone, of Italy, knocked out 17th-seeded Canadian Eugenie Bouchard 6-4, 6-2.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Meanwhile, former world No. 1 Venus Williams vaulted past German Annika Beck 6-3, 6-1; former French Open champ Svetlana Kuznetsova got past fellow Russian Maria Kirilenko 7-5, 6-0; Madison Keys erased fellow American Alison Riske 6-2, 6-2; and American Varvara Lepchenko pounded Chinese Peng Shuai 6-1, 6-0
Other winners were Argentine Paula Ormaechea, Czech Petra Cetkovska, Russian Elena Vesnina, Aussie Casey Dellacqua, Chinese Zhang Shuai, Frenchwoman Alize Cornet, and German Andrea Petkovic.