Tashkent, Uzbekistan (SportsNetwork.com) - Defending champion Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia was among the winners Monday in the first round of the Tashkent Open.
Jovanovski returns as this year's top seed after beating Olga Govortsova in last year's final. She recovered from a slow start Monday to claim a 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory over Kateryna Bondarenko of the Ukraine.
Next up for Jovanovski will be 2010 Tashkent winner Alla Kurdyavtseva, who advanced Monday with a 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 win over Ukrainian qualifier Maryna Zanevska.
Three other former winners are in this week's draw and will play on Tuesday. Second-seeded Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania won in 2012 and will open against the Ukraine's Kateryna Kozlova, while unseeded Ksenia Pervak of Russia won 2011 and will take on seventh-seeded Anna-Lena Friedsam of Germany. Shahar Peer of Israel was the 2009 winner and will meet Latvian wild card Jelena Ostapenko.
Also Monday, Ukrainian qualifier Lyudmyla Kichenok upended eighth-seeded Danka Kovinic, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-2), while Poland's Urszula Radwanska, Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus and Uzbekistan wild card Akgul Amanmuradova were also winners.
The winner of this week's event will earn a first prize of $43,000.
