Estoril, Portugal – Second seed and former champion Maria Kirilenko and third-seeded and defending titlist Anabel Medina Garrigues posted first-round wins Tuesday at the $220,000 Estoril Open tennis event.
The 2008 Estoril titlist Kirilenko, of Russia, handled Brit Elena Baltacha 7-6 (8-6), 6-1, while Medina Garrigues grounded German Kristina Barrois 6-4, 6-1 in a rematch of last year's final at National Stadium, which was also won by the Spaniard.
Four other seeds reached the second round, as No. 4 Czech Petra Cetkovska doused Russian Alexandra Panova 6-2, 6-1; No. 5 Chinese Zheng Jie, the 2006 Estoril winner, drubbed Russian Ekaterina Makarova, the 2009 runner-up, 6-3, 6-1; No. 6 Estonian Kaia Kanepi dismantled American lucky-loser Sloane Stephens 6-1, 6-0; and No. 9 Slovenian Polona Hercog drilled Austrian Tamira Paszek 6-0, 6-3.
Additional wins came for Kazakhstan's Galina Voskoboeva, Italian qualifier Karin Knapp, British qualifier Heather Watson, Portuguese wild card Maria Joao Koehler, and Aussie Jarmila Gajdosova.
On Wednesday, top-seeded Italian Roberta Vinci will meet Koehler, Kirilenko will face Knapp and Medina Garrigues will be opposed by fellow Spaniard Silvia Soler-Espinosa.
The winner of this clay-court French Open tune-up will take home $37,000.
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