Koukalova exits Bucharest

Published February 05, 2015

Bucharest, Romania (SportsNetwork.com) - Third seed Klara Koukalova came up a first-round loser Monday at the inaugural Bucharest Open tennis tournament.

Romanian crowd favorite Monica Niculescu doused the Czech Koukalova 6-3, 6-0 on the red clay at Arenele BNR.

Two more upsets came when Spaniard Lara Arruabarrena took out fifth-seeded German Annika Beck 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) and Kristina Kucova topped sixth-seeded fellow Slovak Anna Schmiedlova 6-3, 6-3.

Eighth-seeded Slovenian Polona Hercog avoided the upset bug by besting American Anna Tatishvili 6-4, 6-3.

Also on Day 1, Turkey's Cagla Buyukakcay whipped Paraguay's Veronica Cepede Royg 6-2, 6-3 and Romanian wild card Cristina Dinu handled Ukrainian Nadiya Kichenok 6-0, 6-3.

This week's top seed is French Open runner-up and heavy Romanian favorite Simona Halep.

The maiden Bucharest champion will pocket $43,000.

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