Fes, Morocco – Two-time Grand Slam event champion Svetlana Kuznetsova and two-time Fes runner-up Simona Halep were among Tuesday's opening-round winners at the $220,000 Moroccan Grand Prix tennis event.
The second-seeded former top-five star Kuznetsova got past Greek Eleni Daniilidou 6-1, 7-5, while the fifth-seeded Halep was leading Fatima Zahrae El Allami 6-1 after one set when the Moroccan wild card retired on the red clay at Royal Tennis Club de Fes Complexe Sportif.
Kuznetsova will meet Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu in the round of 16.
Halep lost to Italian Alberta Brianti in last year's final and was also the runner-up here in 2010. Brianti was among the first-round losers on Monday.
In other action involving seeds on Day 2, No. 3 Czech Petra Cetkovska defeated Hungarian qualifier Melinda Czink 6-4, 6-2, Dutchwoman Arantxa Rus outlasted No. 7 Czech Klara Zakopalova 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (11-9) in a match that was suspended because of darkness on Monday night, and No. 8 Israeli Shahar Peer came back to best Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova 5-7, 6-3, 7-5. The veteran Zakopalova was the champion here in 2002.
Additional first-round wins came for French lucky-loser Mathilde Johansson, Swiss Timea Bacsinszky, Spaniards Laura Pous-Tio and qualifier Garbine Muguruza Blanco, and Dutch qualifier Kiki Bertens.
The 2012 Fes champ will take home $37,000.
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