TASHKENT, Uzbekistan – Urszula Radwanska of Poland, younger sister of No. 3-ranked Agnieszka Radwanska, capitalized on her opponent's wayward serve Monday to reach the second round of the Tashkent Open.
The second-seeded Radwanska rallied from 5-1 down in the second set to defeat Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor of Spain 6-4, 7-5.
The 43rd-ranked Radwanska, who lost in the U.S. Open in the first round, was playing Torro-Flor for the first time. Both players struggled at times with their serve. But the 112th-ranked Torro-Flor was by far the worse hitting, eight double-faults, including three in the final set.
"She played some unbelievable tennis in the second set to go up 5-1, but then I kept my patience and played my strokes to come back and take the match," Radwanska said. "I told myself she cannot be playing like this the whole match, and I need to put in more balls and make her make mistakes."
Third-seeded Alize Cornet of France downed Nina Bratchikova of Russia 6-1, 6-3. Seventh-seeded Alexandra Panova of Russia beat Jarmila Gajdosova of Australia 4-6, 6-2, 7-5. Gajdosova saved three match points to even the deciding set at 5 but Panova took the final two games.
Spain's Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino defeated Slovakia's Jana Cepelova 6-1, 6-2. Sabina Sharipova downed Vlada Ekshibarova 6-4, 7-5 in a match between wild cards from Uzbekistan.
Top-seeded Monica Niculescu of Romania takes on Karin Knapp Italy on Tuesday while Dinah Pfizenmaier of Germany plays sixth-seeded Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia. Eighth-seeded Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan plays qualifier Vesna Dolonc of Serbia.
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