Luxembourg City, Luxembourg (SportsNetwork.com) - Seeded women Lucie Safarova and Bojana Jovanovski were among Monday's first-round winners at the Luxembourg Open tennis tournament.
The fifth-seeded Czech Safarova subdued Chinese Peng Shuai 7-5, 6-4, while the eighth-seeded Serb Jovanovski doused fading former French Open champion and 2006 Luxembourg runner-up Francesca Schiavone 6-4, 6-3 on the indoor courts at Kockelscheuer Sport Centre.
Also on Day 1, reigning two-time Luxembourg runner-up Monica Niculescu topped fellow Romanian Alexandra Cadantu 7-5, 6-4, German Annika Beck whipped Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova 6-2, 6-2, and Belgian Yanina Wickmayer held off British wild card Heather Watson 6-0, 5-7, 6-2. Niculescu lost to American Venus Williams, who is not defending her title this week, in last year's title match.
This week's top seeds are former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, American Sloane Stephens and Wimbledon runner-up and 2009 Luxembourg finalist Sabine Lisicki, all of whom will take to the courts on Tuesday for opening-round affairs. The 2008 Luxembourg runner-up Wozniacki will take on wild card and Luxembourg's own Mandy Minella.
The 2013 Luxembourg champion will take home $44,000.
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