Safarova wins Oeiras opener

Published February 05, 2015

Oeiras, Portugal (SportsNetwork.com) - Former champion Lucie Safarova was an emphatic come-from-behind winner Monday at the $250,000 Portugal Open, clay court tune-up for the French Open.

The sixth-seeded Czech dropped a tough first set before rebounding to sweep Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova over the final two sets in a 4-6, 6-0, 6-0 decision.

Safarova captured this event in Estoril back in 2006.

Also on Day 1, Tunisian wild card Ons Jabeur drilled Portuguese wild card Maria Joao Koehler 6-3, 6-1; Serb Bojana Jovanovski held off Puerto Rican Monica Puig 6-4, 4-6, 6-4; Belgian Yanina Wickmayer topped Pole Urszula Radwanska 6-4, 7-5; and Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova handled Italian Karin Knapp 6-2, 6-4. Wickmayer captured this event in 2009.

This week's top seeds are Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro, Canadian Eugenie Bouchard and former U.S. Open champ Samantha Stosur of Australia. Suarez Navarro is the reigning two-time Portugal Open runner-up. She lost to Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in last year's finale.

The top-five seeds will all take to the courts on Tuesday, with Suarez Navarro taking on Russian Alla Kudryavtseva.

The 2014 Oeiras titlist will pocket $48,000.

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