Seoul, South Korea – Top seed Francesca Schiavone of Italy seeded Marion Bartoli reached the second round at the $220,000 Korea Open on Tuesday.
The 2011 French Open runner-up and 2010 Roland Garros titlist Schiavone was upended by Russian Vera Dushevina 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 on the hardcourts at Olympic Tennis Courts. Schiavone lost to Dushevina for the third time in four meetings.
The former Wimbledon runner-up Bartoli avoided an upset by leveling Spaniard Nuria Llagostera Vives 6-2, 6-2. The French star will face American Vania King in her next outing.
Four other seeds reached the round of 16, as No. 3 Julia Goerges of Germany crushed Japanese qualifier Yurika Sema 6-1, 6-1; No. 5 Polona Hercog of Slovenia slammed Slovakian Zuzana Kucova 6-0, 6-2; No. 6 Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain whipped American Irina Falconi 6-3, 6-3; and No. 7 Irina- Camelia Begu of Romania blitzed Uzbekistan's Akgul Amanmuradova 6-1, 6-3.
One other upset came when Kazakhstan's Galina Voskoboeva took out eighth- seeded Russian Ekaterina Makarova 6-4, 6-4.
Several other women notched opening-round wins, including Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro, Czech Iveta Benesova, Greek Eleni Daniilidou and the aforementioned King, who blew past 40-year-old Japanese Kimiko Date-Krumm, the 2009 Seoul champion, 6-2, 6-2. Daniilidou titled here in 2006.
The 2011 Seoul champ will earn a first prize of $37,000.
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