Strasbourg, France – Former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone and three-time Strasbourg titlist Anabel Medina Garrigues were among Tuesday's opening-round winners at the $220,000 Strasbourg International tennis event, a final clay-court French Open tune-up.
The second-seeded 2010 French Open champ and 2011 Roland Garros runner-up Schiavone whipped Romanian Alexandra Cadantu 6-1, 6-2, while a fourth-seeded Medina Garrigues completed a rain-suspended match from Monday with a 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 victory over Georgian Anna Tatishvili at Strasbourg Tennis Club. Medina Garrigues captured titles here in 2005, 2007 and 2008.
On Wednesday, Schiavone will take on Croatian qualifier Mirjana Lucic, while Medina Garrigues will battle Taiwan's Su-Wei Hsieh.
Four other women went by way of the upset on Day 2, as American Sloane Stephens was leading third-seeded Maria Kirilenko 3-6, 7-5 when the Russian retired with an ankle injury; Russian qualifier Alexandra Panova dismissed fifth-seeded German Mona Barthel 6-3, 7-6 (9-7); Japan's Ayumi Morita whipped sixth-seeded Marina Erakovic of New Zealand 6-1, 6-3; and Israeli Shahar Peer handled ninth-seeded Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak 7-5, 6-0.
Additional first-round wins came for Lucic, French wild cards Alize Cornet and Virginie Razzano, Hungarian Timea Babos, Swede Johanna Larsson, and 2009 Strasbourg runner-up, Czech Lucie Hradecka.
The 2012 Strasbourg champ will collect $37,000.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.