In the first round matches played today the 43rd ranked and second seeded Urszula Radwanska showed patience to outplay Maria Teresa Torro Flor of Spain 6-4, 7-5 after being down 1-5 in the second set.

Third seeded Frenchwoman Alize Cornet scored fluent 6-1, 6-3 win over Nina Bratchikova while Lara Vecino Arruabarrena of Spain scored a relatively one-sided 6-1, 6-2 win over Slovakian Jana Cepelova.

In the toughest match of the day seventh seeded and 76th ranked Russian Alexandra Panova overcame a fighting Jarmila Gajdosova Australia 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 in a 2 hour 15 minute battle, while Young Sharipova squandered a 4-2 lead in the second set, but then found her rhythm to down to get the better of compatriot Vlada Ekshibarova 6-4, 7-5 in a battle of wild cards.

"I never played Torro-Flor and didn’t know what to expect, 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 " said the second seeded Radwanska . "Today my opponent played some positive strokes in the second set, 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, this worked, she added. The third seeded Cornet seemed to be pleased with her 6-1, 6-3 win over Bratchikova in 1 hour 26 mins " I’m happy to have played my first match here and that too a good one, I’m more than ready for my next match she added.

Speaking after her match local junior Sabina Sharipova said: "I had lost to Vlada just a month before and was nervous during the match, but I played well at the end of the match inspite losing a 4-2 advantage". I’m happy to maintain my points, which I made last year as I will try and improve my performance this year.

In the closest match of the day Jarmila Gajdosova Australia started solidly winning the first set 6-4 against Panova who looked a little jaded, but the seventh seed Panova came back strongly to capture the second set 6-2.

In the third set Panova led 4-3 up a break point, but Gajdosova held on to level scores 4-4, At 4-4 Panova came from being down 0-40 to hold on and take a 5-4 lead, Gajdosova saved three match points at 5-4 and leveled scores at 5 -5. Panova played solidly putting Gajdosova under pressure to capture the next two games and the match and a passage into the second round winning 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 . Gajdosova served poorly in the match serving 10 double faults

In a major upset in the doubles event last year’s runners-up the Kichenok sisters Lyudmyla and Nadiya Kichenok upset third seeded Eva Birnerova Czech Republic and Eleni Daniilidou of Greece 6-4, 7-6(2).

Main Draw First round Singles
S.2 Urszula Radwanska (Pol) bt Maria Teresa Torro Flor(Esp) 6-4,7-5
Sabina Sharipova (Uzb) bt Vlada Ekshibarova (Uzb) 6-4,7-5
Lara Vecino Arruabarrena( Esp) bt Jana Cepelova (Svk) 6-1,6-2
S.7 Alexandra Panova ( Rus) Jarmila Gajdosova( Aus) 4-6,6-2,7-5
S.3 Alize Cornet (Fra) bt Nina Bratchikova (Rus) 6-1,6-3

Doubles

Lyudmyla Kichenok /Nadiya Kichenok (Ukr) bt S.3 Eva Birnerova (Cze)/ Eleni Daniilidou (Gre) 6-4,7-6(2)
Irina Camelia Begu/ Monica Niculescu (Rom) bt Irina Buryachok ( Ukr)/ Valeria Solovieva (Rus) 6-3,6-4
Oksana Kalashnikova (Geo)/ Marta Sirotkina (Rus) bt Alexandra Cadantu(Rou)/Noppawan Lertcheewakarn(Tha) 7-6(5), 6-2
Paula Kania(Pol)/Polina Pemkhova(Blr) bt Ekaterina Dzhehalevich (Blr) / Ksenia Palkina (Kgz) 6-3,3-4