MEMPHIS, TN, USA - Overall it was a predominantly good day for the seeds at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships & the Cellular South Cup, as six of the eight seeds played first round matches Monday.
Four of the five in action during the day session were able to advance, the highest of which being No.3 seed Lucie Safarova and No.4 seed Anne Keothavong. Safarova outclassed Melanie South, 62 62, while Keothavong came back from losing the first set to beat Maria Elena Camerin, 36 63 61.
Other seeded winners during the day were No.6 seed Sabine Lisicki, who beat Ekaterina Bychkova, 63 63, and No.8 seed Pauline Parmentier, who took out Julie Coin, 76(6) 46 61. Parmentier is playing her first event of the year, having sat out of Auckland with a right wrist injury and the Australian Open with illness. No.7 seed Alla Kudryavtseva was not nearly as fortunate, falling to qualifier Michaella Krajicek, 61 64.
Winners of matches between unseeded players were Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro, who beat qualifier Alexa Glatch, 63 63; Vania King, who downed wildcard Alexandra Stevenson, 62 76(5); and teenaged wildcard Michelle Larcher de Brito, a 62 60 winner over former Memphis champion Sofia Arvidsson.
The No.2 seed, Victoria Azarenka, took on Varvara Lepchenko at night, and didn't need more than an hour to make it five-for-six for the seeds with a 62 62 win.
"It feels good to be back in Memphis," Azarenka said. "It's my first match after not playing for a week or so, and it was tough, even though the score doesn't look like it. I had a nice time on center court - there were a lot of people."
Among the teams that took the court for doubles action was No.1-seeded pair King and Kudryavtseva; they advanced with a 76(2) 62 win over Christina Fusano and Angela Haynes. American duo Alexa Glatch and Shenay Perry also won.
Tuesday's schedule will see the remaining four first round matches take the court - including No.1-seeded Caroline Wozniacki taking on qualifier Jelena Dokic, a rematch of their recent Australian Open encounter, which Dokic won - as well as the first three second round matches of the week.
