Two Seeds Toppled Tuesday
Published October 12, 2010 12:00
LINZ, Austria - The two highest seeds in first round action Tuesday at the Generali Ladies Linz were eliminated in convincing fashion, including No.3 seed Alona Bondarenko.
A day after cracking the Top 50 on the rankings for the first time since August 2009, 46th-ranked Roberta Vinci routed Bondarenko, 62 62, tying the series between the two at 2-2. The Italian has now won eight of her last 10 matches.
Faring just slightly better than Bondarenko was fourth-seeded Dominika Cibulkova, who was bounced by qualifier Eleni Daniilidou, 62 64. It was the Greek's first main draw match win since March 2008. Cibulkova has now failed to go beyond the second round of the three events she has played since her impressive run to the US Open quarterfinals. One seed did advance Tuesday, as ninth-seeded Sara Errani disposed of qualifier Sesil Karatantcheva, 62 62.
In a couple of noteworthy matches involving unseeded players, the only two players in the draw that are at least 30 years old were victorious - 30-year-old Sybille Bammer and 31-year-old Patty Schnyder. Bammer fought off two set points in the first set of her 75 60 victory over Anna Chakvetadze, evening their career series at 3-3, while Schnyder handled Gisela Dulko, 62 63.
"It's a good start for me," Schnyder said. "I was playing well right from the start and was able to keep the same level throughout the match."
Among those in action Wednesday as first round play concludes and second round play begins are No.2 seed and 2007 Linz champion Daniela Hantuchova against Kateryna Bondarenko and No.7 seed Ana Ivanovic versus lucky loser Sorana Cirstea.
