MONTERREY, México - Aravane Rezai wasn't so lucky in her first time playing in México, losing her opening match at the Whirlpool Monterrey Open on Monday night to hard-hitting Russian Alla Kudryavtseva, 62 61.

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Rezai, the No.3 seed at the International-level tournament, had won the pair's only previous meeting, but this time Kudryavtseva was just too solid, breaking serve five times and never losing her own serve. She also had five aces to one double fault; Rezai had one ace to nine double faults in the 50-minute match.

"Aravane didn't play her best tennis today, but I'm happy with the way I handled myself," Kudryavtseva said. "It feels nice to win this match. It's the first big upset for me this year. I played her before and lost, so I'm happy with the outcome. It's only the first round though. I hope to keep the momentum going."

In the other two first round singles matches, No.8 seed Polona Hercog broke away from 3-all in both sets to beat Angelique Kerber, 63 63, and Greta Arn rolled past Sandra Zahlavova later in the afternoon, 60 64.

Earlier in the day, Lucie Hradecka, Laura Pous-Tio, Aleksandra Wozniak and Eleni Daniilidou secured berths in the main draw with qualifying wins.

The Top 2 seeds in the doubles draw were also in action, with No.1 seeds and defending champions Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova saving a set point down 5-4 in the second set of a 63 75 win over Maria Kondratieva and Sophie Lefèvre, and No.2 seeds Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Vania King beating Sara Errani and Melanie Oudin, 64 57 106.