Four of five seeds in action advance; losing seed gets ousted by qualifier on Day 2 in Austria

Flavia Pennetta made a fabulous start to her Generali Ladies Linz campaign Tuesday, routing Meghann Shaughnessy , 61 61, in the first round of the International-level tournament.

Pennetta, seeded No. 1 this week, lost the first game of the match at love on Shaughnessy's serve but barely looked back from there, winning 12 of the next 13 games - and holding four game points in the only game she didn't win.

"The first round is tough. You need to get used to the conditions," Pennetta said. "Meghann is a good player. She was really good but has been out with injuries. I played really consistently. I could have been more aggressive; it's tough because the court is slow and the balls are heavy, but I'll work on that."

The other seeds in action were almost all winners, with No. 5 seed Iveta Benesova, No. 7 seed Lucie Safarova and No. 8 seed Sara Errani all moving through in straight sets. No. 6 seed Sorana Cirstea was the only casualty, losing to qualifier Julia Georges in straight sets, 63 63.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Singles - First Round

(1) Flavia Pennetta (ITA) d. Meghann Shaughnessy (USA) 61 61

(5) Iveta Benesova (CZE) d. (Q) Stephanie Gehrlein (GER) 75 60

(Q) Julia Goerges (GER) d. (6) Sorana Cirstea (ROU) 63 63

(7) Lucie Safarova (CZE) d. (WC) Patricia Mayr (AUT) 62 61

(8) Sara Errani (ITA) d. Arantxa Parra Santonja (ESP) 62 63

Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER) d. Roberta Vinci (ITA) 75 61

Olga Govortsova (BLR) d. (Q) Petra Martic (CRO) 62 67(7) 62

Tatjana Malek (GER) d. (Q) Aravane Rezai (FRA) 75 75