Alize Cornet, Sam Stosur and Eugenie Bouchard off the mark in Gstaad
Top seed Alize Cornet dropped only four games during a routine win in her opening match at the Ladies Championship Gstaad while Sam Stosur and Eugenie Bouchard are also into the second round.
World No 48 Cornet required only one hour and nine minutes to see off Spanish qualifier Silvia Soler Espinosa 6-2, 6-2, and set up a second-round clash against Conny Perrin, who overcame Saisai Zheng 6-1, 4-6, 7-5.
In the battle of former Grand Slam winners, Australian Stosur was too good for 2010 French Open winner Francesca Schiavone as she beat the Italian 6-3, 6-2.
The fifth-seeded Stosur will face Patty Schnyder for a place in the quarter-final after the Swiss player defeated Kathinka von Deichmann 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Bouchard was given a tough work out by Timea Bacsinszky as the former world No 5 had to come from a set down to defeat the Swiss 4-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-4.
“It was just a battle,” Bouchard said. “Even though she hasn’t played a lot this year, she has still been a top 10 player and clay is her best surface, and she’s playing in Switzerland at home.
“All of the conditions were against me, so I just had to battle.”
Third seed Viktoria Kuzmova also advanced with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Martina Trevisan, while Elitsa Kostova overcame a second-set slump to beat Anna Kalinskaya 6-4, 0-6, 6-2.
However, there was an upset as fourth-seeded Carina Witthoeft was beaten by Evgeniya Rodina with the Russian securing a 6-7, (3-7), 6-4, 7-6 (13-11) win.
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