Top-seeded Italians Advance at ATP Modena

There was much rejoicing, just short of dancing in the streets Tuesday, when top-seeded Italians Francesca Schiavone (d. Weingartner) and Flavia Pennetta (d. Ruano Pascual in three) won their opening-round encounters to advance into the second round at the WTA stop in Modena, Italy.

Schiavone is 0-2 in career WTA finals, while Pennetta has won two claycourt titles in 2005.

Other seeded winners Tuesday were (5) Anna Smashnova (d. Adr. Serra Zanetti), (6) Jelena Kostanic (d. Bohmova, bagel in the second), and (8) Mariana Diaz-Oliva (d. Schruff), while Russian lucky loser Ekaterina Bychkova ousted the second Serra Zanetti sister, (7) Antonella in straights sets.

Two qualifiers led the unseeded charge into the second round in Hungary's Agnes Szavay (d. (LL) Yakimova) and Russian Elena Vesnina (d. Matevzic), joined by fellow un-seeds Arantxa Parra Santonja (d. Pastikova) and Marta Marrero of Spain (d. (Q) Czink from a bagel-set down), Croat Sanda Mamic (d. Gagliardi), Italy's Tathiana Garbin (d. Cohen-Aloro, bagel in the second), and Slovak Martina Sucha (d. Sanchez Lorenzo).

On Wednesday's schedule in Modena are Schiavone vs. Marrero, Bychkova vs. Loit, Parra Santonja vs. Smashnova, and Ondraskova vs. Szavay.