Three seeds were bumped on the opening day of lawn play Monday at the WTA stop in Birmingham, with American
Jamea Jackson ousting No. 10 Klara Koukalova, Slovak
Martina Sucha defeating No. 11
Catalina Castano, and China's Yan Zi surprising
Laura Granville, all in straight sets.
Three seeds also moved safely into the second round in (9)
Sofia Arvidsson (d. (Q) Czink in three), (12)
Mara Santangelo (d. Laine), and (13) Li Na (d. Washington).
The well-practiced qualifiers enjoyed success in the first round, with four players through in Russian
Olga Poutchkova (d. (Q) Kutuzova from a set down), Swiss
Emmanuelle Gagliardi (d. Nakamura), and Americans
Meilen Tu (d. Brandi) and
Ahsha Rolle (d. Foretz).
Highlights of Tuesday play is Mirza vs. A.Bondarenko, Molik vs. Zvonareva, and Sharapova vs. Rolle.
