Krajicek Wins, Kouky Upset at WTA Budapest

BUDAPEST, Hungary -- Top seed Catalina Castano cruised through her first match on Tuesday at the Tippmix Budapest Grand Prix, the last clay court event of the year. The Colombian breezed into the second round with a 63 62 victory over Hungarian Kyra Nagy.

World No.35 Castano is hoping for another good run at this Tier IV event. In her first appearance here last year, she dropped only two sets en route to her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles final before losing to Anna Smashnova (seeded No.8 this year). Castano also posted some solid results this year, including a win over Top 20 player Anna-Lena Groenelfeld in Berlin. Only eventual champion Anastasia Myskina could stop her in the Istanbul quarterfinals.

Up next, a difficult challenge awaits the 27-year-old Colombian. Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai, who advanced with a 75 60 victory over Antonella Serra Zanetti, is playing the best clay court tennis of her career. She just upset Michaella Krajicek on the way to her first Tour singles quarterfinal last week at Palermo and also reached the third round at Roland Garros.

No.2 seed Krajicek survived a strong onslaught by Stephanie Foretz, prevailing 61 57 61 on Tuesday to set up a second round encounter with Tsvetana Pironkova. After capturing her third Tour singles title at s'Hertogenbosch, Krajicek made a quick exit at Wimbledon and then won only one round at Palermo last week. She'll have a tough test against Pironkova, who crushed Maret Ani 63 61.

No.3 seed Klara Koukalova was upset by Czech qualifier Eva Birnerova, 61 36 61. It's the biggest victory of the year for the 21-year-old, who's hoping to make the quarterfinals of a Tour singles event for the second time in her career.

No.4 seed Iveta Benesova hit a lull in the second set after winning a marathon tie-break (12-10) in the first. But the Czech rebounded and finally prevailed, 76(10) 26 64. A serious challenge awaits the 23-year-old in the second round. Italian Romina Oprandi, who easily won her first match, had Svetlana Kuznetsova on the edge of defeat at Rome earlier this year.

No.5 seed Lourdes Dom�uez Lino ousted Ekaterina Bychkova, 64 64, and will next face Czech qualifier Lucie Hradecka. The Spaniard won her first Tour singles title at Bogota this year and also made the quarters at Pattaya City and Estoril.

Other Tuesday winners were Laura Pous Tio, Martina Sucha, Smashnova, Kaia Kanepi, Agnieszka Radwanska, Pironkova, Oprandi and Sara Errani.
-- WTA