Srebotnik Ousted at Homecountry Slovenia Open

PORTOROZ, Slovenia -- Before the Banka Koper Slovenia Open began, Katarina Srebotnik expressed how meaningful it would be to capture a title in front of her home crowd. But she also knew how tough it would be; she was right. On Tuesday, the top-seeded tournament favorite crashed out in her opener, falling to Martina Sucha, 46 64 64.

Srebotnik, who was coming into her home event after a string of impressive summer performances, punctuated by cracking the Top 20 for the first time last month, had not dropped a set in her three most recent meetings with Sucha, including two wins this season. But the Slovak hung tough, breaking in the last game of the second set to take it to a third, where she continued to rally past her aggressive opponent.

"Sucha played really well today," Srebotnik said. "I had to fight for every point. This year I have played a lot of equal matches like this, but I won them all. This time I did not despite the fact that I left my heart on the court. I gave my best on the court and hoped I could win until the very end."

In the tournament's debut last year, Srebotnik made it all the way to the final of both singles and doubles but finished runner-up in both disciplines. But last year, she came in ranked No.49 and was seeded No.6; she is currently No.24 in the world.

"I am feeling really worn out after a tough US Open Series; in two months I've only had one day off," added the Slovenian No.1, whose summer highlights include a run to the Cincinnati final and a quarterfinal showing in Canada. "My wish was to win this tournament. But I'm not sad because I had a really great year until Portoroz."

Sucha collected her third-best career victory (in terms of ranking) with the upset. Her best wins came against a 15th-ranked Silvia Farina Elia and a 21st-ranked Ai Sugiyama in 2001 and 2005, respectively.

Srebotnik's was not the only shock first round departure. Klara Zakopalova captured the Banka Koper Slovenia Open last year and had lofty expectations coming into this year's event. But they were also dashed, as she fell quietly, 63 75, to No.8-seeded Italian Tathiana Garbin. The Czech fought back from a 5-2 second set hole but could not consolidate the momentum.

"It's always hard to play against Klara, especially on hardcourts, because she is hitting very flat and hard," Garbin said. "She is always putting pressure on you, but today I made it. I served well in the decisive moments in the first as well as in the second. I also played well from the baseline. That's why I'm very pleased."

Despite the departures of Srebotnik and No.3 seed Sybille Bammer (who was ousted on Monday), and the pre-tournament injury withdrawal of No.2 seed Mara Santangelo, the seeded contingent had a largely successful first round. On Tuesday, Martina Muller (No.4), Romina Oprandi (No.5), Maria Elena Camerin (No.6), Emilie Loit (No.7), Garbin and Jarmila Gajdosova (No.9) were all among the players who moved through to the second round.
-- WTA