PATTAYA CITY, Thailand, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- Defending champion Anne Kremer overcame Nadejda Ostrovskaya of Belarus, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), Monday to advance to the second round of the $110,000 Volvo Women's Open tennis event.
Kremer, the fourth seed from Luxembourg, won her second career title here last year with a straight-sets win over Tatiana Panova of Russia. She also was a finalist in 1999, losing to Magdalena Maleeva in three sets.
The 26-year-old Kremer's best result of the year, runner-up at the Budapest Open in April, also ended in a defeat to Maleeva. She next takes on Martina Sucha of Slovakia, who posted a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 first-round victory over Pavlina Nola of New Zealand.
Sixth seed Ai Sugiyama of Japan and No. 8 Rossana de los Rios of Paraguay reached the second round but third-seeded Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand was ousted.
Sugiyama rallied past Croatia's Silvija Talaja, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3, de los Rios beat Hungary's Petra Mandula, 6-4, 6-2, and Tatiana Poutchek of Belarus upended Tanasugarn, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
In addition, Zsofia Gubacsi of Hungary dispatched Thailand wild card Montinee Tangphong, 6-1, 6-4.
