TOKYO, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- Second-seeded Ai Sugiyama, a Tokyo native, took a first-round victory Wednesday in the $175,000 Japan Open Tennis Tournament.
Sugiyama, who won the Japan Open in 1997 and 1998, posted a straight-set 6-4, 6-3 win over Finland's Emma Laine to move into the second round.
Wednesday saw a mix of first-and second-round play in the tournament that runs through Sunday. The eventual champion wins $28,000.
Seventh-seeded Czech Lucie Safarova was upset in a first-round match, losing, 6-4, 6-4, to Argentina's Paola Suarez. Also, Greece's Eleni Daniilidou, the winner of last week's tournament in South Korea, retired with a knee injury, allowing French qualifier Camille Pin to advance into the second round.
In a second-round match, little-known Yung-Jan Chen, from Taiwan, dropped Poland's Marta Domachowska to claim the tournament's first quarterfinal slot.
