Seeded players roll at Slovenia Open

PORTOROZ, Slovenia, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- No. 2-seeded Sybille Bammer posted a solid first-round victory Tuesday at the $145,000 Slovenia Open hard-court tennis tournament.

Bammer was one of four seeded players to collect wins before darkness and rain halted play with three matches yet to be completed. Those included matches involving seventh-seeded Gisela Dulko and ninth-seeded Meilen Tu.

Bammer had little trouble in getting by Yvonne Meusburger, 6-2, 6-1, and into the second round.

Fifth-seeded Vera Zvonareva took out Olivia Sanchez, 6-3, 6-3, while No. 6-seeded Emilie Loit was equally impressive in her 6-2, 6-4 win over Greta Arn as was eighth-seeded Vera Dushevina, who advanced with a 6-2, 6-1 rout of Nika Ozegovic.

In other first-round matches Tuesday, Nathalie Dechy outlasted Angelique Kerber, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), and Meghann Shaughnessy got past Magdalena Rybarikova, 6-1, 6-4. Also winning were Karin Knapp, Nathalie Vierin, Ana Vrljic and Iveta Benesova.