Kirilenko stays sharp in Barcelona

BARCELONA, Spain, April 14 (UPI) -- Defending champion Maria Kirilenko dropped just two games Tuesday in collecting a first-round win at the $220,000 Barcelona Ladies Open tournament in Spain.

Kirilenko, seeded sixth, won 58 percent of her service points and 59 percent when receiving en route to a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Camille Pin. Kirilenko lost just five points when serving during the second set of the clay-court match.

Crowd favorite and fifth-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro also was sharp, taking out Estrella Cabeza Candela by the same 6-2, 6-0 score. She needed just 57 minutes to complete the romp and faced one break point on the day.

Fourth-seeded Kaia Kanepi was an upset victim, falling 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 to Masa Zec Peskiric while No. 8-seeded Sorana Cirstea was upset 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-5) by Anastasiya Yakimova.

Nicola Vaidisova stopped Yevgenia Savranska 6-2, 6-4 and Maria Jose Martinez, last year's Barcelona runner-up, won 6-2, 6-2 over Kirsten Flipkens.

Other first-round winners Tuesday were Francesca Schiavone, Severine Bremond, Emilie Loit and Tatjana Malek.