Voegele opens Uzbekistan tourney with win

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- No. 5-seeded Stefanie Voegele was a straight-set winner Monday in first-round action at the $220,000 Tashkent Open in Uzbekistan.

Voegele topped Vitalia Diatchenko 6-3, 7-5 behind solid serving. Voegele was broken just once in the match and won 80 percent of her first-serve points. She also won nearly half of the points on Diatchenko's serve, taking advantage of six Diatchenko double faults and recording four service breaks.

In the other first-round match at the hard-court tournament, eighth-seeded Galina Voskoboeva took out Neuza Silva 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. Silva actually won more overall points in the match -- 97-94 -- but won just 42 percent of her points on serve in the third set.

Yaroslava Shvedova is the Tashkent top seed with Shahar Peer, who won last week's tournament in China, seeded second.