Schiavone among first-round winners

OSAKA, Japan, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- Fourth-seeded Francesca Schiavone of Italy beat Anne Kremer of Luxembourg in Monday's first round of the HP Japan Women's Open.

Schiavone, who won 7-5, 6-2, was a surprise quarterfinalist at Wimbledon. Schiavone has reached one final this year, losing to Sybille Bammer in July at the Prague Open.

Seventh-seeded Melinda Czink of Hungary also advanced with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Japanese wild card Ryoko Fuda.

Two seeded players were eliminated, as India's Sania Mirza rallied past fifth-seeded Shahar Peer of Israel 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 and Mathilde Johansson of France defeated eighth-seeded Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan, 7-5, 2-6, 7-5.

The first round continues Tuesday with the top three seeds in action. Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki is the top seed and will face Japan's Ayumi Morita; second-seeded Marion Bartoli of France will play Kazakhstan's Galina Voskoboeva; and third-seeded Samantha Stosur of Australia will meet China's Peng Shuai.