Petkovic, Bacsinszky win 1st-round matches

BAD GASTEIN, Austria, July 20 (UPI) -- Top seeds Andrea Petkovic and Timea Bacsinszky took decisive first-round victories Tuesday at the Gastein Ladies tennis tournament in Austria.

Petkovic, the No. 1 seed, handled Iveta Benesova 6-4, 6-0 despite dropping serve three times and having nine double faults. However, she won 65 percent of the points when Benesova served and piled up seven breaks in eight receiving games.

The second-seeded Bacsinszky defeated Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-1, 6-2 by winning 57 percent of the points when Groenefeld served. That included all 19 of the points when Groenefeld was on second serve.

Four seeded players exited the draw Tuesday. No. 3-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues was dumped in straight sets by Yvonne Meusburger 6-4, 7-5; fourth-seeded Klara Zakopalova was beaten by Julia Goerges 6-2, 5-7, 6-1; while No. 5-seeded Sybille Bammer fell to Anastasia Pivovarova 7-6 (12-10), 6-3; and sixth-seeded Barbora Zahlavova Strycova lost to Sandra Zahlavova, a relation by marriage, 7-5, 6-3.

Also Tuesday, seventh-seeded Tathiana Garbin slipped past Pauline Parmentier 3-6, 6-3, 6-1; and No. 8-seeded Anastasija Sevastova topped Laura Pous Tio 6-2, 6-4.

Other first-round winners Tuesday were Patricia Mayr, Lucie Hradecka, Lesya Tsurenko and Ekaterina Dzehalevich.