Jovanovski starts Baku Cup defense with win

BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 23 (UPI) -- No. 1-seeded Bojana Jovanovski claimed a straight-set win Tuesday in first-round play of the Baku Cup tennis tournament in Azerbaijan.

Jovanovski, who won her first WTA title at the Baku Cup last year, defeated Nigina Abduraimova 6-3, 6-3 by recording three breaks in each set. She ended up winning 57 percent of the points when receiving serve.

Kristyna Pliskova ousted eighth-seeded Vesna Dolonc 6-1, 6-2. She didn't lose her serve and also won more than half the points off her opponent's serve.

The draw had qualifiers playing each other in two first-round matches Tuesday. Tetyana Arefyeva beat her countrywoman Veronika Kapshay of Ukraine 6-7 (6-8), 6-0, 6-0. She lost 10 points in the second set and just six in the third. Tereza Martincova was a 6-3, 6-7 (1-7), 6-1 winner over Oksana Kalashnikova in the other all-qualifier match.

Magda Linette, another qualifier, won a spot in the second round by beating Julia Cohan 6-2, 6-3.

Mandy Minella posted a 6-0, 6-0 win over Kamilla Farhad, winning more than three-quarters of the points in the 43-minute match. Farhad was one of two Azeri players -- both given wild-card invitations -- in the draw. The other, Nazrin Jafarova, lost Monday.

Also Tuesday, Shahar Peer got past Ilona Kremen 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 and Nastassja Burnett advanced over Anna Tatishvili 6-2, 6-3.