BRATISLAVA, Slovakia, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- Second seed Anne Kremer of Luxembourg edged Celine Beigbeder of France on Monday, 7-5, 7-5, to reach the second round of the Slovak Indoor tournament.
Turning 26 on Wednesday, Kremer is trying to reach her first WTA final since April, when she fell to Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria in the final of the Budapest Open claycourt event.
Kremer's two tour successes came during the first and last weeks of the 2000 season. She won the ASB Bank Classic at Auckland, New Zealand and the Volvo Women's Open at Pattaya, Thailand.
Kremer awaits the winner of Tuesday's first-round contest between Slovak wild-card entrant Stanislava Hrozenska and German qualifier Greta Arn.
American Meilen Tu was the only other seeded player to take the court Monday. The sixth seed outlasted Zimbabwean Cara Black, 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 6-1.
The California native captured her first WTA crown in January, when she followed Kremer as the champion at Auckland.
In the second round, Tu will meet local favorite Ludmila Cervanova. The Slovak rolled over German Andrea Glass, 6-3, 6-1.
In other first-round action, Kveta Hrdlickova of the Czech Republic got past Tatiana Poutchek of Belarus, 6-4, 6-2, to set up an encounter with either No. 3 Francesca Schiavone of Italy or Petra Mandula of Hungary.
