BARCELONA, Spain, April 13 (UPI) -- Defending champion Roberta Vinci upset second-seeded Aravane Rezai in first-round play Tuesday at the $220,000 Barcelona Ladies Open in Spain.
Vinci picked up the second WTA title of her 11-year professional career with a win at Barcelona last year and continued her strong play at the clay-court event by beating Rezai 6-3, 6-4 in 72 minutes.
Vinci took advantage of Rezai's serve problems in winning half the points when Rezai served and collecting five service breaks in making it to the second round.
Also Tuesday, top-seeded Francesca Schiavone stopped Alberta Brianti 6-2, 6-1, taking 64 percent of the points in the match, while No. 3-seeded Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez stopped Andrea Petkovic 6-4, 6-4; and fourth-seeded Maria Kirilenko beat Masa Zec Peskiric 7-5, 6-1.
No. 6-seeded Gisela Dulko and eighth-seeded Lucie Safarova joined Rezai as upset victims. Dulko fell in a tough 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (7-4) match against Sara Errani and Safarova was beaten 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) by Regina Kulikova.
Seventh-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro defeated Simona Halep 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the other match Tuesday involving a seeded player.
Other first-round winners Tuesday were Yaroslava Shvedova, Iveta Benesova, Alexandra Dulgheru, Tathiana Garbin, Timea Bacsinszky, Arantxa Parra Santonja and Laura Pous Tio.
