Long matches but wins for Palermo seeds

PALERMO, Italy, July 12 (UPI) -- No. 4-seeded Tsvetana Pironkova and fifth-seeded Kaia Kanepi claimed long straight-set wins Monday during the first round of the Palermo International in Italy.

Pironkova stopped Anna Floris 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) in a match that took 1 hour, 46 minutes. Pironkova fired six aces while serving and was able to take advantage of nine double faults by Floris.

Kanepi was on the court nearly for 2 hours before finishing off a 7-5, 6-4 win over Rossana de los Rios. She had four service breaks and won nearly half of the points when De los Rios served.

Unseeded Jill Craybas, in another long two-set match, got by Akgul Amanmuradova 7-6 (12-10), 7-5. Craybas was able to convert four of 15 break-point chances.

Also Monday, Mariana Duque Marino defeated Zuzana Kucova 6-4, 6-0 in a brisk 62 minutes. Marino won 64 percent of the points off Kucova's serve, which was a higher figure than the 58 percent she won on serve.