Stosur wins Osaka opener in three sets

OSAKA, Japan, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- Top-seeded Samantha Stosur battled through three sets Tuesday before winning a second-round berth at the HP Japan Women's Open tennis tournament.

Stosur edged by Noppawan Lertcheewakarn 6-3, 3-6, 7-5. Stosur lost her serve once in each set but advanced by getting a pair of breaks in the first and third sets.

Both players won 110 points over the match but Stosur took the final advantage in a lengthy third set.

Each of the other seeded players on Tuesday's schedule advanced in straight sets with three of them defeating Japanese players. However, sixth-seeded Ayumi Morita of Japan claimed a 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 win over Zhang Shuai.

No. 3-seeded Angelique Kerber piled up six service breaks in a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Kurumi Nara. Fourth-seeded Petra Cetkovska ousted Kimiko Date Krumm 6-2, 7-6 (7-2) by winning the bulk of the points when receiving serve. Also, No. 6 Jarmila Gajdosova breezed past Aiko Nakamura 6-0, 6-1 in 53 minutes.

Other first-round winners Tuesday were Yaroslava Shvedova, Erika Sema, Zheng Jie and Olga Govortsova.