Tennis: Top seed Begu advances to Korea Open 2nd round
Irina-Camelia Begu beat Kateryna Kozlova 6-2, 6-4 in the first round of the WTA Korea Open.
SEOUL (AFP) - Romanian top seed Irina-Camelia Begu scored a comfortable victory over Ukrainian qualifier Kateryna Kozlova in the first round of the WTA Korea Open on Tuesday.
Begu, ranked 29th in the world, beat Kozlova in straight sets 6-2, 6-4 to set up a second-round meeting with Polona Hercog of Slovenia.
American third seed Sloane Stephens, ranked 32nd in the world, had little trouble against South Korean wildcard Han Na-Lae 6-1, 6-1.
Two other Americans also advanced to the second round, with fourth seed Varvara Lepchenko pushing aside Spain s Paula Badosa 6-2, 6-3. Christina McHale led the first set 6-4 but was down 1-2 in the second when Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan abandoned the match.
Elizaveta Kulichkova of Russia needed three sets against Heather Watson of England to book her place in the second round 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic edged Irina Falconi of the United States 6-3, 2-6, 6-0, while Swedish veteran Johanna Larsson defeated Nicole Melichar of the United States 6-4, 6-2.
