TASHKENT, Uzbekistan (AP) -Top-seeded Peng Shuai of China advanced to the second round of the Tashkent Open with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Russia's Arina Rodionova on Tuesday.
Kyrgyz teenager Ksenia Palkina scored her first victory over a player inside the top 50, upsetting second-seeded Olga Govortsova of Belarus 7-6 (7), 4-6, 7-5.
"I still cannot fully realize that I've won," said Palkina, who is ranked 203rd. " In the middle of the match I thought my chances of winning were about 40 percent." Palkina had never before played the 44th-ranked Govortsova.
In other first-round upsets, Urszula Radwanska of Poland eliminated seventh-seeded local favorite Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan 7-6 (5), 6-3, while Tatiana Poutchek of Belarus downed eighth-seeded Galina Voskovboeva of Russia 6-1, 6-1.
Third-seeded Sorana Cirstea of Romania also advanced to the second round by beating Ekaterina Dzehalevich of Belarus 7-6 (4), 7-5.
Another Romanian - Monica Niculescu, seeded sixth, won the first set 7-5 and was leading 1-0 in the second against Olga Shevchuk when the Ukrainian retired due to fatigue.
The last match of the first round between Vlada Ekshibarova of Uzbekistan and Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands was postponed till Wednesday because of heavy rain.
