Tough start for Stosur
07/29/2010 05:00:53 AM
Top seed Samantha Stosur received a tough workout as she began her campaign at the Bank Of The West Classic with a 6-1 7-5 victory over Christina McHale.
The Australian received a bye in the first round and her second-round assignment was not looking too much tougher as she raced through the first set in 23 minutes.
But American teenager McHale rallied and stayed with her more experienced opponent to 5-5 in the second, but was broken for 6-5 and could not make the most of four opportunities to level.
Elena Dementieva came from a set down to see off Kimiko Date Krumm in the second round.
Date Krumm came into the match on the back of an impressive win over former world No.1 Dinara Safina and she continued that form as she claimed the first set.
But second seed Dementieva remained calm and did just enough to claim a 3-6 6-3 6-4 win.
Third seed Agnieszka Radwanska was also made to work hard for a straight-sets win.
She was pushed to a tie-breaker in the first set by Ukrainian qualifier Olga Savchuk, but prevailed and made light work of the second for a 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 victory.
The day's other match saw seventh seed Yanina Wickmayer beat Dominika Cibulkova 6-1 6-4.