Katowice, Poland (SportsNetwork.com) – Reigning champion Alize Cornet and last
year’s runner-up Camila Giorgi were among Monday’s first-round winners at the
Katowice Open.
The second-seeded Frenchwoman Cornet eased past Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens 6-1,
6-3, while the third-seeded Italian Giorgi snuck past Czech Denisa Allertova
7-5, 4-6, 6-4 on the hardcourts at Spodek.
Cornet bested Giorgi in three sets in last year’s Katowice finale. Her second-
round opponent will be Slovenian Polona Hercog.
A pair of seeds exited the draw on Day 1, as Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck took
out No. 4 Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova 6-2, 6-3 and former top-10 star and two-
time Grand Slam finalist Vera Zvonareva of Russia doused No. 6 Italian Karin
Knapp 7-5, 6-4.
Another result saw Hercog get past Japan’s Misaki Doi 6-0, 3-6, 6-2.
This week’s top seed is heavy Polish favorite Agnieszka Radwanska, who will
face Belgian Yanina Wickmayer in her opener.
