BASTAD, Sweden - All four of the seeds in action on the first day of the Collector Swedish Open Women survived, but three of them were pushed the distance. Fifth seed Sorana Cirstea flirted most closely with disaster, reeling off four games to recover a 5-3 third set deficit against local wildcard Johanna Larsson.
When French Open quarterfinalist Cirstea, currently ranked No.29 in the world, levelled at a set all it seemed she had found the measure of 266th-ranked Larsson, but the 20-year-old Swede had other ideas as she played her way to within points of victory. But her Romanian opponent's greater experience held sway as she swung her way to victory despite needing the trainer for dizziness, 46 62 75.
"It was an ignominious loss but now I have to work even harder," said a disappointed Larsson, her country's No.2.
First through in the main draw was unseeded Gisela Dulko, fresh from her stunning upset of Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon, who powered home against Marta Domachowska, 64 60. Seventh seed Carla Suárez Navarro joined the Argentine in the second round shortly after, holding off a late surge by Slovakia's Lenka Wienerova to win, 60 75.
Sixth seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and eighth seed Iveta Benesova both dropped the opening sets, against Jill Craybas and Urszula Radwanska respectively, but cruised home in three. The only other main draw match saw Russia's Alla Kudryavtseva sweep past Italy's Karin Knapp for the loss of just two games.
The final round of qualifying was also played, with Ksenia Palkina, Julia Vakulenko, Irina Buryachok and homegrown Michaela Johansson all securing main draw berths.
Top seed Caroline Wozniacki makes her first singles appearance on Tuesday afternoon against Sofia Arvidsson, Sweden's top-ranked player at No.139.
