QUÉBEC CITY, Canada - It was a good day for seeds and Canadians on Monday as the first day of the $220,000 Bell Challenge got underway. However, the tournament was hit by the withdrawal of No.2 seed Sabine Lisicki due to a continuing ankle injury.
No such worries for fifth seed Melinda Czink and sixth seeded Jill Craybas, who both advanced to the second round without incident. Hungary's Czink edged Monique Adamczak of Australia in a second set tie-break, 63 76(1) while veteran Craybas routed fellow American Laura Granville for the loss of just one game in the second set.
In the other three main draw matches completed, Russia's Alla Kudryavtseva was a 61 64 winner over Katie O'Brien of the United Kingdom, while Canada's own Valérie Tétreault was little troubled by Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic, 62 61. Another local favorite, 18-year-old Rebecca Marino, then made the most of her wildcard by beating Lauren Albanese of the United States, 64 63.
The final round of qualifying saw Anna Tatishvili, Lilia Osterloh, Mallory Cecil and Amra Sadikovic secure main draw berths, with Olga Puchkova also claiming a place as a lucky loser filling Lisicki's spot.
Top seed Nadia Petrova opens her title defense on Tuesday evening, against new US Open mixed doubles champion Carly Gullickson.
