Quebec City, QC (Sports Network) - Second-seeded Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium
and third-seeded Mona Barthel of Germany were each first-round winners Monday
at the $220,000 Bell Challenge tennis event.
Alison Riske broke Wickmayer's first service game in the night session, but
the American was otherwise no match for Wickmayer, who converted 5-of-6 break
opportunities on the indoor carpet at PEPS Laval University to win 6-3, 6-3.
Barthel had a much difficult time moving on, as she survived Heather Watson of
Great Britain, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-5), 6-1, in two hours, 38 minutes.
An upset came when German Annika Beck took out fifth-seeded Swiss Romina
Oprandi 6-1, 7-6 (13-11).
Also advancing on Day 1 was another German, Tatjana Malek, who topped American
Alexa Glatch 7-6 (7-3), 6-3.
The top seed here is Slovak Dominika Cibulkova. Czech Barbora Zahlavova
Strycova, seeded sixth this year, defeated New Zealand's Marina Erakovic in
last year's Quebec City finale.
This week's champion will earn $37,000.
The Sports Network