Auckland, New Zealand (Sports Network) - Third seed Yanina Wickmayer moved on,
while American Christina McHale was ousted at the season-opening ASB Classic
tennis event.
The 2010 Auckland titlist Wickmayer, of Belgium, defeated Slovak Magdalena
Rybarikova 7-6 (7-3), 6-2, while France's Pauline Parmentier doused the
seventh-seeded McHale 6-4, 6-1 on the hardcourts at ASB Tennis Centre.
Meanwhile, American Jamie Hampton posted an upset by dismissing fourth-seeded
and defending Auckland champion Zheng Jie of China 7-5, 6-1, Dutch Kiki
Bertens topped two-time Grand Slam singles champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-7
(5-7), 6-2, 7-5, and Greek Eleni Daniilidou overcame American and fellow wild
card Coco Vandeweghe 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4. Daniilidou captured this event back-
to-back in 2003 and 2004.
Zheng bested Italian Flavia Pennetta in last year's Auckland finale.
Other Monday winners were Belgian Kirsten Flipkens, Romanian Simona Halep,
Russian Elena Vesnina and Swede Johanna Larsson. Vesnina was an Auckland
runner-up in 2009.
On Tuesday, top-seeded Wimbledon runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska will meet
Hungarian lucky-loser Greta Arn, the 2011 Auckland champ.
This event serves as a tune-up for the Australian Open, which starts January
14.
The Sports Network