Benesova, Parmentier, Cirstea ousted in first round
BUDAPEST, Hungary -- Greta Arn of Hungary upset fourth-seeded Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of the Gaz de France Budapest Grand Prix on Tuesday.
Arn, avenging her loss to Benesova in the qualifying stage of this year's French Open, jumped out to a 5-1 lead before the Czech won three games in a row. The second set was decided by Arn's single break.
"Benesova likes to play fast. She has good hands, good footwork, she sees things well, so I knew I had to slow her game down," Arn said. "I managed to do that and made her commit mistakes."
Two other seeded players also lost in the first round.
Sixth-seeded Pauline Parmentier of France lost to Karolina Sprem of Croatia 7-5, 6-2, and eighth-seeded Sorana Cirstea of Romania, a finalist in 2007, fell to Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-4.
The top two seeded players, Agnes Szavay of Hungary and Alize Cornet of France, will be making their debuts Wednesday after receiving first-round byes.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
