Montreal, QC (Sports Network) - Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada was a straight-
set winner in first-round action at the $2.168 million Rogers Cup tennis event
on Tuesday.
Wozniak, who lost her second-round match at the Olympics to eventual champ
Serena Williams, downed Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 7-5, 7-6 (7-5), on the
hardcourts at Uniprix Stadium at Jarry Park.
Hantuchova reached the third round of the Summer Games before falling to
Caroline Wozniacki.
Williams, who is not defending her title this week, whipped Aussie Samantha
Stosur in last year's finale in Toronto, as this tournament shifts between
Toronto and Montreal each year.
The top seeds, who will not play until later in the week, in Montreal are the
Australian Open champion and Olympic bronze medalist Victoria Azarenka,
Wimbledon runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska, French Open champion and Olympic
silver medalist Maria Sharapova, and the U.S. Open titlist Stosur. Sharapova
was a Rogers Cup runner-up in Toronto in 2009.
In the meantime Tuesday, Italian Roberta Vinci snuck past Belgian Yanina
Wickmayer 6-2, 3-6, 7-5, while Austrian Tamira Paszek drubbed German Julia
Goerges 6-2, 6-1 on Day 1. Paszek is rewarded with a second-round match
against world No. 1 Azarenka of Belarus.
Additional opening-round wins came for Kazakhstani Ksenia Pervak, South
African Chanelle Scheepers, Romanian Simona Halep, Spaniard Carla Suarez
Navarro, Russian Ekaterina Makarova, Kazakhstani qualifier Sesil
Karatantcheva, and Slovakian qualifier Jana Cepelova.
The 2012 Rogers Cup champion will pocket $385,000.
The Sports Network