Barcelona, Spain (Sports Network) - Top seed Francesca Schiavone was a
first-round upset victim Tuesday at the $220,000 Barcelona Ladies Open.
Belarusian Olga Govortsova drove out the 2010 French Open champion and 2011
Roland Garros runner-up Schiavone in 6-4, 6-3 fashion on the red clay at
Centre Municipal de Tenis Vall d'Hebron.
Schiavone titled here in 2010 by beating reigning Barcelona champion Roberta
Vinci in an all-Italian finale.
Three other seeds avoided upsets, as No. 2 German Julia Goerges grounded
France's Aravane Rezai 6-4, 6-0, No. 3 Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova drubbed
Frenchwoman Iryna Bremond 6-0, 6-3, and No. 5 Italian Flavia Pennetta handled
Spain's Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino, 6-0, 6-4.
A trio of unseeded Spaniards -- Carla Suarez Navarro, Estrella Cabeza Candela
and Laura Pous-Tio -- also reached the second round in Barcelona, as did Czech
Klara Zakopalova and Ukrainian qualifier Yulia Beygelzimer.
This week's winner will claim $37,000.
The Sports Network