Alisa Kleybanova lost a 4-1 lead in the first set, as Karatantcheva won the next four games, but the Russian came back strongly and wrapped-up the first set with a 7-5 scoreline. Kleybanova played really well in long rallies and did not allow Karatantcheva to settle down at any moment. 

In the second set, Kleybanova easily got a 4-2 lead by breaking Karatantcheva’s serve in the sixth game and won the match with a 7-5 6-4 scoreline. After the match, Kleybanova said, “it was a tough match. I was definitely not playing my best tennis today.” She further added that “it is hard to adapt from grass to clay as I arrived from London just a couple of days ago.”

Kleybanova will play Patty Schnyder in the second round.

Other seeded players, who reached the second round were Anabel Medina Garrigues, Roberta Vinci and Polona Hercog.