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Pennetta starts with win in Linz

By AjayTyagi (TennisEarth.com), Submitted On

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Top seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy defeated American Meghann Shaughnessy 6-1 6-1 in the first round of the Generali Ladies on Tuesday. She next faces Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany who defeated Roberta Vinci of Italy 7-5 6-1.

Top seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy defeated American Meghann Shaughnessy 6-1 6-1 in the first round of the Generali Ladies on Tuesday.

"The first round is always tough. You need to get used to the conditions," said Pennetta.

She added "Meghann is a good player. She was really good but has been out with injuries. I played really consistently. I could have been more aggressive; it's tough because the court is slow and the balls are heavy, but I'll work on that."

Meghann looked strong in the start but failed to held her serve at 1-1. She worsened the things with a double fault to give Penetta a lead of 4-1. Penetta grabbed the opportunity and closed the set 6-1

The American struggled to keep the ball in play in the second set also, committed too many errors and eventually lost the match.

Pennetta next faces Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany who defeated Roberta Vinci of Italy 7-5 6-1.

In other matches of the day, eigth seeded Sara Errani of Italy downed Spain's Arantxa Parra Santonja 6-2 6-3 and fifth seeded Iveta Benesova of Czech Republic defeated German qualifier Stephanie Gehrlein 7-5 6-0, while another Czech ,seeded seventh, downed Austrian wild card Patricia Mayr 6-2 6-1.

German qualifier Julia Goerges posted the biggest upset of the day when she knocked out sixth seeded Sorana Cirstea 6-3 6-3 in straight sets.

"I'm happy I won this match and beat such a good player, and I hope I can continue like this," Goerges said. "It was good to have some matches from before, to get used to the surface. I love hardcourts, indoor or outdoor, and I really enjoy these ones".