Erakovic, Oudin advance in Birmingham

Birmingham, England – Ninth-seeded Marina Erakovic and American qualifier Melanie Oudin were among Tuesday's first-round winners at a Wimbledon tuneup event in Birmingham.

New Zealand's Erakovic was whipping Ayumi Morita 5-0 in the opening set when the Japanese retired, while an unseeded Oudin came back to upset 10th-seeded Romania Sorana Cirstea 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 on the grass courts at Edgbaston Priory Club.

Three other seeds were ousted, as Britain's Tara Moore trounced No. 11 Czech Iveta Benesova 6-1, 6-2, Brit Anne Keothavong upended No. 12 Austrian Tamira Paszek 6-2, 7-5, and France's Stephanie Foretz Gacon took out No. 16 Greek Eleni Daniilidou 6-4, 6-2.

Several other women notched opening-round wins Tuesday, including Britain's Heather Watson and Laura Robson and American Irina Falconi, who whipped Romanian Alexandra Cadantu 6-2, 6-0.

Rain washed out all the scheduled play here on Monday and forced the suspension or postponement of some more action on Tuesday.

German Sabine Lisicki topped Slovak Daniela Hantuchova, seeded second and this week, respectively, in last year's Birmingham finale. Both players will see action on Wednesday, as will top seed Francesca Schiavone.

The winner of the $220,000 Aegon Classic will collect $37,000.