Ivanovic advances in Ohio
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Mason, OH (SportsNetwork.com) - Ninth-seeded Serbian Ana Ivanovic advanced to the second round of the $2.5 million Western & Southern Open on Monday.
Ivanovic, the highest-seeded player in action, beat Romania's Sorana Cirstea 6-1, 7-5 in 67 minutes on the hardcourts at Lindner Family Tennis Center.
Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova, the 11th seed, was ousted by Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 6-3; while No. 12 seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark beat Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia 6-2, 6-3; and No. 13 seed Flavia Pennetta of Italy escaped qualifier Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa 6-3, 6-7 (3-7), 6-2.
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In action involving Americans, qualifier Taylor Townsend dismissed Czech Klara Koukalova 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 and Madison Keys beat France's Alize Cornet 6-2, 6-4. Keys will face former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova in the second round.
Also Monday, Australian Samantha Stosur topped American Varvara Lepchenko 6-2, 7-5; China's Zhang Shuai snuck past British qualifier Heather Watson 6-3, 2-6, 7-5, Ukrainian Elina Svitolina handled American wild card Lauren Davis 6-3, 6-2 and Belgian Kirsten Flipkens leveled Slovenian qualifier Polona Hercog 6-3, 6-2.
Flipkens will have a second-round match against world No. 2 Simona Halep and Svitolina will face third seed Petra Kvitova.
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Other winners were qualifiers Pauline Parmentier of France and Karin Knapp of Italy.
The top seeds are U.S. Open champion Serena Williams, French Open runner-up Halep, Wimbledon champion Kvitova, last week's Montreal titlist Agnieszka Radwanska, and French Open champion Sharapova.
Williams was last year's runner-up to Victoria Azarenka, this week's 10th seed.
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This year's champion will collect $467,300.