Sprem beaten, Sania wins in Kolkata

KOLKATA (Reuters) - Australian Casey Dellacqua upset second seed Karolina Sprem of Croatia as three more seeded players made first round exits in the Kolkata Open on Tuesday.

Sprem, last year’s losing finalist, started well before left-hander Dellacqua, ranked 155, wrested the second set tiebreak and went on to clinch the clash of two 21-year-olds 2-6 7-6 6-2.

Home favourite Sania Mirza, seeded fifth, defeated compatriot and qualifier Rushmi Chakravarthi 6-0 6-4.

Italy’s Alberta Brianti upset third seed Yuliana Fedak of Ukraine 6-4 6-2 while Alla Kudryavtseva rallied to oust eighth-seeded fellow Russian Anastassia Rodionova 1-6 6-3 6-3.

Uzbek qualifier Iroda Tulyaganova, the 2002 Asian Games gold medallist, started her comeback from a long injury layoff by easing into the second round with a 6-4 6-1 win over Taiwan’s Chia-Jung Chuang.

Four seeded players have so far been knocked out of the tournament with sixth-seeded Estonian Kaia Kanepi losing to Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn on Monday.

Former world number one Martina Hingis, the top seed, used her rest day to visit Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity institution, where she donated $20,000.