Polona Hercog: Beaten in Palermo
Sixth seed Polona Hercog was the biggest casualty on the first full day of the Palermo Open as the Slovenian fell 6-1 7-6 (10-8) to Romania's world number 73 Irina-Camelia Begu.
Seventh seed Alize Cornet of France avoided a similar fate as she required 83 minutes to push past Colombian Mariana Duque-Marino, breaking her opponent's serve six times.
Another Romanian, Alexandra Cadantu, reached the second round with a 6-3 6-2 win over Holland's Kiki Bertens, and Spain's Lourdes Dominguez Lino was a 6-2 6-4 winner over Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva.
