PALERMO, Sicily (AP) — Fresh off her third title of the year, second-seeded Roberta Vinci beat Kazakh qualifier Sesil Karatantcheva 6-2, 7-5 Tuesday in the first round of the Palermo Open.
Vinci’s victory in Budapest on Sunday made her the first Italian woman to win three titles in one year. Her ranking is up to a career-best No. 23.
Third-seeded Sara Errani of Italy beat Regina Kulikova of Russia 6-1, 6-3.
Also advancing were No. 4 Klara Zakopalova, No. 5 Anabel Medina Garrigues — a four-time winner of this clay-court tournament — No. 7 Polona Hercog and No. 8 Petra Cetkovska.
