Van Uytvanck makes winning start to Budapest defence

Budapest, February 21: Alison Van Uytvanck began the defence of her Hungarian Ladies Open title with a straight-sets victory over Vera Zvonareva on Wednesday (February 20).

Van Uytvanck won the second title of her career in Budapest 12 months ago and she moved into round two in 2019 with a 7-5 7-5 win over the world number 77.

Having taken the opener in 53 minutes, Van Uytvanck had to save set points in the second before her victory was confirmed.

Fellow seed Ekaterina Alexandrova survived a first-round scare against Greta Arn, the Russian battling back to win 4-6 6-1 6-4 to set up a meeting with Arantxa Rus.

Sealed with an ace!

Defending champ @AlisonVanU defeats Zvonareva 7-5, 7-5.@HUNgarianTENNIS pic.twitter.com/WoCJUJptcB

— WTA (@WTA) February 20, 2019

Wins for Irina-Camelia Begu, Marketa Vondrousova and Madison Brengle completed the first-round matches, the latter a quarter-final opponent for Van Uytvanck should she get past Kateryna Kozlova.

While the seeds survived in round one, they were not so lucky in the second round as Andrea Petkovic and Aleksandra Krunic were both dumped out.

Petkovic was beaten 6-2 7-5 by teenager Anastasia Potapova, while Krunic suffered a comprehensive 6-3 6-3 defeat to Sorana Cirstea.

Pauline Parmentier – the third seed – eased past Tereza Smitkova, though, as she became the third player into the quarter-finals.