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Kuznetsova, Halep advance in Morocco

2:17 PM, Apr 24, 2012   |    comments
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Fes, Morocco (Sports Network) - Two-time Grand Slam event champion Svetlana Kuznetsova and two-time Fes runner-up Simona Halep were among Tuesday's opening-round winners at the $220,000 Moroccan Grand Prix tennis event.

The second-seeded former top-five star Kuznetsova got past Greek Eleni Daniilidou 6-1, 7-5, while the fifth-seeded Halep was leading Fatima Zahrae El Allami 6-1 after one set when the Moroccan wild card retired on the red clay at Royal Tennis Club de Fes Complexe Sportif.

Kuznetsova will meet Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu in the round of 16.

Halep lost to Italian Alberta Brianti in last year's final and was also the runner-up here in 2010. Brianti was among the first-round losers on Monday.

In other action involving seeds on Day 2, No. 3 Czech Petra Cetkovska defeated Hungarian qualifier Melinda Czink 6-4, 6-2 and Dutchwoman Arantxa Rus outlasted No. 7 Czech Klara Zakopalova 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (11-9) in a match that was suspended because of darkness on Monday night. The veteran Zakopalova was the champion here back in 2002.

Additional first-round wins came for French lucky-loser Mathilde Johansson, Swiss Timea Bacsinszky, Spaniards Laura Pous-Tio and qualifier Garbine Muguruza Blanco, and Dutch qualifier Kiki Bertens.

The 2012 Fes champ will take home $37,000.

The Sports Network