Tue Aug 19 18:09:16 2008

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Benesova lands in Forest Hills QFs

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Forest Hills, NY (Sports Network) - Third-seeded Czech Iveta Benesova was among Tuesday's opening-round winners at the $74,800 Forest Hills Tennis Classic, a final U.S. Open tune-up.

Benesova edged out Russian Elena Vesnina 6-1, 6-7 (5-7), 7-5 on the hardcourts at The West Side Tennis Club, the one-time home of the U.S. Open.

In other Day-1 action, Russian Vera Dushevina pasted Swede Sofia Arvidsson 6-2, 6-2, Russian Ekaterina Makarova handled American wild card Gail Brodsky 7-5, 6-2 and German Martina Muller mauled Czech Petra Cetkovska 6-2, 6-3.

Argentine Gisela Dulko topped France's Virginie Razzano in last year's Forest Hills finale, but neither player made the trip here this year.

This week's champion will collect $22,000. The top seeds at this small 16- player event are France's Pauline Parmentier and New Zealand's Marina Erakovic.