Mon Jun 9 15:33:33 2008

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Rezai among Day-1 winners in Birmingham

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Birmingham, England (Sports Network) - Thirteenth-seeded Aravane Rezai of France was among Monday's opening-round winners at the $200,000 DFS Classic, a grass-court Wimbledon tuneup.

Rezai held off British qualifier Amanda Elliott 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (8-6) at Edgbaston Priory Club.

Upsets came when Russian qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova shut down 10th-seeded Uzbekistanian Akgul Amanmuradova 6-3, 6-1 and British wild card Naomi Cavaday cut down 14th-seeded American Jill Craybas 6-0, 6-4.

Fifteenth-seeded Russian Ekaterina Makarova avoided an upset by besting British wild card Elena Baltacha 7-5, 7-6 (7-1), while 17th-seeded Japanese Aiko Nakamura topped Israeli Tzipora Obziler 7-5, 6-3.

Britain's Katie O'Brien outlasted Russian Alla Kudryavtseva 6-0, 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), while American Bethanie Mattek dismissed Slovakian qualifier Jarmila Gajdosova 7-6 (7-1), 6-2.

Other wins came for Indian qualifier Sunitha Rao, Belarusian qualifier Tatiana Poutchek, Belgian Yanina Wickmayer, Romanian Sorana Cirstea, British wild card Melanie South, Thai Tamarine Tanasugarn, and German Angelique Kerber.

This week's winner will collect $31,000. Jelena Jankovic defeated Maria Sharapova in last year's Birmingham finale, but neither woman is playing here this week.