In the first round matches being played at the Olympic School Tennis courts here today the 28 year old Greek player Daniilidou currently ranked 88 on the WTA list upset the 2007 winner here and third seeded Pauline Parmentier of France 7-5, 6-1 in 1 hour and 26 minutes. Local star Akgul Amanmuradova cheered on a by large local crowd played maturely to upset the seventh seeded and 86th ranked Aravane Rezai also of France 6-4, 6-3 in 1hour 11 minutes.

Top seeded Ksenia Pervak of Russia and her country mate and reigning champion Alla Kudryavtseva ranked sixth here also scored straight set wins to move into the round of 16. The top seeded Pervak survived anxious moments in the second set to score a 6-2, 7-5 win over Kazakh player Galina Voskoboeva. Last year’s winner Russian Kudryavtseva took off from where she had left last year registering an identical win over country mate Vesna Dolonts.

"It was high level tennis from both sides, It was a tough battle and I was expecting it, I played some good tennis at important times," said Daniilidou after the match. In a match featuring long rallies, both players matched each other in every department. Both Parmentier and Daniilidou had their moments to break each other in the 5th, 6th and 9th games but both managed to hold on until Daniilidou hit an array of winners in the 12th game of the first set to break the former champion and win the set 7-5.

In the second set Daniilidou raced to a 2-0 lead almost instantly and then held on strongly to lead 3-0 and tilt the match towards her favour. She broke Parmentier again and held on to take a 5-0 lead. Finally after a well contested 7th game the tall Greek held on and raised her hands to proclaim a well deserved win and passage into round two.

Local star and runners up here on two occasions in 2005 and 2009 Akgul Amanmuradova overcame her mental block to score a 6-4, 6-3 win over seventh seeded Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai. Leaving back her 1-3 head to head record against the higher ranked Rezai, Amanmuradova egged on by a large crowd belted seven aces with a high 84% service record to score a 6-4, 6-3 win in 1 hour and 11 minutes.

In a match marked by high quality hitting by both players Rezai saved 2 break points in the very second game of the match. The match went even till the 10th game, where Amanmuradova hit three service return winners to break the Frenchwoman and win the set 6-4. In the second set the 6ft 3 inch Uzbek player broke Rezai in the 2nd game, Rezai aided by serving two double faults in the game.

In the third game a minor lapse of concentration saw Amanmuradova go down 0-40, but Amanmuradova showed all her maturity a deployed the slice backhand to a great effect levelling scores and managing to hang on and move to a 3-0 lead.

Rezai tried to come back into the match moving Akgul all around, But the Uzbek looked determined to win making every effort to get to the ball and even on a few occasions hit great winners on both sides. Both players went with serves, until Amanmuradova won the 9th game at love and register a credible win and also avenge her last loss to Rezai at Baastad.

"It was important for me to win here in front of my home crowd, I’m happy I played to a plan and executed it well, I was changing the rhythm and did well," said Amanmuradova speaking after the match. “I also feel that I have become mature probably with age and experience and all this is paying off for me,” she added. Amanmuradova will take on Urszula Radwanska of Poland in the last sixteen.

Wild card entrant 17 year old Sabina Sharipova also added to the local celebrations scoring a 6-4, 6-1 win over qualifier Einni Georgatou of Greece. "I had played her before, and was confident going into the match. I played very well and hope to continue it in my next match too," said the Uzbek teenager who is juggling between the junior and the senior circuits.

"It’s great to be back and things are familiar here and I’m really feeling comfortable and my game is also suited for these courts," said reigning champion Alla Kudryavtseva after her 6-2,7-5 win over country mate Vesna Dolonts.

Kudryavtseva and broke Dolonts in the 6th and 8th games in the first set to win the set 6-2. In a well contested second set both players traded serves twice in the match, before Kudryavtseva executed two crosscourt winners to break Dolonts and wrap-up the match. Kudryavtseva will take on another country mate Vitalia Diatchenko in the second round.

In the last match of the day fifth seeded Slovakian Magdalena Rybarikova survived a close first round against local wildcard Nigina Abduraimova. The fifth seed Rybarikova scraped past a fighting Abduraimova 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3 in the longest match of the day lasting 2 hours and 50 minutes

Rybarikova was also lucky to make it to the doubles main draw along with Aleksandra Krunic as they replaced the pair of Alla Kudryavtseva and Olga Govortsova who pulled out due to a right elbow injury to Govortsova.

Following are the results

Results ( Main Draw 1st Round):

Sabina Sharipova (UZB) bt Q. Eirini Georgatou (GRE) 6-4,6-1, S6 Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) bt Vesna Dolonts (RUS) 6-2,7-5, Urszula Radwanska (POL) bt Q. Jana Cepelova (SVK) 6-1,6-4, Eva Birnerova (CZE) bt Junri Namigata (JPN) 6-4,6-1, Akgul Amanuradova (UZB) bt S8 Aravane Rezai (FRA) 6-4,6-3, Eleni Daniilidou (GRE) bt S3 Pauline Parmentier (FRA) 7-5, 6-1, Q. Victoria Larriere (FRA) bt Zuzana Kucova (SVA) 3-6,6-4,6-1, Q. Aleksandra Krunic (SRB) bt Wc Kamilla Farhad (AZE) 6-0,6-1, S1 Ksenia Pervak (RUS) bt Galina Voskoboeva (KAZ) 6-2,7-5, S.5 Magdalena Rybarikova (Svk) bt Nigina Abduraimova (UZB) 6-7(5),6-4,6-3

DOUBLES:

Urszula Radwanska (POL) / Evgeniya Rodina (RUS) bt Marina Shamayko (RUS) / Sofia Shapatava (GEO) 6-3,6-1, Eva Birnerova (CZE) / Vesna Dolonts (RUS) bt Eirini Georgatou (GRE) / Marta Sirotkina (RUS) 6-2,6-1, Eleni Daniilidou (GRE) / Vitalia Diatchenko (RUS) bt Tetyana Arefyeva (UKR) /Mariya Koryttseva (UKR) 6-4,6-4, Iryna Bremond (FRA) & Mandy Minella (LUX) bt S4 Sorana Cirstea (ROU) & Pauline Parmentier (FRA) 6-2,2-6,10-8.