Baku, Azerbaijan,July 24: Top seed and defending champion Bojana Jovanovski advanced to the second round of the Baku Cup, overcoming a rough start to beat Nigina Abduraimova of Uzbekistan 6-3, 6-3 on Tuesday.
Jovanovski, of Serbia, lost the first three games before taking the next six. In the second set, she broke serve twice but dropped her serve in each subsequent game and twice double-faulted on match points.
Also on the oudoor hard-courts of the Baku Tennis Academy, Kristyna Pliskova of the Czech Republic eliminated eighth-seeded Vesna Dolonc of Serbia 6-1, 6-2. Pliskova fired six aces and saved all three of her break points.
