EASTBOURNE, England — Elena Vesnina beat seventh-seeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 on Monday in the first round of the grass-court Aegon International.
Earlier, 2011 champion Marion Bartoli of France beat Italy's Flavia Pennetta 6-3, 6-2 to set up a possible second-round meeting with second-seeded Li Na in the Wimbledon warm-up event.
Down a break in the first set, Bartoli responded by breaking Pennetta twice and serving out the set. After an exchange of breaks to begin the second set, Bartoli swept five of the next six games.
Sixth-seeded Maria Kirilenko of Russia defeated Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia 7-6 (5), 6-1.
Seventh-seeded Andreas Seppi won 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 against French qualifier Guillaume Rufin. Fellow Italian Fabio Fognini, seeded No. 8, rallied to beat Slovenian Grega Zemlja 6-7 (6), 6-2, 6-4.
Sixth-seeded Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov lost 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 to Spain's Fernando Verdasco, and American qualifier Ryan Harrison edged Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (4).
Agnieszka Radwanska and Li top the women's draw, and Milos Raonic and Gilles Simon head the men's event.
