BIRMINGHAM, England (AP)—Melanie Oudin of the United States ousted 10th-seeded Sorana Cirstea of Romania 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 Tuesday at the Aegon Classic grass-court tournament.
Zheng Jie defeated Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in her opening match.
Zheng helped fuel Chinese tennis after becoming the country's first player to reach a Grand Slam semifinal in Wimbledon in 2008, where she made history two years by winning the first doubles title.
Although the 28-year-old Zheng hasn't fully recovered from a wrist surgery, she defeated the hard-hitting Russian. She is ranked No. 32.
``It's really good to be back on grass and I aim to be back in the top 20 again'' Zheng said.
She will play against the No. 76th-ranked Anne Keothavong of Britain in the second round. Keothavong advanced after beating the 12-seeded Tamira Paszek of Austria 6-2, 7-5.
Eleventh-seeded Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic lost her match 6-2, 6-1 to Tara Moore of Britain. Benesova called the grass was not really playable'' andfull of holes.''