Top seed Agnieszka Radwanska was eliminated by Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria at the Eastbourne tournament on Tuesday as the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds also crashed out.
World No. 40 Pironkova dominated her more illustrious opponent to snatch a 6-2, 6-4 win, her second in eight meetings with the Polish star.
Pironkova’s opponent in the second round will be either world No. 38 Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain or Canadian Stephanie Dubois.
Second seed Petra Kvitova was upset by Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova, who profited from six double faults from the reigning Wimbledon champion to win 7-5, 6-4.
Australian Open quarterfinalist Makarova’s next opponent will be young British player Laura Robson, who came back from behind in a three-set game to oust world No. 49 Maria Martina Sanchez of Spain 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.
World No. 7 and third seed Caroline Wozniacki’s streak of 10 months without a WTA event win continued as she too exited in the first round, losing to Christina McHale of the United States 6-1, 7-6(7), 6-4.
For McHale, the win was respite after a surprise first-round defeat in Birmingham to Elena Vesnina of Russia.
Elsewhere at Eastbourne, Klara Zakopalova beat Jie Zheng of China in a tight match 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
Zakopalova will definitely face a fellow Czech in the second round, either ninth seed Petra Cetkovska or Andrea Hlavackova.
Eastbourne, also known as the AEGON International, serves as the final major women’s warm-up event for Wimbledon, which gets under way Monday.
The Eastbourne takes place June 23.
The tournament has a prize fund of $637,000.
