Radwanska out; Wozniacki wins after Paszek retires

DPA/Eastbourne, England

The 29th-ranked Austrian Paszek had a superb grass season a year ago, winning the south coast tuneup event before reaching the Wimbledon quarter-finals for a second straight year.

American Jamie Hampton sprung a surprise as she beat top seed Agnieszka Radwanska 7-6 (2), 6-2, sending the Pole out in the first round for the second year in a row at the event. Australian Samantha Stosur also knocked out a seed as she beat number eight Nadia Petrova 6-2, 6-3.

Paszek said she felt the injury - separate from the one which forced her out last week in Birmingham - early in the Wozniacki match.

“I can’t say really much about the injury just now, I just have to do a couple more scans and analyse with the doctor. All I can say is it’s like really, really painful. Well, I’m going to try my very best to get ready for Wimbledon and try to be positive,” she said.

“It happened at 1-1, I stretched a bit too much on the backhand side and actually heard a huge noise, which isn’t usually a good sign.

“It was a sudden pain and I immediately called the trainer. I actually won that game, played like three winners on one leg. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to continue.”

Paszek was hoping her grass summer would not be ended almost as it began: “I won the tournament here, played quarters in Wimbledon. I’m going to try my best to even go on court in Wimbledon, try to get ready. “If not it doesn’t work out, I’ll try to get healthy after that and make a new start. There is nothing else I can do about it.”

The match began the grass season for former number one Wozniacki on a positive note as her golfer boyfriend Rory McIlroy watched sleepily after arriving from the US Open tournament at 6 am.

China’s second seed Li Na advanced over Alize Cornet 6-2, 6-4 while number three German Angelique Kerber put out Sorona Cirstea 6-4, 6-4.

Petra Kvitova, the2011 Wimbledon winner, beat Romanian Monica Niculescu 6-4, 6-1. Taiwan’s Hsieh Su Wei beat Britain’s Johanna Konta 6-4, 6-3 while home player Elena Baltacha put out Karolina Pliskova 7-5, 7-6 (3).

In the men’s draw of the dual event, Australian Bernard Tomic picked up his grass game just in time after curing hamstring problems, beating Briton James Ward 6-3, 6-4 to advance into the second round.

The 64th-ranked Tomic is optimistic that he can carry his form through after playing a Wimbledon quarter-final in 2011. Spain’s Feliciano Lopez, twice a quarter-finalist at the All England Club, beat Finn Jarkko Nieminen 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5).