Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women's tournament

Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova overcame a second set lapse of concentration to beat Czech Daja Bedanova 6-2, 6-3 and move into the second round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women's tournament on Monday.

There were also victories for Russia's Tatiana Panova, who earned a second round meeting with third seed Jelena Dokic by beating Silvia Farina-Elia of Italy 6-3, 6-2, and Anna Smashnova of Israel, who dismissed Switzerland's Patty Schnyder 7-5, 6-4.

Eighth seeded Hantuchova had struggled against her Czech opponent in their only previous meeting in Antwerp earlier this year, losing in three sets.

But the Slovak appeared to be on course for an easy victory in their second meeting as she swept the last four games of the opening set.

She intimidated Bedanova with some winning returns, and also struck a number of fine winners down the line.

But after easing through the first set she immediately dropped her serve in the second. And although the Slovak quickly levelled at 1-1, some whistling from the crowd disturbed her concentration for a while.

She had to fight off three break points at 2-2, but she eventually regained the upper hand and finished the match by breaking to lead 5-3 and claiming 12 of the final 14 points.

"I didn't put her under enough pressure as I did in the first set, but at the crucial time I was able to break her serve," said Hantuchova. "It was strange a few guys were whistling, but I just kept concentrating on my game.

"I felt really good out there and felt she couldn't really hurt me with anything. It was a matter of me making too many mistakes when I lost those games. But I thought I was serving quite well and also returning well."

The field for the $625.000 event is headed by Australian Open winner Jennifer Capriati, with defending champion Lindsay Davenport seeded second.

In one of the most strongly contested tournaments of the year, the seeded players are all in the world's top 10 with the exception of 11th-ranked Hantuchova.

Eleni Daniilidou of Greece, ranked 21, failed to qualify.