Fresh off her third title of the year, second-seeded Roberta Vinci beat Kazakh qualifier Sesil Karatantcheva 6-2, 7-5 in the opening round of the Palermo Open on Tuesday.
Vinci’s victory in Budapest on Sunday made her the first Italian woman to win three titles in one year, and she is threatening Flavia Pennetta to become the second-best ranked Italian after Francesca Schiavone.
Schiavone is ranked No. 8, Pennetta is No. 21 and Vinci is up to a career-best No. 23 this week.
Third-seeded Sara Errani of Italy beat Regina Kulikova of Russia 6-1, 6-3.
Also advancing were No. 4 Klara Zakopalova, No.5 Anabel Medina Garrigues — a four-time winner of this clay-court tournament — No.7 Polona Hercog and No.8 Petra Cetkovska.
