seeded Marion Bartoli of France beat Australia's Anastasia Rodionova 6-1, 6-4 in the first round of the New Haven Open Monday. After cruising 6-1 in the first set, Bartoli struggled in the second before breaking Rodionova to secure her first-round win. Bartoli had planned to skip New Haven, but after playing poorly in Toronto and winning just one match in Cincinnati she decided she needed the work. Nineteen-year-old American Christina McHale upset sixth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 7-5, 6-3. McHale was down 4-2 in the first set before reeling off three consecutive games, eventually taking the set 7-5. She broke Kuznetsova again to open the second set, one of 11 service breaks in the match, seven by the American. “If I would have won the serve when I broke her (in the first set) it would have been different,” said Kuznetsova. In other matches, 20-year-old Polona Hercog of Slovenia upset Nadia Petrova of Russia 7-5, 7-5, fifth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland downed Russia's Ekaterina Makarova 6-1, 6-2 and No. 8 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova needed three sets to advance past fellow Russian Vera Dushevina 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. Hercog, a 20-year-old clay-court specialist, was broken at 5-4 in the second set, but came back to win the final two games of her match with Petrova, a finalist here a year ago. She will face three-time defending champion Caroline Wozniacki in the second round Tuesday. McHale will play Suarez Navarro of Spain in the second round. Navarro beat Iveta Benesova in straight sets 6-3, 6-2. In other matches, Maria Kirilenko of Russia beat Sara Errani of Italy 7-5, 7-5; Roberta Vinci of Italy downed Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 and Petra Cetkovska of the Czech Republic beat Ayumi Morita of Japan 6-2, 6-2.
