Tennis-Vaidisova takes long route into Eastbourne second round

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EASTBOURNE, England, June 18 (Reuters) - Teenager Nicole Vaidisova took the long route into the second round of the Eastbourne International on Monday, needing three drawn-out sets to beat Samantha Stosur.

Czech Vaidisova, the only seed in action on a low-key opening day of the grasscourt championships, beat the Australian 3-6 6-4 6-4 in one hour 48 minutes.

The fifth-seeded Vaidisova will next play a Briton -- either wildcard Anne Keothavong or qualifier Elena Baltacha.

The top four seeds, led by defending champion and world number one Justine Henin of Belgium, have first-round byes and will join the fray later in the week.

After rain over the weekend, organisers of the $600,000 Wimbledon warm-up event had to finish off qualifying matches on Monday before the main tournament could begin.

More rain on Monday delayed proceedings further and the shadows were already lengthening by the time Vaidisova and Stosur emerged on to the Centre Court. Stosur, helped by a string of double faults from her opponent, broke the 18-year-old Vaidisova three times to win the first set in 34 minutes.

The Australian, ranked 14 places below Vaidisova at 28th in the world, let her concentration slip at the start of the second set, however, and was broken to love.

She broke back for 2-2 but was broken again to love as the 1.83-metre tall Vaidisova, a French Open quarter-finalist earlier this month, got into her stride.

In the deciding set, Stosur saved five breakpoints in a long third game which went nine times to deuce but lost her next service game to allow Vaidisova to take a 3-2 lead and go on to win.

"I think I hit a little too fast at the beginning, and had too many unforced errors," Vaidisova told reporters. "But I got through it, that's what counts."

Vaidisova's compatriot Lucie Safarova had to contend with stiff sea breezes and the hard hitting of German opponent Anna-Lena Groenefeld before getting her place in the second round with a 7-6 7-6 win.

Safarova, who beat Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo at both the Australian Open and Roland Garros, will now play either ninth seed Sybille Bammer of Austria or Russian Maria Kirilenko.

Keywords: TENNIS WOMEN/EASTBOURNE