Safarova loses in 1st round

Washington - Top-seeded Lucie Safarova lost to Kristina Mladenovic of France in the first round of the Citi Open on Tuesday.

Mladenovic came back for a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory against the Wimbledon semi-finalist. She will face American qualifier Taylor Townsend in the second round.

On the men's side, Seventh-seeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa and No 11 seed Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan reached the third round with straight-set victories.

Anderson defeated Russia's Evgeny Donskoy 6-3, 6-4, and Istomin eliminated Australia's Bernard Tomic 6-4, 7-6 (6).

There will be a new titlist in the women's tournament after No. 2 seed Ekaterina Makarova of Russia cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 victory against two-time defending champion Magadalena Rybarikova of Slovakia. Rybarikova had won her last 10 matches in the tournament.