Groenefeld, Pierce lose at Fortis

Luxembourg: Seventh-seeded Anna-Lena Groenefeld and number 8-seeded Mary Pierce were knocked out in the opening round of the Fortis Championships on Tuesday. Italian qualifier Karin Knapp defeated Groenefeld 6-0, 6-4; and Ukraine's Alona Bondarenko beat Pierce 6-3, 6-3. On a great day for Italians, fifth-seeded Francesca Schiavone and Roberta Vinci joined Knapp in the second round. The 14th-ranked Schiavone, the star of the Fed Cup team, which won the final against Belgium, beat Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands 6-4, 6-3. Vinci defeated Tatjana Malek of Germany 6-4, 6-3. Other matches In other first-round action, Nathalie Dechy beat Sybille Bammer 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 and will next play second-seeded Nadia Petrova; and Chanda Rubin won her first match in more than a year. The 342nd-ranked Rubin needed just 53 minutes on the indoor hard-court to beat the 37th-ranked Martina Muller of Germany 6-3, 6-0. Ten years ago, Rubin was ranked as high as No. 6, but the American has played a limited schedule the past two seasons because of knee problems. Rubin last won a match at Cincinnati in 2005 after which she aggravated her left knee injury.