Seeds sizzle in opening round of Bendigo Pro Tour qualifying

In the men's tournament it was a mixed day for the top seeds in qualifying.

Number one seed Calum Puttergill cruised through his opening match, defeating fellow Aussie Zaharije-Zak Talic 6-1, 6-3.

Australia's Omar Jasika - the second seed - was even more impressive in his 6-1, 6-1 victory over Stefan Bianchet.

The same couldn't be said for fourth seed Jordan Smith, who suffered a shock 7-5, 6-3 loss to fellow Aussie Mitchell Harper.

Thailand's Chanchai Sookton-Eng moved a step closer to the main draw with a hard-fought straight-sets win.

The third seed proved too good for Australian Hien Pham 6-4, 7-6.

Sixth-seed Tom Evans can pack his bags after losing 6-1, 6-2 to Aussie tennager Tai Sach.

Corey Gaal, Cade Birrell, David Hough and Patrick Fitzgerald were among the other Australians to advance to the next round of qualifying.

The women's singles qualifying largely went to script on day one.

Number one seed Momoko Kobori, from Japan, cruised through her first match, while second seed Abbie Myers, from Australia, was forced to work much harder for victory.

Myers, 27, was taken to a third set super tie-break by 18-year-old Taylah Lawless.

India's third seed Rutuja Bhosale showed she's in good form by defeating South Africa's Marne Dercksen 6-2, 6-1.

Ballarat's Zoe Hives made a successful start to her campaign.

Hives, the fifth seed in qualifying, outclassed fellow Aussie Zali Morris 6-4, 6-1.

Hives, 25, has a world ranking of 531.

Japanese duo Hiroko Kuwata and Erika Sema - the sixth and seventh seeds in qualifying respectively earned second round berths with straight-sets wins on day one.

Sema is no stranger to Bendigo.

The 33-year-old has played in several Bendigo International tournaments and is a past winner of the doubles title.

Qualifying continues on Monday, with the main draw action for both men's and women's tournaments scheduled to begin on Tuesday.

This week is the first of two weeks of international tennis in Bendigo.

The BTA will host another set of men's and women's events from March 6-13.

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