BERLIN, May 9 (Xinhua) -- Former world number one Martina Hingis took sweet revenge on Flavia Pennetta as she ousted the Italian 7-5, 6-3 in the German Open first round on Tuesday.

    In January at Gold Coast, Pennetta saved a match point and stopped Hingis in the semifinals of her comeback tournament, following three years of injury-enforced retirement.

    Hingis took her chances better on Tuesday, and made 19 less errors than the 18th-ranked Italian.

    "I'm glad I got some revenge," Hingis said. "Maybe I was too nervous (at the start of my comeback), I was too excited at every match. This time I adjusted my tactics."

    Three other seeds who stumbled at the first hurdle include No. 9 Elena Likhovtseva, No. 12 Ana Ivanovic, and No. 13 Nathalie Dechy.

    Likhovtseva fell to Spain's Laura Pous Tio 6-4, 6-3, Serbian teen Ivanovic retired with a strained hamstring after winning the first set 6-1 against China's Li Na, and Dechy was dropped 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 by another Chinese, Zheng Jie, who won her first careertitle on Sunday at Estoril.

    Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues, at 16th, was the only seeded winner, 6-1, 6-2 against Russian Tatiana Panova.

    Top-ranked Amelie Mauresmo and defending champion Justine Henin-Hardenne open their accounts on Wednesday after first-round byes. Enditem