MONTERREY, Mexico (AP)—Sixth-seeded Iveta Benesova celebrated her career-best ranking by defeating Shahar Peer of Israel 6-4, 6-2 in the first round of the Monterrey Open on Tuesday.

Thanks to reaching the Hobart final in January and the Acapulco semifinals last week, Benesova improved her ranking to No. 31 on Monday, surpassing the No. 33 she reached in 2005.

After starting off 3-0 down to Peer, Benesova cranked up her game and didn’t give Peer another break chance, leading three more Czechs into the second round.

Barbora Zahlavova Strycova edged Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (4), and Petra Cetkovska beat Jarmila Groth of Slovakia 6-3, 6-2.

Second-seeded Marion Bartoli of France served five aces and won 72 percent of her first service points to take had an easy 6-2, 6-4 victory over Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands. Bartoli will next play Romania’s Edina Gallovits, who rallied to beat Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

Third-seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta, coming off the Acapulco final last weekend, swept past Jill Craybas of the United States 6-1, 6-0 in 56 minutes and will next meet Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic in the second round.

Fifth-seeded Agnes Szavay of Hungary eliminated Pauline Parmentier of France 6-2, 6-2 and will next meet qualifier Vania King of the United States, who beat Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-4.

Other winners included Melinda Czink of Hungary, Mariya Koryttseva of Ukraine, and Roberta Vinci of Italy.

Clinton to join King for tennis at Garden

NEW YORK (AP)—Billie Jean King will be joined by Bill Clinton when women’s tennis returns to Madison Square Garden.

The former president is to participate in a ceremony honoring King during the Billie Jean King Cup on Monday night. The one-night exhibition features top-ranked Serena Williams vs. Ana Ivanovic and Venus Williams vs. Jelena Jankovic in one-set semifinals. The winners will then compete in a best-of-three set final, with $1.2 million in total prize money.

The tournament is aimed at bolstering tennis among youngsters. It’s the first women’s match at the Garden since the season-ending WTA tournament in 2000.

King will join commentators John McEnroe and Mary Carillo in the booth for HBO, which will broadcast the event live.

Boris Becker gets engaged, again, on TV game show

BERLIN (Reuters) – Tennis champion Boris Becker startled viewers of a Saturday night game show when he said he would marry former girlfriend, Dutch model Lilly Kerssenberg, in June.

Some 9.7 million viewers in Germany watched the unexpected announcement on the show "You Bet ..?" in which both Becker, 41, and Kerssenberg, 32, were guests.

Later in the program, Becker had to jump through a burning heart of fire, his antics upstaging other guests, including Hollywood star Jennifer Anniston.

Becker and Kerssenberg had split up at the end of 2007 after a roughly two-year long relationship and last year Becker announced his engagement to glamorous jewelry designer Sandy Meyer-Woelden after seeing her for only a few months.

"Last summer I went a bit off track but she took me back. Now I don't want to let her go," Becker said on the show. The program's presenter, Thomas Gottschalk, looked astonished and said: "No, not again?"

German papers and society magazines lap up stories on the red-haired champion's love life, not least as many of his girlfriends, including Kerssenberg, bear a striking resemblance to his ex-wife Barbara with whom he has two sons.

"Will Boris keep his word this time?" was the headline on the front page of top-selling Sunday paper Bild am Sonntag, with a picture of the couple kissing.

The wedding is to be in exclusive resort of St. Moritz, Switzerland.

"Boom boom" Becker, who earned the nickname for the thud of his powerful serve, won over the crowd at Wimbledon's center court in 1985 when he won the tournament at 17.

He stacked up six grand slam titles but in recent years, his life has been a roller coaster. He lost much of his fortune, had a messy divorce and became the butt of jokes for his flings.

He fathered a child with a Russian model after a brief sexual encounter in the laundry cupboard of a Japanese restaurant in London after his final Wimbledon match while his wife was pregnant.

In 2002, he was found guilty of tax evasion, but not jailed.

Djokovic wins first '09 title

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Novak Djokovic won his first title of the season Saturday, beating David Ferrer of Spain 7-5, 6-3 in the final of the Dubai Tennis Championships.

The third-ranked Djokovic finished off Ferrer with an ace that was that was originally called out but challenged by the Serb.

"That was an unusual way to finish the match, and something like this has never happened to me before," Djokovic said. "But what worked for me during the match was that I mixed the pace well, which I think, David does not like at all."

Djokovic was playing in his first final this year. He won the Australian Open in 2008, and added the Masters Cup title at the end of last season. At this year's Australian Open, he retired against Andy Roddick in the quarter-finals.

The top-seeded Djokovic broke Ferrer in the sixth game of the first set, but the fourth-seeded Spaniard broke back to 4-3. The players traded breaks again, but Djokovic got the decisive break in the final game of the set.

"This was a tough match because David is a very tough opponent," Djokovic said. "He is one of the hardest working players on the tour, and he just keeps running down every ball. He makes you earn every point."

In the second set, Djokovic led 2-0 before Ferrer recovered with a break in the seventh game. But Djokovic immediately broke back to lead 5-3, and then saved a break point before winning on the challenged ace.

"Nobody is a favourite in a final," Djokovic said. "Everyone has the motivation to do well. But I was physically and emotionally really involved with this tournament and to win it is a great feeling, because Dubai has a history of having one of the strongest fields on the tour. And despite some players pulling out, it was still a tough field."

Both top-ranked Rafael Nadal and No. 2 Roger Federer pulled out with injuries. Andy Murray withdrew ahead of the quarter-finals because of a viral infection.

Ferrer was also playing in his first final of the season.

"I played a very good game and I am very happy with what I did, but he was the better player in the end," Ferrer said. "However, I really enjoyed my week and am looking forward to more such consistent weeks in the future."