Ivanovic Cruises in Opener; Russians Pushed to Limit

A batch of lower seeds fell at the first hurdle and two of the four Top 8 seeds in action nearly followed suit, as first round action began at The Championships in London, England on Monday.
 
Russians Svetlana Kuznetsova and Anna Chakvetadze, seeded No.4 and No.8, respectively, were pushed to the limits in their first matches of the tournament, but still advanced to the next round. Kuznetsova fought back from 3-1 down in the third set to beat qualifier Mathilde Johansson, 67(5) 75 63, while Chakvetadze saved three match points in the third set - two down 5-3, one down 5-4 - to beat Stéphanie Dubois, 26 61 86. Both Russians struggled mightily with unforced errors, with Kuznetsova hitting 30 and Chakvetadze a whopping 55 (and mainly off her normally dependable backhand side).
 
Ana Ivanovic and Serena Williams, the No.1 and No.6 seeds, had fewer worries in their openers, with Ivanovic crushing Rossana de los Ríos, 61 62, and Williams outhitting recent Roland Garros quarterfinalist Kaia Kanepi of Estonia, 75 63.
 
Ivanovic didn't play any warm-up tournaments on grass, but she made it all the way to the semifinals here last year, so grass shouldn't be too difficult a transition for the Serb, who assumed the No.1 ranking after winning Roland Garros.
 
"I played quite well today, especially considering it's my first match of the year on grass," Ivanovic said. "Today was a tough one. She started hitting the ball really well right from the start, so I had to stay focused. I served really well and played quite aggressively, and I was pleased with how the match turned out."
 
Williams didn't play any warm-ups either, but with two Wimbledon titles under her belt already - in 2002 and 2003, beating sister Venus in both finals - she certainly doesn't doubt her game on the All-England Club lawns.
 
"I kept thinking, I can't lose serve," said Williams on the 5-5 game of her first set, where Kanepi had a break point. "She was playing unbelievable to me. I felt like she wasn't making any errors, like I just had to hang in there and stay positive."
 
Other seeds winning were Marion Bartoli, Agnieszka Radwanska, Agnes Szavay, Nicole Vaidisova, Francesca Schiavone, Alona Bondarenko and Amélie Mauresmo. No.11 seed Bartoli made a winning return to the site of her greatest career result; she made a Cinderella run to her first Grand Slam final here a year ago before falling to Venus Williams, and on Monday beat Sabine Lisicki in straight sets to advance to the second round. No.29 seed Mauresmo, the champion here in 2006 and a former No.1 looking to regain some lost confidence after a relatively disappointing season, also moved on in straight sets, against Ashley Harkleroad.
 
Five seeds, mainly from the lower tier but one from the Top 16, were sent home earlier than expected. No.12 seed Patty Schnyder was the highest to go, falling to Casey Dellacqua, 64 36 61; No.17 seed Alizé Cornet, No.19 seed Maria Kirilenko, No.27 seed Virginie Razzano and No.30 seed Dominika Cibulkova were also ousted. World No.17 Cornet fell to 16-year-old Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who notched her first career Top 20 win; World No.19 Kirilenko fell to Dushevina, who came away with her second Top 20 win of the year, and sixth of her career.
 
"I'm really, really happy because not only did I qualify to make main draw, I beat a good player today," said Pavlyuchenkova, the youngest player in the entire draw. "I knew her quite well from the juniors, so I knew it was going to be tough today. I just went to fight and show my best game, and I'm really happy I won."

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